Anybody else Uber ?

[KevinP73]

I've got a customer who swears by Uber. Says it's the best thing since sliced milk.
I was having trouble with my truck so I decided to leave it at the shop and try Uber. I downloaded the app and it took about five minutes for my ride to arrive. A quick ten minute ride cost me $6.35. I've taken a regular cab from the shop before and not only did it take an hour for it to show up it cost me $20.00 for the same ride.
I'm sold. I like this.
Then I get an email with a promo. Anyone who signs up using my specific promo code will get $15.00 off their first Uber ride and even better, I'll get a $15.00 credit on my account. So sign up!! And use my promo code kevinm24829ue .
Cool stuff

[slodave]

Yup. Going to be Ubering again soon with a few friends to go bar hopping. I like it. Used it to send my cousin home to my parents one night as well under my account.

[jyl]

I use it instead of taxis when traveling. Inexpensive, fast arrival, clean, polite drivers, pay with card on file, no tipping.

[Ayles]

I use it all the time especially for work travel. Makes expensing car trips super easy. Always felt like cab drivers were annoyed at taking a card or issuing a reciept.

[Skytrooper]

My family and I used it exclusively when in NOLA last September. I am sold on the speed and affordability

[slow&rusty]

Yes and I am big fan!

[URY914]

How about the flip side...Anyone driving for Uber?

[GH85Carrera]

One of my friends in the local regional PCA club is a Physician. He has a new 991 currently but his new GT4 should be in next week.

He is single and as something to do in the evenings he drives for Uber in his Honda DD. He says he meets some interesting people and few jerks.

[jyl]

One of my friends drives for Uber. Part time, as are most Uber drivers. I think that if you drive only a couple, carefully selected hours - the highest demand times and surge times - it's possible to make a pretty good $/hour, but only for those couple hours. Driving Uber full time is, I hear, more or less a minimum wage job - maybe lower, once you include depreciation and insurance.

The only times I prefer a taxi over Uber are:

1) in Manhattan, where cabs are so common and, for me, part of the New York City experience, and

2) in Portland, where our largest taxi company, Radio Cab, is the best cab company I've ever experienced. It is a co-op, owned by the drivers. Punctual, professional, pleasant, pristine - if all cab companies were like RadioCab, Uber would never have succeeded.

[biosurfer1]

My first experience with Uber was in SF, on a Friday night, and it just started to rain. Got to see what "surge" pricing was like at it's highest.

Even with that being my first experience, I'll still avoid taxi's at all costs. Years of over-charging, long routing, nasty, smelly, rude, and expensive taxis and they all scratch their head why damn near everyone is jumping ship to any and all ride sharing apps!?!?!

[TechnoViking]

Uber is great. Fast, courteous, cheap, clean. All the things taxis aren't. Taxi authorities in many big cities are controlled by a combination of the government and the mob. They have been milking a quasi-monopoly for decades and now they have some real competition.

Surge pricing is simply a lesson in economics. If you've ever waited 30+ minutes for a taxi, you understand supply vs. demand.

[jyl]

I worry that after the taxi companies all go out of business and Uber also drives Lyft away, will Uber itself be an effective monopoly, and will prices then go up.

[Rodsrsr]

Originally Posted by jyl

I worry that after the taxi companies all go out of business and Uber also drives Lyft away, will Uber itself be an effective monopoly, and will prices then go up.

You mean kinda like the cabs did before Uber and Lyft for the past 75 plus years?

[speeder]

Originally Posted by jyl

I worry that after the taxi companies all go out of business and Uber also drives Lyft away, will Uber itself be an effective monopoly, and will prices then go up.

When they do, I'll start Dildage, (or some other clever named smart phone app), undercut them by 20% and become the next punk billionaire of Palo Alto.

Or 100 other people will beat me to it.

[wildthing]

I rode a Pontiac Aztec Uber car one time. I thought it was just hyped as the ugliest car. They weren't kidding.

[1990C4S]

I used it Montreal in February. No parking downtown, -40 wind chill....perfect time to use Uber.

No waiting around outside, you know when the driver is there, and you jump into a warm car.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

I used it Montreal in February. No parking downtown, -40 wind chill....perfect time to use Uber.

No waiting around outside, you know when the driver is there, and you jump into a warm car.

Remind me never to go there, Uber or not.

[Hugh R]

Wifey and I used it a month ago in Anaheim, CA to go 3-4 miles from a hotel to an event at the Honda Center, cheap, there in a few minutes. $15 for both trips, and parking at the Honda Center was more than that. I also downloaded the Lyft app. Some drive for both.

Speeder, I go back to Montreal for a show in a few weeks.

[rwest]

Originally Posted by jyl

One of my friends drives for Uber. Part time, as are most Uber drivers. I think that if you drive only a couple, carefully selected hours - the highest demand times and surge times - it's possible to make a pretty good $/hour, but only for those couple hours. Driving Uber full time is, I hear, more or less a minimum wage job - maybe lower, once you include depreciation and insurance.

The only times I prefer a taxi over Uber are:

1) in Manhattan, where cabs are so common and, for me, part of the New York City experience, and

2) in Portland, where our largest taxi company, Radio Cab, is the best cab company I've ever experienced. It is a co-op, owned by the drivers. Punctual, professional, pleasant, pristine - if all cab companies were like RadioCab, Uber would never have succeeded.

I was in Portland last year and used Radio Cab to get to the airport- best taxi experience ever; in fact only taxi experience that didn't annoy me on some level.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by Rodsrsr

You mean kinda like the cabs did before Uber and Lyft for the past 75 plus years?

Very good point.