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Data Research Reveals When Taking a Yellow Cab Is Cheaper Than an Uber
An anonymous reader writes A team of data scientists have come up with a system to identify times when regular yellow taxis are cheaper alternatives to an Uber [in New York]. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Nanmur in Belgium have compared a broad dataset of both yellow taxi and Uber fares in New York and have discovered that for a trip costing less than $35 Uber is often the most expensive option. The data scientists were able to reach this conclusion by comparing trip and fare data for each yellow taxi ride taken in 2013 and entering it into Uber's fare query system. Prices were taken from Uber's lowest-cost service Uber X and the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission.
They do it because of the smell.
In a yellow cab, you have to deal with often times 25 year old vehicles in poor condition, the dispatcher blaring on the radio the whole ride. You can call a cab, and there is no guarantee one will show up, and not to mention the tip you're expected to bestow. In Uber... you get a new, higher end black car or SUV and you don't have to tip, the cars have always been clean... and unless you were one of the handful of well publicized incidents... the experience is much more classy and high end then an old yellow cab. You get what you pay for.
I always thought that Uber was more expensive, the idea being you could usually get an Uber car more easily than hailing a cab.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
Cab fares are regulated and based on distance traveled; at least for most trips. Uber drivers are unlikely to want to drive to pick somebody up for a $5 fare while a cab that drive by will pickup the passenger since they are there anyway. It's an opportunistic transaction for the cabby, that unless they have a more valuable fare they think they will get before dropping off the short trip, it makes sense for them to take the trip even if it is only a $5 fare. In auditor, unlike an Uber driver the cab driver has no way, in advance, of knowing where a fare is going, unless it is a call in, while the Uber driver does. Thus, with more information the Uber driver can eliminate fares a cab cannot; or can charge more in order to be willing to take the fare.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Not exactly apples to apples there.
I don't take Uber (or more often: Lyft) because it's cheaper. I use these services because 1) the car actually shows up, 2) when it's supposed to, and 3) I know ahead of time how much it will cost. Even if it's a couple of bucks more, that's well worth the vastly better customer service.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
The last time I rode a cab was decades ago and it was over $25 for maybe 8 miles. Being as gas costs 2.5-4 times as much now as it did back then I figured the fares would have scaled accordingly.
Or perhaps I'm just willing to walk further than some other people...
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Taken more than a few Ubers and cabs in Chicago. Uber has typically been 2/3 to 3/4 of the cost of a yellow cab trip. The only time an Uber has been consistently higher has been during surge pricing. Trips from downtown Chicago to ORD or MDW are almost always cheaper with Uber, usually 10-15 bucks. I try to avoid either during rush hour, as taking buses/trains or walking is usually faster.
I've never taken an Uber in NYC, so their mileage obviously varies. I have taken them in Indianapolis, Nashville, and other places. Seemed cheaper there too but the sample size is much smaller.
Just so folks know, UberX in NYC is unlike UberX in any other market, in that the cars are drivers are all licensed livery cars and drivers with TLC (Taxi and Limo Commission) commercial licenses and insurance. This is unlike the rest of the US, where UberX drivers and vehicles don't need commercial licenses and plates.
Only real difference between UberX and Uber Black in NYC is the quality of the car (usually Camrys or similar with UberX, and Town Cars or big SUVs with Uber Black).
Dont kill me for saying this but its also only $5 to the take the Blue line. I know I know, its not always easy to get to it and you have to plan ahead. My ex used to hate the blue line and would insist on taxis or uber. I use Uber on a regular basis($50 this past weekend) and get both uberx and taxis with it. I havent tried out curb yet so i cant comment on that. Did you successfully get a taxi when the surge pricing was in effect? That usually means no one is out driving and you will have a heck of a time hailing or calling a cab.
I was new to the Seattle area and a college student, asked to be taken on a mainstream road in Bellevue (148th Street iirc), the cabby claimed not to be able to find it. Mind you this was 17 years ago and was 10pm, I was desperate to meet my roomate while he was still up and get into my new apartment. What should have been a $35 taxi ride cost $105. Gas was $1.16 in the area and I thought it was high compared to my area.
I already knew he ripped me off bigtime and couldn't happen with smartphones today nearly as much, but there you have it. A lot of subsequent rides later, I see taxis trying to rip off a lot in certain areas. Taking longer routes or their meters just not corresponding with reality somehow, maybe an advertised rate and then setting a higher one (my experience not always in America, mind you).
