
How Uber and Lyft have exploited long waits, slow travel and poor service - prostoalex
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/01/19/how-uber-and-lyft-have-exploited-long-waits-slow-travel-and-poor-service-to-crack-open-transportation/
======
jblok
I can't speak for San Fransisco, but in London there is a clear difference in
service between 'Black cab' regular taxi services and Uber taxis. The Uber
drivers often have no idea how to get to where you want to go, and don't even
have an idea of which direction to head, whereas black cab drivers have a
great knowledge of the whole city. This may also be just my bad luck but I've
been in Uber cabs where their driving practices have been 'questionable' at
best. I feel like a lot of the drivers are new to Uber (fair enough), but
perhaps even new to driving.

The huge difference in price leads me to use Uber semi-regularly, whereas
before I would use a taxi almost never. That's an obvious benefit to me.
However the old adage 'you get what you pay for' holds true in my opinion.

~~~
genericresponse
London is somewhat of a unique taxi market because of the driver knowledge
required. The black cab tests are potentially the hardest in the world. In the
US cities I've lived the drivers probably know the general area of where
you're going, but probably don't know the final directions.

At this point, why care about directions from the driver. Uber has built in
driver GPS to tell them where to go.

~~~
jblok
I wouldn't expect an Uber driver to know the final destinations to my home in
the suburbs, but at least the general direction. Most of my Uber journeys are
stationary for a couple of minutes while the driver works out the best way to
go, rather than just heading off in the general direction and turning on the
sat nav at a red light.

There is also knowledge that I'd expect a professional driver to have. I
recall a journey I took once where the sat nav told the driver to go through a
tunnel which I knew was closed. I told him to take the bridge instead to save
a big waste of time.

My point is though, you do sacrifice quality for cost. I don't agree with this
article that says they are cheaper _and_ better.

~~~
ianferrel
I've never used Uber, but this seems easily solvable with code.

Why not have you put the destination address into the app while you're
waiting, and as soon as you get in the car, the driver can just say "go", and
the GPS will start?

I'm kind of surprised it doesn't already work that way.

~~~
sib
It does work that way, but it's optional. You don't have to enter the address
into the app before the driver shows up and it's therefore possible that a
significant number of users don't do so. My experience is that it makes the
trip extremely smooth to pre-enter the address.

------
stevoski
My friend lived until recently in Washington DC. She said she loved using Uber
in Washington because taxis often didn't stop for her. Uber drivers don't seem
to decline to pick her up, due to her skin tone. Or perhaps are not able to
tell in advance.

Finally, this adult woman could easily get a ride at night.

~~~
wallflower
Back from the days when Uber was not the 362.874kg gorilla, there was a nice
write-up about how it made a difference in underserved neighborhoods.

> There’s no way to tell which will happen until it happens—and so, I rarely
> bother to try hailing a cab. Neither do my neighbors. And the paucity of
> potential fares in my part of town—a relatively low-income, low-density
> neighborhood—also makes it harder to get cabs back home from other
> neighborhoods. Technically, it’s illegal for D.C. cabdrivers to refuse a
> fare within the District, but then, technically, it’s also illegal to drive
> above the speed limit, jaywalk..

The cabdrivers have their own litany. They drive long hours for little money:
the average cabdriver earns $27,060 a year, before expenses. They are at high
risk for traffic accidents and, because they carry a lot of cash, for robbery.
When drivers turn down fares to neighborhoods like mine, it’s not because they
don’t want to miss a second of The Diane Rehm Show while they take my cash and
make change. Those trips, where they probably won’t get a return fare, and
must instead burn time and gas while the meter’s off, can mean the difference
between profit and loss for the day; cabbies can’t afford too many of them.

What I’m describing is a classic market failure: people who are willing to do
business together can’t make it happen. If taxis and passengers only knew how
to find each other, and could strike deals that would appeal to both, everyone
would be better off. Why can’t we fix this?

[http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/why-
you-...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/why-you-cant-get-
a-taxi/308942/)

