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Uber

ImTheCaptain said:
no, they're just getting shut down in all over
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Only in places where the taxi cab driver unions have tremendous pull.

I'm a fan, and for people who complain about the cost fluctuations during the busiest hours, don't use them. Their pricing estimates seem to be clear to me, so I haven't gotten sticker shock yet when checking my credit card statement the next day.
 
BarcaDeac said:
and now the DC cabs are supposed to be outfitted with an Uber-like app in the next year. yeah I see that going swimmingly.
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You talking about Curb (re-branded Taxi Magic) or is there something else coming?
 
I got reamed on an Uber ride last year but I think that was karmic retribution for when I puked out the window of a previous Uber ride, likely all over the side of their car. Whoops.
 
Someone from Uber has said something mean and not PC. Time for us, as a society, to send in the government regulator clowns. Let's all go back to standing out in the rain begging Achmed the no-speakity cabbie to stop for us.
 
I like Uber and will continue to use it. I got wasted at a friends house recently and called Uber for a ride home, 1.5 miles. Totally worth it.
 
And quit fucking complaining about surge pricing. God you people are such a bunch of pussies. If you don't want to bay $30 to go ten blocks, start walking.
 
tjcmd said:
Someone from Uber has said something mean and not PC. Time for us, as a society, to send in the government regulator clowns. Let's all go back to standing out in the rain begging Achmed the no-speakity cabbie to stop for us.
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Caturday? That you?
 
BiffTannen said:
And quit fucking complaining about surge pricing. God you people are such a bunch of pussies. If you don't want to bay $30 to go ten blocks, start walking.
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How much did it cost for the 1.5 miles you decided not to walk? I'm curious, I've never used Uber.
 
BarcaDeac said:
the latter

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2014/12/12/d-c-taxi-drivers-get-their-own-app/
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Interesting. I bet this is just another interface to their dispatch system - much like Taxi Magic/Curb. Doesn't sound like they're solving any problems - you can already pay for DC cabs through Curb with a credit card, and enforcing app usage to support credit card payments is no different then enforcing credit card payments normally - which they've done a crap job at.

This is what is so infuriating about the cab industry's response to Uber, and it's just like the record companies response to downloading music. Spend 95% of your resources fighting/suing/lobbying against them, spend 5% to put up some half-assed app that can't even come close to competing with what's already out there.

The problem isn't just credit cards - and you can just look at the features Curb is trying to make happen but the shitty cabs don't care about. They have "location" of the cab - but it's some kind of relay and it's very imprecise. They'll show a cab sitting in front of my house and he'll really be lost on some other street. Uber shows you the exact location of the car via a smart phone. They have a "message the driver" feature - I've absolutely never seen this work. It apparently goes through dispatch, then that message should get relayed, and you have no way of knowing if it worked. You can't really contact them, they won't call you. They have a "Rate your ride" feature but if it carries any weight with the driver I'd be floored. Plus around here you have DC, Maryland, and Virginia all mixed together. Having "one dedicated app" just for DC cabs is actually a step backward. I bet Curb has tons of features ready to go they just can't implement because the cabs don't give a shit.

Competing with Uber means not just significantly improving in the technology realm, but also having standards where a cab has to be a fairly close approximation to a clean, modern automobile with things like air conditioning and windows that roll up. You have to train drivers to use smart phones and allow direct interaction with customers. They have to standardize on navigation systems. Until they start doing those things I'm not buying for a second that cab companies actually want to compete with UberX or Lyft in customer experience. In DC it looks like they want to do the absolute bare minimum it takes to convince lawmakers that they're trying to improve so that they can extend their monopolistic control and keep things as they are now.
 
i refuse to take lyft because it isn't called "mustache rides."
 
The last time I took a cab in DC the guy went absolutely ballistic when I cracked the window.
 
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