Never used Uber, but if it's one destination, one final price, I'll take it thank you very much.
It doesn't look like they took into account tipping for cab fares. A 15% addition to the Taxi fares would make Uber the clear winner in all cases, I think.
I have been taking Lyft "Line" around and it's sweet.. They take you just about anywhere for $5. Yes, you have to stop and pick someone else up or drop them off usually but it's so damned cheap! This is one of those too good to be true things that will only last till the end of the tech bubble. Reminds me of getting Kozmo.com to deliver a snickers bar to your door during the last bubble.
Hey, those $800,000 medallions don't pay for themselves, you know. ;-)
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
I've taken at least 3 dozen Uber/Sidecar/Lyft rides , most expensive one was 28 bucks , i usually take short trips and it's not only cheaper, it's a LOT cheaper, if it wasn't for those options I wouldn't catch a cab because they are prohibitively expensive
In Chicago, last weekend would have been a bad idea for a lot of people to get behind the wheel. I would gladly spend $50 for taxis than kill/mame/get dui. Also, when parking in a parking garage in the loop costs you $40 for 8 hours, a cheap taxi or uber for $6-15 a ride is a steal.
It sounds like you dont have the same daily obstacles that someone living in a large city faces. Also, calling public trans crap because it doesnt go where you need it to go is a little harsh. Do you call the Oriental Express crap because it doesnt go where you want it to go?
"We were at a left turn lane to get onto a feeder, not moving, and every 10 seconds or so the price was going up 20 cents."
Um, that's how cabs work. Time or distance; the meter switches automatically. You are buying the services of a car, and traffic is (generally) out of the driver's control. Note that they make a lot more when they bill mileage, so it's in their interest to get you to your destination faster.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Of course, where I live, it's illegal for them not to accept credit, as accepting electronic payment is a requirement to get licensed in the city. Refusing to process it is prosecuted as fraud.
Sorry, but that is bullshit. In the past I have had cab drivers do MANY things it is illegal for them to do - like demanding I add extra to the fee to pay for tolls.
The simple truth is that cab drivers are immune from pretty much any degree of shafting they care to employ on the customer - and they know it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Cars must be inspected 3 times a year. This includes safety and cleanliness, and accessibility.
I guess inspected does not mean fixed or repaired, based on what I've seen.
Must have a rate card with FIXED (regulated) fares (none of this surge pricing nonsense) that the fares can see
And then they tack on extra fees like tolls that they are not supposed to charge.
Must have minimum $200,000 insurance per person
Uber provides more insurance than that for drivers.
Must provide workers compensation coverage for drivers
How nice, and yet how irrelevant to me as a passenger.
Must operate each cab a minimum of 18 hours a day
Again, utterly irrelevant to me. I don't drive 18 hours a day and I can drive just fine. I only care that they are working when they pick me up. When an Uber comes to collect me they know where I am and where I wan to go, so it doesn't matter how often they drive at other times.
Drivers must be trained for wheelchair passenger assistance
But not every cab can take a wheelchair...
Must have braille and raised lettering plaques
Must they also light a fire with sticks? Using an Uber means you are using an accessible smartphone, not having some useless plaque in braille that was probably printed in the 1950s
Drivers license must be displayed in a lighted frame
With Uber you see the driver before they even get there.
Must have accurate taximeter
Which is often broken. Or is not accurate whatsoever.
Must have operable air conditioning
Uber cars do not need this and other rules like it, because they don't have cars that are such complete piles of shit you must specify rules like this. They just have working AC because WHO DOES NOT HAVE AC IN A CAR.
Uber: the car transport for people with common sense.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I use Uber for the superior quality of service. If you call Uber, you get picked up when they say you will. If you call a cab, you can wait an hour before you even KNOW if they're going to show up at all. Add to that, the fact that the Uber cars are clean and the drivers are polite, and I'm sold.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Just not yet. In America you can make a lot of things legal such as polluting the environment or taking bribes if your company got shitloads of money. If you include "not being prosecuted" you can put "crashing the financial market" on the list as well.
The first hit I got was "BBC News - India Uber taxi driver accused of Delhi rape".
Don't fornicate. Seriously, just don't do it.