~~~
__Joker
While aggregated services makes a difference, will it hold for future ? Like,
if Uber figures out it is not cost effective to cater to certain areas and
stops servicing them.

~~~
lmm
Uber is willing to adjust its pricing and has the infrastructure to do so in
realtime. A taxi driver is rarely unwilling to go to these underserved
neighbourhoods point blank - just unwilling to go for the standard NYC (or
wherever) per-mile fare. Which is set down in law for good reason, but the
result is a market failure.

Uber has the capability to just charge 2x the price if you want a ride to a
bad neighbourhood, and I'd expect to see them doing that sooner or later. It's
clearly worse than what's theoretically legally required (equal service to
everyone, cab driver must take you anywhere within the city limits), and it's
worse than what you get with the regulated service where I live (in Europe).
But it sounds like it might be better than what getting a taxi in the US is
like in practice.

------
reuven
In Israel, we don't (yet) have Uber, but we do have GetTaxi, a similar
service.

I have become addicted. It's convenient, simple, gives me a GPS indication of
where the taxi is, and lets me use a credit card.

The fact that I know where the taxi is, what car to look for, and can easily
complain if there is a problem (not that there really has been) makes it
irresistible for me. Every time I have used it, I have been quite pleased,
even when I was unhappy with the ride -- it allowed me to give the driver a
low score.

I don't think that these services are a replacement for public transportation.
But they are a very efficient and even addictive replacement for traditional
taxi companies, which are going to have to catch up somehow.

The article quoted the researchers saying that many of the trips taken on
Uber/Lyft would never have been done at all, had it not been for the service.
Or it would have taken much longer via public transportation. Sounds to me
like the public transportation routes need to be updated -- or that we're
talking about outliers whose travel needs will never be adequately handled by
mass transit.

I'm just fine, by the way, with having taxi regulations be enforced for these
new sorts of services. I don't want to have companies completely unregulated
when it comes to driver backgrounds, safety, licensing, and so forth. But I
also think that the regulations will need to change in order to accommodate
these new services, so that they'll continue to benefit consumers more than
plain ol' taxis do now.

~~~
SlashmanX
Sounds a lot like Hailo, which is basically a godsend in Ireland

------
jhonovich
What happens when traditional taxis support their own apps? Is this somehow
not possible or not going to happen?

App enabled ride services are good but why can't the taxis replicate it?

~~~
greggyb
Taxi services are a classic case of monopoly through regulation. The canonical
example is the medallion in NYC (and other places). These medallions are
required to legally provide a traditional taxi service. They can cost $1M[0]
(or can be leased for $1000s/month). The supply of taxis is limited by the
restrictions on medallions - already leading to a movement along the demand
curve to a point above market-clearing equilibrium (higher cost, lower
quantity of transactions). In addition to the decreased supply, there is also
a huge fixed cost in the medallion, which forces fares higher still.

The primary benefit of Uber, in my mind is that it allows for the elimination
of this deadweight loss, and allows taxi-service to be provided on the margin
(someone who might provide trips only to and from work on UberX/similar) -
maximizing the number of mutually beneficial transactions that occur while
minimizing transaction costs. Focusing on the fact that it is an app is a red
herring.

[0][http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/10/21/why-taxi-
me...](http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/10/21/why-taxi-medallions-
cost-1-million/)

------
joshstrange
I live in Lexington, Kentucky so there is a chance these findings don't match
up with Lexington however from my personal experience I can say that this
rings very true. Putting aside ease of use (both for hailing and paying) of
Uber/Lyft over traditional taxis just the fact that I know Uber/Lyft will show
up and show up fast is huge. I don't think I've ever waited more than 10
minutes for a Uber/Lyft whereas taxis have been all over the place, some have
shown up on time but the vast majority take forever. That coupled with being
able to track where they are make Uber/Lyft the clear winner in my book. I
just request a ride when I'm 5-10 away from being ready and I can watch their
progress and walk out as they pull up. No taxi experience has come close.

------
pacaro
Is there another difference on that uber et al know how the rider is, whereas
for taxis there is no relationship with the passenger.

I ask this because I've had unpleasant experiences with taxis that lead me to
believe that taxi drivers have a very poor opinion of their passengers,
particularly late at night.

Are drunken late night Uber riders better behaved?

~~~
sbierwagen
In Uber, both drivers and riders have ratings. Drivers can turn down a hail if
the rider's rating is low enough.

~~~
peter303
Just getting and keeping a ride-sharing account is a first-cut filters of
passenger. It means you have a verified name and ready electronic money. And
you'll lose your accoutn the first time you do something really stupid.
Ratings are just frosting.

