Uber v Taxis
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<p>My first experience with uber put me off for a long time - the driver cancelled the booking 2 mins before the due pick-up, but I did eventually give it a go and has been very good. I'll still jump in a cab if I walk out of a bar and ones sitting there but otherwise the app makes it so easy and its cheap.</p>
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<p>I even had to organise a couple the other week from Dunedin for someone up in Akl who had no money and had to get a rather complicated trip. Spoke to driver and could follow progress on app - all good.</p>
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<p>I have had the same driver quite a few times and he said he was a taxi driver for 20 years and he has never had it so good, so it must be possible to make some money. Like MN5 I'm usually happy to walk but having done it from Akl CBD to the shore once, I decided a cab is easier (I was fine until the beers ran out at about 3 am in Bayswater and I still had about another 8 kms to walk).</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jegga" data-cid="594301" data-time="1467757495">
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<p>Cyclings a very third world way of getting around and that's before we delve into the murky motivations behind wearing bike pants and sharing the sight of your scrotum with unsuspecting cafe diners.<br>
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<p>As I said, I do it because I enjoy it. I don't need a car to prove I'm rich and successful like you do :)</p>
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<p>I've never worn lycra into a cafe at all, fuck those guys.</p>
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<p>The only time I wear lycra is on training rides and is a necessity for comfort reasons. (most Sundays I hit the hills for 4-6 hours). You'd get some pretty uncomfortable chafing doing that in cotton rugby shorts.</p> -
I'm a bit torn over the issue. On the one hand it seems unfair to someone who has followed the rules and paid a shitload for a taxi license. On the other hand, the price and quality of taxis are so shit that they don't deserve customers. I've used Uber quite a few times. They're really really good. Clean car, reasonable prices, nice competent drivers, even a bottle of water or mints. <br><br>
Taxis are now ridiculously expensive and instead of being driven by a local who knows pretty much every street, you get someone who appears to have been in the country for 5 minutes and who doesn't even know where major highways are. My wife needed a taxi home from the hospital once and the driver had no idea how to even get near her destination.<br><br>
The father of one of the kids in my sons soccer team is an uber driver. It isn't great money, but you can clock on and off at any time and it's a great way to supplement your income. This particular fella works over the other side of town and on Friday afternoon he'll switch on the app and make some money on the way home.<br><br>
So again, I sympathize with taxi owners but they have to seriously lift their game. -
<p>Taxi service up here sucks, don't think we have Uber at all...</p>
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<p>I joined a Workingmans type club, who have a courtesy van, and plenty of memebrs use it as a taxi service: ie get to the Club, have a few, van takes you out to restaurant or where ever, get van to bring you back, have a couple more brews and get it to take you home, usually gold coin donation per person.</p>
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<p>Is very handy!</p>
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<p>When I first arrived in the UK and got stranded at Baker Street at 2am a black cab driver got me and my mate lost and wanted to charge us the full fare (£115) once we eventually got home, but we offered him £60 otherwise we were gonna leg it (having pulled up down the road form our house) </p> -
<p>Havent used a taxi for a long time now. Always uber - to clients, to/from functions, airports etc.</p>
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<p>Actually used uber a lot on Bangkok over the past few weeks as felt safer than their dodgy taxis and better than tuk tuks. So cheap there too. 20min ride across town cost us 73 baht (about $3) and that was at surge rates too. Awesome.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="594305" data-time="1467757730">
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<p>Dry July also helps!</p>
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<p>I'm doing fucken well so far, extremely proud of myself, helps when the beer is in the garage at the other halfs place and have lost a kg or two already.....</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="594312" data-time="1467758121">
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<p>As I said, I do it because I enjoy it. I don't need a car to prove I'm rich and successful like you do :)</p>
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<p>I've never worn lycra into a cafe at all, fuck those guys.</p>
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<p>The only time I wear lycra is on training rides and is a necessity for comfort reasons. (most Sundays I hit the hills for 4-6 hours). You'd get some pretty uncomfortable chafing doing that in cotton rugby shorts.</p>
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<p>I'm a real non car guy too to be fair. Have never owned anything particularly flash and as a topic of conversation it gets boring really fast.</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="594317" data-time="1467758387">
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<p>Taxi service up here sucks, don't think we have Uber at all...</p>
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<p>I joined a Workingmans type club, who have a courtesy van, and plenty of memebrs use it as a taxi service: ie get to the Club, have a few, van takes you out to restaurant or where ever, get van to bring you back, have a couple more brews and get it to take you home, usually gold coin donation per person.</p>
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<p>Is very handy!</p>
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<p>When I first arrived in the UK and got stranded at Baker Street at 2am a black cab driver got me and my mate lost and wanted to charge us the full fare (£115) once we eventually got home, but we offered him £60 <strong>otherwise we were gonna leg it</strong> (having pulled up down the road form our house) </p>
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<p>You were boasting about your incredible pace on the MN5 fitness forum, I can only imagine how rapid you would have been in your prime.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="594333" data-time="1467761367">
