London Mumsnetters - AIBU to think it won’t cost a fortune to get a black cab…

[MimiGC]

From Victoria station to the Old Vic theatre? I don’t live in London and have theatre tickets for a Saturday matinee . I’ve busted my knee and won’t be able to manage public transport across London. I don’t want to waste the ticket, but also don’t want to spend a fortune on a black cab to and from the theatre…any idea how much it might cost?
Thanks in advance.

Agree. Uber is fast, reasonable, and DH gets updates of when I get in, driver and reg details and where and when I get out. You don’t get any of this in a black cab.

Usually the people extolling the virtues of black cabs are family of cab drivers, it’s getting harder and harder for them to fight against Uber etc.

Not necessarily, we use Uber exec and it's always a nice car with excellent service.

Ummm…. Said no one ever. Love a black cab but they are not comfortable to travel in!

Although if you can’t actually bend your knee, a black cab will be much better space wise. You can stretch it out

@MimiGC if you're struggling to bend your knee, then getting in and out of a black cab is much harder than getting in and out of a saloon car. I'd get an Uber.

if your train comes into Victoria, then yes, it is a bit of a walk round to that road.

Absolutely this. I would always choose a black cab - it's a nice treat.

Ecclestone Bridge is at the other end of the station to the main concourse. You can access it through the shopping mall that runs along the upper level of the station , or if the escalators aren't working theres a side exit, and then you walk along the street. It's a few minutes walk. I would definitely get a cab, if only because (from experience) sitting through a show with a painful knee is no fun, and I wouldn't want to aggravate it on the way to the theatre.

This. It's quite a step up into a black cab and not that easy a manoeuvre with a bad leg.

You feel safer in an uber? First time for everything I suppose but I’m sure you’re very much in the minority

100 per cent. ❤️

@MyKingdomForACat when I am in an Uber the app (which is linked to my husbands phone) knows I have got in the car and is following the journey. It will know if the driver goes off route.
If the car gets stuck in traffic and doesn't move for a long time the app sends an "are you ok" message and you can just press one button to alert that something is wrong.
This happened to me just last week with the world's worst roadworks.
If I hail a black cab and get in no one except me and the cab driver knows I have got into a car.
Which sounds safer?

Not sure she is

Is it?

Well each to their own but from a safety point of view the black cabs are a better option.

@Redpeach What have you got against the black cabs or can you just not afford to travel in them?

Are they? And Is safety a key factor between victoria station and the old vic at rush hour?

How is a safer?
You are literally getting in a random car.
Some people even own old Black Cabs but aren't taxi drivers. I think Stephen Fry who has one and I've read interviews where he had said while driving through London people have assumed he is an actual taxi and have just jumped in the car !

The uber drivers don’t do The Knowledge, ok that’s one thing. If you book a black cab on the GETT app you have the name of the cabbie and the vehicle reg. They are rigorously DBS checked. I believe the uber drivers swap driving licences in order to take the cabs out and the tests for them were scrapped as few of them were passing. They have little road sense. HTH

Uber is prob about £20 each way. Black cab more than that.

As PPs have said, where are you training in from? You could choose a different route, break your route via Clapham Junction, or get an overland at some point.

@MyKingdomForACat if ordering a black can via an app then that's very different to just hailing one in the street.
I used both Black Cabs, Uber and Bolt by the way.
Uber generally I get the best service from.

We got a black cab from RAB to Euston last year for 40 quid and that took an age.

Me and my Mum didn't know how to use Uber!

Whoah, the price difference isn't that much when you include surging, what a ridiculous assumption - i just think the anti uber rhetoric is a bit....narrow minded and based on divisive stereotypes

Thanks everyone. As it happens, I am the daughter of a (now long retired) black cab driver, so no Ubers for me - we don’t have them where I live anyway. The walk to and from the bus stops sounds like a bit much in the circumstances, so I think I will splash out on a black cab.
I did think about trying to switch my ticket to another day, but a) the box office never seems to answer the phone and b) the play is only on for a couple more Saturdays, so tickets may not be available anyway.

You can also get the 148 bus which goes from outside Victoria. Where are you coming into Victoria from as you can also change at Clapham (lifts now all platforms) to go to Waterloo which is right there