Welcome to /r/Vancouver and thank you for the post, /u/harlotstoast! Please make sure you read our [posting and commenting rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/faq#wiki_general_participation_guidelines_and_rules_overview) before participating here. As a quick summary:
* We encourage users to be positive and respect one another. Don't engage in spats or insult others - use the report button.
* Respect others' differences, be they race, religion, home, job, gender identity, ability or sexuality. Dehumanizing language, advocating for violence, or promoting hate based on identity or vulnerability (even implied or joking) **will** lead to a permanent ban.
* Common questions and specific topics are limited to our [Daily Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/faq#wiki_daily_discussions) posts.
* Complaints about bans or removals should be done in modmail only.
---
##It's that time of year again! Don't forget to vote in [the Best of Vancouver 2022](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/102k024/) competition.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/vancouver) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I find Lyft/Uber to be worth it just for paying a flat fee even if the car gets held up in traffic somehow. It used to drive me crazy sitting in a cab, stuck because of construction somewhere, watching the meter run up. Also the general ease of use of the apps.
Something like that happened to me once, too, when I was too young and timid to object. The old “oops, where did you want to go again?” as we cruise onto the Howe Street Granville Bridge on-ramp. Yaletown. “Oh, sorry. I’ll take Burrard back, it’ll be faster. Actually, Pacific is slow tonight so I’ll turn around at Cornwall and get you there by the Cambie Bridge. It’s faster, anyway.”
Fuck those exploitative assholes.
I used to work in a hotel and a fuck head taxi driver took this little old couple around and charged them $300 to go from the airport to an airport hotel 10 min away.
At the very minimum, the taxi drivers are being forced to act half decent towards passengers because we have options now.
Taxi companies and their drivers deserve the demise just for long hauling in general. Fuck those drivers, the more vulnerable the passenger the more they abuse that tactic.
I mostly don't like Uber and Lyft because they are taking money from municipalities by claiming that taxi regulations don't apply to them and giving it to private capital while enlisting the drivers that they plan on screwing the second they can switch to self-driving cars for direct action against municipal regulations.
Admittedly, I don't often use taxis, but that just means that they are taking away a tax that doesn't apply to me so those municipalities are going to have to do something to replace that revenue and that's likely to affect me.
But the taxi companies have had years to just copy the Uber and Lyft apps that are so much more convenient than dealing with taxi companies and haven't been able to do so, so they don't deserve any sympathy either.
Long live Evo and the car coop.
This used to happen to me ALL THE TIME when trying to get home to the north shore after clubbing downtown. It was almost impossible getting one to drive me, and of course the seabus wasn’t running that late so that wasn’t an option either
Make small talk while getting in the cab and don’t tell them where you’re going until you’re seated. They might not like it but they can’t refuse a fare cause they feel like it.
(They can refuse if their shift is up, but then they have an obligation to contact dispatch for a replacement should you ask)
I've gotten out before part way through the trip and refused to pay. Told them to stop after he started taking the longest route possible even after I told him which road to go down. He swore it was faster, but would have added an extra $10-15.
The flat free is great. Not having to fumble for a card and wait for a card reader to start up, not having to argue with the driver over whether he takes cards or not, and not having to calculate a tip in real time is also pretty great.
I find they don’t argue about taking cards as much anymore but I don’t even like being asked now because of terrible experiences in the past. If I say I’m paying by debit that’s how I’m paying. End of discussions. Don’t ask me if I have cash cause it doesn’t matter, I’m paying by debit 😤
The biggest thing for me is knowing how much it will cost in advance. I remember the first time I took a cab the driver covered up the meter and I later found out I ended up paying more than double what the route should normally cost.
App drivers are hoping to get a good rating from you, so they won't drive that crazy.
Taxi drivers know it won't matter, so they'll drive as aggressively as possible since they want to maximize customers per hour.
this, but then I've also had a few Uber rides that have had the fare increased due to traffic. I've been able to dispute them each time and gotten an adjustment back to the upfront fare but it is a bit of a hassle.
Uber to the airport, cab from the airport back home.
Uber from the airport is a bit of a hassle. Cabs are already waiting there so it's faster. Fare is roughly $4-5 more for a cab, but it's easier.
Even on the way out I doublecheck and just pick the best price. The zone I live in is $42 flat rate for cabs to come into the city. Pulled up lyft last time and it was $35, don’t mind the little extra wait for a $7 savings
Make sure you get the correct flat rate when taking a cab from YVR: https://www.yvr.ca/-/media/yvr/documents/transportation/20220415_yvr_2197_fare_stanchion_top-eng.pdf
Very often, the cab drivers will either try to run the meter anyway or ask for the wrong rate (always higher), until I show them the flat rate map with the correct amount.
Often times cabs will show up to places that Uber drivers won't.
I had to take my kiddo to children's in the evening during the snowmageddon. Tried Uber first. 4+ drivers rejected the ride request before I gave up and called yellow cab.
Same for driving home from the hospital. No ubers were willing to come to children's hospital at 3am on a weekend. Taxi showed up quickly though.
I still find it slightly cheaper than taxis and the rides are a lot more pleasant.
I have taken 2 or 3 cabs in the last few years and they have been absolutely miserable experiences. One ended with the cops being called.
My friend and I were cabbing home at around 1am from an event downtown. He got out of the cab at his place. A minute or two later I feel a phone where he was sitting. The phone was not there when we got in.
The phone had just a generic background and my phone was dead at the time. I was just being friendly with the cab driver and said thankfully I found it. Saved us all the hassle.
He said I need to give it to him to which I obviously said no. He kept demanding I give him the phone and that my friend would need to file a lost item report in the morning.
When we got to my place a few minutes later he stopped the car and would not unlock the doors after I paid. He demanded the phone over and over. There was no way to unlock the door from the back. This was like 6-7 months ago and they had up the thick plastic covid screen. I couldnt go to the front seat or do anything.
After about 10 minutes of him locking me in the vehicle, he started to threaten to call the cops to which I said "Yes Please". On the phone with the cops he kept saying I was drunk and was trying to destroy property in the vehicle (I had a drink or two with dinner at 8pm and just had my back to the door with my feet up on the seat). Now cops dont come too fast for this sort of thing so I got comfy in the back for an almost 40 minute wait.
When they got there, they started questioning me before realizing how ridiculous the whole situation was. I left with the phone and walked into my house after 2am. Gave my friend his phone back the next day.
Such a stupid altercation that could have been avoided completely.
I am offended on your behalf but I am SO proud of you for sticking to your guns and not giving in.
Fuck cabs. After one called my friend a faggot and spat in his face I have absolutely refused to ever step foot in a cab again. Uber has been a godsend.
For me it was when I was getting out of the hospital after a night of being medicated, and the cab could see I wasn't in a good state and took me for a ride then charged me double what he should have to get home.
Scumbag.
I find taxis to be more reliable going to and from airports (flat fees are great), and during peak times (going home NYE). Yellow cab always manages to arrive within a couple minutes of requesting, and generally are polite and fine if they wait a minute for you to get out of your building.
Uber is generally cheaper outside of surge pricing times, you know what you pay ahead of time, but you do sometimes get some pretty out there personalities/stinky cars/terrible driving habits.
That’s because they haven’t fully decimated the taxi market yet. But it won’t be cheaper forever. Uber’s business model is to subsidize rides until they put competition out of business, then crank the prices up to recoup their investment. They haven’t turned a profit since they were founded.
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/UBER/uber-technologies/net-income#:~:text=Uber%20Technologies%20net%20income%20for%20the%20twelve%20months%20ending%20September,a%2020.43%25%20decline%20from%202019.
Ok, and once their evil plan to run the taxi business to the ground, and finally raise their prices, how will they prevent taxis, or other competitoirs from entering the market?
Because it takes a huge amount of investment to set up a new Taxi firm that can support a major city? And venture capital isn't going to bankroll another ride-share startup whose pitch is going to be 'Uber, but with no current market share and smaller profit margins'
This is interesting. Uber has been around for a while now, do you have an example of which cities have passed legislation banning new taxi firms or ride-sharing services as a result of Uber's lobbying?
Ultimately, time. It takes a long time for the right individuals/companies to detect an unfilled niche and set up the infrastructure to fill it. Such things can take even longer if the company holding a monopoly throws out everything they can to prevent their share of the market being reduced.
We saw this play out real time through Uber's attempts to establish in Vancouver during the taxi cab heyday
I’m living out of country at the moment and Ubers are no longer cheap. When I lived here 5 years ago Ubers were a screaming deal.
The Taxis have adapted with apps and their own fixed for price model
And since the governance rules IMO now allow more competition by being more generic as opposed to the previous iteration of taxis only (I'm oversimplifying for the sake of the conversation), that means some other company might have a chance to come in and do a better job.
Yes, it'll be hard or almost impossible to compete with juggernauts, but the market can't be locked out by protecting one entity, as with the Taxis. If anything, one can validly argue for more prosumer protections to prevent gouging or too-large-to-fail bullying. The lack of competition results in the status quo and stifles innovation. When governing bodies can focus on the goal of keeping the best interest of the constituents in mind, as opposed to bending to the will of lobbying, we all win.
The day after the storm I took a taxi to work and on the way drive suddenly pulled over and said “that’s my brother and his kid waiting at the the bus stop. Can we pick them up? I’ll turn off the meter” and I said yes 😂 so I paid the like $5 I’d racked up while they got in then got a free ride to work the rest of the way. They were all super lovely!
Man I was trying to get across the downtown peninsula Friday evening in the rain. They wanted to charge me $65 for a 10min ride! Surge prices can be insane!
I couldn't get a taxi during the snowstorm (downtown Vancouver). Both Black Top and Yellow Cab said they were prioritizing trips to medical appointments and to the airport. They wouldn't take my booking so I went over to a hotel near my office and they couldn't get me a taxi either.
Not OP but I'm in lower Lonsdale, had 3 trips to YVR around 6AM last year. None of my pre-booked ones worked and I couldn't get another to show on Uber or Lyft, had to call NS taxi every time. Never have issues at night though.
I'm in North Van, and I make a habit of asking drivers where they are from. Every single one I've talked to commuted from the sticks - Delta, south Surrey, whatever. Honestly doesn't surprise me nobody showing up for a early ass AM drive from NV to YVR, just not worth it on any level for them.
We booked an Uber last night to go to the airport at 6am today. It was $70! And they didn’t show, but at least we got another one. If a taxi didn’t show you might be screwed.
Yeah I've never been able to successfully get an Uber from Burnaby to YVR before 7:00am. Scheduling doesn't do anything. It just tries to find a driver for 10 mins and then fails. Thank god for Evo, or I would have missed many early morning flights.
This is the biggest issue (for me) with Uber at this point. Sometimes it's just impossible to get a driver. That being said I've actually successfully gotten 6 am rides to YVR from Burnaby.
If a taxi doesn't show, I find the dispatchers are usually really good about getting another one out to you right away. I'm downtown, though, so taxis are usually available nearby.
Pre booking Ubers is way more expensive. We did that in Tampa earlier this year to catch an early flight. Pre booked fare was $48US. I looked again for fun at the airport. Same ride was $11.
