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Comment by AndyMcConachie | Hacker News Reader

You're forgiven. I also live in the NL and I almost never see them. The last time I saw an Uber was two years ago when a friend came from the USA and wanted to use their app to call a Uber.

But then again I never take taxis either. For me it's either walk, bike or OV. It might be like that for you as well, which is why you forgot they exist.

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Same in Finland, Baltics or central/eastern Europe. Almost everything is within walkable/bike-able distance. Public transportation has good coverage, is affordable and safe. Taking taxis is just not something people normally do. From here, Uber feels like a quintessentially American solution for a quintessentially American problem.

Real world example - taking Uber to my workplace would cost me one-two hours of net pay, and I'm in the top 5% earners. Another one-two hours of net pay to go back home.

For comparison - public transportation costs 3€/day regardless of usage, and only takes about 15% longer to get there.

‘..Baltics’ maybe in Estonia.. in Lithuania Uber (or rather companies that are competing with it) is quite popular and that prices were very low (due to competition between different apps) until quite recently (mass transit is not that great here, though). AFAIK while not used by most people, it is also quite popular in Ukraine. Due huge income inequality the prices are very low but there is still a substantial section of the population which can afford it.

Indeed. I don't own or travel by car. I just remember reading that the "Uber Pop" app was not allowed, but Uber Black(?) was, but it was more expensive and had licensed drivers. That was many years ago.

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