Taxi prices in comparison to Uber

[MacRS4]

I live near Canary Wharf and use cabs a lot - but never black cabs, I just don't like their service. I've been dragged in to conversations on Twitter where LTDA/Black Cab drivers just can't fathom that people use Uber for reasons other than cost. I only really use the Uber Exec, typically to get to work near Spitalfields, or to/from Covent Garden. The pricing is pretty much the same, yet the service has been impeccable from them. Merc E/S class for the most part, with the odd Tesla.

I also find it odd that LTDA/Black Cabs seem to think Londoners 'love' Black Cabs. I can't think of a single mate of mine (yes, I do have some, honest), who thinks this.

To give you an idea, we got back from Twickenham stadium 6/8, in an E class, for GBP65.00. Very comfortable ride, pretty good price. Only time I've ever complained to Uber (guy using his phone while driving, stupid routing), they've immediately refunded the fare.

 

[Jean-F]

I live near Canary Wharf and use cabs a lot - but never black cabs, I just don't like their service. I've been dragged in to conversations on Twitter where LTDA/Black Cab drivers just can't fathom that people use Uber for reasons other than cost. I only really use the Uber Exec, typically to get to work near Spitalfields, or to/from Covent Garden. The pricing is pretty much the same, yet the service has been impeccable from them. Merc E/S class for the most part, with the odd Tesla.

I also find it odd that LTDA/Black Cabs seem to think Londoners 'love' Black Cabs. I can't think of a single mate of mine (yes, I do have some, honest), who thinks this.

It’s your prerogative to use whatever taxi service suits you, you’re happy with Uber, then great, a win for you, I’m happy for you, long may it be that way.
Like you, I don’t know anyone who professes to ‘love’ Black Cabs, but I do know a few people who are happy to use Black Cabs only, as I do.
If I walk out of a bar or restaurant in the West End, or City of London, and I want to get home a bit quick, I KNOW that a yellow TAXI light will appear within 3 or 4 minutes, and that the driver will invariably opt for the same route that I’d choose, if it was me driving the cab, that suits me, so we’re both happy, you with Uber, me with a Black Cab, win-win.

 

[MacRS4]

True enough. Your experience of 3 or 4 minutes wait for a black cab in the west end has never been my experience tbh, and one of the initial reasons I swappe.

That's the joy of choice of though isnt it

 

[Jean-F]

True enough. Your experience of 3 or 4 minutes wait for a black cab in the west end has never been my experience tbh, and one of the initial reasons I swappe.

That's the joy of choice of though isnt it

I’ll not dispute that you may have had longer waits for a yellow light to come down the street, but in my experience it’s always been reasonably quick, due in part I assumed, to the fact that there are less pickings around for Black Cabs, while Uber is cashing in with the price conscious.

 

[MacRS4]

Like I say, for me I'm not price conscious, just service conscious. I'd rather order on my phone, wait patiently doing whatever joyous things we're doing, and then wander out when the car has arrived. Aware you can do that with Lyft and the like for Black Cabs, but I just don't see the point. They're not comfortable compared to the Mercs I tend to get, and are about the same price.

Dunno, each to their own.

 

[Semple]

The black cabs in Manchester are garbage. Twice ive gotten in with a newborn and went to unclip his seat and belt it onto the back seat, and the driver (2 different cars on different days) said "Its ok, just leave on the pram" Uh, no it's not ok.

Another time he couldnt find where I needed to go despite having it up on his satnav. I thought that was the whole point

I've had a few out of Manchester airport back to the city and they've been awful and well over-priced. To the point now that i won't even use a black cab or any other firms other than Uber. I would even happily wait around the extra 5 minutes for an Uber to turn up.

Now, the £2 to £3 on the meter when a Black Cab arrives at the pick up.
You won’t be happy with this, but this is the reason why.
Once a driver accepts a trip offer from his monitor screen, he can’t do any job until he’s done the job on his screen, so he extinguishes his TAXI light, maybe pulling away from a rank.
To a) compensate him for any street hail that he now won’t get, and b) to act as a sweetener to accept the trip offer, he’s allowed to arrive with £2 or £3 on the meter, the customer is advised of this before the job goes in the system, if he’s not happy with that, he can say forget it, thanks.

That is so wrong though, on all levels. You can't charge your next customer extra for a potential job that you might have missed. Surely that's just part of the gamble of taking an arranged job versus sitting at a taxi rank or driving around and getting a street hail.

That's a big reason that black cabs will eventually die out, they may remain in London only, but i can't see the other big cities having them with shocking practices like that, and when competition is fierce and a black cab fare can easily be twice the cost of an uber, i just can't see them surviving.

 

[MacRS4]

You can see their accounts for the UK division pretty easily. Why they are paying 1.1 million in Corp Tax if they're not making any money is beyond me.

 

[Jean-F]

That is so wrong though, on all levels. You can't charge your next customer extra for a potential job that you might have missed. Surely that's just part of the gamble of taking an arranged job versus sitting at a taxi rank or driving around and getting a street hail.