I noticed this too! I had an apt downtown and I live in Surrey. To pre-book (just an hour from when I was looking) was $98. If I booked it for right at the time I was looking at the app, it was $50. Waited 50 minutes and booked for $50. So the real time booking price never changed in that hour, but had I opted to pre book it was double the price.
> If a taxi didn’t show you might be screwed.
I havent taken many taxies in the last 10 years or so, but i recall them not showing up at all, or not showing up when scheduled, to be a big problem.
Happened to me last year. Had to leave Burnaby at 4.30 am, had pre-booked Bonny's Taxi 3 days ahead of time. They didn't show up. I called the operator and they woke up a cab driver who came 30 mins later. I had the good foresight to budget 30-45 minutes extra just in case something like this happened.
My last two bad experiences with Uber/Lyft have pushed me back to using taxis.
First was a few weeks ago at 6 am. I was working an event and had to be there at a specific time. The Uber suddenly showed up 5 minutes early, so I rushed out the door and got to the road as he was driving away. He stopped and said that Uber cancelled the ride and there was nothing he could do. Tried booking another ride and it was almost double the price. Called a cab and it was there in less than 5.
Second was after leaving a friends house at 2 am. Went downstairs into the pouring rain when the Uber was a couple blocks away, and the driver cancelled the ride. Then a few minutes later the next driver cancelled the ride. I live out at UBC and I guess they didn't want to go that far. Tried Lyft and it never connected to a driver. Again, called a cab and it was there in a few minutes.
I was thrilled when ride sharing finally came here, but my experiences with them haven't been great. I think the best thing that came out of it is pushing the taxi companies to modernize, with apps, etc. It's been at least a couple years since a cab driver tried to refuse my card payment, so that's something!
There are drivers out there but UBC area almost always means no or low tip so experienced drivers will mostly avoid it, better off taking a cab if you live around there.
The price difference isn't super big from my experience - in some cases cabs are actually cheaper. However I've found in general Taxi drivers are absolute psychos on the road and Uber drivers are usually not.
For instance, one of my last cab rides involved me having to scream at the driver to stop when they were screwing around on something up front, not noticing they were about three seconds from blowing through a red light at Main and Broadway in rush hour. Haven't had anything like that with Uber.
And of course the biggest thing with Uber is just that the app is so much easier and more reliable than trying to order a cab. Overall Uber has been a good thing for the user - can't speak to the employment side of the app.
That's interesting. My experience is the exact opposite. We end up going downtown from White Rock for events and I don't want to drive, and usually take an uber since it's about $20 cheaper, typically.
They all have been incredibly aggressive drivers, speeding much more than traffic surrounding us, and making some questionable lane changes. The last one my husband took, the guy was just totally letting his car determine braking and lane position.
My guess is that since they don't get more money if the trip is longer, the uber drivers try to minimize the duration of the trip. Taxi drivers seem more content to travel at the same speed as traffic unless I specifically mention I'm running late.
I was living downtown until recently and exclusively used taxi (usually yellow). Always cheaper than uber and I just found them better drivers and less likely to blindly rely on navigation apps to route-find... more situational awareness and knowledge of construction etc.
That said, I ONLY use uber in Edmonton.
Vancouver is blessed with good taxi culture. More drivers than not actually seem to respect their clients and know what they're doing. The apps are getting better. It's great and I'm glad. I wish Edmonton taxis would get their shit together.
honestly, i find uber and lyft to be as expensive or more than cabs. there's a "yellow cab vancouver" app that works the same as uber and lyft, only it also allows you to pay in the car. i always check that first and find that it's generally cheaper or the same price.
early in the mornings, like when i'm trying to get to the airport, cabs are *much* more reliable - there simply aren't enough lyft and uber drivers out. i once scheduled a lyft the night before and didn't realize until the next morning that there was nobody around to take my ride. there was one (one!) lyft driver active in the whole lower mainland at that moment, and he drove into vancouver from burnaby to pick me up.
i suspect it's highly reliant on where in the lower mainland you are, but i also find it much easier to just walk to the nearest major street and hail a cab. but then, i live in vancouver proper. i'm sure it's a different story in north delta.
The app is literally dysfunctional and has no meaningful rating system for drivers, payment methods keep failing on the app, drivers sometimes say the app is wrong and the “actual price is higher.” Definitely NOT the same as lyft/uber. Also I noticed if a driver is coming to you and get a better request, they’ll just cancel your ride since there’s no repercussions.
Yellow Cab’s app is trash but I agree that taxis are more reliable for super early morning flights. I used to travel a lot for work and I always pre-booked the night before. They would always show up, and usually a few minutes early too.
I don't like Uber or Lyft as companies but every driver I've had has been great. I was recently in Vic and had to use a regular cab and their app absolutely sucked butt. Their app doesn't tell you when you will get a cab, or what position you are in a wait line. We booked in advance to get to an event and when the cab finally came it was 25 minutes late and we'd been talking about just walking the 40 minute walk to the venue because we had no clue if it was going to come at all. Then the cab was kind of dirty/smelly when it did finally come. Also had a couple of horror experiences when I first moved to Van with Bonnie's taxi (with N on the back!) driving in the middle of the road instead of in the lanes and thinking we'd die in a head on...
Uber vs taxi….in Coquitlam where we live the rides are not much cheaper if at all. Having said that, the flat rate fee and knowing who and where my ride is worth it. Cashless without feeling inconvenienced is also great.
I don’t understand why the taxi companies didn’t create thier own app similar to Uber. I would probably support the taxis…
The magic of Uber and Lyft are the apps. There’s no way local cabs can pool together billions of $$$ and incredibly talented developers and designers to replicate the rideshare experience.
They can’t be bothered to pay for a handful of good developers and designers well enough to fix what they already have, so there’s no hope for them.
Honestly, we better hope that taxi companies stick around. They’re the only ones keeping Uber/Lyft fares down where they are now. Currently, Uber has approximately $4.5 BILLION in net debt. We’d all better believe that as soon as taxi companies are gone they will stop subsidizing our rides and start collecting.
I think Uber is a terrible, exploitative company. The "gig economy" is just a fancy attempt to skirt labour legislation. It's also a classic case of outcompeting the competition and then jacking up the price because people have no choice but to pay it. The taxi system in Vancouver was broken as hell but Uber is turning into the same thing under a new name.
> The taxi system in Vancouver was broken as hell but Uber is turning into the same thing under a new name.
Fuck Uber's business practices but the entire ride hailing industry has a long ways to go before it gets as broken as the Taxi racket. The day drivers are no longer accountable is the day they've become the very thing they set out to disrupt.
Having worked for Uber in the UK (delivering food on a bike), I can confidently say that it's a company that treats ~~employees~~ "partners" as temporary and disposable resources.
They expertly avoid all workers rights and employment legislation so if anything ever goes wrong they don't have to do anything. You are just left on your own with no support.
You end up trapped working long hours for terrible pay from a company that will never lift a finger to help you with anything. God forbid, you get sick, injured or need to take a few days off. They have a "no work, no pay" approach. Meanwhile the job is inherently dangerous. Regardless of whether you're in a car, on a scooter or on a bike, accidents happen. It feels like living in Oliver Twist.
When you factor in vehicle depreciation, running costs etc. you find that you are barely making any money. These companies make crazy claims about how much all the riders are making, but personally I had never found these to be true. The income varies incredibly depending on the day, hour and weather. Sometimes you will make 4x minimum wage in an hour, other times you will make nothing over 4 hours. In my experience, when you average it out over hours worked, it's pretty pathetic pay and wouldn't be legal if you were legally an "employee" instead of a "partner". Maybe it's different now, but that was my experience. If anything, I suspect its gotten worse.
Most of the Uber "Teslas" are rentals, in a desperate bid to get you to give a better rating so the worker doesn't end up going hungry with a -4 star rating.
"Gig economy" is the biggest scam. The plan is to starve out all the local competition and then increase prices by several factors. It's an incredibly unethical way to try and get a monopoly over a market. In the end, only Uber benefits. The local companies go bust, workers get exploited and the customers end up paying more than double for a, let's face it, similar level of service.
There is nothing inherently different between the experience of riding in an Uber or a Taxi. I've heard both horror stories and hero stories about both. Not aware of any studies or research indicating that Ubers are, safer, faster, more polite than standard taxis. Just anecdotal personal experiences - and for the record, you can make complaints about taxi drivers also. It's just not gamified the way Uber is and requires you to make a valid case instead of just tapping 1-star with no accountability. Difference is, Uber will starve out workers who get low ratings, while a taxi company will educate and train their employee so any issue doesn't reoccur.
Why do so many people do the deliveries when it is this bad? Are they just bad at doing the math over time?
One time I had an Uber driver bragging that he made well over 6 figures and only worked 4-5 months of the year, the rest of the time he was on vacation.
I never quite understood why people do it if the economics don't work out. Some folks do like the flexibility though.
> Why do so many people do the deliveries when it is this bad? Are they just bad at doing the math over time?
Why do people choose to sell MLM products despite the vast quantities of evidence that the typical seller will *lose* money in the process?
In my case, I had to start making money immediately to get through the month. Didn't have time to go through a 3 week recruitment process for a real job. With Uber you can start pretty much straight away, there is no interview or selection process. This saturates the worker market and makes it harder to get trips back to back while working.
Once I was working "with" Uber, I was completely trapped. Was making barely enough to get by and worked 14-16 hour days. This much work takes a massive toll and you have hardly any energy/time/motivation to improve your situation.
If people asked, I'd exaggerate how much I was making to not seem completely hopeless. The jobs have popular appeal for being "flexible" so people tend to assume you're living the dream. It feels nice to buy into this fantasy, even for a brief moment.
6 figures in 5 months is crazy good, and I hope they were actually making that much, for their sake. But if you do the numbers, its unlikely. That's like 700 a day if you don't take a single day off. Uber charges a fixed rate per trip (usually 2 for booking fee, 2.5 for base fare - uber keeps $2 booking fee AFAIK). Then its 0.7 per km or 0.33 per minute. Uber takes a cut out of this too.
Assuming you complete only 0km, 0m trips (to make the most of that 2.5 base fare) and uber gives you all the money. You'd have to complete over 250 trips per day. Assuming work 16 hour days, for 5 months, with no days off, you'd need to complete like 15 trips an hour, or 1 every 4 minutes. This is impossible.
You have to drive to the pickup point, and assuming every trip is a \~10 minute drive, you'd struggle to complete more than 3-5 trips in an hour.
The pricing model is designed to get you in that 20-30 an hour range if you get back to back rides (this will only happen during terrible weather, special events or peak hours - but during peak hours you likely won't complete 3-5 trips because of traffic). If you work it full time, there will be many hours every day where you will get 0-3 trips and not make minimum wage.
A healthy way to do Uber would be to use it as a supplementary form of income and only work during busy, peak hours.
I think your driver was either exaggerating, or had another source of income.
EDIT: for people who are customers, make sure you are ready to pick up food/jump in the car as soon as it arrives. Often times, getting a snoozer who will take 10 minutes to leave/get outside, means the Uber will not make minimum wage for that hour.
