Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

fivethirtyeight.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 174 posts

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#71

Post by ChrisLTD »

CodeSheikh wrote: post #30

I would take Uber over rude Manhattan cabbies any day. My personal experience with Manhattan taxi drivers after living in NYC for last two years. 1) They drive as if they are on a rally track. I have had never experienced motion sickness before until I moved to Manhattan. 2) If you ignore the tip or tip them in the range of $1-3 you get snarky remarks from them. 3) If you try to hail a cab and (regrettably) ask the t…

I've encountered a few rude cabbies in my last three years here, but the majority have been nice. However, I agree 100% that they tend to drive like maniacs.

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#72

Post by prostoalex »

odonnellryan wrote: post #52
stevenmays wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, some percentage of taxi drivers are racist. I've had tremendous difficulties hailing a cab, Uber removes this (and having to think about it).

This is very illegal, and you can report the taxi's that pass you.

With no way to document the pickup request, can't the driver just claim he "didn't see" the raised hand?

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#73

Post by Disruptive_Dave »

bko wrote: post #54
brianwawok wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the problem 1) Uber comes in pays well - sources on the net for hip drivers - You get awesome English speaking nice drivers 2) Uber starts to drop rates 3) Good Uber drivers quit for lack of pay, existing cabbies start to drive for Uber 4) You end up getting the same cabbies as before Uber, but with surge pricing. It takes a while, but eventually it ends back up in the same exact place as before :( Totally ha…

I don't think cabbies are rude because they are not paid well. I think they're rude because they aren't held accountable for their rudeness and before Uber, there was no meaningful competition. If an Uber driver is rude and got a negative review, in the current system, he would probably be let go rather promptly. It could be that Uber will have to lower the minimum acceptable rating in order to keep enough drivers, b…

This. As an NYC resident, this and this. Even beyond the review/star system, from what I understand Uber sets expectations of cleanliness and friendliness and general professionalism. I don't think the taxi industry ever started with these base expectations. It's a good start.

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#74

Post by prostoalex »

Spooky23 wrote: post #27
jessriedel wrote: post #15

The author takes pickups as a measure of congestion, but as they (sort of) admit much later on in the article, this is a bad measure. The argument of regulators is that, in the absence of proper congestion pricing for cars on the road, the market equilibrium for number of taxis per inhabitant will be higher than is efficient. That's how they justify a cap on the number of cabs. (It increases wait times but, they argu…

It's more than that. There's a finite number of people seeking a ride, it's a zero sum market where the supply of rides will crash, and Uber will jack up the rates. Uber ultimately will have enormous leverage to submarine any meaningful competition and even to displace public transit. Their national scope will make them a force to be reckoned with.

How onerous would it be for competition to enter the market, via Flywheel or some other white-label app?

Uber decided to hold off entering Spain, which let a bunch of similar services (Cabify, Hailo, MyTaxi) operate in that market. Same in Denmark - almost every cab passing by advertises a URL for their specific app.

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#75

Post by mbca »

brianwawok wrote: post #45
CodeSheikh wrote: post #30

I would take Uber over rude Manhattan cabbies any day. My personal experience with Manhattan taxi drivers after living in NYC for last two years. 1) They drive as if they are on a rally track. I have had never experienced motion sickness before until I moved to Manhattan. 2) If you ignore the tip or tip them in the range of $1-3 you get snarky remarks from them. 3) If you try to hail a cab and (regrettably) ask the t…

Here is the problem 1) Uber comes in pays well - sources on the net for hip drivers - You get awesome English speaking nice drivers 2) Uber starts to drop rates 3) Good Uber drivers quit for lack of pay, existing cabbies start to drive for Uber 4) You end up getting the same cabbies as before Uber, but with surge pricing. It takes a while, but eventually it ends back up in the same exact place as before :( Totally ha…

The quality of Uber drivers in San Francisco has dropped all the way to the point where I simply will not try to use Uber anywhere near downtown. They will accept the ride and the app will show they are "1 minute" away, however it will often take upwards of 15 minutes for them to reach me because they don't know their way around the city and are confused by all the one-way streets in downtown. I promise I"m not exaggerating, it really does take that long. I've stood there and watched them on the map spending 10-15 minutes driving very long distances away from me before finally turning in the right direction and painfully, slowly, starting to get closer. It's ridiculous.

