Every Uber ride I've taken - more than a dozen - has been better than ANY taxi ride I've ever had.

I was just in NYC - midtown and brooklyn - and I will say that Uber wasn't as big a discount as it used to be over a taxi. A couple of those trips were during so called "surcharge" times supposedly due to how busy they are.

But regardless, not having to hail the driver, using the app, watching the car drive on the map to your location, reading the reviews of the driver, knowing the make, model and color of the car, being handed bottles of waters by a happy driver. No way I'm ever going back to cabs unless that's all there is!

Interesting article on Forbes regarding Uber's Big Data play.

Uber: The Big Data Company - Forbes

It is not a surprise, but it does point out some of the privacy that you are giving away for the sake of convenience. An interesting quote from the article:

I fought against using Uber for a long time because I think they're evil (abusing employees, abusing local laws, etc).

However, they are SO DAMNED GOOD at what they do, that I'll let them be evil and I will give them my money. 10 of us were leaving a wedding at 9:30 on a Saturday night in the super busy hip part of town. 5 minutes after we decided to leave together (so no planning or anything) we had an SUV and a car collectively pick us up, cost $62 total. 8 miles, 20 minutes door to door. All fees and tips included, and no one needed any cash.

Maybe this happens with regular cabs, I don't know.

PD: Uber driver tried to burglarize rider's home

Uber is better than a cab in every conceivable way. And there's a powerful reason why it's not going away any time soon; MADD.

Millenials don't use designated drivers. They Uber. It's been reported that Uber cities have fewer DUI's and Mothers Against Drunk Driving has noticed. Powerful ally.

20-30 year olds don't use cabs unless they have to. Uber is part of their culture.

Uber is part of our culture because it is a better cheaper alternative. Not hard to understand.

I enjoy firing out a loud whistle to hail a cab. That's about all I miss.

You can whistle your ass off in L.A. And you won't get a cab. Still works in other big cities, though. :cool:

Toronto police had an undercover cop call Uber-x. Once picked up and dropped off the Uber car would get pulled over and given tickets for improper insurance, and not having a business license. They charged 11 people and Uber's lawyer is representing all of them.

I haven't yet used Uber, but every single time I've used a cab, I've hated it.

My current theory is that every negative story I read about uber is driven by the pro Union pro taxi cab bias of the Left.

You were doing great until you got to "bias of the Left"

Probably more likely the food...SmileWavy

I'm not so sure about this is foreign countries. There were so many taxi scams. We had guys take the "gypsy" cabs and it usually ended badly for them.

Just a tweak to your theory.

Yeah, all of those millions of millennials taking Ubers everywhere are young Republicans for Jesus. You read it here, folks. Where do you get this schit? :rolleyes:

No one "calls" for an UberX. It's an app you install on your phone and it tracks your data forever. So basically, the company would love it if dumb cops would do this everyday. The drivers are cannon fodder in a much bigger game being played by the company. It's a web-based app.

Drivers getting cited and legal battles with cities are small bumps in the road for the parent company. They are thriving beyond your wildest imagination. I use Uber because it's a great service and I support the workers 100%. The CEO of Uber is one of the biggest piles of schit ever foisted on the corporate world, and that's really saying a lot. But it's an unusual situation where the workers have almost 100% of the capital investment in the company and deserve to succeed.

I drove a cab for a while in another life and that industry has become something that deserves to die in most cities. :cool:

You're correct, I should not have said "Left."

Another vertical video offender. It's great that people are getting psycho cops on video like that, though. Even if nothing really happens to him, discipline-wise, his supervisors know how he treats the public now. :(

The cop in the video has been outed. Of course the Union shill representing the cops is downplaying the event citing "cops are human beings too. Don't judge him by one act."
I have some authority over others in my employ; never once I have ever come close to behaviour like that. If you have had such a bad day that you can't control your emotions/actions, stay the hell out of the field. Hopefully the video ensures that dick will ride a desk from now on. No way this was an isolated incident. The cops demenor was one of entitlement, arrogance and ignorance. Not a good combo for a citizen and a potentially lethal combo for a bad cop.