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Comment by mffnbs | Hacker News Reader

Chicago has a very heavy cab presence and yet you'll get a lot of strange looks if you're standing on your residential street with your arm out expecting to get a cab. They'll drive by when dropping people off, but you'd be standing there awkwardly for a very long time.

I can have an Uber at my door in < 3 minutes with two clicks on my phone.

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you'll get a lot of strange looks if you're standing on your residential street with your arm out expecting to get a cab.

Depends a lot on your neighborhood, and the time of day.

I lived in The Loop, and in the Gold Coast, and just walking out the front door of my building, I'd get anywhere from one to three cabs honking at me to see if I needed a ride.

But then, once you got past Halsted, Division, or Harrison, it was taxi ghost town.

In every town I've lived, the taxi industry killed itself by focusing on tourists and office workers, and not being available where the locals need them.

To be fair I think you’d get strange looks on just about any residential street with your arm out looking for a cab unless you live in, and count the loop to be “residential”.

Here in Chicago someone would just ask “why don’t you take dah CTA over derr?” and you know it’s true, heh.

My highrise building apparently has a cab light that can be requested to be turned on. I saw someone use it once, it didn't seem like they waited very long for a cab to pull up to the front door.

Depends on the building. If you're on the lake end of Lakeshore East, those cab lights will whirl and blink for hours before a cab will accidentally wander past Aon Center and see it.

Not everyone lives in luxury buildings.

Is a switchable light really a luxury?

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