Uber makes absurd amounts of money. I've had many conversations with drivers and they claim to be pulling in $35-$45 per hour after uber's 30% cut. I've talked to drivers who have quit their full time jobs and love it. Some have said that because the service is so convenient that people have started using it as a walking replacement, often opting to catch a cab for 5 blocks. Lastly, many companies have enterprise uber accounts and will happily pay their employee's $200 cab rides to the airport or even 45 minute drive home.
I stopped using Uber in favour of black cabs (using Hailo) in London. For airport trips local cab firms are 1/4-1/3 of the price with a more reliable fulfilment time. (The app basically lies about how timely a driver can be, it says 5 minutes but when you hit book it says 15-20 minutes for me rather often).
The pricing is far too high. Only on one occasion out of a dozen did i get a luxury vehicle.
FYI Uber a base specification Mercedes E class is not a luxury vehicle. They are also usually not particularly clean and often with not a particularly competent driver.
I was having a bad day and needed to go from office->home->office->airport. I had to wait 40 minutes for a car (luckily i had thought of this in advance so that didn't bother me). The driver did the first trip then begged me to let him complete the fare there as he didn't want to go all the way to the airport. So I had to get out and book a new journey from scratch.
Perception of Mercedes is different in Europe than in the US. In Zurich, for example, Mercedes is probably the most common brand among normal taxis - some of them even S-classes with electronically adjustable black leather seats. I think Uber will have a hard time expanding into cities where the normal taxis already have a high standard.
Exactly, the cab company my employer uses here in Edinburgh is great - they have an excellent IVR system (when I phone their number, it knows who I am and asks if I want a taxi from my home address) or an iPhone app.
Cabs are always clean and drivers very polite - I've never had a problem with them for years and I use them for all my personal taxi usage as well.
I'm not sure what advantage Uber would have in this market.
Sounds like Uber is mostly capitalizing on the intense regulatory capture in the US taxi industry that allows cab companies to be horribly complacent about the customer experience. In places where cab companies are already competitive, Uber doesn't look so shiny.
Problems I've noticed with Uber time estimates in the US, add traffic and it really can slow things down.
-Car just passed a turn when I call it.
-Car looks close, but really isn't. For example, its on a highway and you are a block over.
-Misread on the direction the car is traveling, usually from signal interference.
Predictions, I don't know anyone at the company so this is what I expect they are doing. If they don't, a competitor will:
-Within 5 years we will start having driverless Ubers.
-Service can scale and they plan on it, they have taken the start at the top of market and work down.
The thing that has kept me thinking is, by the time cars are driverless, will taxi cab medallions (in NYC and Hong Kong at least) go up in price because you don't need a driver, or will they be worthless?
It looks like Uber does not scale well. We see this all the time when employees are involved. The culture loses it's magic as the biz gets larger and most are just there for the paycheck.
With a premium business like Uber that will be a big problem. Plus those cabs aren't gonna stay shiny and new forever.
I feel really cheap promoting this sort of stuff but try anycabs.co.uk - it's a bidding system and so prices are consistently quite low. Also, I've also gotten decent cars, never had any trouble with people not showing up (even when I've gone for the cheapest bid, expecting crap cars). I've been in brand new Priuses, new BMWs and decent cars altogether (different companies and YMMV obviously but it's cheap). I've also had drivers really impress me by not letting a fully closed-down M25 slow down my transfer to the airport.
As a price point, I've always managed to go Docklands to Luton for under £50.
I live in Montreal, so I"ve never been able to use Uber. What makes it different from a cab?
In Montreal, cab to the airport costs $50. Cab arrives in about 1-2 minutes most locations, and drives you there as fast as taxis go.
I don't doubt that Uber's great - this is a serious question. How much of a premium do people pay, and what are the main benefits in cities that already have developed taxi networks?
The question should be: for how much longer will people be able to pay a premium?
Yes, there is a market for luxury transport, but is this really a high growth market? How many more young and overpaid software engineers can there be?
Look at the real rate of unemployment, the rise of the part-time labor force, record usage of food stamps, record high student debt, national debt, etc.
Lyft and the kool-aiders claim it's a beautiful new sharing economy, but in truth it's a shitty economy, where people are willing to drive a stranger across the city for 10 bucks, or task-rabbit themselves for a fiver.
My opinion is that there simply aren't enough wealthy folk out there to justify the valuation of these companies.
I think that is why they are hedging their bets by offering yellow taxi service and UberX.
