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My impression is that it's primarily the interface and reliability that makes Uber/Lyft better. Sure, short wait times are a nice bonus, but the primary proble

by lsc 12y ago

My impression is that it's primarily the interface and reliability that makes Uber/Lyft better. Sure, short wait times are a nice bonus, but the primary problem with regular cabs isn't the speed so much as the unpredictability. The problem is that I can't count on the voice-operated cab system. I have to call, and then wait outside at the pickup point, with a 50% chance of the cab actually getting there, at which point you call and get another 50% chance of the cab getting there within 30 minutes, at which point you repeat. I have no idea if it's going to be 5 minutes or 120 minutes. I have to stay outside, too, because they won't call me when it's there. If a cab took an hour but I could set it up on my phone while I was still in the bar, and it would alert me when it got there? That would be just fine with me. Now, the local cab company could (and perhaps has, I have not checked lately) create an app that does just this; I don't really mind waiting half an hour if I had some assurance that the car would be there in half an hour.

philwelch 12y ago
> I don't really mind waiting half an hour if I had some assurance that the car would be there in half an hour. But why would you, if you could get a car within minutes?
- lsc 12y ago
  >But why would you, if you could get a car within minutes? Obviously, given the choice between a good interface with slow service and a good interface with fast service, at similar price points, I'll pick the latter. I was just saying that even if uber/lyft did not add more cabs to the road (decreasing my wait time) - and that's the part where some are suggesting they are engaging in "regulatory arbitrage"- just having a uber-like interface to a regular cab company would take the pre-existing cab system from "not good enough" to "good enough" for me to use on nights out. For me, at least, the interface (a lot of which is the ability to not need to watch for the cab) is more important than the speed. (Of course, would existing cab companies bother to use a new system, when all their cabs are already full?)
_delirium 12y ago
Weird, the reliability of voice-dispatched cabs here is about 100%. They give you an estimate, like "we'll be there in 5 minutes", and they are almost always there within the estimated time, at worst a few minutes late. The more I hear about SF cabs, the more I wonder whether Uber's success there isn't just an anomaly due to SF having particularly bad taxi service.
- lsc 12y ago
  that is weird. Most of my really bad service happened on the peninsula; We will get offended if you call us the suburbs of San Francisco, but in a very real sense, that is what we are. I imagine it's better in real cities.

by lsc 12y ago

philwelch 12y ago

> I don't really mind waiting half an hour if I had some assurance that the car would be there in half an hour. But why would you, if you could get a car within minutes?

lsc 12y ago
>But why would you, if you could get a car within minutes? Obviously, given the choice between a good interface with slow service and a good interface with fast service, at similar price points, I'll pick the latter. I was just saying that even if uber/lyft did not add more cabs to the road (decreasing my wait time) - and that's the part where some are suggesting they are engaging in "regulatory arbitrage"- just having a uber-like interface to a regular cab company would take the pre-existing cab system from "not good enough" to "good enough" for me to use on nights out. For me, at least, the interface (a lot of which is the ability to not need to watch for the cab) is more important than the speed. (Of course, would existing cab companies bother to use a new system, when all their cabs are already full?)

_delirium 12y ago

Weird, the reliability of voice-dispatched cabs here is about 100%. They give you an estimate, like "we'll be there in 5 minutes", and they are almost always there within the estimated time, at worst a few minutes late. The more I hear about SF cabs, the more I wonder whether Uber's success there isn't just an anomaly due to SF having particularly bad taxi service.

lsc 12y ago
that is weird. Most of my really bad service happened on the peninsula; We will get offended if you call us the suburbs of San Francisco, but in a very real sense, that is what we are. I imagine it's better in real cities.