tandempower

I generally use neither taxi services nor ride-sharing, but I was wondering if anyone living car free has used both and what the difference is as far as passenger experience. Is it easier to call a taxi service or use Uber or other ride-sharing services? Are there differences in terms of service or quality? Generally, how would you explain the difference between taking a taxi and using Uber or other ride-sharing services to someone who has never used either?

Please remember to keep the discussion free of the political aspects of this topic. This thread should be limited to the experience of ride-sharing and taxis and how they compare.

cooker

I take a cab 5-10 times a year. I've never tried Uber and I am quite leary of it as I question whether I would be insured it I was involved in an accident as a passenger. This is a huge issue that a lot of people seem oblivious to.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...stry-1.2804413

The Insurance Bureau of Canada warns that their personal car insurance won't cover them if they're in a collision or a passenger is injured, so drivers must carry commercial insurance coverage.

How do I know if an Uber driver has commercial insurance? I suspect the majority don't. With cabs I am confident that they are appropriately insured.

Plus I'm still hoping to hail the Cash Cab!

kickstart

Nope, neither apply to my commuting needs.

Machka 

When I did not own a car, I used to take a cab maybe half a dozen times a year. More recently, I was sent home in a cab once after falling ill at work. I think that's the first time I've been in a cab in about a decade!

But I am also quite leery of Uber for the same reason you are. Also for the perceived lack of regulation, control, etc. I'd rather pay the, presumably, higher cost of going with an established cab company.

tandempower

Hopefully someone who's also used Uber can reply to this thread. This is the current impression I have of an Uber ride:
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/uber-for-jen/2937470<a

Mobile 155

My opinion on this is more or less a matter of record. If a person's gluteus maximus is sitting in a car be it Uber, taxi or ride share is not car free during that time. Car light maybe. I know this has been debated several times but it has never been completely settled. Just saying.

cooker

What about your opinion of Uber vs cabs?

Mobile 155

Neither is car free. It is simply another way of using a car. Doesn't have anything to do with teaching someone how to be car free. I am car light already have no need for either.

cooker

No, according to the forum guidelines this is actually a very appropriate discussion: Do you live car free or car light? Do you prefer to use alternative transportation (bicycles, walking, other human-powered or public transportation) for everyday activities whenever possible?

It sounds like a person can discuss some use of motor vehicles here without violating the parameters.

Any thoughts on the insurance angle?

Machka 

If you're curious, why not give them a try? Then you can report back with your experiences.

Where I live now, we don't have Uber ... or more specifically, we haven't had Uber but I think the ban was just recently lifted so I suppose they may start to become available.

I-Like-To-Bike

Two sides of the same dispatched car+driver for hire coin; neither side is "ride sharing" [drivers do not share a destination with their passengers] except in the hyping blitz from flacks for Uber, Lyft and the like.

cooker

Do you think one is preferable to the other?

I-Like-To-Bike

I have no experience using Uber and the last time I took a taxi was in 2002. From what I read, Uber is being run by a couple of sharpies with few scruples, a well financed publicity campaign and political payoffs schemes, and a good application for dispatching so-called contracted help to pick up passengers in a timely and customer friendly manner.

I don't know why some smart tech guy doesn't come up with a similar smartphone application for use by conventional taxi cab companies to dispatch drivers and provide update service to customers. When that happens, and Uber, et al. is forced to play by the same labor and safety/insurance rules as well as requirements for picking up handicapped people as regulated taxi service, Uber's appeal will dwindle and market valuation should tank.

cooker

Yeah, I think cab companies are scrambling to respond, but I bet they are also cash strapped as a result of the uneven playing field and Uber scooping their business so that it'll make it harder to innovate.

gregf83 

Much of the cost of operating a taxi is due to the licensing costs which have nothing to do with insurance or safety but are an antiquated system to artificially restrict the number of taxis operating in a city. In Vancouver, for example, the licenses trade for approx $800,000. I suspect other large cities have higher license values.

Nothing wrong with regulating an industry but it's not clear why the taxi business isn't more open like other ventures. Uber is helping to modernize this service in many cities although they seem to be having trouble operating in Vancouver.

tandempower

Did you happen to read the part of the OP that specified this thread is to discuss and compare rider experience? There are plenty of threads on Uber in P&R to discuss the politics so why would you bring that up here after so much complaining about politics in the LCF forum?

Everyone complains that they're "cash strapped" and yet somehow everyone driving on the roads seems to have enough money to pay motor-vehicle and driving expenses. And then they have the gaul to restrict ride-sharing to protect their right to run inefficient taxi services.

I guess no one can actually respond to this thread because everyone has already decided to boycott Uber/ride-sharing in favor of taxis before trying it out; and yet it also sounds like few people use a taxi very often. What a pathetic scapegoating of a new form of LCF transportation in the interest of protecting taxi services that are hardly ever used anyway.

Machka 

No, not everyone complains that they are "cash strapped".

Yes, I would imagine that many people driving on the road do have enough money to pay motor-vehicle and driving expenses.

No, we haven't decided to "boycott" Uber.

Yes, we don't use a taxi service very often ... we don't need to. Why would we? But if we do want to use a taxi, we'd like to go with a service in which we have confidence.

No, riding in cars is not a method of LCF transportation. Living Car Free (or Light) involves not riding in cars. Taxi services, in a LCF lifestyle, are for occasional or emergency use.


As I said before ... why don't you use Uber. Try it and let us know what you think.

CliffordK

I did some research on the car share thing a while ago. I don't remember the service.

It absolutely did not apply to me. It is cheap if one can pick it up, run an errand, then drop it off.

Both myself and my mother live outside of the pickup/dropoff zones. So, I could snag one for errands around town, but I'd still have to get to town for the pickup/dropoff. And, if I wanted to visit Mom, I'd have to keep the meter running the whole time I was there.

Both Eugene and Portland have ride-share services. So, I inquired about picking the car up in Eugene, driving to Portland, dropping it off. Picking it up a few days later, and bringing it back to Eugene. But, since the two cities are in different "zones", one wouldn't be allowed to drop it off... and again, the meter ends up running continuously.

I could imagine using a taxi to go to the Eugene airport, but don't do that very frequently. More commonly I fly out of the Portland airport which has reasonable public transportation.

Sometime, there may be something that will require a normal car/pickup/truck rental, which will likely be cheaper than registering and insuring my own vehicle depending on what is being done.

Machka 

That was one reason I used a taxi when I did not own a car ... to get to the airport. I could use public transportation, and did sometimes when I was travelling quite light. On a few occasions, friends drove me to the airport and saw me off. And on several occasions I took a taxi.

I used taxis for a few other things as well.

I also rented vehicles once in a while.

cooker

I brought up the insurance angle because riding in an uninsured vehicle might be part of the Uber "experience". If I'm badly injured and disabled in a crash I don't want to be bankrupted too. It's nothing to do with protecting cabs - I don't have any stake in that. It's about protecting myself.

Plus, it relates to your OP questions about differences in service and quality (insurance is part of "quality"), or about how one would explain the two models to someone unfamiliar with them.

Machka 

+1

kickstart

That sums it up right there. I would choose an established professional service over a fly by night operation.

"I don't mind a parasite, I object to a cut-rate one".

I-Like-To-Bike

Did you read which post I was responding to? Hint: It wasn't your OP, your alleged restrictions on permitted responses did not apply.
Another hint: constant repetition and application of the phrase ride sharing to Uber doesn't make it so.

kickstart

In a way, uber is today's version of the 70s bumper sticker "ass, gas, or grass, nobody rides for free".

Roody

I have to agree with the last two posts.