That said, Taxi drivers have something Uber drivers don’t- a union.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Taxi_Workers'_Alliance
That said, Taxi drivers have something Uber drivers don’t- a union.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Taxi_Workers'_Alliance
A taxi that doesn’t play games with the meter, that always takes a credit card, and that has a rating system that harshly punishes drivers with bad attitudes.
The problem with it is Uber’s cut.
I would say lack of a union is a bigger problem. Most of what you say isn’t really true about taxis anymore, but even if it were, that doesn’t justify Uber fucking over its employees.
My city’s taxi system was completely changed by Uber, as were many parts of the country. So while it might not be true anymore, and taxi drivers with bad attitudes and those fudging the meter might have been mostly weeded out, it’s because of Uber that this happened. And it’s because of their unions that it hadn’t happened before. But the moment there started being some competition in town as opposed to their previous monopoly on the market, they had to back down if they wanted to even survive, let alone come out on top over Uber.
So while yes, uber employees are being fucked over, that has less of an impact on things than you imply. I’ll still get an Uber/Bolt instead of a taxi 9/10 times, because immoral business practices are still better than immoral & illegal practices backed by a monopoly that you are powerless to change.
Very much agree with this. I still remember coming out of the airport and thinking I’ll just grab a taxi instead of ordering a ride!
All this without any ability to give feedback or a rating to the driver.
That was the last time I ever used a taxi.
And I still haven’t seen any taxis yet that offered Uber’s transparency about trip cost before committing.
This could also be solved with a little more competition tbh. The same system that allows Uber to exploit drivers lets them jump ship with literally zero effort
What we need is a p2p ridesharing that cuts out the corporate middleman. Ratings would have solved all the problems with taxis.
Last time I tried a taxi was because and Uber or Lyft was going to take 20 minutes to get to us (waiting? Gross.) I’m close to the air port, 15 minute ride home. Uber or Lyft would have been $30. The taxi was going to cost me $140. For a 15 minute drive? Get fucked. Dude is driving for almost $600 an hour?
And a way to contact drivers if you’d just something in the car, and a system to notify others of your route and progress.
Uber has variable pricing, whilst taxis do not (it’s the whole point of the meter, which is why shady types try to “play games” with it).
Nowadays taxis will also take credit cards (I guess in some countries maybe some don’t).
Agree on the superiority of having a rating system, though.
An Uber will never pick you up and tell you “My credit card reader is broken” at the end of the ride after driving you in circles.
Thats a pity, because I don’t have cash on me.