Uber - good or bad? • Non-Gaming • Travel • Eurogamer.net

TheSaint 25 Jun 2015 13:31:19 20,950 posts
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Lots of trouble in Paris today with taxi drivers protesting the rise of Uber:

http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/25/8844649/french-taxi-driver-protest-uber-pop-paris

I can understand why taxi drivers are unhappy when they are forced to buy such expensive licences only for Uber drivers to swoop in and undercut them. The ease and flexibility of Uber does seem like the future though.

Well until all the drivers are put out of work by self driving cars.

Anyone use them regularly? Is it the future or just the current flavour of the month?

elstoof 25 Jun 2015 13:34:44 28,125 posts
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Try Grinder instead.

CosmicFuzz 25 Jun 2015 13:35:24 32,632 posts
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As a consumer i'm all for making taxis cheaper and more flexable.

You-can-call-me-kal 25 Jun 2015 13:37:00 23,013 posts
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Your fair depending on how busy it is, is a great a idea. And the way the app works is excellent.

I feel sorry for individual taxi drivers, especially ones that have done The Knowledge, but bigger picture is that you have to innovate and progress or someone else will and make you irrelevant.

So yes, Uber is very good indeed from a customer service point of view, and realistically every business should be focussing on the needs of their customer above their own.

Edited by Gus at 13:37:24 25-06-2015

urban 25 Jun 2015 13:37:13 13,148 posts
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This company specifically may not be the future, they are excellent and I do use it far too often.

For example, getting home from Alexandra Palace after a gig with 10,000 people? Walk down the road a bit, drop the pin, 5 minutes later some geezer in a Mercedes C Class AMG rolls up and takes me the 6 miles home for Ł14! He even had a mini fridge with cold bottles of water.

Fuck paying Ł35 for a shit brick black cab after that experience.

Deleted user 25 June 2015 13:38:37

if you live in a city, uber is really good (for the consumer, anyway)

i fire up the app, and i have a driver to me within maybe 5 minutes, and then i'm straight home. in birmingham, it's mostly private hire cabs anyway, so you're not just getting random drivers with an uber account. all that, and it's about 1/2 - 2/3rds of the regular black cab price. it's all i use on a night out, now.

i get that it sucks for traditional cabbies, but it's sort of like the spotify situation - if they want to compete, they need to at least be as convenient as uber (with the app, etc) - then it becomes purely about the cost, and i can work out if i'd sooner pay over the odds to support local cabbies, or pay less but support an awful company. i want to compare it to free range eggs vs factory bred, but that seems demeaning.

Edited by gravearchitecture at 13:39:47 25-06-2015

You-can-call-me-kal 25 Jun 2015 13:40:10 23,013 posts
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Fwiw black cabs now have Halo which is pretty much the Uber app for black cabs, but it's too little too late.

ozthegweat 25 Jun 2015 13:41:32 2,977 posts
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Uber is basically Taxi 2.0, with an intense focus on user experience. That industry was long overdue for a revolution.

I wouldn't want to use anything else after having tried it a couple of times in the SF Bay Area last year.

No wonder Taxi 1.0 is complaining with its shitty service and higher prices.

Now if Uber would just clean up their act (with those shady tactics and sharp decline in rates after gaining foothold in a region)...

Fonzie 25 Jun 2015 13:43:13 3,492 posts
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I use Uber a lot in Birmingham. They tend to be cheaper and you don't have to worry about having enough money in your wallet to pay.

elstoof 25 Jun 2015 13:43:47 28,125 posts
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How hard is it to become an uber driver?

You-can-call-me-kal 25 Jun 2015 13:45:46 23,013 posts
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elstoof wrote:
How hard is it to become an uber driver?

Realistically, with the invention of sat nav how hard is it to be a taxi driver full stop?

urban 25 Jun 2015 13:45:55 13,148 posts
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@elstoof https://partners.uber.com/signup/london/ not

https://get.uber.com/cl/financing/

Edited by urban at 13:46:48 25-06-2015

TheSaint 25 Jun 2015 13:46:24 20,950 posts
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The whole cashless part is the real bonus for me. I hardly ever carry much cash and in my experiences even cabs that take cards are reluctant to actually let you pay with them.

I'm going to SF in the summer and was planning to use it there. I'd never even thought of using them in London.

Humperfunk 25 Jun 2015 13:46:42 8,634 posts
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I live in Shoreditch, went to a girl's house in Limehouse on Monday and she cooked me dinner - like a twat I had left my insulin at home which I need due to diabetes.

