Originally Posted by
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.
Originally Posted by
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.
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?
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.
Originally Posted by
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.
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.