Just get an Uber!

[AlwaysCountYourPennies]

I see this suggested on so many threads. Do people not realise that Uber are not available in vast areas of the country?

Taxi is just as ridiculous a suggestion in many areas.

I see it as shorthand for taxi.
It's like when people use Deliveroo/Just Eat/Uber Eats to mean takeaway delivery or hoovering can mean use your Dyson or Shark to vacuum

These are hardly limited to London. Most cities and larger towns have taxi services, deliveries and safe places to walk at night.

The UK is 85% urban, the majority of people on this board will have access to these services, though they might not use them much.

In the village where I work, there is no bus past 6pm.
So if your shift finishes at 8pm and you are non driver you are screwed.

Snap! I'm in London, local cab firm lost more than half staff because of lockdowns. They've reduced their hours now.

mum's just outside London, they reckon it's about the same.

never used Uber. Local cabbies are great for help with hospital appointments etc.

I live in market town. A big City centre is 12 miles away

I was in GP last week, 10:30 . An elderly lady with a zimmer asked receptionist to phone for a taxi as she’d just finished her appointment. I overheard asi was in queue behind her and she on,y needed lift to somewhere else in town. She was still waiting when I came out from my appointment 50 mins later ( gp running late). I did offer to take her home on way out but she wouldn’t accept saying taxi was on its way.

to me Uber implies the service available in large cities where there are a lot of gig drivers who can pick up your request and reach you for pick up in less than 15 mns. My son lives in london and he just uses app at short notice and can always have some one picking up in about 10 mins. It is massive different sort of service.

that doesn’t exist in most places . You either have to book ahead and hope they’re not delayed or wait up to an hour

My son needed to get a taxi at 10pm one Friday night. He tried 3 taxi firms then booked an Uber who cancelled on him. It took him an hour to find one eventually.

we are 10 miles away from a city, that’s all.

People could help by saying where they are in the country where it’s likely to be relevant I guess.

But I think people also use it to mean taxi/ mini cab etc

Seems to me an Uber driver could make a killing in all of these small towns on evenings and weekends!

Doubt it, if you have a 30 mile journey between customers! As would happen in my rural area.

Newlife "to me Uber implies the service available in large cities where there are a lot of gig drivers who can pick up your request and reach you for pick up in less than 15 mns. My son lives in london and he just uses app at short notice and can always have some one picking up in about 10 mins. It is massive different sort of service."

exactly how I think of Uber.

Agree - Uber doesn't exist where I live and mini cabs are very hard to come by - certainly there isn't a reliable service.

I used to live in Cirencester which isn't tiny. Tried to get a taxi home from railway station at 5pm on a Sunday. There was absolutely nothing. In the end a taxi driver who answered a mobile number on a the station noticeboard took pity on me and picked me up after his game of bingo finished!

The bus service was terrible too. Nothing after 6pm or on a Sunday.

In my village we are three miles from a big town in one direction and 7 miles from another town in the other direction.

The bus goes once every 2 hours between 9am and 4pm. It takes 45 mins to get into town because it travels through other villages and costs £6+ return.

there is no Uber service nor any takeaway service at all. to get a takeaway you have to drive into town and collect it.

In terms of taxis, many taxi firms will not come out from town to collect us and take us back into town as it’s not worth their while. There is apparently one man in the village who runs his own taxi service but you have to book him 48hrs in advance.

some people on here REALLY can’t understand that not everywhere has a functioning public transport system

Im in a popular north east town and Uber doesn't serve here. We do have a taxi rank but getting a taxi on the fly is difficult. Prebooking a taxi is not a guarantee either

You think? I'm 7 miles from a major city so have some access but a mile or two further and it's very limited and is quite rural. It doesn't mean just because they are close to cities that small towns and villages have the same amenities as the city centre. This thread is full of people telling you their struggles, are they just imagining it?

I'm in a city. Ubers and other cabs regularly don't turn up, cost a fortune, and the drivers inflict their political drivel on me whether I like it or not.

I agree op, here a taxi requires 2 weeks prebooking or a lot of luck. We have a lifts wanted Facebook group here for short notice journeys, Sundays or weekdays 6-10am when you can't get taxis at all (contracted to school runs). I'm in an affluent town very close to a major city!

I get you OP. I live on a farm three miles from the nearest village and 15miles from where the nearest city and taxi rank are. It’s not an option for me, a bit like take away delivered food etc.

I mean, you couldn’t pay me enough money to live somewhere where Uber/just eat etc was available to me but even so, the ignorance on MN is always there.

But far more people live within those cities and the closer, more dense towns than in the further out more rural areas. So yes, I do think the majority of people on these boards will have access to those services.

The fact 85% of the UK is considered urban by the government is laughable. Definition: Minimum threshold for qualification as urban: at least 2,000 housing units or at least 5,000 population.

I live of the outskirts of a small town (and grew up in tiny village). Out of my front door it's considered urban as per the government definition, yet out of the back door I have miles of woods and open fields. I have four farms closer than my nearest take away!

'Access to services' that are unreliable, very expensive, and shit.

I live in a a village five miles from the nearest town and often laugh at comments like those.

Get an Uber
Make your child get the bus
Walk to school
Go to minor injuries
Change doctors surgeries

None of these are possible

Some cities are quite small, my closest three certainly are. People don't really live there, they live in suburban or rural areas close by. My address has the city name in it but I'm not IN the city, buses are scarce, no train links, no takeaways in my town. I can only think you've never been anywhere to the North of your huge amenity rich city.

It's just synonymous with taxi now. Similar to hoover being synonymous with vacuum.