On: You can now hail an Uber without the Uber app

[hef19898]

There were Taxi-apps in use in Germany before Uber became a thing here. What Uber had was infinite pockets and the willingness to simply ignore the general existence of regulations their competitors complied to.

[craftkiller → hef19898]

Do those apps pre-date 2009? Otherwise what the parent said still stands: Uber really is an improvement on pre-Uber traditional taxi services.

[blitzar → craftkiller]

I first started booking my taxis via website (apps were not really a thing yet) in 2002.

[kgeist → hef19898]

On the other hand, Uber Russia was acquired by Yandex Taxi

[karim → hef19898]

So, just like taxis who for some strange reason never seemed to accept credit cards, or would hold your luggage hostage if you didn't add a tip?

[wongarsu → karim]

Not taking credit cards was just a thing for most German businesses before the pandemic. Not really specific to taxis.

[karim → wongarsu]

Not all of HN is German :)