That's a big reason that black cabs will eventually die out, they may remain in London only, but i can't see the other big cities having them with shocking practices like that, and when competition is fierce and a black cab fare can easily be twice the cost of an uber, i just can't see them surviving.

I understand completely what you’re saying, and agree that probably you’re right, Black Cabs may eventually die out, especially as the serfs that drive Ubers seem happy to work for peanuts, and what’s not to like when some clown will drive you 5 miles for £5.00.?
To the £2 to £3 on the clock.
I can assure you that NO CAB DRIVER sees the job as a series of gambles, every time he engages the meter he expects to get paid for the job.
If he’s on a rank, he knows that eventually he’ll get to the front, and definitely get a job, why pull away for an unknown, and maybe get there and they’ve gone already, so he gets a big fat zero.
As an encouragement to accept a radio or computer generated job, the licencing authorities allow him to have that £2 to £3 on the clock when he arrives, PROVIDING that the customer is made aware of it, and accepts it.

 

[blueboy2001]

I like Uber - they don't operate where I live which is a shame.

I use cabs in London frequently for business so it makes no odds to me how much it costs because I just expense it. Black Cabs are noisy and uncomfortable for starters, and the drivers are a proper self righteous bunch of cash in hand tax evaders. I've never had a black cab ask me if I want the radio on/off or the temperature changing which Uber do more often than not. It's just a better, more convenient service. Technology has removed the need to memorise every Street in London! The whole system is archaic and will exist only for old people and tourists in 15 years time.

 

[Rids]

I come from a family of professional drivers, my father, uncle, brother in law and a couple of cousins have all driven or continue to drive black cabs all across London. In the past they were really your only decent bet, unless you managed to find a decent local minicab firm to use. The knowledge ensured your driver had at very solid grounding in routes all over town, where as I've had many mini-cab journeys where the driver was asking me where to go.

In the modern world with the popularity of sat-navs this isn't perhaps as vital as it used to be, and there are much better alternatives available. I always choose convenience, if I am planning on getting a taxi and I come out of the station and there is a cab waiting on the rank then I'm going to jump in. Its not worth the effort for me of calling an Uber when there is a nice dry cab ready and waiting - and I dont mind paying extra for that convenience. Conversely if I'm sat inside and I'm wanting somebody to pick me up from outside the door then Uber makes more sense in this scenario, I can see where the cab is on the map, an estimate of how long it will take to get here and the number plate so I can recognise my car when it turns up.

The only issue I have with black cabs is the cost of long journeys, couple of years ago I was coming back from Vegas, landed at LHR and wanted to get to Crawley which is close to LGW. Uber quoted me £55 for the job, approached a cabby on the rank for an estimate of the price, £130. I see a world where black cabs and ride hail firms can coexist, they both have their niche, but I do see black cabs being priced out of long distance work.

 

[Liquidfox]

That is so wrong though, on all levels. You can't charge your next customer extra for a potential job that you might have missed. Surely that's just part of the gamble of taking an arranged job versus sitting at a taxi rank or driving around and getting a street hail.

That's a big reason that black cabs will eventually die out, they may remain in London only, but i can't see the other big cities having them with shocking practices like that, and when competition is fierce and a black cab fare can easily be twice the cost of an uber, i just can't see them surviving.

Don't your local private taxi companies do the same? Ours do, they all arrive with a variety of starting fares depending on the company.

 

[Semple]

I understand completely what you’re saying, and agree that probably you’re right, Black Cabs may eventually die out, especially as the serfs that drive Ubers seem happy to work for peanuts, and what’s not to like when some clown will drive you 5 miles for £5.00.?
To the £2 to £3 on the clock.
I can assure you that NO CAB DRIVER sees the job as a series of gambles, every time he engages the meter he expects to get paid for the job.
If he’s on a rank, he knows that eventually he’ll get to the front, and definitely get a job, why pull away for an unknown, and maybe get there and they’ve gone already, so he gets a big fat zero.
As an encouragement to accept a radio or computer generated job, the licencing authorities allow him to have that £2 to £3 on the clock when he arrives, PROVIDING that the customer is made aware of it, and accepts it.

Yeah i can understand your points, but there are better ways of avoiding timewasters, unfortunately charging your next customer for that privilege seems like a low blow. And going on what you said about the customer being made aware of it, i can honestly say that's the first time i've heard about the reason for the starting "fee", albeit i haven't been in a black cab for many many years now, so it possibly is something recently that's being enforced more often.

Don't your local private taxi companies do the same? Ours do, they all arrive with a variety of starting fares depending on the company.

Possibly. Last time i got a local private taxi i think they used some sort of distance chart to work out what the fare would be. Whether they add some sort of starting fare on, who knows. It's more evident in a black cab when you can see the meter, and as soon as you jump in the things already clocked up a few quid.

 

[Jean-F]

I like Uber - they don't operate where I live which is a shame.

