A decade of Uber?

Have only used occasionally with other people, but it has been convenient and useful. Getting a rough eta, details on your phone etc and being able to order one with a few button presses is much easier than having to ring up.

Appreciate that plenty of their employment and business practices aren't great though, and I can fully see why normal taxi drivers aren't happy at the way they're allowed to operate.
 
Used, or tried to, them a few times.

1st time, I was a bit drunk (I, still, to this day, blame the fresh air sniper) and decided to walk the 3 and a bit miles home. Had done it a few times before. All I had to do was follow the A41 north west out of Wolverhampton and I was there, but I failed miserably. Ended up not following the A41 and not knowing where I was (had I been sober, I would've known where I was. Also had I been sober, I would've been perfectly capable of following a straight road!). I had heard of Uber and managed to squint through one eye just enough that I could download the app so a nice Uber driver could come and drop me off at home.

A couple of times after an evening with the Mrs in Brum, we'd book an Uber from Wolves and drivers would accept then cancel the booking a short time later. We would get a normal taxi in the end.

Haven't tried to use Uber now for a few years. Now we're back up north, I think I've seen one Uber car in 3 years, so not sure Uber is really a thing up here, well not out of the cities anyway.
 
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Don't have it around here; but when in a location with Uber I use them.

The thing is, when Uber came out it was ground breaking. The ability to see where your driver was, his ETA, his car, his reg etc; as well as having a review system all from your phone was out of this world; Now most of your local taxi companies have similar functions - might not be as good as uber, but it's similar. So the competition has now caught up without Uber stepping up further.

I use then whenever I can use them and need a taxi. Never had a bad experience - but as mentioned above I get the occasional cancelation - also just remember the off peak and on peak differences in fare prices.
 
One Summer when I had just got a promotion at work and was spending like a #boss I was dropping about £400/m on Uber everywhere :D

Now only if really needed so about £25/m, as they are getting more and more expensive like everything else.
 
Around this time of year but in 4 weeks future and also two years ago I leant heavily into a taxi car and sat down on the pasenger seat believing it to be my Uber which I had drunk-dialled to appear but it was not an Uber and I was taken home by non_Uber taxi driver and then banned for a short number of months for not turning up or getting in which in hindsight was and is fair so no hard feelings Uber.

Christmas parties - not even once :sad:
 
Used one once about 6 years ago, was waiting for the tube at Nth Greenwich when signal failure at Canary Wharf meant they were cancelled, wife downloaded Uber as we needed to get to Heathrow for our holiday flight and non were showing in our area, she ticked the 'accept extra charges' or whatever it was and all of a sudden there were loads of drivers, cost us £150 to get from Nth Greenwich to Heathrow, never used them again robbing barstewards.
 
Only ever use them. Cheaper than our local taxis, always good service and there’s always one available. Compare that to our local taxis with many that only accept cash, cost more and are rarely available when I need them.
 
I've never booked one myself but I have been in a few with mates. The funniest one was getting a taxi from somewhere in Whitechapel into more central London. We piled out of a pub to be greeted with a mobile disco being driven by the happiest Uber driver alive. Big grin on his face, flashing multi coloured lights inside the car and disco music blaring. I guess it was highly illegal because of the distraction to other drivers. But to a group of drunken lads on their way to the next bar it was fantastic.
 
I used one for the first time when I went to Germany recently as I needed to get from where I was to the airport quickly. Have to say it was bloody brilliant. Where I live they don't operate and when I'm in London public transport is so good that it's pointless IMO.

The premise of it is great and if you can incorporate it into the transport network and create a proper MaaS (mobility as a service) where you just PAYG regardless of what transport you use that would be a game changer and provide proper first mile last mile travel which would be awesome.
 
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