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Comment by k-mcgrady | Hacker News Reader

>> Uber literally made no impact on the quality if life to your average Londoner and won't be missed.

As a Londoner I dispute that claim. It's made a huge difference for a lot of people. Until the night tube's arrival last year getting home from late nights out was expensive, difficult, or impossible. It's quite useful when moving flat - something younger Londoners tend to do quite a lot. I had to go somewhere with some heavy equipment last week and if it weren't for Uber I would have spent a fortune on taxi's. When I was ill for several months which prevented me taking the tube I used Uber to get to/from work. It was expensive but affordable. Taxi's would have been too expensive and I would have been screwed.

Finally - I received half a dozen messages from friends within minutes of the news being announced. Looks like it will be missed.

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I read what many Londoners say about Uber like they never heard about Addison Lee cabs, which existed years before, offer a nice app, professional drivers and fixed tariffs. Last time I checked, tariffs were about 20% higher than Uber. But depending on congestion, could end up cheaper. Most of my friends were praising Uber, but I was warning them that their prices are unsustainable and slightly higher easy-to-hail cab services with apps have been for years on the market largely unnoticed by hipsters ;-)

I always thought AL required pre-booking. Can I get a car to my door/where ever I'm standing in 3-5 minutes?

Sure you can. Nearest car is shown on the map and in my experience there was always something very close. Just choose "NOW" and it'll get booked. Besides, comparing pre-booking, it's done properly with AL, because it sends you a confirmation right away after driver accepts. With Uber the system would simply "schedule" your booking for the time specified and then fire request up as usual. Which means you're at a mercy of nearby driver's acceptance. And you have a false expectations that the pre-booking is more timely assured.

AL charge a fortune for airport runs last I checked. Central London to LHR via uber-x is 30 quid or so.

But there are fast and frequent train services that cost less than that, so it doesn't make a huge difference whether or not Uber is an option for that route.

All of which are completely unsuited to use with luggage, and/or require you to first get to Paddington station.

So get the AL to Paddington then get on the Heathrow Express. The Heathrow Express has never been very crowded in my experience, and has at least as much room for luggage as a cab does.

When you say Taxi are you specifically referring to Black Cabs? Pre-booked radio Cabs are reasonably priced, perfect for moving (it's what people used before Uber and still use today) and for regular scheduled trips like going to work.

For late night trips, Uber was very handy for that short window of time before the night tube. It still has some use when you can fill the car and get the per-person price down but unless it's very late you'll just sit in traffic.

In conclusion, life will go on.

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