re: Do you take pleasure in the Taxicab industry's decline?

Absolutely.

I'm sure it's similar in other cities, but when DC cabs were forced to start accepting credit and debit cards, the cabbies intentionally broke their card readers so that payment via card couldn't be accepted. Once you'd try to pay by card, they'd say they needed cash, and would do shite like say they needed to drive you to an ATM before the ride could end.

While it was easy to get out of having to pay if their machines weren't working, it was the case for every 2/3 cabs I'd take before Uber came along. Now they're all happy to take card and don't complain at all. They'll still pull shite like intentionally taking you longer routes, though, so frick them.

Yes

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i like it as an example of how governmental regulation and intrusion into the market creates inferior, more expensive, and less adaptive products

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I was at the post office a few weeks ago. Guy in front of me at the counter wasn't sure what the process was to ship something. He innocently commented to the heavy set woman of color behind the counter, "I'm sorry I'm a bit confused by the different options, I usually use UPS."

The civil servant snapped back, "people like you are the reason we are having trouble staying open!"

eta: nb4 csb

Uber is hurting the cab companies and owners (who have all colluded with local govt), not the driver workforce per se. They are creating tons of driver jobs, after all.

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It was 3-5.5x surge on Friday night starting at 1am

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til when?

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I get it if you never use and dont mind paying the money to get home

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My wife or I use Uber almost every single day actually.

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, but I'm not paying $40 to go a mile.

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Then call a cab. Hopefully their wait time is lower than the 4+ hours I waited Halloween night a few years ago. I ended up walking home from downtown to burbank

Until 2:30am


You and/or your wife use Uber everyday in BR?


Thats everyones gripe with the cab company on here. Ive admitted the cab service was not good but people complain about not getting cabs on nights like Halloween. Yall knew the cab service wasnt good and you relied on it on one of the busiest nights of the year?

More than happy to have the alternative to the taxi monopoly, Uber and lyft are excellent examples of how the market will solve a problem when not artificially restricted by government regulation.

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You and/or your wife use Uber everyday in BR?

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Nope Houston now, but are in town basically every LSU weekend and solely rely on Uber.

So basically, our Uber experience in BR is strictly when they are going to have surge pricing.

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Thats everyones gripe with the cab company on here.

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What is? My gripe with the cab company is availability and not showing up when requested.

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Ive admitted the cab service was not good but people complain about not getting cabs on nights like Halloween. Yall knew the cab service wasnt good and you relied on it on one of the busiest nights of the year?

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There's a difference in not being very reliable and just not showing up at all after waiting 4 hours. See, you can actually track where your uber driver is or even request another one.

If you can't understand the difference, I can't help you. I've never had an uber's credit card machine go down. I've never had an uber . Of course it has flaws, but the same reason it is so cheap the majority of the time, is the same reason surge pricing is needed.

Guess what I can get on Halloween night?

An uber. Also left my phone in one last weekend, and was able to get it back. near 0% chance of that happening in a cab.

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Most likely until sometimes after 2am. That is how it usually works.

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I'd fully expect surge pricing between 1:30am and 2:30am.