So, a bit of international perspective with a genuine question attached...


Here in Romania (well, Bucharest, but I've used the same system in other
cities here) I never use Uber (although it is available) because licensed
taxis already offer the same convenience.

Background - taxis here represent capitalism red in tooth and claw. You
pay for what you get - if you don't mind a battered old Dacia, you'll
probably pay 1.49lei/km. If you want a less battered one with aircon,
2.49lei/km, and if you want a nice Audi I've no idea (I always go for the
cheap battered Dacia option.) But they are all licensed.

If you're taking a ply-for-hire taxi in the street the price is written on
the door of the cab; I never do that though because all the taxi firms on
the whole already have an app - for example, SpeedTaxi is one of the
1.49lei/km firms I trust - when I need a cab I use their app, it uses my
phone's GPS to find me, and I get told how long it'll be and the taxi
number (the same system is integrated into kiosks at the airport and local
hotels that you use to book a taxi and spit out a receipt with the same
info the app gives me.) There are also 'umbrella' apps like CleverTaxi
that do exactly what Uber does (as far as I can tell,) but the taxis are
all regular licensed taxis (just not from one specific firm), not random
folk with a car.


So, anyway, the question part - I use SpeedTaxi's app to get properly
licensed cabs from a company I trust with the convenience of Uber. Is
there a reason black-cab drivers in London couldn't come up with the same
thing? The convenience of Uber, but the reassurance you'd be getting a
'real' cab?

Recliner wrote:
Clank wrote:
So, a bit of international perspective with a genuine question attached...


Here in Romania (well, Bucharest, but I've used the same system in other
cities here) I never use Uber (although it is available) because licensed
taxis already offer the same convenience.

Background - taxis here represent capitalism red in tooth and claw. You
pay for what you get - if you don't mind a battered old Dacia, you'll
probably pay 1.49lei/km. If you want a less battered one with aircon,
2.49lei/km, and if you want a nice Audi I've no idea (I always go for the
cheap battered Dacia option.) But they are all licensed.

If you're taking a ply-for-hire taxi in the street the price is written on
the door of the cab; I never do that though because all the taxi firms on
the whole already have an app - for example, SpeedTaxi is one of the
1.49lei/km firms I trust - when I need a cab I use their app, it uses my
phone's GPS to find me, and I get told how long it'll be and the taxi
number (the same system is integrated into kiosks at the airport and local
hotels that you use to book a taxi and spit out a receipt with the same
info the app gives me.) There are also 'umbrella' apps like CleverTaxi
that do exactly what Uber does (as far as I can tell,) but the taxis are
all regular licensed taxis (just not from one specific firm), not random
folk with a car.


So, anyway, the question part - I use SpeedTaxi's app to get properly
licensed cabs from a company I trust with the convenience of Uber. Is
there a reason black-cab drivers in London couldn't come up with the same
thing? The convenience of Uber, but the reassurance you'd be getting a
'real' cab?

They did:
https://www.hailoapp.com

Uber also includes black cabs.

Then why the fuss? Surely just let the market decide if it values 'real'
cabs more?

On 2015-10-06 19:57:08 +0000, Clank said:

So, anyway, the question part - I use SpeedTaxi's app to get properly
licensed cabs from a company I trust with the convenience of Uber. Is
there a reason black-cab drivers in London couldn't come up with the same
thing? The convenience of Uber, but the reassurance you'd be getting a
'real' cab?

Isn't Gett (formerly Gettaxi I think) exactly that?

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

Paul Corfield wrote:

snip

On a point of detail, I think the cabbies have a point in that the costs
of vehicles able to carry wheelchairs (NB in use - not folded in the
boot) are substantially greater than those of most competitor vehicles
on Uber.

Of course there are good economic arguments againt the
cross-subsidisation inherent in requiring cabs to carry wheelchairs.
There's a good argument for giving wheelchair users more money (ideally
raised from tax on other users of cabs/taxis?) and leaving them to find
transport in the free market from drivers who want to carry wheelchairs
and who set the cost. (And the same arguments apply to wheelchairs and
buses.) But I'll be long dead before any politician stands up and
campaigns for that.


--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid

On 10/6/2015 8:57 PM, Clank wrote:


So, anyway, the question part - I use SpeedTaxi's app to get properly
licensed cabs from a company I trust with the convenience of Uber. Is
there a reason black-cab drivers in London couldn't come up with the same
thing? The convenience of Uber, but the reassurance you'd be getting a
'real' cab?