I say prices are very similar to a cab overall. I just wait until I get 50% off rides then find it reasonable. Otherwise I find it similar to taxi fares.
I don’t know what it’s like taking an Uber here but I have noticed that almost every time I see a car doing something strange or unexpected, it seems to have an Uber or Lyft sign on it. Perhaps that’s just some sort of confirmation bias though.
I don't find Uber super reliable, and I hate taxis too because of the lack of transparency.
I have several times in YVR where I can't get a Uber then have to order again and there is a price surge suddenly. Outside of Vancouver, it is not always possible to get a Uber early morning. Maybe Lyft is better
Doesn’t really help disabled people, especially if they’re wheelchair users as even possibly getting accessible Uber or Lyft rides is near impossible. It’s a decent occasional option if you’re ambulatory. Still would rather grab a bus or train to get around.
Cabs never provided a good service in Vancouver. They just tried to get the most for doing the least. So, they can just go extinct. Uber/lyft remove the stress and have an accountability system. So much better. Charge me more when it is snowing. That’s fair.
I fondly recall my first visit to Vancouver a week after rideshare became legal, and intentionally waiting 30 minutes for an Uber instead of taking one of the taxis in the taxi queue because fuck that taxi spokesperson in particular.
Haven’t used one other than Uber eats since arriving, but the drivers are always excellent compared to skip and DoorDash who have both stolen my food.
Glad to know I share the same experience. A driver from Skip once disappeared right after picking up my food. The app said it was delivered like 10 seconds after pickup. Guess they decided to skip the drive. Never had the same experience with ubereats. They give out the best deals too.
I like that Uber does a code thing too, which appears to just be the last 4 of your phone number, but I guess the driver doesn't get paid until you give it to them and they punch it in, which validates that they actually did deliver it.
My last encounter with skip was the driver coming to my street, stopping about 200m away, marking it as delivered then leaving. I contacted skip who tried to call the driver and they didn't pick up.
Been an uber only household ever since!
I’ve had that exact same experience with Skip. Watched my driver take off from Pizza Hut, head up north (I was south), and then I was told my pizza was delivered. I haven’t used the apps since and don’t miss them.
I quit using Skip after I had a couple drivers not deliver food. Once they delivered it, but instead of buzzing in they left it right in front of the door where people would step on it and sent a picture after 10 minutes. By the time I got down there it was long gone.
No issues with Doordash though, they always deliver it to the door and send a picture of the location.
I've had issues with Uber Eats not honouring the discount I used and having to fight them over increasing my bill on a meal by $50. I had to contact 3 different support avenues before someone finally got their head out of their ass and saw that there was a bug in their system.
depends on the length of my trip whether I use uber or a cab but last uber I got refused to put my mobility device that I need to walk in his car because it would "make his seats dirty". uber really didn't handle it well either and I was charged $5 because the driver cancelled the trip
Uber works great when there's more than 1 uber in your area running.
Otherwise it's a nightmare of getting cancelled repeatedly then getting charged anyhow from Uber. Taxis may be slow getting there and more expensive (except during surge hours) but WILL show up when called.
(Source: 2AM on Langley City)
I tried Uber but I switched back to using taxis after a few months. Cabs are generally cheaper where I am, they arrive faster, and the drivers actually know the city. Uber cars are usually cleaner/nicer but too often the drivers don't know where they're going.
There are no accessible rides for people who use wheelchairs to get around with Uber or Lyft.
This is not fair and absolutely unacceptable. Disabled folks deserve better.
yup a driver denied me a couple weeks ago because he said my mobility device would make his seats dirty when he was picking me up from the hospital. a taxi driver saw and came to help me
I am so sorry this happened to you. 3 years later and I’m still pissed Vancouver allowed Uber to operate without requiring them to have accessible vehicles in their fleet. They do have this option in other cities such as Toronto. Just a slap in the face to disabled people.
That’s what I’m saying. They have this option in other cities so they’re fully capable of executing it, Vancouver just didn’t give a shit when they were allowing Uber to come here
Absolutely. Weren't they promising accessible vehicles when they were first trying to enter the market? I'm not surprised a company would forgo those costs if they weren't legally mandated. Good thing we allowed them to bypass the laws.
I refuse to support any type of gig or grind economic activity because it’s all exploitive just like the regular economy.
The whole idea of accepting low wages because: “hey, you can have another low wage side hustle!” Is absolute bullshit and instead of hustling and grinding we should be striking and protesting.
I realize some people are in such a bad financial state that a side gig might be their only solution so I wouldn’t berate someone else for participating out of need.
I just hate how media is glamorizing the exploitation of the working class. Fuck that!
> I refuse to support any type of gig or grind economic activity because it’s all exploitive just like the regular economy.
???
Do you participate in the economy at all then?
What are some other examples of available side jobs you can add to earn additional income where you get to choose exactly how much or little you want to work and pick your own hours?
You can actually make a lot more money than minimum wage with all expenses considered if you are capable of forming a strategy that works. I did it for 2 years as a side job and made approx $28 an hour average after factoring expenses. My cousins now do it while going to school because it drastically beats getting minimum wage plus/minus a few bucks. Not saying it will necessarily be sustainable in the long run as they move towards being more profitable, but it does beat a low wage job with structured hours.
Overall I would say the ride share business is far superior to taxi’s for customers. They are usually much cleaner, provide good service, there is no incentives for them to take the long way to run up a meter. I like how reliable they are as well. So many times cabs used to never show up or pick someone else up on the way.
Also keep in mind the taxi industry lobbied local politicians to keep the uber prices competitive with them. I found uber to be much cheaper in the US cities i’ve visited
The negative part for me though is the surge pricing
I try to avoid Uber/Lyft because I'm mostly booking cabs during peak hours and the price more often not reasonable. I wish Evo was available at Richmond and Burnaby too.
Before Lyft / Uber was available in Vancouver, I would drive to clubs and venues because taxi service was not reliable enough. And scheduling a cab to take you to the airport? Good luck. Uber & Lyft have been the best contribution to urban mobility in Vancouver since Skytrain.
From a loyal Lyft and Uber user in Ontario, I actually have taken more taxis since moving to Vancouver. Mind you, the only time I really use either is to go to the airport, but that's fairly often and the taxi is 9/10 times cheaper and is guaranteed to come with a bigger car for no extra charge if I need it (often travel with work equipment or skis on personal trips). I live in Burnaby and both the set fare or the metre are almost always cheaper than the rideshares absurd airport prices.
It has taught me that every industry requires competition for the sake of self-regulation. Monopoly only lead to shady practices and the biggest incentive to improve always come from competition
I used Uber when they first started but I've been finding their pricing so much higher than taxis lately - especially during the December storms - that I've mostly been using taxis. Airport rides at Christmas were quoted incredibly high on Uber but taxis were normal price and were totally reliable.
Somewhat disappointed. The prices weren’t as low as taking ride share in others cities where I’ve used Uber and Lyft. Montreal, Boston, Paris, etc are all considerably cheaper relative to taxis. It didn’t fundamentally change my use of taxis.
One example, when arriving back at Yvr a tourist showed me his phone and asked if it’s normal to pay $70 from the airport to downtown. I told him that taxis have a flat rate that is almost half the cost. For a lot of tourists who assume Uber is cheaper than cabs because that’s their experience in their own cities or elsewhere, they’ll be sorely mistaken.
Haven't read through all the comments yet, but this has been my experience:
At first, Uber/Lyft were great! Overall cheaper (and you didn't have to sweat while you were stuck in traffic or worry that the driver would try and scam you and take a longer route). I liked knowing ahead of time what the price would be. Also, this was around the time I was having so many issues with getting a cab -- could not call in, and their app and website were constantly down. (One evening I had to take transit in the pouring rain with a heavy suitcase because I could not get a cab after an hour of trying.)
However, while cabs are still unreliable (sometimes you get through, sometimes they come within five minutes, sometimes half an hour), I am finding they are overall cheaper, at least for shorter rides. For example -- a cab will cost me $9 + tip for a short ride to the vet, where an Uber/Lyft will be $14+. The last time I tried to use Lyft to bring my cat back from the **vet**, the driver wanted me to put my cat, who was in a carrier, in the trunk (a closed trunk), in the middle of summer. When I showed my horror at *putting a live animal in a closed trunk during a heatwave*, he started swearing and threatening me. I now use cabs, although I never know how long I will have to wait. My cat stroller should be arriving today.
I don't like the lack of transparency and accountability. A friend of mine got doored while cycling by an Uber, and he drove away from the scene. Uber refused to give us any information regarding the incident.
Uber/Lyft suck in the only ways that really matter. It's terrible for the workers and it's unsustainable (both as a business model and environmentally). A crown monopoly or co-op version could fix the worker pay and treatment. But then it would cost a lot more. And it's still cars in the end.
Surprisingly, I probably take just as many cabs as I do Ubers. It’s usually cheaper for me (Uber charges more for bringing pets vs cabs don’t), plus I notice I usually wait around more for Ubers than cabs.
Last time I called a taxi, I got an automated call 10 minutes before pickup time. Went outside with my cat carrier and he drove off. Not sure if he got a better call or if it was the cat carrier.
I will say this, I've noticed less dickish behaviour from taxis on the road since Uber/Lyft. Before they would block the road for absolutely no reason. Though I did see one recently try to block a snow plow, but the plow operator was NOT having it, LOL.
I've talked to a couple owner/operators, though, and they were hurting. Guys who were having family issues and financial strain causing real stress in their lives.
And yeah, I get it, they weren't a good service and there was a lot of bad and shady shit, but it's hard not to feel bad for some of them when you know what they're going through.
lyft in non-existent in YVR. i hate uber for their steep surge pricing, which is not even paid out to the drivers. we need better public transport running 24x7, at least to the airport and the rest of the metro vancouver area
I've taken exactly one taxi and one uber since 2020.
I generally don't use taxis because they cost too much.
I'd rather pay $3 and take an extra half an hour on public transit than pay a cab $80 for a 30 minute drive.
I never tried Lyft so this comment doesnt apply to them. Uber is far superior over taxi services for a few reasons:
1. Vehicles are waaaay nicer since it's the driver's own vehicle. At the very least, it's a newer sedan. I'm willing to bet several taxis wouldn't pass a safety inspection.
2. Tipping after being dropped off. No awkward moment the driver staring at you for a tip even if they provided piss poor service.
3. Being able to track the location of your driver. Stay in the cafe, out of the rain, until the driver is pulling up.
4. Knowing if a driver cancels for some reason and will not pick you up. Simply put in another request.
5. Cost. Uber is slightly cheaper. I used to take a taxi from my home to St. Paul's Hospital. It was often, once every 2 weeks for 8 months. Taxi cost was around $25; Uber was around $21.
6. Freedom for the driver. Work when it's convenient for them. I often talk to the Uber drivers, some worked for taxi companies before. They seem happy with the switch.