Summoned an Uber, it arrived in three minutes, I was back at hers within 20 minutes for Ł15.

So as a consumer, it's amazing.

elstoof 25 Jun 2015 13:47:12 28,125 posts
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I mean from a legislation point of view. I know anyone can turn up outside a pub at 11pm and pick up a pisshead, but do you need to have a background check to five for uber?

Humperfunk 25 Jun 2015 13:47:45 8,634 posts
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TheSaint wrote:
The whole cashless part is the real bonus for me. I hardly ever carry much cash and in my experiences even cabs that take cards are reluctant to actually let you pay with them.

And this - didn't have any money on me but it was door to door so didn't have to worry about taking out loads of cash to pay someone who'll charge me three times as much.

It was a good day.

Nazo 25 Jun 2015 13:48:44 1,951 posts
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Lots of Uber drivers don't have proper insurance for taxi work so if something happened you'd be fucked.

'Innovation' in this case seems to mean bypassing inconvenient regulations that protect the consumer.

elstoof 25 Jun 2015 13:49:19 28,125 posts
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urban wrote:
@elstoof https://partners.uber.com/signup/london/ not

https://get.uber.com/cl/financing/

Cheers

You-can-call-me-kal 25 Jun 2015 13:50:03 23,013 posts
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Nazo wrote:
Lots of Uber drivers don't have proper insurance for taxi work so if something happened you'd be fucked.

'Innovation' in this case seems to mean bypassing inconvenient regulations that protect the consumer.

Don't really see how one has anything to do with the other tbh.

CosmicFuzz 25 Jun 2015 13:52:54 32,632 posts
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Nazo wrote:
Lots of Uber drivers don't have proper insurance for taxi work so if something happened you'd be fucked.

'Innovation' in this case seems to mean bypassing inconvenient regulations that protect the consumer.

Why would the consumer be fucked? They're not driving.

CosmicFuzz 25 Jun 2015 13:54:21 32,632 posts
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Also, I just read that with Uber, not only can you pay through the app but you can split it with others in the taxi. That's brilliant for a group of folk chipping in for a taxi somewhere.

"I'll get you a drink inside" they used to say. No you fucking didn't you cheapskate!!

You-can-call-me-kal 25 Jun 2015 13:55:24 23,013 posts
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The insurance thing is an issue but not exclusive to Uber - that's a general minicab thing.

CosmicFuzz 25 Jun 2015 13:56:58 32,632 posts
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I'd love to see a taxi driver crash his car then turn to the guy in the back seat, "Sorry mate I'm not actually insured, your fare's just jumped up to three grand."

CosmicFuzz 25 Jun 2015 13:58:25 32,632 posts
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Or I suppose there's the point if the passenger was injured he'd be claiming compensation off an individual who might not have money compared to a taxi company who are insured for payouts.

Didn't think of that angle, actually.

urban 25 Jun 2015 14:00:55 13,148 posts
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I honestly don't think I've ever heard of someone dying in a car crash within London in my 3 years of living here.

Cyclists die all the damn time mind.

You-can-call-me-kal 25 Jun 2015 14:01:45 23,013 posts
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There's a bunch of flowers on pretty much every set of lights.

RyanDS 25 Jun 2015 14:02:51 14,073 posts
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urban wrote:
I honestly don't think I've ever heard of someone dying in a car crash within London in my 3 years of living here.

Cyclists die all the damn time mind.

You need to get above 4 miles an hour for a car crash to be dangerous...

Edit: For the people in the car obviously.

Edited by RyanDS at 14:03:17 25-06-2015

Armoured_Bear 25 Jun 2015 14:04:43 31,233 posts
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Parisian taxi drivers can go fuck themselves sideways, a large number of them are utter arseholes who act as if they're doing you a massive fucking favour by driving you somewhere.
They pile all their shit on the passenger seat, refuse to take 4 passengers and behave like arses at every opportunity.

Rivuzu 25 Jun 2015 14:04:50 18,424 posts
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urban wrote:
I honestly don't think I've ever heard of someone dying in a car crash within London in my 3 years of living here.

Cyclists die all the damn time mind.

Cyclists aren't people though, so it's ok.

urban 25 Jun 2015 14:07:34 13,148 posts
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Paging Psychotext, Elstoof, Mike P.

Get 'im boys!