Classic strategy... conquer the premium market first (BMW 3,5 and 7 series) then start going more mainstream (1-Series BMW) once the brand is established and is viewed as prestigious.
It's really hard to get a cab in San Francisco and not it's not easy in New York either.
Contrast with Toronto, where it's a no brainer on major streets (and we have Hailo here, which works pretty darn well but uses regular cabs), or in Montreal where I've had cab drivers almost get into accidents fighting over who saw me first.
That makes a lot of sense. I almost missed a train in NYC due to not being able to hail a cab.
In a lot of smaller Canadian cities they take a while to arrive. But I have had ZERO bad experiences in Montreal and Toronto. The system works pretty well.
I think there are two major benefits: first is that you don't have to call or hail a cab. People don't like talking on the phone, so being able to pull up an app and press a button and have a cab pull up in less than five minutes is pretty awesome.
Second, the cars are much nicer. Fairly new black cars and large SUV's vs smelly Ford Crown Vic's.
Also all payment happens on the backend so you never exchange any cards or cash. I expense Uber rides all the time and believe that enterprise sales might end up being one of their largest markets.
In many US cities, you can get UberX for about the price of a cab, Uber about 1.25-1.5 that. However, when you call a cab, it often takes 5-20 minutes, you have no idea who is picking you up, and often times they wont even show up if you aren't at a hotel. Uber you know exactly how long and who will be picking you up, and you can track them.
I live in downtown Atlanta. Cabs are simply horrible here. I don't think I've ever called a cab that's arrived in under 30 minutes. Several times a passing cab has stopped, flat out lied and claim to be my driver, only for me to 5 minutes later get an angry cabbie calling me asking where I am. More than once this has ended up with the driver of the taxi I was in "asking" for my phone and engaging with a shouting match with the other taxi driver on my phone.
I've had cabs refuse to take me to my apartment building, saying they would only go to hotels. Others stating up front 2-3X what the meter rate would be, which of course I refuse. I've had them drive in circles, "miss" the exit to stretch out trip, and not a one seems to know where anything other than major hotels and the airport are in the city, or have GPS. Only half the time will they bother to turn the meter on. Very few will take credit cards without a fight.
Those are just some of my first hand experiences, everyone I know that uses cabs frequently in ATL has the same and/or worse stories. Cabs here basically seem to only want to ferry out of towners to and fro the airport to hotels downtown. Unsurprisingly, Uber has been a huge hit in Atlanta. You can actually get a car in 5 minutes or less some times, that's unheard of.
Mostly their logistical advancements. You can rate drivers, you can ask for a driver in advance, you can track the drivers location. They actively plot what parts of town have high traffic, and at what times. This in general leads to a significantly improved experience over cabs, or other drivers. They seem to be always there when you want them, the drivers are always nice and very knowledgeable, etc..
I was in Montreal for 4 years before moving to SF so maybe I can help a little. I've also been using uber from the moment they started and have used it in multiple cities.
Apart from the basic benefit of not having to get your wallet out, I'd say it's the option of choosing between different type of rides that I like the most. In SF via uber we can get taxis, uberx (basically Lyft, some drivers do both), black cars, and SUVs.
In Montreal I don't remember ever getting a black car, but I was student at ÉTS so maybe that's a moot point :)
For your last question, SF has a developed taxi network but it's really bad. Montréal in that regard is much better, but maybe when leaving the bar at 3AM you'd rather get a black car to take you home rather than a taxi from Hochelag, and uber would make that really easy for you.
It's true that Montreal payment is annoying. Many don't take credit cards. I know how to work the system now, but it took a bit of getting used to. Would be much more awkward for 3 AM cabs.
Uber is 15% cheaper than cabs in the market's their in. So you get your phone charged, a bottle of water, a nicer car, a lower price, no cards/cash or tips and you only wait a couple of minutes. Regardless of your location.
It also stops discrimination of location or profile (They can't say they don't go to X place or not pick you up).
What is your source for the 15% number? In SF, UberX costs the same as taxis per mile, has no tip but a higher minimum, and surges regularly to 1.75x or more every time there is high demand, such as on weekends
Uber drivers still discriminate on location. When I wanted an SUV near Golden Gate Park, the first driver assigned to me cancelled the trip, and the second phoned me to verbally confirm before coming that far.
I live a block from GGP and have never had this happen. (I've taken Uber a couple hundred times.)
I'm not doubting your anecdote, just adding my own. I have definitely had a handful of disappointing Uber experiences; however, 90%+ have been fantastic.