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<p>I'm a real non car guy too to be fair. Have never owned anything particularly flash and as a topic of conversation it gets boring really fast.</p>
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<p>Ha ha I hear you.</p>
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<p>Nothing 'bores me more than retards arguing over which is better, Holden or Ford! They are both RUBBISH (I own a Holden and drive a ford for work)</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="594338" data-time="1467761892"><p>
Ha ha I hear you.<br><br>
Nothing 'bores me more than retards arguing over which is better, Holden or Ford! They are both RUBBISH (I own a Holden and drive a ford for work)</p></blockquote>
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Damn right, mopar or no car. -
<p>I've only had positive experiences with Uber. The convenience and the price are what sets it apart from taxis.</p>
<p>I love that I can request a car within my iphone, get a quote, agree, and be in the car within 2-3 minutes paying 30% less than what I would in a taxi.</p>
<p>The drivers I've spoken to find it ok. None of them bad mouthed Uber.</p>
<p>I lived in the UK for 8 years and did not have a bad experience in a Black Cab.</p>
<p>In Australia... been back here for 6 years, numerous bad experiences with taxi drivers. Some are aggressive, some are racist... and some are just plain d1ckheads.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="594338" data-time="1467761892">
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<p>Ha ha I hear you.</p>
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<p>Nothing 'bores me more than retards arguing over which is better, Holden or Ford! They are both RUBBISH (I own a Holden and drive a ford for work)</p>
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<p>Amen brother, amen. One thing that pisses me off even more than people arbitrarily aligning themselves to State of O teams is "hilarious" memes about Ford drivers being gay.......because they drive Fords !!!!!! Oh the hilarity.........</p>
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<p>I drive a Ford but I'm into women, what is wrong with me ?</p> -
<p>a lot</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="594344" data-time="1467762544"><p>
Amen brother, amen. One thing that pisses me off even more than people arbitrarily aligning themselves to State of O teams is "hilarious" memes about Ford drivers being gay.......because they drive Fords !!!!!! Oh the hilarity.........<br><br>
I drive a Ford but I'm into women, what is wrong with me ?</p></blockquote>
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Bloody hell mate, you really left the goal mouth open there -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jegga" data-cid="594350" data-time="1467763144">
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<p>Bloody hell mate, you really left the goal mouth open there</p>
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<p>Only if I cared what people thought about the car I drive. A photographer mate of mine proudly states that his camera gear is worth close to twenty times what his car is worth.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="594351" data-time="1467763260">
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<p>Only if I cared what people thought about the car I drive. A photographer mate of mine proudly states that his camera gear is worth close to twenty times what his car is worth.</p>
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<p>A lot of people see cars as status symbols.... that's why I got a bit annoyed about Jegga claiming cyclists are Third world</p>
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<p>It happens a lot with cyclists too, I'm constantly hearing about other blokes $10,000 carbon racing bikes. Most of whom would benefit far more from dropping 10kg than spending so much on a bike to make them go marginally faster.</p>
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<p>My race bike is a 12 year old Cannondale, which I've maintained superbly and still rides like new, and I smash those losers up the hills on it too.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="594355" data-time="1467763583">
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<p>A lot of people see cars as status symbols.... that's why I got a bit annoyed about Jegga claiming cyclists are Third world</p>
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<p>It happens a lot with cyclists too, I'm constantly hearing about other blokes $10,000 carbon racing bikes. Most of whom would benefit far more from dropping 10kg than spending so much on a bike to make them go marginally faster.</p>
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<p>My race bike is a 12 year old Cannondale, which I've maintained superbly and still rides like new, and I smash those losers up the hills on it too.</p>
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<p>A mate of mine spent 12k on a bike and is well into cycling, so much that I haven't seen him in months.</p>
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<p>I'm all for fitness and what have you but as I alluded to, a fucken huge cycleway was added in island bay and yet they STILL complain. I go down that way at least twice a day and rarely if ever see it being used.</p> -
<p>Uber is the near perfect modern business for getting from A to B. It's all down via your smartphone, you don't have to part with any direct cash (Win-win for driver and passenger), has a decent supply and demand model and is all setup for the next step (driverless cars) as Kirwan pointed out.</p>
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<p>But the best thing is that it's international. It's the same app anywhere, and the same billing service. Get off the plane into another country, pull the phone out and off you go. It really is that simple.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="594355" data-time="1467763583"><p>
A lot of people see cars as status symbols.... that's why I got a bit annoyed about Jegga claiming cyclists are Third world<br><br>
It happens a lot with cyclists too, I'm constantly hearing about other blokes $10,000 carbon racing bikes. Most of whom would benefit far more from dropping 10kg than spending so much on a bike to make them go marginally faster.<br><br>
My race bike is a 12 year old Cannondale, which I've maintained superbly and still rides like new, and I smash those losers up the hills on it too.</p></blockquote>
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I said it was a third world way of getting around, . <br>
Also it was meant as s joke mate.