For me, the appeal that Uber had (when it was active in Vancouver) was that most people didn't use it, and that I didn't have to pay at the point of delivery (n

For me, the appeal that Uber had (when it was active in Vancouver) was that most people didn't use it, and that I didn't have to pay at the point of delivery (nor tip). On a Friday night, leaving a venue at midnight with my wife and a friend, we knew from experience that waiting for a cab was going to be an hour at least, and probably more, as taxis were surging into the city with their fares and then rushing back out to get more fares. We were just out of the way enough that no cab was going to want to carry us from A to B, heading from a poorly-travelled area of town to another. On top of that, it was going to be hugely expensive, and splitting the fare is a hassle. Instead, I summoned an Uber. It got there in fifteen minutes (and would have been sooner except for traffic), took us home, then continued on to drop off our friend. Minimal hassle, a comfortable ride, and impressed the fuck out of our friend. I was sold. Then in Seattle earlier this year, we used Uber again. Our first trip was perfect (as we'd expected). Our second trip, the driver didn't even show up. We watched him on the app for 20 minutes; mostly not moving, and then driving around, never getting closer than ten blocks. My friend called him (another handy feature!) and he said that he'd already picked us up? Or someone up? He'd already done a fare, anyway, and apparently we weren't part of his plans. My friend got billed though, and had to contest the charge with Uber (which they quickly reversed). Had we been excessively drunk (as I'm sure a lot of people were that weekend) we might not have even noticed. We would have flagged down a cab (which we eventually did) but forgotten about our uber ride entirely. The driver would have gotten paid, we'd have been out fifteen bucks, and no one would be the wiser. Uber has gotten shady, for sure, but with their explosive growth it's hard to believe that the drivers aren't getting shady as well. Uber needs to be held to the regulations (which may need updating to support newer models of transportation), but they also need to start behaving like a real company and not an insecure frat boy trying to bully everyone into doing things his way. It's time for their investors to step up and start protecting their investment, and force Uber to stop exposing the company to lawsuits and horrible public image. And it's time for people to stop using Uber until they straighten out their deal.