What's your Uber experience?

[Haplo]

Taxi driver have a very bad reputation in Sydney. More than half the time I caught the taxi the driver is taking on the phone to their friends and shows no disrespect to their customer.

I had times where the tax driver using smart meter tries to charge toll on top of it and I had to fight back, so if I wast forced to use taxi due to work requirement I would not catch one at all.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

The bottom line is taxis have been woeful and taking the public for a ride (pardon the pun) for years. ... They could have modernised their system, they could have ensured the vehicles were in better/cleaner condition, they could have taken a harder line on unsafe/dishonest drivers, they could have never implimented the rort that was the 10% fee to pay with credit card etc etc. They didn’t and they are now reaping what they sowed. You keep making the same mistake in thinking price is the only factor in people choosing Uber over Taxis. It’s not.

I thank both NoName and jastel for this debate as I'm finding it interesting to hear both sides of the argument.

I understand, even sympathise with a lot of the pro-taxi industry comments, but I must say that I'm more inclined to agree with the pro-ride share side. Taxi's have for years allowed their service to remain bumping along the bottom and the Gov't regulations were not the cause of that, they were simply a reason why the Taxi Co's could get away with it. I'm finding Uber to be a refreshing change, but not without their own little dramas from time to time. I really like the fact the vast majority of Uber vehicles are clean, new and comfortable. The vast majority of Taxi's (with the odd exception) are grubby, broken and tired.

the rating system weeds a few out when they bring their bad taxi habits over as a poor fellow found out when I was at one of their offices last week.

This is possibly one of the best concepts with Uber. My biggest fear was that they would not act on this ability and it's great to hear that they are, but a rating system for both pax and driver is fabulous as it will (if implemented correctly) oust both the problem passenger and the problem driver. A win/win situation.

 

[andyhui01]

There are many hard working immigrants (long term residents not new arrivals) driving and owning Taxis, they worked hard and built up an asset to support their families. Now since uber and the like that asset is basically worthless,.

I do feel for them, the same way I feel for anyone who has lost money in an investment. Any investment carries risk, even Government bonds or money in a term deposit with the big 4. Regulations in every industry change over time.

Your family might have been led to believe it would be impossible for a Taxi plate to go down in value and that Taxi's will always be the sole point to point on demand car service in Melbourne. The reality is, many cities (eg London) has had Mini Cabs for decades (probably as long as your family has owned licenses). Uber is almost just like a more advanced, automated version of having to call a depot for a mini cab. The "Uber" concept of using private cars for on demand bookings have always existed. Uber just had the money and guts to do it in a much larger scale and bring this concept to new cities.

I've seen interviews, facebook posts about how there are people felt ripped off or betrayed as they were led to believe that Taxi licenses and monopoly would last forever. If anything, they should be upset at the brokers and other people in the industry who led them to believe that their investment is risk free.

 

[Buzzard]

Many a business can be killed off by change to how we do business, not only Uber/Taxi. What about the corner shop when the giants no longer shut at 5, the butcher, fruit and vegetable shop, Post Office. I'm pretty certain most of these businesses owners looked at their business as their super. Taxis are just another in a long list. Should we blame Uber for evolution?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Should we blame Uber for evolution?

Naw, blame Darwin. It's all his fault!

You forget to mention a biggie, what about the poor old Video shop? A few years back we had 5 in close proximity, now there are none. The days of fines for not rewinding a video cassette or late return fines are also gone! I don't miss them.

Record/CD shops, very few left when in the past every shopping centre had at least one.

A mate of mine did his apprenticeship as a typesetter at a newspaper. He hasn't done that for many, many years thanks to computers.

 

[gaz0303]

Three Uber’s in Sydney this week and one taxi. All Uber cars we’re immaculate - Q7 (black), Passat and Touareg (both select). Only problem was that on arrival to Sydney domestic, our driver turned onto Ross Smith Av in an attempted short cut. Stuck forever in traffic that hard a time with the lights at Sir Reg Ansett Dr.. Just made boarding when we should have had some lounge time. Ended up being $68 from Centennial Park to the airport.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Had an interesting ride yesterday. My driver started flying planes in PNG the year I was born ('62)!

