Uber. What are the advantages over a regular taxi company?

[JMSA]

Ordered an Uber this morning, as I am travelling and had to make a connection. It was too early for buses and I don't normally travel by taxi, but thought I'd give Uber a try. The price was fine and I clicked confirm. Received a message to say the driver had arrived.
Go outside and wait a minute but there's no sign of him. I get in touch and he's miles away. He advises me to cancel my end, which I do. I promptly book another Uber, which has now doubled in price. Not only that, I've discovered that Uber has charged me a cancellation fee for the first one! I've disputed that but the money has been credited to my Uber account, rather than my original payment method.
Am I missing something, or is it just a bit crap unless you happen to get lucky?

Convenient and good prices. What’s not to like for consumers.

Never had an issue with Uber at all, and I use them at least once a week. Same for Bolt / Freenow. The only time I had difficulty getting one was during the petrol crisis.

Yup, ideal when it works out. But really shit when it doesn't!
On reflection, it's a good solution if you have a back-up. But I wouldn't want to depend on it again when I have onward travel plans.
I live in a city, so availability isn't a problem. But I paid £13 for a 5 minute trip, which is more than a regular taxi company. Thankfully Uber have refunded the cancellation fee to my bank.
I'm not sure I'd do it again.

Never had an issue with Uber.

Sounds like you had put the wrong address in

I've noticed uber upping their prices a lot. I paid 6.50 the other day with our local company that uber quoted £9.95.

The cars are always better with uber and I've never had a rude driver unlike with local company's.
And every uber driver I've spoken to has said they would never go back to a local company coz uber treat them a lot better and are great to work for .

Use them all the time in London

convenient, quick, cheap, follow a sat nav so usually don’t get lost

very occasional issues but honestly quite rare

i do support our local black cabs too but honestly I’ve also had some horrendous experiences with them - rude and dismissive if the journey isn’t far enough, not that helpful with a pram

so I do wonder what will happen to black cabs in future

Maybe it is now, I started using it a few years ago so taxis didn't offer any of this. I feel the creepy thing has been removed now with Uber (most likely the creeps still exist but knowing they are being tracked changes their behaviour, makes me shudder to know what has happened in the past).

My local taxi company has an app you can book on as well as a phone line. Then you get a text when the driver is on thier way, with a link to track them. You can send this link to anyone you want. It tracks the whole journey from booking to drop-off. You get told the make and model of the car, the colour, number late and drivers name.

You can pay by card in all taxis, not sure if you can pay on the app.

I really see no difference in uber apart from the payment.
And I book a regular journey, the price is always the same as its based on the distance

They have a long history of actively lying to the authorities to dodge their legal obligations. Software that detects where someone uses the app, and if it's a police or government building shows completely fake information.

I won't touch Uber with a bargepole.

Of course I didn't. It's likely the driver got a higher fare, as the prices shot up shortly after I booked.

I've only been in Ubers with other people and am generally not keen on app-based systems for anything, but have used Bolt abroad.

For me, I would say the only advantage of an app-based ordering like Uber over a standard taxi, is that it's easier to order transport from one location to another if you don't speak the language. You just put in the locations on the app.

I use Uber alot. Never had any issues with them. If fares are higher due to a surge most of the time if you wait a few minutes it goes back to normal.

Loads of the cab drivers here have moved to Uber from the local minicab firm. The local firm charges a higher weekly settle, so they are better off working for Uber. Plus no risk of being robbed.

More generally, I prefer a pricing structure with clear and uniform costs, when you have a base minimum price for the journey, then a price per km. I think this is both clearer and fairer. I don't like surge pricing and personalised pricing (nor the attendant data collection).

I don’t use Uber or Lyft in UK as there is no service where I live. But I have been using Lyft in the US since about six years ago. It is generally much easier to find an Uber / Lyft than it is a regular taxi, also no need to bother with cash which I find I usually do need to use for a taxi.

I have only once had a problem, my driver claimed to be at my pick up point but wasn’t. I was notified that he would be leaving in five minute, four minutes etc and I messaged but he didn’t answer. I managed to cancel and was not charged so no real damage done.

They were great living in a city pre lockdown, now I live in a small town and they just don't really work as too few to provide the convenience people want, prebooking private hire is the only option here really (or in reality driving!) on a few trips to cities since 2020 they seemed scarcer and a lot more expensive due to surge pricing (due to scarcity)

Can't stand them. Black cabs are way better.

Of course you did. Your driver turned up at the "wrong" location then when you rebooked it cost more.... Doesn't take a genius?!

means that if you’ve ‘booked’ for eg
730am, Uber will put out a request for
a driver at around 725 and if there aren’t any, tough shit

private taxi companies do
that too. The only ones who don’t are black taxis, which cost a fortune.

Yep. You need cash to pay for most taxis round here. I like that there's no awkwardness about money at the end of an uber trip. And I really like the security of my trip and the car's location being recorded. And that you can see how far away the driver is while you're waiting.

I've had occasional cancellations, but another driver has taken over the trip almost straight away.

the irony of you saying ‘it doesn’t take a genius’ and then displaying your lack of understanding over how Uber’s pricing works

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make but for the last time, I didn't put my own address in wrong.
How annoying can any one person be?!

That was to BCFan.

My local taxi company text me the reg and name of my driver, and an approximate arrival time.

Zero advantages. None whatsoever for you or the drivers.
Less safe for you as well.

Only advantage is Uber has made some privileged twats multi-billionaires.

Less safe for you as well.

How is uber less safe?