Hacker News Reader

HNHacker News

Top New Best Ask Show Jobs

Comment by notyourwork | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

notyourwork·

> Nobody will feel safe dealing directly with random strangers.

Let me tell you about taxi cabs.

View on HN

This is part of why taxi cabs got maybe 1% of the ridership across the US of what uber/lyft get.

Everyone hated taxis because they were so unreliable and unaccountable for scamming you outside of a few dense cities like NY.

Some searching suggests it’s not that far from 50:50 in terms of actual rides. Uber drivers average well under 20 hours per week. Taxi have significantly fewer drivers working much longer hours, but they dominate very short trips.

Makes sense to me. There is a lot of existing infrastructure anticipating cab companies. Airports, stadiums, hotels, resorts, etc. all with dedicated cab lines that can get you seated in a vehicle in seconds.

The ride apps solve the biggest concerns. They have driver ratings so you can see verification from many other riders that the driver is good and they have upfront pricing. Taxi's have started to use apps but at this point the trust is pretty much broken to anyone that's experienced the old "My meters not working but I'll give you a special rate" type of shit.

Essentially Taxi drivers are the random strangers over the apps with ratings and reviews from other riders showing clearly.

Given the quality of drivers and cars I have experienced, the ratings mean nothing.

Instead, I do get comfort in knowing that there is a database timestamped entry linking myself with an Uber driver identifier. Should something happen, I could theoretically complain/give a lead so investigators can locate my murdered body. Random cab is more anonymous and feels more dangerous in unfamiliar territory.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com