Minicab caps in London

I used Uber for the first time recently. went from Crouch Hill to Croydon for £24 (well £34, minus £10 credit) at 3am. Amazing value. Driver was a really nice bloke, better driver than most minicab drivers I've had too.
 
Uber is most profitable in London than any other city in the world.

I personally use Uber because it's very competitive. It's £42 from my house in central London to any London airport (set charge)
 
Black cabs are a godsend if you're in a rush. Hailed a black cab to work once, cost a bombshell but he was able to beat mega amounts of traffic by booting it down the bus lanes.
 
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You definitely are paying mostly for the knowledge when you take a black cab. They know where to go and in the fastest way possible.
 
Tunney said:
There's plenty of downsides to Uber. Their drivers are unvetted, their cars aren't generally suitable for disabled people and their insurance almost certainly isn't valid for commercial use.

And then there's the downsides for the drivers. They take on all of the risk and then struggle to earn minimum wage after costs.
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I live in a rural area and we don't have black cabs or Uber. I work for a private hire company where all the drivers are stringently checked by the council and then by us.

I would argue that we are more accountable and traceable that a Hackney carriage. We use advanced software that logs, tracks and reports a drivers movement second by second.

I am constantly bombarded with calls about people who have flagged down Hackneys and lost items, had a bad experience or feel they have been ripped off. Customers are shocked to find out they are completely independent and virtually untraceable unless they have taken down their badge, registration or plate number.

I am not keen on Uber so we are launching our own phone app. As a step father to teenage girls I would rather they got into a taxi that is traceable than some random car that pulls up.
 
asim18 said:
Black cabs are a godsend if you're in a rush. Hailed a black cab to work once, cost a bombshell but he was able to beat mega amounts of traffic by booting it down the bus lanes.
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The use of bus lanes is one of the advantages of using black cabs in London.
 
I see nothing special about any form of transport. They treat it like they are sanctimonious. All licensed taxi in london seem over priced to me. To go about 6 miles they want about £15. Then the Buses they want £1.50 or £2.50 even if you only want to go 1 stop or the whole route. The buses are also dirty and smelly and uncomfortable. Licensed taxis are nothing special, although occasionally you can get a nice car when using non black cab licensed taxi.

A luxury private commuter bus service recently launched in San Francisco was shut down by the utilities regulator.

http://sfbay.ca/2015/05/21/luxury-shuttle-bus-halted-by-regulators/

There was complaints that the bus service will not be available to the poor.

http://rideleap.com/
 
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Dewgy said:
You definitely are paying mostly for the knowledge when you take a black cab. They know where to go and in the fastest way possible.
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True... sat nav is adequate most times but when you've got changing traffic conditions, road works etc.. then for a short journey in central London a black cab can be more convenient

Got Uber to London Bridge yesterday... was great value, fare was within a few pence of the estimate, rated the guy 5*, very friendly... but you can still tell the difference between them and black cab drivers - just minor things... he was about to turn into London Bridge station but the side road leading up to the station/shard area was closed off... I said 'Its OK, there is another entrance on Tooley Street' took a few times for him to register as he didn't know where Tooley Street was or that it was the next street on the right, he thought I was telling him to turn right and drive up to the barriers or something.

still it didn't cause any issue only a slight faff when he nearly decided to pull over then and there... but with a black cab you can just change route very easily or give a preferred route...

'Hey Mate I'm going to X, but via Y to pick up a friend... also need a cashpoint, there is one down Z road if you want to take that route unless you know of one closer...'

could easily turn into more of a faff with a private hire cab
 
HEADRAT said:
There should be a massive investment in all electric self driving cabs for London :)
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I would love to see this eventually. And forget banning buses and cabs, we need to ban personal vehicles first. Cheap accessible transport keeps this city going.

Fully automated taxi network with intelligent car sharing, commercial vehicles for resupply/maintenance, buses for the cheap option and bikes. I might extend to keeping scooters purely for takeaway delivery :D
 
AlecR said:
Another thing about a black cab is that if there's heavy traffic they'll just let you get out and you only have to pay up to that point. With Uber you'd still have to pay the whole journey, no?
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Don't think so, uber uses a meter too which is part of the controversy as only licensed black cabs are supposed to use meters not private hire cars which are booked in advance for specific journeys. If you cut your journey short with uber they'll only be able to charge you what their meter is quoting at that point in time AFAIK.
 
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