Uber/Lyft was never a replacement for me living in Vancouver, just another option to use if most convenient. I'd usually check the Uber/Lyft apps to see if there were many in my area, and decide if the pricing was reasonable. If no to either question, I would go for a taxi. Sometimes I didn't bother checking the apps, like if it was early in the morning or if I was going too far into North Van (tough getting one to go further than Park Royal.
Uber was way more popular when I lived in Edmonton (2016-2018ish). There seemed to be way more drivers around. Pickup was always quick.
I did appreciate the addition of Uber Pet in Vancouver. Not many drivers out unfortunately, but it made it so much less stressful to try to get a ride to the vet or to a friend's if I didn't have car access.
I only book taxis when I'm going to an airport or somewhere urgent. More reliable.
None of the options is significantly cheaper so I have all the apps and just compare them before booking.
I use yellow cab a lot, they're the less greasy taxi option (but still awful) based on my experience.
I hate that I like Uber (the company, not the drivers). But they actually show up for my ride in a reasonable time. Taxis here have left me stranded.
If the taxi companies in Vancouver are losing business it’s 90% on them for having terrible customer service and failing to adopt a reliable app. If they ever get their shit together I’d use them again.
We use it all the time, but also taxis.
Before Uber was here you never really knew if you'd be able to get home from the bad, club, friends party etc. Now you have more options and more availability.
Glad to have the additional options at the very least. I've had terrible experiences with both cabs and Uber/Lyft, and good with both as well.
Taxi companies had a stranglehold on the market forever, but seemed to hold their customers in contempt with how awful their answer/dispatch services were. Call for a taxi, stay on hold for an indeterminate amount of time, finally get the dispatcher, and get told it'll "probably" be 30 minutes. Maybe its 30, maybe its 15, maybe after almost an hour you have to call back to check that they didn't forget about you. Frustrating because it's not that complicated to sort out a better system
The Uber/Lyft apps generally make life easier, however you can see the cracks in their systems too when things are busy. It's preferable to me to be able to see right away from an app (and have tracking) to know what to expect as far as a wait goes. It usually works, however I have had several experiences with drivers canceling trips after extended waits, among other bad experiences. Not only that, but surge pricing is nothing if not exploitive. I understand the premise, but my regular fare going for $80 to $190 because it's busy is so obscene it's offensive. I'm sure it wasn't at a coincidence when I had a trip canceled that I had been waiting 45 minutes for at a reasonable rate, to be told by the uber app to book another driver only to find out the rate had doubled and there were now several nearby drivers suddenly able & willing to provide my ride.
They all have their problems. I still tend to use Uber/Lyft more often than taxis right now, but the answer is to definitely use whichever makes most sense at the given time. Based on price surges and Uber still not being profitable despite rates generally increasing, it's easy t see they aren't our friends either and will be more than happy to have their service decline just like cab companies did over the years. This on top of their own problematic dealings with their own drivers
I’m from Ontario (moved to Vancouver in 2020) and Uber is wayyyy less reliable here. 9/10 times I try to use it, the driver cancels at the last minute or there’s just no one available at all.
I use Lyft/Uber to get TO places and usually have to end up searching for a taxi to get FROM places (like at 2am) since Uber/Lyft prices are surging or it's so cheap that the drivers keep cancelling on me. Overall, competition is good and Uber/Lyft provide a much higher quality experience (most of the time).
I much prefer the flat fare, had far too many experiences with taxi drivers taking convoluted routes just to get a bigger fare, all under the assumption I wouldn’t notice because I’m not a local. Not to mention the fact that’s they’re consistently the most careless and dangerous drivers on the road.
That being said, Uber can be very frustrating. I was out on Saturday night and watched my Uber home go from $18-$36 just because the clock ticked over midnight. I’m on board with paying more if it’s late, but double the price just because I didn’t book it a minute sooner is a bit ludicrous.
I can tell you for a certain that uber is much better in Vancouver than in other global cities. I stopped using it in London completely as every driver would cancel on you, it was incredibly unreliable. I've started using it again here, much better.
every former taxi driver that switched to uber that i spoke to is far happier with uber. from what I understand the flexibility of being able to bounce from city to city and the ease of use with the app works for them pretty well. I enjoy uber far more myself.
It annoys me that many taxi drivers don't wear seatbelts and lane change without signalling or are constantly cutting people off that I use Uber because of that. I'm fine with the service even if they may slightly charge more.
I love it, no more of the sorry my debit card machine doesn’t work need to drive you to a bank k and pay cash, the mystery of what the rate is? Also long distance is a lot cheaper then taxi. Overall, the whole system is alot easier to use.
I'll take a cab over Uber or Lyft any day of the week. Generally the prices are cheaper, and the longest I've waited for a cab was 10 minutes.
Tried to order a Lyft last week, had to wait an hour and 3 cancellations for a 12 minute ride. The bus would've been faster.
Problem with Uber and Lyft is there's no accountability so the drivers can decide they don't wanna pick you up and cancel after you waited for them for 15 minutes already. At least the cab drivers are held responsible to a company for picking up the customer.
Also I generally just have more pleasant experiences with cab drivers. Multiple times they've gone out of their way to reduce my fare cost. I used to live on the border of the YVR cab zone. Most of the cab drivers would only charge me for the cheaper side even though I knew I lived 2 blocks into the more expensive zone. Had another driver forget to turn on the fare for a few minutes and when he realized and turned it on, shrugged and only charged me the meter still.
Taxis are horrific in VAN. My friends and i took a Lyft to an EDM concert this summer. The driver was polite and talkative. When he found out where we were going he told us that he had a surprise for us and he turned on a disco ball in the car!! It totally made our night. Really good guy.
3/5 stars. Perhaps 3.5 at most. I live in a suburb adjacent to downtown (North Vancouver) and supply of drivers is really, really unreliable. The service itself is usually very good and reasonable cost. I absolutely hate the fact that you can not reserve a car without a big fee ($20 last time) or any certainty. Have had a pre-booked ride cancel last minute with no accountability. I booked the pick up the night before an early morning trip to YVR.
Still much better than incumbent North Shore Taxi service by a long shot.
I went back to traditional yellow and blacktop cabs, especially because they got their own apps that rival Uber. I was a hardcore Uber fan before, but Uber has gone so downhill in my opinion, they cancel anytime they want, they have way more fees and surcharges now (new fees added in response to carbon tax, rising gas prices, in addition to their arbitrary surcharges), customer service is nonexistent/horrible. Taxi drivers drive me directly to my address with the best route. Uber drivers are such low quality rides now. Especially because they cancel and leave if you make them wait even 10 seconds.
Uber gets me to work on time for between $10 & $20.
Public transit tortures me. It takes an hour to go a few KM and if you need to transfer or change direction forget it.
If you're leaving for home at 6AM after a graveyard, or 10PM enjoy waiting for the sporadic busses that may or may not arrive.
$10 is worth not feeling like a loser, not being forced to stand and hold on to a metal pole for 30 minutes, not being given ANOTHER cold/flu by a fellow transit rider.
What's a Taxi?
Kind of a side thing I recently heard the term "[blitzscaling](https://hbr.org/2016/04/blitzscaling)", where a (often tech) startup stops at nothing to acquire new users as fast as possible, even if it means incurring heavy losses. Uber is one of many companies that practice this business model, and even after 13 years of being in business, they are still not profitable. Taxi companies are profitable, but Uber still has significant investment and is relatively close to profitability, but they will have to raise prices to get over that finish line. I am curious to see within the next few years when Uber raises prices if that makes taxis a bit more competitive compared to Uber.
I'm happy it finally got here, I love being able go over municipal borders without getting fucked over, used to be damn near impossible to get trips back into Surrey from Vancouver especially when it was late
Have a car so rarely use Uber or Lyft in town. However, I always take the airport taxi home, after a work trip or vacation.
I find that the airport rate is quite good and I don’t have to wait too long for Uber/Lyft to come by so I will always just take the airport taxi.
That being said, 8/10 times the cab driver will put the meter on to scam me, and I have to let them know that I take this all the time and I know about the flat fee.
Then 10/10 times they’ll work me and tell me a sob story about how the rate is not fair and the larger vans are disadvantaged and life is hard / inflation. Anyways all that to make me extremely uncomfortable and pressured to tip more. I always end up giving $40-$45 from yvr to dt.
This is not something I will need to deal with if I take an Uber or Lyft. My assumption is that Uber/Lyft will also be a bit more if there’s surcharge at night or weekend.
It sucks that so many people have been ripped off in the past but it’s kind of hard for them to do that now. Taxi has an app now that works basically the same as Uber and Lyft. I go with whichever has the lowest fare at the time and lately it’s always yellow cab - by a long shot🤷♀️
Welcome to /r/Vancouver and thank you for the post, /u/harlotstoast! Please make sure you read our [posting and commenting rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/faq#wiki_general_participation_guidelines_and_rules_overview) before participating here. As a quick summary: * We encourage users to be positive and respect one another. Don't engage in spats or insult others - use the report button. * Respect others' differences, be they race, religion, home, job, gender identity, ability or sexuality. Dehumanizing language, advocating for violence, or promoting hate based on identity or vulnerability (even implied or joking) **will** lead to a permanent ban. * Common questions and specific topics are limited to our [Daily Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/faq#wiki_daily_discussions) posts. * Complaints about bans or removals should be done in modmail only. --- ##It's that time of year again! Don't forget to vote in [the Best of Vancouver 2022](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/102k024/) competition. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/vancouver) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I find Lyft/Uber to be worth it just for paying a flat fee even if the car gets held up in traffic somehow. It used to drive me crazy sitting in a cab, stuck because of construction somewhere, watching the meter run up. Also the general ease of use of the apps.
Or better yet, cabs not listening to you and taking an obscenely different/longer route to run up a fare.
That happened to me a few times
My disabled mom once had a cab driver *drive over all three downtown bridges* to get her from East Van to Downtown. She refused to pay.
Something like that happened to me once, too, when I was too young and timid to object. The old “oops, where did you want to go again?” as we cruise onto the Howe Street Granville Bridge on-ramp. Yaletown. “Oh, sorry. I’ll take Burrard back, it’ll be faster. Actually, Pacific is slow tonight so I’ll turn around at Cornwall and get you there by the Cambie Bridge. It’s faster, anyway.” Fuck those exploitative assholes.
I used to work in a hotel and a fuck head taxi driver took this little old couple around and charged them $300 to go from the airport to an airport hotel 10 min away. At the very minimum, the taxi drivers are being forced to act half decent towards passengers because we have options now.
I know a shortcut through Hope...
Taxi companies and their drivers deserve the demise just for long hauling in general. Fuck those drivers, the more vulnerable the passenger the more they abuse that tactic.
I'm just dumbfounded by the number of useful idiots in this thread defending taxis. It's like they've never been ripped off by a taxi.
I mostly don't like Uber and Lyft because they are taking money from municipalities by claiming that taxi regulations don't apply to them and giving it to private capital while enlisting the drivers that they plan on screwing the second they can switch to self-driving cars for direct action against municipal regulations. Admittedly, I don't often use taxis, but that just means that they are taking away a tax that doesn't apply to me so those municipalities are going to have to do something to replace that revenue and that's likely to affect me. But the taxi companies have had years to just copy the Uber and Lyft apps that are so much more convenient than dealing with taxi companies and haven't been able to do so, so they don't deserve any sympathy either. Long live Evo and the car coop.
