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SF Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy

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Re: SF Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy

#201

Post by Grishnakh »

amyjess wrote: post #57
Grishnakh wrote: post #4

Too bad, so sad... If they hadn't allowed their service to get so horrible, with nasty old cars, drivers that don't speak English and drive around in circles to increase fares, drivers claiming their card readers are "broken" so you have to pay cash, taking an hour to show up when called, passing by black people, etc., then this wouldn't be happening. From the article: "Cab drivers, on the other hand, maintain that t…

Sadly, a lot of terrible cab drivers are moving over to Uber and Lyft now, and they're bringing with them the bad attitudes that drove people away from cabs. I'm a frequent Lyft rider. One of my worst experiences recently was with a guy who spoke extremely broken English and who could barely understand English either. This wouldn't be so bad, but Apple Maps told him my house was someplace it wasn't (I didn't realize…

See, the nice thing about Uber/Lyft here is that you just have to rate these drivers poorly, and you won't be matched up with them again, and after too many bad ratings, they'll be kicked out and won't be driving for anyone. This wasn't the case with the cab companies; there was no incentive to get rid of bad drivers.

The best thing you can do is give truthful ratings, and for really bad ones (or ones where you weren't able to rate them) complain to Uber/Lyft. They seem to care a lot more about their reputation than the cab companies ever did. After all, they don't have a monopoly.

Re: SF Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy

#202

Post by sjwright »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #88
k-mcgrady wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "drivers took my word over the GPS every single time when I gave directions" So wouldn't a driver knowledgable of the city streets that you don't ever have to give directions to be better? I use Uber all the time but I find that regular taxi drivers are better in traffic as they tend to know ways around it the GPS doesn't provide. I also regularly get GPS focussed drivers taking 1 turn too early and driving in a c…

It'll be super funny when self-driving cars are seen following the at-times-ridiculous GPS directions. For the foreseeable future, I wouldn't want to be in a car without a steering wheel.

GPS directions are only ever ridiculous due to a lack of information. In many cities (Sydney Australia, for example) data is good enough and the roads straightforward enough that chosen routes are always either ideal or sufficiently close to ideal.

Re: SF Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy

#203

Post by RyJones »

mattieuga wrote: post #193
sirkneeland wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To this day Google/Waze will suggest I get onto the 101's Octavia entrance by just driving down market and turning right onto the 101, neglecting the very longstanding rule that you have to run the Octavia St gauntlet to get on the 101's Octavia route.

If you report data errors, Google is pretty good about fixing them quickly.

I reported a huge problem in Google Maps for years and it wasn't fixed. A bunch of POIs for downtown Seattle were transposed to downtown Kirkland. Search for directions from Microsoft campus to the Seattle Federal Building and it would send you to a residential area off 85th west of 405 in Kirkland.

(I reported it multiple times over the years)

Re: SF Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy

#204

Post by sjwright »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #176
rhino369 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GPS still doesn't beat a good driver 9 out of 10 times for city driving. Uber drives consistently miss exits, head down clearly mistaken paths created by GPS errors, sit there staring at the GPS rather than the road I uber to work everyday and 90% of the time the uber driver blindly follows GPS through an alley that isn't really meant for traffic, ignoring the much simpler and faster route that whatever GPS uber uses…

I've had Google maps tell me to go the wrong way down a one way street. Two different times! You gotta be paying attention to where the GPS is telling you to go. Knowing the roads in invaluable for a driver. That being said I've had many cabbies who had no idea where they were going.

This sort of problem won't apply for driverless cars though, as they must honor road signage. The first time your one-way street is encountered by a driverless car, the discrepancy between map and reality will be identified and corrected.

Re: SF Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy

#205

Post by neutronicus »

Grishnakh wrote: post #4

Too bad, so sad... If they hadn't allowed their service to get so horrible, with nasty old cars, drivers that don't speak English and drive around in circles to increase fares, drivers claiming their card readers are "broken" so you have to pay cash, taking an hour to show up when called, passing by black people, etc., then this wouldn't be happening. From the article: "Cab drivers, on the other hand, maintain that t…

> Who cares about knowledge of city streets?

Me. Being stuck with a clueless uber driver when the GPS is misfiring for whatever reason is the worst.