I use cabs in London frequently for business so it makes no odds to me how much it costs because I just expense it. Black Cabs are noisy and uncomfortable for starters, and the drivers are a proper self righteous bunch of cash in hand tax evaders. I've never had a black cab ask me if I want the radio on/off or the temperature changing which Uber do more often than not. It's just a better, more convenient service. Technology has removed the need to memorise every Street in London! The whole system is archaic and will exist only for old people and tourists in 15 years time.

I feel that as a retired Black Cab driver, it’s incumbent on me to point out that tax evasion is illegal, but tax avoidance isn’t, and it’s a cash in hand job, because surprise, surprise, lots of people still use cash.
I avoided as much income tax as I could, ably guided by my accountant.
Not sure what you mean about self righteous, unless you said, “Go this way, it’s quicker”, and the driver, having the Knowledge of the streets, said, “No it isn’t, it really isn’t.”
As for the radio, I would not turn it on, out of deference to the passenger, but if they asked for it to be put on, I’d do so, unless they wanted to listen to cricket, no amount of ‘customer is always right’ would make me listen to that bore-fest.
As for A/C, the cost of having that installed, front and back was ridiculous, but it came as standard in the driver compartment in the top of the range, which I had.
An American complained bitterly about the lack of it in the passenger compartment one hot day, en route from Heathrow to Belgravia.
I said, “I’ve got it up front, you wanna drive, I’ll tell you the way?”
He said, “On the wrong side of the road? What am I, nuts?”
As for technology removing the need to memorise almost, (not every road, we’re good, but not that good), sure, I’ll agree, but I’d rather be driven by someone who goes from A to B on virtually automatic pilot, without having to think too hard, than someone who has to either watch a screen, or be guided by a disembodied voice.

 

[FishFluff]

My main beef with London cabs is that in their ideal world, the LTDA would have zero competition from the likes of Uber. They dress it up as employment rights/passenger safety concerns but realistically they know the game is up and that the majority of potential passengers are more concerned with price than anything else.

 

[Jean-F]

My main beef with London cabs is that in their ideal world, the LTDA would have zero competition from the likes of Uber. They dress it up as employment rights/passenger safety concerns but realistically they know the game is up and that the majority of potential passengers are more concerned with price than anything else.

Probably in an ideal world BA would have no competition from Air France, Lufthansa, and Iberia for flying people around Europe, even though it ain’t gonna happen, there’s nothing wrong with wishful thinking.
Not sure where employment rights come in, the ones who could have a beef there are the serfs who drive Ubers for chicken feed, and if the LTDA have advanced passenger safety as an argument, then I was unaware of that, unless you mean the sexual assaults that have occasionally occurred with Uber drivers, and not their bad driving.
If as you say, the majority of people are more concerned with price, then okay, Uber will march on, and Black Cabs will begin to dwindle away, that’s progress allegedly.
One of the reasons that I quit “the game” was the fact that for years I’d been able to work 3 or 4 day weeks, and still earn plenty.
Gradually, with the inroads made by Uber, I was back to doing a 5 day week to earn the same, that wasn’t what I signed up for, so I cut and ran.
The young guys who’ve been in “the game” now for 5-7 years are used to the lower level of work and earning potential that I quit over, and they’ve no doubt accepted it at that, they’ll keep going, they’ve little alternative, can’t see them disappearing for a few years yet.

 

[Ahleckz]

Probably in an ideal world BA would have no competition from Air France, Lufthansa, and Iberia for flying people around Europe, even though it ain’t gonna happen, there’s nothing wrong with wishful thinking.
Not sure where employment rights come in, the ones who could have a beef there are the serfs who drive Ubers for chicken feed, and if the LTDA have advanced passenger safety as an argument, then I was unaware of that, unless you mean the sexual assaults that have occasionally occurred with Uber drivers, and not their bad driving.
If as you say, the majority of people are more concerned with price, then okay, Uber will march on, and Black Cabs will begin to dwindle away, that’s progress allegedly.
One of the reasons that I quit “the game” was the fact that for years I’d been able to work 3 or 4 day weeks, and still earn plenty.
Gradually, with the inroads made by Uber, I was back to doing a 5 day week to earn the same, that wasn’t what I signed up for, so I cut and ran.
The young guys who’ve been in “the game” now for 5-7 years are used to the lower level of work and earning potential that I quit over, and they’ve no doubt accepted it at that, they’ll keep going, they’ve little alternative, can’t see them disappearing for a few years yet.

Shock as unskilled work pays unskilled money.

 

[Jean-F]

Shock as unskilled work pays unskilled money.

A minor shock for me came a couple of years after I’d hung my badge up.
Another Black Cab driver friend who used to holiday with us in Ecuador and Costa Rica, told me that he and his wife were considering a holiday in Spain,
Jeez! Spain?, thank Christ I got out when I did.

 

[LeeUK]

The more you earn the more you spend.

 

[singularity]

Never used uber, seen them around, they look like taxis

 

[Jean-F]

The more you earn the more you spend.

I was guided by my old dad, his mantras were
“You’re only here for seventy odd years, it ain’t a rehearsal” and
“Memories live longer than dreams.”