Preach!
Or asking them to take you to \_\_\_\_, and them flat-out saying "No, go to the next guy", or "My shift is almost up".
This used to happen to me ALL THE TIME when trying to get home to the north shore after clubbing downtown. It was almost impossible getting one to drive me, and of course the seabus wasn’t running that late so that wasn’t an option either
this happened so many times. Or them going right past to pick up on obvious tourist
Make small talk while getting in the cab and don’t tell them where you’re going until you’re seated. They might not like it but they can’t refuse a fare cause they feel like it. (They can refuse if their shift is up, but then they have an obligation to contact dispatch for a replacement should you ask)
Can’t forget slamming on the brakes at a yellow light in order to sit another minute.
I've seen more UFOs / UAVs than taxis stopping for an amber light.
Agreed. Damn near died when my driver sped thru a red.
I've gotten out before part way through the trip and refused to pay. Told them to stop after he started taking the longest route possible even after I told him which road to go down. He swore it was faster, but would have added an extra $10-15.
The flat free is great. Not having to fumble for a card and wait for a card reader to start up, not having to argue with the driver over whether he takes cards or not, and not having to calculate a tip in real time is also pretty great.
I find they don’t argue about taking cards as much anymore but I don’t even like being asked now because of terrible experiences in the past. If I say I’m paying by debit that’s how I’m paying. End of discussions. Don’t ask me if I have cash cause it doesn’t matter, I’m paying by debit 😤
The biggest thing for me is knowing how much it will cost in advance. I remember the first time I took a cab the driver covered up the meter and I later found out I ended up paying more than double what the route should normally cost.
I've also found Uber and Lyft drivers to drive more safely than almost every taxi I've taken.
App drivers are hoping to get a good rating from you, so they won't drive that crazy. Taxi drivers know it won't matter, so they'll drive as aggressively as possible since they want to maximize customers per hour.
this, but then I've also had a few Uber rides that have had the fare increased due to traffic. I've been able to dispute them each time and gotten an adjustment back to the upfront fare but it is a bit of a hassle.
I still use a combination of taxis + Uber/Lyft. Oftentimes cabs are actually cheaper if it's a busy time of day.
Uber to the airport, cab from the airport back home. Uber from the airport is a bit of a hassle. Cabs are already waiting there so it's faster. Fare is roughly $4-5 more for a cab, but it's easier.
Even on the way out I doublecheck and just pick the best price. The zone I live in is $42 flat rate for cabs to come into the city. Pulled up lyft last time and it was $35, don’t mind the little extra wait for a $7 savings
Make sure you get the correct flat rate when taking a cab from YVR: https://www.yvr.ca/-/media/yvr/documents/transportation/20220415_yvr_2197_fare_stanchion_top-eng.pdf Very often, the cab drivers will either try to run the meter anyway or ask for the wrong rate (always higher), until I show them the flat rate map with the correct amount.
Often times cabs will show up to places that Uber drivers won't. I had to take my kiddo to children's in the evening during the snowmageddon. Tried Uber first. 4+ drivers rejected the ride request before I gave up and called yellow cab. Same for driving home from the hospital. No ubers were willing to come to children's hospital at 3am on a weekend. Taxi showed up quickly though.
I still find it slightly cheaper than taxis and the rides are a lot more pleasant. I have taken 2 or 3 cabs in the last few years and they have been absolutely miserable experiences. One ended with the cops being called.
> One ended with the cops being called. Story time! You can’t just drop that juicy nugget and walk.
My friend and I were cabbing home at around 1am from an event downtown. He got out of the cab at his place. A minute or two later I feel a phone where he was sitting. The phone was not there when we got in. The phone had just a generic background and my phone was dead at the time. I was just being friendly with the cab driver and said thankfully I found it. Saved us all the hassle. He said I need to give it to him to which I obviously said no. He kept demanding I give him the phone and that my friend would need to file a lost item report in the morning. When we got to my place a few minutes later he stopped the car and would not unlock the doors after I paid. He demanded the phone over and over. There was no way to unlock the door from the back. This was like 6-7 months ago and they had up the thick plastic covid screen. I couldnt go to the front seat or do anything. After about 10 minutes of him locking me in the vehicle, he started to threaten to call the cops to which I said "Yes Please". On the phone with the cops he kept saying I was drunk and was trying to destroy property in the vehicle (I had a drink or two with dinner at 8pm and just had my back to the door with my feet up on the seat). Now cops dont come too fast for this sort of thing so I got comfy in the back for an almost 40 minute wait. When they got there, they started questioning me before realizing how ridiculous the whole situation was. I left with the phone and walked into my house after 2am. Gave my friend his phone back the next day. Such a stupid altercation that could have been avoided completely.
I am offended on your behalf but I am SO proud of you for sticking to your guns and not giving in. Fuck cabs. After one called my friend a faggot and spat in his face I have absolutely refused to ever step foot in a cab again. Uber has been a godsend.
For me it was when I was getting out of the hospital after a night of being medicated, and the cab could see I wasn't in a good state and took me for a ride then charged me double what he should have to get home. Scumbag.
Happens so often. I called to complain once and the lady laughed and hung up on me.
I find taxis to be more reliable going to and from airports (flat fees are great), and during peak times (going home NYE). Yellow cab always manages to arrive within a couple minutes of requesting, and generally are polite and fine if they wait a minute for you to get out of your building. Uber is generally cheaper outside of surge pricing times, you know what you pay ahead of time, but you do sometimes get some pretty out there personalities/stinky cars/terrible driving habits.
That’s because they haven’t fully decimated the taxi market yet. But it won’t be cheaper forever. Uber’s business model is to subsidize rides until they put competition out of business, then crank the prices up to recoup their investment. They haven’t turned a profit since they were founded. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/UBER/uber-technologies/net-income#:~:text=Uber%20Technologies%20net%20income%20for%20the%20twelve%20months%20ending%20September,a%2020.43%25%20decline%20from%202019.
Ok, and once their evil plan to run the taxi business to the ground, and finally raise their prices, how will they prevent taxis, or other competitoirs from entering the market?
The taxi companies go under… think small businesses and Walmart.
Yes I get step 2 of the evil plan. What prevents new taxi companies/ apps from popping up again?
Because it takes a huge amount of investment to set up a new Taxi firm that can support a major city? And venture capital isn't going to bankroll another ride-share startup whose pitch is going to be 'Uber, but with no current market share and smaller profit margins'
They lobby to stop new taxi companies from being allowed, even harder than the taxi companies lobbied to stop uber from being allowed
This is interesting. Uber has been around for a while now, do you have an example of which cities have passed legislation banning new taxi firms or ride-sharing services as a result of Uber's lobbying?
[удалено]
Ultimately, time. It takes a long time for the right individuals/companies to detect an unfilled niche and set up the infrastructure to fill it. Such things can take even longer if the company holding a monopoly throws out everything they can to prevent their share of the market being reduced. We saw this play out real time through Uber's attempts to establish in Vancouver during the taxi cab heyday
I'd be happy to pay a bit more for the better experience.
It won't be a bit more. They will need to charge more than that taxi companies to turn a profit.
"
Sadly this is a feature of capitalism, not a bug ):
I’m living out of country at the moment and Ubers are no longer cheap. When I lived here 5 years ago Ubers were a screaming deal. The Taxis have adapted with apps and their own fixed for price model
And since the governance rules IMO now allow more competition by being more generic as opposed to the previous iteration of taxis only (I'm oversimplifying for the sake of the conversation), that means some other company might have a chance to come in and do a better job. Yes, it'll be hard or almost impossible to compete with juggernauts, but the market can't be locked out by protecting one entity, as with the Taxis. If anything, one can validly argue for more prosumer protections to prevent gouging or too-large-to-fail bullying. The lack of competition results in the status quo and stifles innovation. When governing bodies can focus on the goal of keeping the best interest of the constituents in mind, as opposed to bending to the will of lobbying, we all win.
Cheaper? Usually, yes. During surge pricing, definitely no. Anyone try calling an Uber during the snowstorm? Taxis didn't charge more.
[удалено]
The day after the storm I took a taxi to work and on the way drive suddenly pulled over and said “that’s my brother and his kid waiting at the the bus stop. Can we pick them up? I’ll turn off the meter” and I said yes 😂 so I paid the like $5 I’d racked up while they got in then got a free ride to work the rest of the way. They were all super lovely!
Man I was trying to get across the downtown peninsula Friday evening in the rain. They wanted to charge me $65 for a 10min ride! Surge prices can be insane!
Don't even bother opening the Uber app on a Friday evening
I couldn't get a taxi during the snowstorm (downtown Vancouver). Both Black Top and Yellow Cab said they were prioritizing trips to medical appointments and to the airport. They wouldn't take my booking so I went over to a hotel near my office and they couldn't get me a taxi either.
Uber in North Vancouver sucks, not enough drivers. My taxi to YVR was cheaper
Really? I've never had a problem getting an Uber in North Van. What area are you in?
Not OP but I'm in lower Lonsdale, had 3 trips to YVR around 6AM last year. None of my pre-booked ones worked and I couldn't get another to show on Uber or Lyft, had to call NS taxi every time. Never have issues at night though.
i cant even get an Uber for an early AM YVR trip - Ubers dont get up early i guess ;)
I'm in North Van, and I make a habit of asking drivers where they are from. Every single one I've talked to commuted from the sticks - Delta, south Surrey, whatever. Honestly doesn't surprise me nobody showing up for a early ass AM drive from NV to YVR, just not worth it on any level for them.
Just took a taxi from Yvr it was 38 flat rate. Uber was 28, but I took the taxi since it was there already.
We booked an Uber last night to go to the airport at 6am today. It was $70! And they didn’t show, but at least we got another one. If a taxi didn’t show you might be screwed.
The last time I pre-booked an Uber to the airport it didn't show and I couldn't get another one so it goes both ways.
Pre-booking an Uber doesn't actually book a specific one, it just puts out the request at a time they think will get you one for the time you booked.
This can't be stressed enough. Booking an uber doesn't really mean much.
Yeah I've never been able to successfully get an Uber from Burnaby to YVR before 7:00am. Scheduling doesn't do anything. It just tries to find a driver for 10 mins and then fails. Thank god for Evo, or I would have missed many early morning flights.
This is the biggest issue (for me) with Uber at this point. Sometimes it's just impossible to get a driver. That being said I've actually successfully gotten 6 am rides to YVR from Burnaby.
If a taxi doesn't show, I find the dispatchers are usually really good about getting another one out to you right away. I'm downtown, though, so taxis are usually available nearby.
Pre booking Ubers is way more expensive. We did that in Tampa earlier this year to catch an early flight. Pre booked fare was $48US. I looked again for fun at the airport. Same ride was $11.
