Today I took a Taxi to the Airport, and now I know why ridesharing apps must and will win. (I can't drive--otherwise, I would've used FlightCar.)
The Taxi Cab Process:
- Wait at street corner waving at taxis as they buzz by. Hope that one is free and you can get a ride with them.
- Driver (I'll call him Joe) barely speaks English, I struggle to communicate with him.
- Joe's car is filthy.
- Joe decides to take his own convoluted route to the airport, not a standard one. I eat the cost.
- Joe claims some sort of toll that isn't on the meter. Can I believe him?
- Joe apparently doesn't take card. He forces me to walk to the ATM with him to withdraw cash, all the while I'm running late for my flight.
- Joe doesn't have change. I have to run around the airport with him to get change.
- This was a shitty experience. I can't rate Joe. There's no accountability. Many others will suffer the same fate I did and there's nothing to stop this.
- The worst part is that Joe expects a tip after this set of shenanigans, and I don't have the time to argue with him as to why he doesn't deserve one.
The Uber Process:
- I open my app and press pickup.
- Driver (I'll call him Malcolm) arrives--I'm notified where he is and how long it will take him. There's not much chance in play here.
- Malcolm speaks English well, his car is maintained. If this weren't the case, he'd be fired as his rating wouldn't be >= 4.7 stars.
- Malcolm gets me to the airport via an appropriate route, and I can trust Uber to refund me if that's not the case.
- I'm dropped off curbside (in style), the tips included, my card is charged automatically, and I can't catch my flight without the hassles of figuring out how to pay Malcolm in cash. I can even request a fare quote before traveling.
Technology-enabled disruption of industries is awesome.
Follow me on twitter. Upvote on Hacker News.
Thanks to Ishaan and Delian for looking at drafts of this post.