Had a great chat with him given that both he and I attended RAAF Rad school ... except he was Ballarat and I was Laverton some years later.

Mind you, he wasn't the speediest driver I've ever had!

 

[Deleted member]

I swore that I would never ride a taxi in Sydney ever again , we needed to get to the international terminal in good time this morning and the closest Uber was too far away. So we reluctantly took a cab from the Hilton. The usual drive ensued. Surging as he drove (I don’t understand why Sydney taxi drivers pump the accelerator !) sharp braking and all for about the same price as an Uber X. Lesson learnt, I shall just get organised earlier.

 

[BAM1748]

I think Reg and Brent Kermofe have a lot to answer for in the arrogance of the taxi industry especially in the capital cities.

 

[jastel]

Sorry guys been away.

A few points

No government ever charged a video shop or a butcher hundreds of thousands of dollars for a compulsory license to operate.
No government ever then did nothing to stop someone breaching their own licensing rules.
No company before uber actively ignored government rules as a standard business practice...and then seemed proud of it.
No company before uber had the money to do this anyway.
People ignoring rules previously were punished...eventually.

I agree with you on Cabcharge...but eftpos machines in Taxis have a short lifespan (about 3 months unless a customer destroys it first) and run on mobile phone networks so the surcharge needs to be a bit higher than an office...I think its 5% nearly everywhere now.
Funny though people are perfectly OK with uber charging them a 30% surcharge?? That is effectively what you are paying to use a credit card for transport. Think how cheap your ride would be if that was 5%!

I agree cities big fleets have worse standards generally than the country owner operated cabs.
Cities generally have worse driving standards as well...There is more stuff to hit I guess.

What good is a driver rating when 92% is needed to retain your job? Uber say they deactivate drivers if they get under this. Of course this is BS.
5 stars is a normal rating just for getting you there it seems. I suggest 3 stars for normal service 4 for good, 5 for exceptional...if you start at 5 how can you improve??

I'd suggest 80% of rides (or flights, service at restaurants whatever) would be a 3...ie nothing notable just what is expected
10% would be a 4 or 5 very good
10% would be bad or worse
Of course we all know which ones get talked about...only the two 10%'s.

Uber (or whatever rideshare) will eventually be more regulated...Governments all over the world are waking up to the problems...govco cant resist making more laws where it see's money. In 5 years time we will probably be back to where we were 5 years ago.

I know I am not going to convince an uber lover to use Taxis same as you are not going to convince me uber is better.
If someone has a question about the Taxi industry I can answer I will help if I can...otherwise...Merry Xmas.

 

[Milboo]

Frankly the rating system and the standards a driver needs to be at or above is what attracts me to Uber.

I'm sick of grotty taxis, taxis that reek of cigarette smoke or BO, taxi drivers that ride the accelerator and give a jerky ride, drivers on the phone the whole time, card machines not working, unsafe driving etc etc

More often than not, that is my taxi experience so I err towards Uber.

 

[mattm199]

Very interesting thread.
I've had good experiences with Uber this year, to and from the airport in Brisbane, around Sydney and in New York.

My worst experience this year was with a Taxi from Adelaide Airport. I thought I'd try GoCatch, but the pick-up was in the airport hire car garage; the driver wanted me to cancel the GoCatch job once I was in the cab, saying "it'll be cheaper on the meter", and then spent the drive into the city stalking Uber cars with the app, and trying to take pictures with his phone to report them, all the time ranting about Uber!
I put in a complaint, but heard no response. And I got an Uber on the return trip to the Airport!

 

[Sprucegoose]

From Melb airport if you request x sometimes a Black will turn up. I’ve had some great cars including the top of the range Hyundai !

 

[Deleted member]

Sorry guys been away.

A few points

No government ever charged a video shop or a butcher hundreds of thousands of dollars for a compulsory license to operate.
No government ever then did nothing to stop someone breaching their own licensing rules.
No company before uber actively ignored government rules as a standard business practice...and then seemed proud of it.
No company before uber had the money to do this anyway.
People ignoring rules previously were punished...eventually.