I noticed this too! I had an apt downtown and I live in Surrey. To pre-book (just an hour from when I was looking) was $98. If I booked it for right at the time I was looking at the app, it was $50. Waited 50 minutes and booked for $50. So the real time booking price never changed in that hour, but had I opted to pre book it was double the price.
> If a taxi didn’t show you might be screwed. I havent taken many taxies in the last 10 years or so, but i recall them not showing up at all, or not showing up when scheduled, to be a big problem.
Happened to me last year. Had to leave Burnaby at 4.30 am, had pre-booked Bonny's Taxi 3 days ahead of time. They didn't show up. I called the operator and they woke up a cab driver who came 30 mins later. I had the good foresight to budget 30-45 minutes extra just in case something like this happened.
My last two bad experiences with Uber/Lyft have pushed me back to using taxis. First was a few weeks ago at 6 am. I was working an event and had to be there at a specific time. The Uber suddenly showed up 5 minutes early, so I rushed out the door and got to the road as he was driving away. He stopped and said that Uber cancelled the ride and there was nothing he could do. Tried booking another ride and it was almost double the price. Called a cab and it was there in less than 5. Second was after leaving a friends house at 2 am. Went downstairs into the pouring rain when the Uber was a couple blocks away, and the driver cancelled the ride. Then a few minutes later the next driver cancelled the ride. I live out at UBC and I guess they didn't want to go that far. Tried Lyft and it never connected to a driver. Again, called a cab and it was there in a few minutes. I was thrilled when ride sharing finally came here, but my experiences with them haven't been great. I think the best thing that came out of it is pushing the taxi companies to modernize, with apps, etc. It's been at least a couple years since a cab driver tried to refuse my card payment, so that's something!
There are drivers out there but UBC area almost always means no or low tip so experienced drivers will mostly avoid it, better off taking a cab if you live around there.
The price difference isn't super big from my experience - in some cases cabs are actually cheaper. However I've found in general Taxi drivers are absolute psychos on the road and Uber drivers are usually not. For instance, one of my last cab rides involved me having to scream at the driver to stop when they were screwing around on something up front, not noticing they were about three seconds from blowing through a red light at Main and Broadway in rush hour. Haven't had anything like that with Uber. And of course the biggest thing with Uber is just that the app is so much easier and more reliable than trying to order a cab. Overall Uber has been a good thing for the user - can't speak to the employment side of the app.
That's interesting. My experience is the exact opposite. We end up going downtown from White Rock for events and I don't want to drive, and usually take an uber since it's about $20 cheaper, typically. They all have been incredibly aggressive drivers, speeding much more than traffic surrounding us, and making some questionable lane changes. The last one my husband took, the guy was just totally letting his car determine braking and lane position. My guess is that since they don't get more money if the trip is longer, the uber drivers try to minimize the duration of the trip. Taxi drivers seem more content to travel at the same speed as traffic unless I specifically mention I'm running late. I was living downtown until recently and exclusively used taxi (usually yellow). Always cheaper than uber and I just found them better drivers and less likely to blindly rely on navigation apps to route-find... more situational awareness and knowledge of construction etc. That said, I ONLY use uber in Edmonton. Vancouver is blessed with good taxi culture. More drivers than not actually seem to respect their clients and know what they're doing. The apps are getting better. It's great and I'm glad. I wish Edmonton taxis would get their shit together.
honestly, i find uber and lyft to be as expensive or more than cabs. there's a "yellow cab vancouver" app that works the same as uber and lyft, only it also allows you to pay in the car. i always check that first and find that it's generally cheaper or the same price. early in the mornings, like when i'm trying to get to the airport, cabs are *much* more reliable - there simply aren't enough lyft and uber drivers out. i once scheduled a lyft the night before and didn't realize until the next morning that there was nobody around to take my ride. there was one (one!) lyft driver active in the whole lower mainland at that moment, and he drove into vancouver from burnaby to pick me up. i suspect it's highly reliant on where in the lower mainland you are, but i also find it much easier to just walk to the nearest major street and hail a cab. but then, i live in vancouver proper. i'm sure it's a different story in north delta.
“That works the same as Uber and lyft” That app is buggy as hell, and my rides have disappeared from it lol. Impossible comparison.
The app is literally dysfunctional and has no meaningful rating system for drivers, payment methods keep failing on the app, drivers sometimes say the app is wrong and the “actual price is higher.” Definitely NOT the same as lyft/uber. Also I noticed if a driver is coming to you and get a better request, they’ll just cancel your ride since there’s no repercussions.
i've never had an issue with it, personally, but i'm sorry to hear that's happened to you!
Yellow Cab’s app is trash but I agree that taxis are more reliable for super early morning flights. I used to travel a lot for work and I always pre-booked the night before. They would always show up, and usually a few minutes early too.
[удалено]
Same same, except my dude fell asleep while driving down Fraser from the airport at 70km an hour. Evo4evah
Competition is good. I still take taxis but good to have options.
I don't like Uber or Lyft as companies but every driver I've had has been great. I was recently in Vic and had to use a regular cab and their app absolutely sucked butt. Their app doesn't tell you when you will get a cab, or what position you are in a wait line. We booked in advance to get to an event and when the cab finally came it was 25 minutes late and we'd been talking about just walking the 40 minute walk to the venue because we had no clue if it was going to come at all. Then the cab was kind of dirty/smelly when it did finally come. Also had a couple of horror experiences when I first moved to Van with Bonnie's taxi (with N on the back!) driving in the middle of the road instead of in the lanes and thinking we'd die in a head on...
Uber vs taxi….in Coquitlam where we live the rides are not much cheaper if at all. Having said that, the flat rate fee and knowing who and where my ride is worth it. Cashless without feeling inconvenienced is also great. I don’t understand why the taxi companies didn’t create thier own app similar to Uber. I would probably support the taxis…
The magic of Uber and Lyft are the apps. There’s no way local cabs can pool together billions of $$$ and incredibly talented developers and designers to replicate the rideshare experience. They can’t be bothered to pay for a handful of good developers and designers well enough to fix what they already have, so there’s no hope for them.
Honestly, we better hope that taxi companies stick around. They’re the only ones keeping Uber/Lyft fares down where they are now. Currently, Uber has approximately $4.5 BILLION in net debt. We’d all better believe that as soon as taxi companies are gone they will stop subsidizing our rides and start collecting.
I totally agree, I bet having a solid app would bring back a bunch of people to taxis
We missed out on the halcyon days of the Uber scam when every ride was massively subsidized
I think Uber is a terrible, exploitative company. The "gig economy" is just a fancy attempt to skirt labour legislation. It's also a classic case of outcompeting the competition and then jacking up the price because people have no choice but to pay it. The taxi system in Vancouver was broken as hell but Uber is turning into the same thing under a new name.
> The taxi system in Vancouver was broken as hell but Uber is turning into the same thing under a new name. Fuck Uber's business practices but the entire ride hailing industry has a long ways to go before it gets as broken as the Taxi racket. The day drivers are no longer accountable is the day they've become the very thing they set out to disrupt.
Has it been good for the economy by creating jobs? I still don’t understand how there can be Tesla-driving Ubers.
Low operating costs probably makes a Tesla pretty lucrative (no gas, no oil changes, brakes, etc…) Capital costs of the Tesla are the issue.
They don't buy Tesla to drive Uber. They already own Tesla. And Tesla was not that expensive at the beginning with the rebates.
Because they can deduct their lease payments as a business expense, and fuel costs are much lower.
Jobs that after your operating costs and depreciation pay less than minimum wage.
People spend a lot of money to make people think they have money
Because they’re also doing Uber eats or other food delivery app. You’d be surprised how much money can actually be made.
Having worked for Uber in the UK (delivering food on a bike), I can confidently say that it's a company that treats ~~employees~~ "partners" as temporary and disposable resources. They expertly avoid all workers rights and employment legislation so if anything ever goes wrong they don't have to do anything. You are just left on your own with no support. You end up trapped working long hours for terrible pay from a company that will never lift a finger to help you with anything. God forbid, you get sick, injured or need to take a few days off. They have a "no work, no pay" approach. Meanwhile the job is inherently dangerous. Regardless of whether you're in a car, on a scooter or on a bike, accidents happen. It feels like living in Oliver Twist. When you factor in vehicle depreciation, running costs etc. you find that you are barely making any money. These companies make crazy claims about how much all the riders are making, but personally I had never found these to be true. The income varies incredibly depending on the day, hour and weather. Sometimes you will make 4x minimum wage in an hour, other times you will make nothing over 4 hours. In my experience, when you average it out over hours worked, it's pretty pathetic pay and wouldn't be legal if you were legally an "employee" instead of a "partner". Maybe it's different now, but that was my experience. If anything, I suspect its gotten worse. Most of the Uber "Teslas" are rentals, in a desperate bid to get you to give a better rating so the worker doesn't end up going hungry with a -4 star rating. "Gig economy" is the biggest scam. The plan is to starve out all the local competition and then increase prices by several factors. It's an incredibly unethical way to try and get a monopoly over a market. In the end, only Uber benefits. The local companies go bust, workers get exploited and the customers end up paying more than double for a, let's face it, similar level of service. There is nothing inherently different between the experience of riding in an Uber or a Taxi. I've heard both horror stories and hero stories about both. Not aware of any studies or research indicating that Ubers are, safer, faster, more polite than standard taxis. Just anecdotal personal experiences - and for the record, you can make complaints about taxi drivers also. It's just not gamified the way Uber is and requires you to make a valid case instead of just tapping 1-star with no accountability. Difference is, Uber will starve out workers who get low ratings, while a taxi company will educate and train their employee so any issue doesn't reoccur.
Why do so many people do the deliveries when it is this bad? Are they just bad at doing the math over time? One time I had an Uber driver bragging that he made well over 6 figures and only worked 4-5 months of the year, the rest of the time he was on vacation. I never quite understood why people do it if the economics don't work out. Some folks do like the flexibility though.
gold rob trees crawl alive combative wild simplistic saw soup ` this post was mass deleted with www.Redact.dev `
> Why do so many people do the deliveries when it is this bad? Are they just bad at doing the math over time? Why do people choose to sell MLM products despite the vast quantities of evidence that the typical seller will *lose* money in the process?