But at 25p/KM?

Part of the problem is that people feel black cabs are bad value, which
if you use the TfL fare scale says that for a journey of 1 mile the
costs are roughly £4.50 per KM

On 07.10.15 9:07, Someone Somewhere wrote:
On 10/6/2015 8:57 PM, Clank wrote:


So, anyway, the question part - I use SpeedTaxi's app to get properly
licensed cabs from a company I trust with the convenience of Uber. Is
there a reason black-cab drivers in London couldn't come up with the same
thing? The convenience of Uber, but the reassurance you'd be getting a
'real' cab?

But at 25p/KM?

Part of the problem is that people feel black cabs are bad value, which
if you use the TfL fare scale says that for a journey of 1 mile the
costs are roughly £4.50 per KM

I've also found that many drivers of the balck cabs seem to have a
rather large chip on their shoulder/bad attitude/persecution complex.

I've seen and heard of cases where a few of them have become verbally or
even physically abusive.

On 10/7/2015 1:01 PM, wrote:
On 07.10.15 9:07, Someone Somewhere wrote:
On 10/6/2015 8:57 PM, Clank wrote:


So, anyway, the question part - I use SpeedTaxi's app to get properly
licensed cabs from a company I trust with the convenience of Uber. Is
there a reason black-cab drivers in London couldn't come up with the
same
thing? The convenience of Uber, but the reassurance you'd be getting a
'real' cab?

But at 25p/KM?

Part of the problem is that people feel black cabs are bad value, which
if you use the TfL fare scale says that for a journey of 1 mile the
costs are roughly £4.50 per KM

I've also found that many drivers of the balck cabs seem to have a
rather large chip on their shoulder/bad attitude/persecution complex.

I've seen and heard of cases where a few of them have become verbally or
even physically abusive.

I also tend to find Uber cars cleaner than your average black cab.

The two way review system also works very well for both parties.

On Tue, Oct 06, 2015 at 08:16:01PM +0000, Recliner wrote:
Clank wrote:
So, anyway, the question part - I use SpeedTaxi's app to get properly
licensed cabs from a company I trust with the convenience of Uber. Is
there a reason black-cab drivers in London couldn't come up with the same
thing? The convenience of Uber, but the reassurance you'd be getting a
'real' cab?
They did:
https://www.hailoapp.com

I just tried to use them to book a cab from home to work. Earliest
available pickup is in one hour and five minutes.

Uber? My experience is that they'd have someone there in well under ten
minutes.

So yeah, they tried. The trouble with black cabs isn't technology, it's
that they concentrate on inner London instead of providing a universal
service.

--
David Cantrell | top google result for "topless karaoke murders"

Today's previously unreported paraphilia is tomorrow's Internet sensation

On 06/10/2015 21:43, Neil Williams wrote:

On 2015-10-06 19:57:08 +0000, Clank said:

So, anyway, the question part - I use SpeedTaxi's app to get properly
licensed cabs from a company I trust with the convenience of Uber. Is
there a reason black-cab drivers in London couldn't come up with the same
thing? The convenience of Uber, but the reassurance you'd be getting a
'real' cab?

Isn't Gett (formerly Gettaxi I think) exactly that?


That and Hailo, yes (though when Hailo added private hire as an option,
it earnt itself a great deal of loathing from cabbies).

Kabbee meanwhile is an umbrella app for minicab firms that chose to join
- a bit of a push back against Uber from the established minicab
industry. That said, a fair number of minicab firms have their own apps.

On Wed, Oct 07, 2015 at 06:35:24PM +0100, Mizter T wrote:

Kabbee meanwhile is an umbrella app for minicab firms that chose to join
- a bit of a push back against Uber from the established minicab
industry. That said, a fair number of minicab firms have their own apps.

And none of those apps do much business. I've said it many times but it
bears repeating - if I'm in some random suburb I don't know what the
local minicab company is. If I don't know who they are then I don't know
whose app to search for just like I don't know who to phone.

Also, if I'm in some random suburb it obviously doesn't make sense to
contact a non-local minicab company, because they are highly unlikely to
have a driver nearby.

Uber (and perhaps Kabbee, I've never tried it) is clearly superior on
both counts.

--
David Cantrell | semi-evolved ape-thing

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