I agree with you on Cabcharge...but eftpos machines in Taxis have a short lifespan (about 3 months unless a customer destroys it first) and run on mobile phone networks so the surcharge needs to be a bit higher than an office...I think its 5% nearly everywhere now.
Funny though people are perfectly OK with uber charging them a 30% surcharge?? That is effectively what you are paying to use a credit card for transport. Think how cheap your ride would be if that was 5%!

I agree cities big fleets have worse standards generally than the country owner operated cabs.
Cities generally have worse driving standards as well...There is more stuff to hit I guess.

What good is a driver rating when 92% is needed to retain your job? Uber say they deactivate drivers if they get under this. Of course this is BS.
5 stars is a normal rating just for getting you there it seems. I suggest 3 stars for normal service 4 for good, 5 for exceptional...if you start at 5 how can you improve??

I'd suggest 80% of rides (or flights, service at restaurants whatever) would be a 3...ie nothing notable just what is expected
10% would be a 4 or 5 very good
10% would be bad or worse
Of course we all know which ones get talked about...only the two 10%'s.

Uber (or whatever rideshare) will eventually be more regulated...Governments all over the world are waking up to the problems...govco cant resist making more laws where it see's money. In 5 years time we will probably be back to where we were 5 years ago.

I know I am not going to convince an uber lover to use Taxis same as you are not going to convince me uber is better.
If someone has a question about the Taxi industry I can answer I will help if I can...otherwise...Merry Xmas.

I guess there are horses for courses.
I agree with a lot of what you say. However to sometimes force change, the status quo needs to be challenged.
What I find astonishing is the fact that rather than take uber head on, all we get from the taxi council is whinging.
If you honestly believe that taxis are better than Uber, then I guess you must be very fortunate in your experience. I can honestly say that while Uber isn’t the be all and end all , it has shaken things up considerably.
Taxis are not the only industry/ profession to have be subject to “disruption “.
We live be in different times, and if one doesn’t adapt, then one runs the risk of becoming irrelevant.
I speak with some experience here.
However this is about Uber, and not about me.
I guess there will be more to come from government by way of regulation etc before some kind of resolution occurs.

 

[tgh]

A tad tangental.. but my SF based son who was a very strong early adopter of the Uber model.. is now using Lyft.. better service.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

From Melb airport if you request x sometimes a Black will turn up. I’ve had some great cars including the top of the range Hyundai !

I've been led to believe there is a Tesla Ubering around Cairns, and recently did the trip from Pt Douglas to Cairns, with little driver input!

 

[Quickstatus]

I believe this to be an Uber driver scam:
You book Uber ride
Uber finds you a ride
Driver then rings you and says where are you exactly because his app is playing up.
Then he asks where you are going.
I was asked this a couple of times in SAN Fran both times I said better I cancel because if there are problems with app - who knows if there might be issues during the ride.

Drivers don’t know your destination other than (in Sydney at least) if it takes more than 35min until the trip commences

 

[Justinf]

Anyone had any eperiences with Lyft in the States?
I'll be there in a few weeks and will need to do a LOT of driving around to airports and such.
I have signed up for the app just in case.

 

[Freq Flier 2013]

Anyone had any eperiences with Lyft in the States?
I'll be there in a few weeks and will need to do a LOT of driving around to airports and such.
I have signed up for the app just in case.

Yes we have used both - uber and lyft. Both provide the same service and are safe to use.
With surge pricing we alternated between the two. Sometimes uber would be more expensive so we used lyft other times it was the other way around.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I had a different Uber ride yesterday. A young Indian guy told me he had a bad night (the night before). Was booked by a group a 6 drunks and he had to reject them as his car could only seat 4. They threw beer bottles at his car, damaging it. He said he earned $100 for the night and the damage will be a lot more than that.

I certainly felt sorry for him. That's just not on, however he also annoyed me somewhat as he didn't shut up about it the whole trip and he was sitting on 40km/h the whole way from H-CNS to CNS. I'm not sure if he thinks he can earn more by going slower or whether he was just an uneasy driver, but he'll certainly earn (learn?) the ire of pax running late for the airport if he continues at that speed!