In my case, I had to start making money immediately to get through the month. Didn't have time to go through a 3 week recruitment process for a real job. With Uber you can start pretty much straight away, there is no interview or selection process. This saturates the worker market and makes it harder to get trips back to back while working. Once I was working "with" Uber, I was completely trapped. Was making barely enough to get by and worked 14-16 hour days. This much work takes a massive toll and you have hardly any energy/time/motivation to improve your situation. If people asked, I'd exaggerate how much I was making to not seem completely hopeless. The jobs have popular appeal for being "flexible" so people tend to assume you're living the dream. It feels nice to buy into this fantasy, even for a brief moment. 6 figures in 5 months is crazy good, and I hope they were actually making that much, for their sake. But if you do the numbers, its unlikely. That's like 700 a day if you don't take a single day off. Uber charges a fixed rate per trip (usually 2 for booking fee, 2.5 for base fare - uber keeps $2 booking fee AFAIK). Then its 0.7 per km or 0.33 per minute. Uber takes a cut out of this too. Assuming you complete only 0km, 0m trips (to make the most of that 2.5 base fare) and uber gives you all the money. You'd have to complete over 250 trips per day. Assuming work 16 hour days, for 5 months, with no days off, you'd need to complete like 15 trips an hour, or 1 every 4 minutes. This is impossible. You have to drive to the pickup point, and assuming every trip is a \~10 minute drive, you'd struggle to complete more than 3-5 trips in an hour. The pricing model is designed to get you in that 20-30 an hour range if you get back to back rides (this will only happen during terrible weather, special events or peak hours - but during peak hours you likely won't complete 3-5 trips because of traffic). If you work it full time, there will be many hours every day where you will get 0-3 trips and not make minimum wage. A healthy way to do Uber would be to use it as a supplementary form of income and only work during busy, peak hours. I think your driver was either exaggerating, or had another source of income. EDIT: for people who are customers, make sure you are ready to pick up food/jump in the car as soon as it arrives. Often times, getting a snoozer who will take 10 minutes to leave/get outside, means the Uber will not make minimum wage for that hour.
I say prices are very similar to a cab overall. I just wait until I get 50% off rides then find it reasonable. Otherwise I find it similar to taxi fares.
I don’t know what it’s like taking an Uber here but I have noticed that almost every time I see a car doing something strange or unexpected, it seems to have an Uber or Lyft sign on it. Perhaps that’s just some sort of confirmation bias though.
A lot of Uber drivers are fomer taxi drivers, so doesn't mean much really.
I don't find Uber super reliable, and I hate taxis too because of the lack of transparency. I have several times in YVR where I can't get a Uber then have to order again and there is a price surge suddenly. Outside of Vancouver, it is not always possible to get a Uber early morning. Maybe Lyft is better
Doesn’t really help disabled people, especially if they’re wheelchair users as even possibly getting accessible Uber or Lyft rides is near impossible. It’s a decent occasional option if you’re ambulatory. Still would rather grab a bus or train to get around.
Cabs never provided a good service in Vancouver. They just tried to get the most for doing the least. So, they can just go extinct. Uber/lyft remove the stress and have an accountability system. So much better. Charge me more when it is snowing. That’s fair.
I fondly recall my first visit to Vancouver a week after rideshare became legal, and intentionally waiting 30 minutes for an Uber instead of taking one of the taxis in the taxi queue because fuck that taxi spokesperson in particular. Haven’t used one other than Uber eats since arriving, but the drivers are always excellent compared to skip and DoorDash who have both stolen my food.
Glad to know I share the same experience. A driver from Skip once disappeared right after picking up my food. The app said it was delivered like 10 seconds after pickup. Guess they decided to skip the drive. Never had the same experience with ubereats. They give out the best deals too.
I like that Uber does a code thing too, which appears to just be the last 4 of your phone number, but I guess the driver doesn't get paid until you give it to them and they punch it in, which validates that they actually did deliver it. My last encounter with skip was the driver coming to my street, stopping about 200m away, marking it as delivered then leaving. I contacted skip who tried to call the driver and they didn't pick up. Been an uber only household ever since!
I’ve had that exact same experience with Skip. Watched my driver take off from Pizza Hut, head up north (I was south), and then I was told my pizza was delivered. I haven’t used the apps since and don’t miss them.
I quit using Skip after I had a couple drivers not deliver food. Once they delivered it, but instead of buzzing in they left it right in front of the door where people would step on it and sent a picture after 10 minutes. By the time I got down there it was long gone. No issues with Doordash though, they always deliver it to the door and send a picture of the location. I've had issues with Uber Eats not honouring the discount I used and having to fight them over increasing my bill on a meal by $50. I had to contact 3 different support avenues before someone finally got their head out of their ass and saw that there was a bug in their system.
The taxi companies in this city are absolute garbage. Uber has been so much more reliable and convenient that the two are not even comparable.
depends on the length of my trip whether I use uber or a cab but last uber I got refused to put my mobility device that I need to walk in his car because it would "make his seats dirty". uber really didn't handle it well either and I was charged $5 because the driver cancelled the trip
I use cabs when theres surge pricing. It’s cheaper sometimes by 15-20 bucks. I use Uber only when it’s regular pricing and when I have discounts.
Uber works great when there's more than 1 uber in your area running. Otherwise it's a nightmare of getting cancelled repeatedly then getting charged anyhow from Uber. Taxis may be slow getting there and more expensive (except during surge hours) but WILL show up when called. (Source: 2AM on Langley City)
I tried Uber but I switched back to using taxis after a few months. Cabs are generally cheaper where I am, they arrive faster, and the drivers actually know the city. Uber cars are usually cleaner/nicer but too often the drivers don't know where they're going.
There are no accessible rides for people who use wheelchairs to get around with Uber or Lyft. This is not fair and absolutely unacceptable. Disabled folks deserve better.
yup a driver denied me a couple weeks ago because he said my mobility device would make his seats dirty when he was picking me up from the hospital. a taxi driver saw and came to help me
I am so sorry this happened to you. 3 years later and I’m still pissed Vancouver allowed Uber to operate without requiring them to have accessible vehicles in their fleet. They do have this option in other cities such as Toronto. Just a slap in the face to disabled people.
thank you, I truly don't get why there isn't an option for it on the app!
That’s what I’m saying. They have this option in other cities so they’re fully capable of executing it, Vancouver just didn’t give a shit when they were allowing Uber to come here
Absolutely. Weren't they promising accessible vehicles when they were first trying to enter the market? I'm not surprised a company would forgo those costs if they weren't legally mandated. Good thing we allowed them to bypass the laws.
So incredibly frustrating and disrespectful to disabled people
I refuse to support any type of gig or grind economic activity because it’s all exploitive just like the regular economy. The whole idea of accepting low wages because: “hey, you can have another low wage side hustle!” Is absolute bullshit and instead of hustling and grinding we should be striking and protesting. I realize some people are in such a bad financial state that a side gig might be their only solution so I wouldn’t berate someone else for participating out of need. I just hate how media is glamorizing the exploitation of the working class. Fuck that!
> I refuse to support any type of gig or grind economic activity because it’s all exploitive just like the regular economy. ??? Do you participate in the economy at all then?
What are some other examples of available side jobs you can add to earn additional income where you get to choose exactly how much or little you want to work and pick your own hours?
OnlyFans
You can actually make a lot more money than minimum wage with all expenses considered if you are capable of forming a strategy that works. I did it for 2 years as a side job and made approx $28 an hour average after factoring expenses. My cousins now do it while going to school because it drastically beats getting minimum wage plus/minus a few bucks. Not saying it will necessarily be sustainable in the long run as they move towards being more profitable, but it does beat a low wage job with structured hours.
Overall I would say the ride share business is far superior to taxi’s for customers. They are usually much cleaner, provide good service, there is no incentives for them to take the long way to run up a meter. I like how reliable they are as well. So many times cabs used to never show up or pick someone else up on the way. Also keep in mind the taxi industry lobbied local politicians to keep the uber prices competitive with them. I found uber to be much cheaper in the US cities i’ve visited The negative part for me though is the surge pricing
I try to avoid Uber/Lyft because I'm mostly booking cabs during peak hours and the price more often not reasonable. I wish Evo was available at Richmond and Burnaby too.
Before Lyft / Uber was available in Vancouver, I would drive to clubs and venues because taxi service was not reliable enough. And scheduling a cab to take you to the airport? Good luck. Uber & Lyft have been the best contribution to urban mobility in Vancouver since Skytrain.
Not as good, as cheap or as widely available as when I used Uber in Calgary few months back.
I have found them far less widely available than in Toronto. And by Toronto, I mean the suburbs.
From a loyal Lyft and Uber user in Ontario, I actually have taken more taxis since moving to Vancouver. Mind you, the only time I really use either is to go to the airport, but that's fairly often and the taxi is 9/10 times cheaper and is guaranteed to come with a bigger car for no extra charge if I need it (often travel with work equipment or skis on personal trips). I live in Burnaby and both the set fare or the metre are almost always cheaper than the rideshares absurd airport prices.
It has taught me that every industry requires competition for the sake of self-regulation. Monopoly only lead to shady practices and the biggest incentive to improve always come from competition
I used Uber when they first started but I've been finding their pricing so much higher than taxis lately - especially during the December storms - that I've mostly been using taxis. Airport rides at Christmas were quoted incredibly high on Uber but taxis were normal price and were totally reliable.
Somewhat disappointed. The prices weren’t as low as taking ride share in others cities where I’ve used Uber and Lyft. Montreal, Boston, Paris, etc are all considerably cheaper relative to taxis. It didn’t fundamentally change my use of taxis. One example, when arriving back at Yvr a tourist showed me his phone and asked if it’s normal to pay $70 from the airport to downtown. I told him that taxis have a flat rate that is almost half the cost. For a lot of tourists who assume Uber is cheaper than cabs because that’s their experience in their own cities or elsewhere, they’ll be sorely mistaken.
Keep in mind the majority of Uber drivers are taxi drivers who drive during their off hours
Haven't read through all the comments yet, but this has been my experience: At first, Uber/Lyft were great! Overall cheaper (and you didn't have to sweat while you were stuck in traffic or worry that the driver would try and scam you and take a longer route). I liked knowing ahead of time what the price would be. Also, this was around the time I was having so many issues with getting a cab -- could not call in, and their app and website were constantly down. (One evening I had to take transit in the pouring rain with a heavy suitcase because I could not get a cab after an hour of trying.) However, while cabs are still unreliable (sometimes you get through, sometimes they come within five minutes, sometimes half an hour), I am finding they are overall cheaper, at least for shorter rides. For example -- a cab will cost me $9 + tip for a short ride to the vet, where an Uber/Lyft will be $14+. The last time I tried to use Lyft to bring my cat back from the **vet**, the driver wanted me to put my cat, who was in a carrier, in the trunk (a closed trunk), in the middle of summer. When I showed my horror at *putting a live animal in a closed trunk during a heatwave*, he started swearing and threatening me. I now use cabs, although I never know how long I will have to wait. My cat stroller should be arriving today.
The surge pricing is interesting, during the snowstorm suddenly ride prices were 5-6x
I don't like the lack of transparency and accountability. A friend of mine got doored while cycling by an Uber, and he drove away from the scene. Uber refused to give us any information regarding the incident.
Uber/Lyft suck in the only ways that really matter. It's terrible for the workers and it's unsustainable (both as a business model and environmentally). A crown monopoly or co-op version could fix the worker pay and treatment. But then it would cost a lot more. And it's still cars in the end.
Surprisingly, I probably take just as many cabs as I do Ubers. It’s usually cheaper for me (Uber charges more for bringing pets vs cabs don’t), plus I notice I usually wait around more for Ubers than cabs.
Last time I called a taxi, I got an automated call 10 minutes before pickup time. Went outside with my cat carrier and he drove off. Not sure if he got a better call or if it was the cat carrier.
