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Comment by ciguy | Hacker News Reader

I've taken cabs all over the world in the pre Uber days (Literally, like 60+ countries on 5 continents). I can count the number of normal or pleasant experiences I had in a cab on one hand, out of HUNDREDS of rides. Not all cab drivers are/were asshole scammers but I have a decent sample size and can confidently say at least 95% or more were. I have zero sympathy for any of them.

The cab industry as it was pre Uber needed to die. These days it's gotten a bit better now that they actually have some competition. But I simply have no tolerance left for anything to do with cab drivers given how bad it was in the late 90s and early 200s.

And yes, I am 100% in agreement that Uber sucks too. But they suck 1000% less than cabs did at least for the riders.

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I've had zero trouble with taxis in Japan and Singapore. In Singapore they even had hailing apps long before Uber and they worked just fine.

I believe London taxis also have a good rep but haven't use them.

On the other hand I've had criminal experiences in Istanbul and Rome and non-pleasent experiences in LA and SF.

Some of my very few pleasant experiences were in Japan. I don't doubt that Singapore would be fine too but public transit was generally faster there so I never took a cab.

London definitely has a better standard of cars and service, but they will still try to take longer routes and play games with you if you're obviously a tourist. Definitely better than most places though, their standards for cabbie training are very high.

Yes, same here for Japan and Singapore. Drivers super polite and never, ever tried to cheat me. I cannot say that from almost anywhere else, at least ocassionally or more than that tried to cheat.

> I've had zero trouble with taxis in Japan

Japan was the first (only?) place I've been where the taxi experience was comparable to Uber/Lyft. Every payment method accepted, apps, GPS routes, non-hostile drivers, and clean vehicles. It's no wonder why ridesharing companies have failed to gain much market share there.

> London taxis also have a good rep

Yes black cabs are great, but the cost is so high most people take mini-cabs which aren't.

As a teen in the early 00s I rode in plenty of taxis around LA and never had a problem. None of them were people I would like to hang out with but none were bad enough to leave a bad impression either.

My only pleasant cab experience was a black cab in London. He found an old Native American body digging in Hyde Park. Apparently the first time Native Americans came to the UK one of them died and they covered it up saying only 3 came not 4.

He went to a local College in my area and spoke about it. Showed us a hat from the College and pictures.

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