Re: SF Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy

#206

Post by yazaddaruvala »

fweespeech wrote: post #192
criddell wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a more interesting question revolves around the effectiveness of regulations. Maybe it's time to deregulate the Taxi business and see how things go. If there's a big problem, reintroduce regulations that make sense.

Well would you agree hiring felons that then rape drunk women they pick up via Uber is a problem?

Anyone raping anyone is horrendous and a tragic atrocity. It should never be allowed to happen!

However, we don't live in Minority Report. You do not and cannot know if someone is going to commit a crime, regardless of their past actions. Discarding "innocent until proven guilty" is also an atrocity, that shouldn't be allowed to happen.

While difficult to accept, it really is impossible to compare two atrocities and declare one is more important than the other.

On a different note: Improving realtime safety, inside of an Uber, is something you will get unanimous support for. If what you're looking for is Uber combined with http://www.companionapp.io/ that is worthwhile and I hope Uber prioritizes this feature next over all others.

Infact, if anyone reads this and has the appropriate connections to get this idea into the hands of Uber's executives, it is really worth Uber's time to get safety right. Allowing women/children(even men) to opt-in to pre-set a designated "Companion" on trips taken between 8pm-8am(configurable) is worth investing the three or so dev months it would take them to build this out.

Re: SF Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy

#207

Post by dingo_bat »

HappyTypist wrote: post #172
orf wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In London I actually find the opposite. I like Uber and the convenience, but all the drivers are foreign and don't know their way around. More than 3 times I've been taken a hugely longer way round because the driver blindly followed the terrible Uber GPS, literally adding 15-20 minutes to the journey for no reason. Sure, I can get some of the cash back (and it is super easy to do so) but I would like for them just t…

Drivers can use any GPS they want. The uber gps is Apple maps.

Whenever I've used Uber, it seemed to be Google Maps.

Re: SF Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy

#208

Post by [deleted] »

rhino369 wrote: post #60
mayank wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who cares about knowledge of city streets? Funny story: for a while in SF, the taxi union (?) was running ads that were thinly veiled attacks on Uber/Lyft. One of them showed a smiling taxi driver with the caption "would you rather have a driver who knows the city by heart or by GPS?" I found it particularly hilarious because the answer, for me at least, is GPS with live traffic information. Just another example of…

GPS still doesn't beat a good driver 9 out of 10 times for city driving. Uber drives consistently miss exits, head down clearly mistaken paths created by GPS errors, sit there staring at the GPS rather than the road I uber to work everyday and 90% of the time the uber driver blindly follows GPS through an alley that isn't really meant for traffic, ignoring the much simpler and faster route that whatever GPS uber uses…

[deleted]

Re: SF Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy

#209

Post by mleonhard »

rhino369 wrote: post #60
mayank wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who cares about knowledge of city streets? Funny story: for a while in SF, the taxi union (?) was running ads that were thinly veiled attacks on Uber/Lyft. One of them showed a smiling taxi driver with the caption "would you rather have a driver who knows the city by heart or by GPS?" I found it particularly hilarious because the answer, for me at least, is GPS with live traffic information. Just another example of…

GPS still doesn't beat a good driver 9 out of 10 times for city driving. Uber drives consistently miss exits, head down clearly mistaken paths created by GPS errors, sit there staring at the GPS rather than the road I uber to work everyday and 90% of the time the uber driver blindly follows GPS through an alley that isn't really meant for traffic, ignoring the much simpler and faster route that whatever GPS uber uses…

Uber's directions are poor. Tell your driver to use Waze. Or use it yourself and tell your driver where to go.

Problem solved.

Re: SF Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy

#210

Post by fweespeech »

yazaddaruvala wrote: post #206
fweespeech wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well would you agree hiring felons that then rape drunk women they pick up via Uber is a problem?

Anyone raping anyone is horrendous and a tragic atrocity. It should never be allowed to happen! However, we don't live in Minority Report. You do not and cannot know if someone is going to commit a crime, regardless of their past actions. Discarding "innocent until proven guilty" is also an atrocity, that shouldn't be allowed to happen. While difficult to accept, it really is impossible to compare two atrocities and…

> Anyone raping anyone is horrendous and a tragic atrocity. It should never be allowed to happen!

Yet it can be somewhat prevented with background checks.

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