If I'm in downtown or SOMA, I will use a taxi (either hailing or using Flywheel). It's usually a huge time saver (and there's no "surge" pricing either).

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#76

Post by emidln »

dominotw wrote: post #63
CodeSheikh wrote: post #30

I would take Uber over rude Manhattan cabbies any day. My personal experience with Manhattan taxi drivers after living in NYC for last two years. 1) They drive as if they are on a rally track. I have had never experienced motion sickness before until I moved to Manhattan. 2) If you ignore the tip or tip them in the range of $1-3 you get snarky remarks from them. 3) If you try to hail a cab and (regrettably) ask the t…

In Chicago 4. They pretend that ccard machines are not working. Demand cash. 5. Cars are so old that someone of them have no Air conditioning. 6. Drivers often have BO and are often chewing gutka( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutka ) 7. Rude. This needs to be said again.

Number 4 results in free rides if they tell you after the fact. It's law in Chicago that they must accept credit cards.

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#77

Post by andrewpi »

brianwawok wrote: post #66
stevenmays wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, some percentage of taxi drivers are racist. I've had tremendous difficulties hailing a cab, Uber removes this (and having to think about it).

Can they see your name or profile picture when you hail? Or just your rating? I fear that racism tends to overcome technology ;(

No, they don't see that until they accept the hail.

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#78

Post by StriverGuy »

brianwawok wrote: post #45
CodeSheikh wrote: post #30

I would take Uber over rude Manhattan cabbies any day. My personal experience with Manhattan taxi drivers after living in NYC for last two years. 1) They drive as if they are on a rally track. I have had never experienced motion sickness before until I moved to Manhattan. 2) If you ignore the tip or tip them in the range of $1-3 you get snarky remarks from them. 3) If you try to hail a cab and (regrettably) ask the t…

Here is the problem 1) Uber comes in pays well - sources on the net for hip drivers - You get awesome English speaking nice drivers 2) Uber starts to drop rates 3) Good Uber drivers quit for lack of pay, existing cabbies start to drive for Uber 4) You end up getting the same cabbies as before Uber, but with surge pricing. It takes a while, but eventually it ends back up in the same exact place as before :( Totally ha…

You obviously arent aware of how the Uber app works. If a driver receives only 1 or 2 severely low ratings, they are contacted by their managing office. After warnings they will eventually be fired.

Uber adds a level of accountability that NYC cabs do not have.

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#79

Post by oberstein »

suneilp wrote: post #51

I can't say I'm sorry to hear taxis lose business. Uber is being innovative and I like it. Taxi drivers, from what I understand, have been getting shafted for a long time by a corrupt system. Uber drivers might not be making bank, but from what I can tell they are doing better. If I'm wrong about please correct me, I'd love to hear some feedback on that. I often ask Uber drivers if the pay is worthwhile since I don't…

In my interviews with Uber drivers the only ones that really complain about the company are former taxi drivers.

Re: Uber Is Taking Millions of Manhattan Rides Away from Taxis

#80

Post by codyb »

CodeSheikh wrote: post #30

I would take Uber over rude Manhattan cabbies any day. My personal experience with Manhattan taxi drivers after living in NYC for last two years. 1) They drive as if they are on a rally track. I have had never experienced motion sickness before until I moved to Manhattan. 2) If you ignore the tip or tip them in the range of $1-3 you get snarky remarks from them. 3) If you try to hail a cab and (regrettably) ask the t…

Why would you ignore the tip? Points one and three are valid, and you should always hop in before you direct, but ignoring the tip on what is essentially a luxury good (metro is $2.75 a ride and you can transfer as many times as you need to get where you need to go) is quite rude when it's expected and part of the culture.

If you can't afford to tip your taxi driver, take the train. Sorry.

Post reply on HN