Nice. What a business model by the way. Complete gamechnger, esp. for our generation.

Does it get more expensive late night? The cars are privately owned and drivers just ind. contractors? They charge your card and I assume you just throw the driver a tip? Already linked with my PayPal acct. can't wait to try it.

This post was edited on 5/29/14 at 7:13 pm

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Posted by The Third Leg

Idiot Out Wandering Around

Member since May 2014

10074 posts

Posted on 5/29/14 at 7:16 pm to Honkus

Nope, fees are static. No premiums. There is also a ride expense estimator on the app.

It's cheap, especially for groups of 3-4. No cash, no signing, all linked to your card, receipt emailed immediately.

This post was edited on 5/29/14 at 7:17 pm

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Posted by AbuTheMonkey

Chicago, IL

Member since May 2014

8038 posts

Posted on 5/29/14 at 7:19 pm to Honkus

quote:
Nice. What a business model by the way. Complete gamechnger, esp. for our generation.

Does it get more expensive late night? The cars are privately owned and drivers just ind. contractors? They charge your card and I assume you just throw the driver a tip? Already linked with my PayPal acct. can't wait to try it.

Tip is automatically included everywhere I have been. That's one of the simple geniuses of the system....no physical exchange of money in any form, so no hassle or prodding or whatever. Everything is understood beforehand.

And yes, Uber will definitely use dynamic pricing models. They will charge a whole lot more on St. Patrick's Day or New Year's Eve, for instance (the cabs do the same here, though).

I was staying with a college friend of mine - very much tied into the VC world in SF - in San Francisco for several days in 2010 when Uber first launched there. It seemed like magic back then, and all the cars were badarse, $50,000+ late models. All I could think of was how much opposition they would face when they started pouring into other cities, but so far, though they've encountered quite a bit of obstruction, they've actually had less friction than I thought they would have.

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Posted by 777Tiger

Member since Mar 2011

73856 posts

Posted on 5/29/14 at 7:25 pm to Honkus

quote:
. What a business model by the way

I think I met the guy who invented this in BA a few years back, I was treating a buddy to an evening a one of the higher end "clubs," and we rolled out of there pretty early in the am, a big(for Arg,,) well dressed guy in a nice suit approached us, introduced himself, spoke flawless English, drove a Lexus, he kind of knew who we were, and that we came to BA a lot, proposed a deal, whenever we came down there, he would be our body guard, interpreter, chauffer, valet, courier, whatever, for almost nothing, the radio cabs down there are cheap, but they're sardine cans, and the guys sometimes give you counterfeit change, as it turned out, our new guy was fricking great, he was a martial arts instructor, member of the local Hells Angels, and knew anything and anyone you needed to know down there, and of course we paid him accordingly, really a interesting guy, had him up here for a visit, but had to pay him triple to forget a few things