Being able to pretty easily get a cab from anywhere to anywhere
Well before smartphones and uber were a thing, you could call the cab company from anywhere and get someone to come pick you up and take you anywhere else (within their range, of course) - back when I had a clamshell phone the numbers of the three taxi companies in my area were all on my speed dial I used them so much. There is no reason that the simple innovation of putting that capability on an app instead of a phone call should also require enlisting an entire fleet of “independent contractors” who coincidentally also bear the brunt of the costs of running the cab company.
You’re not wrong, but you are leaving out some convenient parts of the experience. Yes, before, you could call a cab company and they would come pick you up and take you somewhere. But, you didn’t know how long it would take for your driver to pick you up. had no idea how much the ride would cost you, and there was a pretty good chance the driver wouldn’t accept a credit card for payment whether it was company policy to or not.
When illegal cab companies came along, they forced competition by giving you realtime information on where your driver was and how long until they would pick you up, price estimates before your ride begins, and a guaranteed method of payment that isn’t cash. Cab companies had to modernize with mobile apps, lower their prices to stay competitive, and improve the overall customer experience.
For as badly as the drivers are treated by the companies, the services were successful because the existing experience with established cab companies sucked.
Taxi accessibility varies wildly depending on where you are.
I lived in a small city (700k-ish people) for a decade and almost never saw a taxi on the streets. One morning, I locked my keys in the house and had to call a cab to take me to work. It took 30 minutes for a taxi to arrive. I lived literally one block away from the city’s taxi depot.
A couple of years later, Uber hit the scene. With their service, I never waited more than 8 minutes for a ride anywhere in the city.
If all the drivers are out on call, it doesn’t matter where the depot is. But waiting half an hour for a cab was also my experience with calling for one
Well before smartphones and uber were a thing, you could call the cab company from anywhere and get someone to come pick you up and take you anywhere else (within their range, of course) - back when I had a clamshell phone the numbers of the three taxi companies in my area were all on my speed dial I used them so much. There is no reason that the simple innovation of putting that capability on an app instead of a phone call should also require enlisting an entire fleet of “independent contractors” who coincidentally also bear the brunt of the costs of running the cab company.
You’re not wrong, but you are leaving out some convenient parts of the experience. Yes, before, you could call a cab company and they would come pick you up and take you somewhere. But, you didn’t know how long it would take for your driver to pick you up. had no idea how much the ride would cost you, and there was a pretty good chance the driver wouldn’t accept a credit card for payment whether it was company policy to or not.
When illegal cab companies came along, they forced competition by giving you realtime information on where your driver was and how long until they would pick you up, price estimates before your ride begins, and a guaranteed method of payment that isn’t cash. Cab companies had to modernize with mobile apps, lower their prices to stay competitive, and improve the overall customer experience.
For as badly as the drivers are treated by the companies, the services were successful because the existing experience with established cab companies sucked.
Taxi accessibility varies wildly depending on where you are.
I lived in a small city (700k-ish people) for a decade and almost never saw a taxi on the streets. One morning, I locked my keys in the house and had to call a cab to take me to work. It took 30 minutes for a taxi to arrive. I lived literally one block away from the city’s taxi depot.
A couple of years later, Uber hit the scene. With their service, I never waited more than 8 minutes for a ride anywhere in the city.
If all the drivers are out on call, it doesn’t matter where the depot is. But waiting half an hour for a cab was also my experience with calling for one
I use to do it in spare time, you can’t have a cab company without professional drivers that do it full time