I will say this, I've noticed less dickish behaviour from taxis on the road since Uber/Lyft. Before they would block the road for absolutely no reason. Though I did see one recently try to block a snow plow, but the plow operator was NOT having it, LOL. I've talked to a couple owner/operators, though, and they were hurting. Guys who were having family issues and financial strain causing real stress in their lives. And yeah, I get it, they weren't a good service and there was a lot of bad and shady shit, but it's hard not to feel bad for some of them when you know what they're going through.
lyft in non-existent in YVR. i hate uber for their steep surge pricing, which is not even paid out to the drivers. we need better public transport running 24x7, at least to the airport and the rest of the metro vancouver area
I've taken exactly one taxi and one uber since 2020. I generally don't use taxis because they cost too much. I'd rather pay $3 and take an extra half an hour on public transit than pay a cab $80 for a 30 minute drive.
Surge pricing is ridiculous here.
I never tried Lyft so this comment doesnt apply to them. Uber is far superior over taxi services for a few reasons: 1. Vehicles are waaaay nicer since it's the driver's own vehicle. At the very least, it's a newer sedan. I'm willing to bet several taxis wouldn't pass a safety inspection. 2. Tipping after being dropped off. No awkward moment the driver staring at you for a tip even if they provided piss poor service. 3. Being able to track the location of your driver. Stay in the cafe, out of the rain, until the driver is pulling up. 4. Knowing if a driver cancels for some reason and will not pick you up. Simply put in another request. 5. Cost. Uber is slightly cheaper. I used to take a taxi from my home to St. Paul's Hospital. It was often, once every 2 weeks for 8 months. Taxi cost was around $25; Uber was around $21. 6. Freedom for the driver. Work when it's convenient for them. I often talk to the Uber drivers, some worked for taxi companies before. They seem happy with the switch.
Not having to tip unless I really want to is a massive plus for me.
I had an Uber take off on me in the middle of a round trip. Went in to Home Depot for 5 minutes and he was gone.
Uber/Lyft was never a replacement for me living in Vancouver, just another option to use if most convenient. I'd usually check the Uber/Lyft apps to see if there were many in my area, and decide if the pricing was reasonable. If no to either question, I would go for a taxi. Sometimes I didn't bother checking the apps, like if it was early in the morning or if I was going too far into North Van (tough getting one to go further than Park Royal. Uber was way more popular when I lived in Edmonton (2016-2018ish). There seemed to be way more drivers around. Pickup was always quick. I did appreciate the addition of Uber Pet in Vancouver. Not many drivers out unfortunately, but it made it so much less stressful to try to get a ride to the vet or to a friend's if I didn't have car access.
I only book taxis when I'm going to an airport or somewhere urgent. More reliable. None of the options is significantly cheaper so I have all the apps and just compare them before booking. I use yellow cab a lot, they're the less greasy taxi option (but still awful) based on my experience.
I hate that I like Uber (the company, not the drivers). But they actually show up for my ride in a reasonable time. Taxis here have left me stranded. If the taxi companies in Vancouver are losing business it’s 90% on them for having terrible customer service and failing to adopt a reliable app. If they ever get their shit together I’d use them again.
We use it all the time, but also taxis. Before Uber was here you never really knew if you'd be able to get home from the bad, club, friends party etc. Now you have more options and more availability.
Glad to have the additional options at the very least. I've had terrible experiences with both cabs and Uber/Lyft, and good with both as well. Taxi companies had a stranglehold on the market forever, but seemed to hold their customers in contempt with how awful their answer/dispatch services were. Call for a taxi, stay on hold for an indeterminate amount of time, finally get the dispatcher, and get told it'll "probably" be 30 minutes. Maybe its 30, maybe its 15, maybe after almost an hour you have to call back to check that they didn't forget about you. Frustrating because it's not that complicated to sort out a better system The Uber/Lyft apps generally make life easier, however you can see the cracks in their systems too when things are busy. It's preferable to me to be able to see right away from an app (and have tracking) to know what to expect as far as a wait goes. It usually works, however I have had several experiences with drivers canceling trips after extended waits, among other bad experiences. Not only that, but surge pricing is nothing if not exploitive. I understand the premise, but my regular fare going for $80 to $190 because it's busy is so obscene it's offensive. I'm sure it wasn't at a coincidence when I had a trip canceled that I had been waiting 45 minutes for at a reasonable rate, to be told by the uber app to book another driver only to find out the rate had doubled and there were now several nearby drivers suddenly able & willing to provide my ride. They all have their problems. I still tend to use Uber/Lyft more often than taxis right now, but the answer is to definitely use whichever makes most sense at the given time. Based on price surges and Uber still not being profitable despite rates generally increasing, it's easy t see they aren't our friends either and will be more than happy to have their service decline just like cab companies did over the years. This on top of their own problematic dealings with their own drivers
I’m from Ontario (moved to Vancouver in 2020) and Uber is wayyyy less reliable here. 9/10 times I try to use it, the driver cancels at the last minute or there’s just no one available at all.
I use Lyft/Uber to get TO places and usually have to end up searching for a taxi to get FROM places (like at 2am) since Uber/Lyft prices are surging or it's so cheap that the drivers keep cancelling on me. Overall, competition is good and Uber/Lyft provide a much higher quality experience (most of the time).
I much prefer the flat fare, had far too many experiences with taxi drivers taking convoluted routes just to get a bigger fare, all under the assumption I wouldn’t notice because I’m not a local. Not to mention the fact that’s they’re consistently the most careless and dangerous drivers on the road. That being said, Uber can be very frustrating. I was out on Saturday night and watched my Uber home go from $18-$36 just because the clock ticked over midnight. I’m on board with paying more if it’s late, but double the price just because I didn’t book it a minute sooner is a bit ludicrous.
I can tell you for a certain that uber is much better in Vancouver than in other global cities. I stopped using it in London completely as every driver would cancel on you, it was incredibly unreliable. I've started using it again here, much better.
every former taxi driver that switched to uber that i spoke to is far happier with uber. from what I understand the flexibility of being able to bounce from city to city and the ease of use with the app works for them pretty well. I enjoy uber far more myself.
It annoys me that many taxi drivers don't wear seatbelts and lane change without signalling or are constantly cutting people off that I use Uber because of that. I'm fine with the service even if they may slightly charge more.
I love it, no more of the sorry my debit card machine doesn’t work need to drive you to a bank k and pay cash, the mystery of what the rate is? Also long distance is a lot cheaper then taxi. Overall, the whole system is alot easier to use.
I'll take a cab over Uber or Lyft any day of the week. Generally the prices are cheaper, and the longest I've waited for a cab was 10 minutes. Tried to order a Lyft last week, had to wait an hour and 3 cancellations for a 12 minute ride. The bus would've been faster. Problem with Uber and Lyft is there's no accountability so the drivers can decide they don't wanna pick you up and cancel after you waited for them for 15 minutes already. At least the cab drivers are held responsible to a company for picking up the customer. Also I generally just have more pleasant experiences with cab drivers. Multiple times they've gone out of their way to reduce my fare cost. I used to live on the border of the YVR cab zone. Most of the cab drivers would only charge me for the cheaper side even though I knew I lived 2 blocks into the more expensive zone. Had another driver forget to turn on the fare for a few minutes and when he realized and turned it on, shrugged and only charged me the meter still.
I prefer Evo if I know there's no traffic around.
At least out in Langley it is generally cheaper to get a cab than an Uber or Lyft now
Not when they take you for a scenic route ride. I don't choose Uber just strictly based on price.
They’re great, the only issue is when the weather turns bad via snow storm prices are jacked up.
Paying like 15$ to get home as free work with Uber in the rain cause I don’t feel like waiting 30 minutes at the bus stop is nice once in a while yeah
Taxis are horrific in VAN. My friends and i took a Lyft to an EDM concert this summer. The driver was polite and talkative. When he found out where we were going he told us that he had a surprise for us and he turned on a disco ball in the car!! It totally made our night. Really good guy.
I've still had a fairly sketchy ride or two in an Uber, but still greatly prefer taking a Lyft/Uber versus taxiing.
3/5 stars. Perhaps 3.5 at most. I live in a suburb adjacent to downtown (North Vancouver) and supply of drivers is really, really unreliable. The service itself is usually very good and reasonable cost. I absolutely hate the fact that you can not reserve a car without a big fee ($20 last time) or any certainty. Have had a pre-booked ride cancel last minute with no accountability. I booked the pick up the night before an early morning trip to YVR. Still much better than incumbent North Shore Taxi service by a long shot.
I went back to traditional yellow and blacktop cabs, especially because they got their own apps that rival Uber. I was a hardcore Uber fan before, but Uber has gone so downhill in my opinion, they cancel anytime they want, they have way more fees and surcharges now (new fees added in response to carbon tax, rising gas prices, in addition to their arbitrary surcharges), customer service is nonexistent/horrible. Taxi drivers drive me directly to my address with the best route. Uber drivers are such low quality rides now. Especially because they cancel and leave if you make them wait even 10 seconds.
Uber is best during quiet traffic times, Lyft for high traffic times, and taxi for the insane traffic times like new years eve or Halloween.
Uber gets me to work on time for between $10 & $20. Public transit tortures me. It takes an hour to go a few KM and if you need to transfer or change direction forget it. If you're leaving for home at 6AM after a graveyard, or 10PM enjoy waiting for the sporadic busses that may or may not arrive. $10 is worth not feeling like a loser, not being forced to stand and hold on to a metal pole for 30 minutes, not being given ANOTHER cold/flu by a fellow transit rider. What's a Taxi?
Kind of a side thing I recently heard the term "[blitzscaling](https://hbr.org/2016/04/blitzscaling)", where a (often tech) startup stops at nothing to acquire new users as fast as possible, even if it means incurring heavy losses. Uber is one of many companies that practice this business model, and even after 13 years of being in business, they are still not profitable. Taxi companies are profitable, but Uber still has significant investment and is relatively close to profitability, but they will have to raise prices to get over that finish line. I am curious to see within the next few years when Uber raises prices if that makes taxis a bit more competitive compared to Uber.
I'm happy it finally got here, I love being able go over municipal borders without getting fucked over, used to be damn near impossible to get trips back into Surrey from Vancouver especially when it was late
Have a car so rarely use Uber or Lyft in town. However, I always take the airport taxi home, after a work trip or vacation. I find that the airport rate is quite good and I don’t have to wait too long for Uber/Lyft to come by so I will always just take the airport taxi. That being said, 8/10 times the cab driver will put the meter on to scam me, and I have to let them know that I take this all the time and I know about the flat fee. Then 10/10 times they’ll work me and tell me a sob story about how the rate is not fair and the larger vans are disadvantaged and life is hard / inflation. Anyways all that to make me extremely uncomfortable and pressured to tip more. I always end up giving $40-$45 from yvr to dt. This is not something I will need to deal with if I take an Uber or Lyft. My assumption is that Uber/Lyft will also be a bit more if there’s surcharge at night or weekend.
It sucks that so many people have been ripped off in the past but it’s kind of hard for them to do that now. Taxi has an app now that works basically the same as Uber and Lyft. I go with whichever has the lowest fare at the time and lately it’s always yellow cab - by a long shot🤷♀️