Ride & Car Sharing: Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, Zipcar, Relay Rides

[Arlington]

I think a lot of Uber's business comes from induced demand, where Uber is so convenient that people use it for trips they never would have used a cab for previously...

I agree.

Uber might have taken 30% from traditional cabs (they say their business is down that much...but how do cabs know that was Uber and not the free Sliver Line from the airport or some other factor?), but I suspect much of the growth is coming from the car people aren't using, or from Zipcar trips not made, or from personal trips that would have been made in any mode but cab.

 

[paperless paul]

FWIW, I frequently use Hailo, which with some small exceptions, I found to be convenient, effective, transparent and easy to use.

OTOH I recently tried to use Uber (because Hailo was not available in the suburban area I was in), and something went wrong in the system and the cab never came, even though I received at least 6 text messages implying that I had called one. Screwed up my evening, but not a major loss. So far no customer service response.

I note that Boston Uber on Yelp shows roughly equal 1* and equal 5* which, despite Yelp's flaws, indicates pretty weak satisfaction. However, I also note that many of the 1* reviews are from Yelpers with only 1 review to their name, which smells a bit fishy, except that this includes mine.

Ironically, it was the local taxi company that came promptly when called and with which I had no issues. I will continue to use Hailo despite the cost as I find dealing with the Boston dispatchers to be a terrible customer experience. Perhaps as suggested earlier this is a local / regional issue. And the drivers for Hailo are generally very pleasant with quality cars as well. Again, the rating system basically works.

The main problem with Hailo is - you can't order a taxi for a specific time, which is not good for early morning airplane trips.

 

[Arlington]

I use UberX somewhat regularly, and on two occasions the driver didn't quite know where he was going and ended up taking a route that cost more than it should have. Both times I replied to Uber's receipt email with my complaints, and each time they promptly refunded me the difference in price between the optimal route and the route the driver took. There is NO WAY you'd ever get that kind of service in a traditional cab.

Outstanding! In my whole cab-riding life (~30 years) I have never met anyone who ever even dreamed of such service from a cab, let alone tried and succeeded. While I am sure regulators offer som similar recourse in hack land , it is probably 10 times slower and about a thousand times rarer than at Uber. (Similar to how disputing a credit card charge is faster and easier than small claims court)

 

[mass88]

That's not always the case. I don't use UberX, but I do use UberTaxi, and I'd say 1 out of every 10 times I request a taxi, I'll get a call asking where I am going, then when the driver hangs up, they cancel the ride.

I'd say this is the only way UberTaxi isn't as good as a cab. When I hail a taxi on the street and get in, it's a hell of a lot more difficult for the driver to not go where I tell him.

I think what Uber is really capitalizing on is how segmented the metro area is. If we had a regional cab system that allowed taxis to pick up and drop off in more than one municipality, I think it would go a long way to bringing some better service to residents.

I've never used the Uber app to get a taxi. Only a black car, or UberX. Never had any issues with drivers not wanting to take me where I want to go.

My brother lives in North Quincy just over the bridge and he has such hassels most of the time finding a traditional cab to take him and his friends back home to North Quincy. He made the switch to only using Uber and has never had a problem.

 

[Schorschico]

Uber makes ride sharing a "repeated game" where in each round you carry forward a little bit of "how you behaved" in the round before. In such "games" the optimal strategy is to cooperate, and you're less likely to cheat (passengers can't stiff on tips, either). Regular cab rides are too often like a single Prisoner's Dilemma, where both sides optimal approach is to cheat--the driver wants to go the long way, and the passenger wants to stiff on tip.

Quoting Game Theory, god, I love this place! And agree that taxis need not only to get an app to fix every problem they have. The important thing is the extras that come with it.

I don't understand the argument about the psycho. If I take an Uber, there is a register: Who drove, at what time, where did he go,... that is way safer that the scenario of the lone serial-killer taxi driver. Nobody watches "Sherlock"?

 

[elemenoh]

I just signed up for Uber but haven't used it yet. I was surprised to see this at the bottom of their home page, though:

THE FINE PRINT
*Uber is not a transportation provider.

 

[underground]

The driver is the transportation provider. Uber is a technology platform that connects you with them. At least, that's Uber's argument. I buy it, but the taxi companies argue Uber is just a standard operator like them but for a fancy interface.

 

[bigpicture7]

Ok, apologies for dusting off what now feels like an ancient time-capsule thread.

However, this one caught me off guard and feels like an interesting milestone in the ride share economy:

Call for an Uber, Get a Yellow Taxi

The ride-hailing giant is partnering with two taxi technology companies in New York City.

www.nytimes.com

I know NYC's taxicab setup is different from Boston's, but this sort of thing felt unthinkable in the earliest days of Uber & Lyft. In some ways it's a surrender from the taxi industry, but in other ways its symbiotic since the Uber model was struggling in NYC where they faced severe driver shortages (even with reduced demand) since the pandemic started, according to the article.

From link above:

New Yorkers ordering a ride on the Uber app could choose a yellow taxi under a new partnership between the ride-hail company and two taxi technology companies.
The taxi option will begin later this spring and will be available to all Uber riders in New York City, Uber said.

 

[Stlin]

I want to say "Taxi" has been an option in Uber for a few years now in Boston- though I will say their availability on the app is abysmal. I've definitely taken one a few years ago when they were far more time responsive than an Uber Uber.

 

[bigpicture7]

^Interesting, thanks. I hadn't noticed that, but admittedly have only used it a couple times during the pandemic.

Apparently Uber now has a similar deal to NYC in the works in San Francisco

Uber Close to Deal for Partnership With San Francisco Taxi Outfit (Published 2022)

Passengers could soon use the Uber app to order taxis in a deal similar to one recently announced in New York City.

www.nytimes.com

Did/does Boston have consolidated 'taxi tech' companies for taxi dispatching, as NYC and SF seem to have? That could be a difference, and/or why the taxi hail option here doesn't work well

 

[JeffDowntown]

^Interesting, thanks. I hadn't noticed that, but admittedly have only used it a couple times during the pandemic.

Apparently Uber now has a similar deal to NYC in the works in San Francisco

Uber Close to Deal for Partnership With San Francisco Taxi Outfit (Published 2022)

Passengers could soon use the Uber app to order taxis in a deal similar to one recently announced in New York City.

www.nytimes.com

Did/does Boston have consolidated 'taxi tech' companies for taxi dispatching, as NYC and SF seem to have? That could be a difference, and/or why the taxi hail option here doesn't work well

The big difference is Boston works on a independent company dispatch model. Every company controls the dispatch of their taxis only. Also companies are broken up town by town, so we have a fully balkanized system in Boston.

NYC works on a central dispatch model, so a host of operating companies are under a single dispatch authority.

The taxi tech models in Boston all have miserable track records, because participation or not is company by company. (And town by town, further complicating the picture). None have ever reached critical mass to reliably deliver mobile app dispatch. Even the inclusion of the taxi option in Uber has been piecemeal at best in Boston, as it is only a limited number of companies participating.