Uber now at Canberra airport

[Skyring]

Finally, nine months after prospective Uber drivers were told that Canberra airport pickups were coming "real soon now", the day has arrived. I attended the local Uber HQ, picked up my card, received a briefing.

Arriving passengers will apparently be directed to the Express pickup zone in the Green car park. A dedicated, air-conditioned, lounge is provided. Because air conditioning is what you want in Canberra's dry, hot, summer months.

Uber vehicles will be queued in a geofenced zone on the other side of the cross runway and will be assigned on a first-in-first-out basis. It will take about five minutes to travel to the pickup point.

"Can we just drive straight across here?" I asked, indicating a more direct route.

"Ah, no, that's the runway."

"But it's a lot shorter, and we have to pay the airport a three dollar fee anyways."

"No, you'll have to take the highway route."

Can't say I didn't try.

 

[RB]

Finally, nine months after prospective Uber drivers were told that Canberra airport pickups were coming "real soon now", the day has arrived. I attended the local Uber HQ, picked up my card, received a briefing.

Arriving passengers will apparently be directed to the Express pickup zone in the Green car park. A dedicated, air-conditioned, lounge is provided. Because air conditioning is what you want in Canberra's dry, hot, summer months.

Uber vehicles will be queued in a geofenced zone on the other side of the cross runway and will be assigned on a first-in-first-out basis. It will take about five minutes to travel to the pickup point.

"Can we just drive straight across here?" I asked, indicating a more direct route.

"Ah, no, that's the runway."

"But it's a lot shorter, and we have to pay the airport a three dollar fee anyways."

"No, you'll have to take the highway route."

Can't say I didn't try.

I read the story in the paper today re Uber in Canberra & was wondering how you were going. Hope all works out with how many hours you want to work

 

[OzEire]

Thanks Skyring for posting that info. I just got back today and missed the article.

There was a pop-up on my Uber app when I recently arrived at CBR, it mentioned something changing and I was interested to know more but closed the app as I went through the security. Unfortunately, the pop-up had disappeared by the time I went back in to the app when settled in the lounge.

I am happy to see the taxi mafia being forced to give up more of their protected zones - sooner or later they will have to compete or profit margins (which admittedly were huge under the monopoly) will continue to erode. I don't get why a taxi company in a small closed market like Canberra hasn't just improved their offering and actually taken-on Uber ... Queanbeyan based Cabxpress is prime - small, private owned and has always had an underdog attitude toward the bigger network in Canberra. I expect most taxi networks would be too entrenched in archaic culture to win in this disrupted market.

 

[Skyring]

Thanks Skyring for posting that info. I just got back today and missed the article.

There was a pop-up on my Uber app when I recently arrived at CBR, it mentioned something changing and I was interested to know more but closed the app as I went through the security. Unfortunately, the pop-up had disappeared by the time I went back in to the app when settled in the lounge.

I am happy to see the taxi mafia being forced to give up more of their protected zones - sooner or later they will have to compete or profit margins (which admittedly were huge under the monopoly) will continue to erode. I don't get why a taxi company in a small closed market like Canberra hasn't just improved their offering and actually taken-on Uber ... Queanbeyan based Cabxpress is prime - small, private owned and has always had an underdog attitude toward the bigger network in Canberra. I expect most taxi networks would be too entrenched in archaic culture to win in this disrupted market.

Apparently if you request an Uber at the airport, you'll get a popup giving you directions to the pickup area, just a few paces past the cabline on the Virgin side.

There are a huge number of passengers who have had it up to the scalp with the taxi industry's poor value. I would have thought, like you, that with Uber providing some serious competition, the taxi business would have seen a massive shakeup to be more attractive.

But no. They tried to stymie Uber through government regulation and lobbying rather than improving their product. Some governments are sort of behind them, but the public are voting with their feet and wallets.

Uber has a far better passenger experience, but as a company they have some very questionable practices. They pay very little tax in Australia, apparently being registered as some sort of charity in the Netherlands. They exploit their drivers, who are lured in with promises of good hourly rates, but find after a while that there are many hidden costs, such as increased maintenance and depreciation.

 

[Quaffer]

Here's a map with the location of the pickup location and waiting lounge: https://www.canberraairport.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Rideshare_PickUp.pdf

 

[Boris spatsky]

So does it pick up kerbside or inside the carpark?

 

[OzEire]

It looks like a good setup. This was actually where the taxis queued and picked-up when the terminal was being refurbished, before the current rank opened.

Much better than SYD - I waited 20+ mins at the awful pax pickup area as my Uber inched closer in the queue. Horrible implementation, almost like Syd Airport Corp were trying to put Uber in the too hard category for many travellers. Next time I'm walking down to the (Jeep ?) showroom to get the pickup, it's not much further and outside the airport's geofence.

 

[get me outta here]

The Jeep showroom option sounds promising. I'll also look into that for any pick ups.

It looks like a good setup. This was actually where the taxis queued and picked-up when the terminal was being refurbished, before the current rank opened.

Much better than SYD - I waited 20+ mins at the awful pax pickup area as my Uber inched closer in the queue. Horrible implementation, almost like Syd Airport Corp were trying to put Uber in the too hard category for many travellers. Next time I'm walking down to the (Jeep ?) showroom to get the pickup, it's not much further and outside the airport's geofence.

 

[Mattg]

Great to see Uber coming to CBR. I may well use this in the future.

There are a huge number of passengers who have had it up to the scalp with the taxi industry's poor value. I would have thought, like you, that with Uber providing some serious competition, the taxi business would have seen a massive shakeup to be more attractive.

But no. They tried to stymie Uber through government regulation and lobbying rather than improving their product. Some governments are sort of behind them, but the public are voting with their feet and wallets.

This sounds a lot like the way the US airlines complain that the ME3 are competing "unfairly", while continuing to offer terrible service at high prices...

 

[BAM1748]

Finally, nine months after prospective Uber drivers were told that Canberra airport pickups were coming "real soon now", the day has arrived. I attended the local Uber HQ, picked up my card, received a briefing.

9 months sounds pretty fast for a decision out of Canberra to me.