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Old 10-15-2015, 11:26 AM   #101
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It has been a huge fight in Edmonton, and its not over yet. With the current restrictions city council wants to put on them, Uber may not be willing to operate in Edmonton anymore at all. A couple weeks ago police had to be called to council after the cabbies were causing a huge uproar and started taking their shirts off, saying that council was essentially taking their shirts off their back and screwing with their livelihood.

Can't imagine it's going to be any less of a gongshow in Cowtown.
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Old 10-15-2015, 11:26 AM   #102
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The rates and typical Uber practice of cutting rates over time don't support the vehicle type/condition and customer service long-time. It happens in pretty much every market.
Except that everyone reports much better customer service experiences with Uber than with taxis.

Uber asks all their passengers to rate drivers - if they don't maintain a positive rating (4.7 stars - a pretty high standard) the driver is put on probation/through training and if it doesn't improve they're no longer allowed to drive.

So if your vehicle type, condition, or customer service goes downhill you quickly find yourself out of a job. How many of our current taxi drivers would live up to Uber's 4.7 star requirement?
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Old 10-15-2015, 11:29 AM   #103
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Nenshi needs to stay out of city politics.
Nenshi favouring protectionism over competition, that's news to me.

But I do feel for the the cab drivers who's livelihood is affected by this. Maybe cab drivers can all be uber drivers down the road and make more money so it's good for everybody.
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Old 10-15-2015, 11:29 AM   #104
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Uber is great for competition. The Cabs gave themselves a hefty raise recently without market support.

While people may think Uber is an evil company, they are enterprising and providing a better transport system than taxi's.

Anybody who doesn't think so probably still employs a candle maker and a travel agent.
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Old 10-15-2015, 11:29 AM   #105
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They are, for the most part, a high quality service in between pickup and payment though.
Can't say I've noticed much of a difference in quality compared to any other larger city in North America.
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Old 10-15-2015, 11:29 AM   #106
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Thanks Uber!
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Old 10-15-2015, 11:30 AM   #107
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Taxi drivers themselves don't seem to be a problem. I've never had a taxi driver that I would rate as "poor". At worst they're quiet and don't talk?

Then again I'm not the type of person who has an issue giving a driver directions or cutting them some slack if they need to check their GPS. I don't know the entire city of by heart and I don't expect them all to either.

The only time I've had an issue with a driver is when they refuse to take you if you don't have cash.
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Old 10-15-2015, 11:35 AM   #108
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But it boils down to price, right?
It isn't.

I've had two awful awful experiences with cabs that basically soured me forever, and in neither case was the price.

1) Taking a cab for work to the airport. Going to charge it on my corporate card. The driver insisted his machine was broken and that I needed to pay cash. I'm not filling out paperwork to get cash reimbursed from my company. I tell him specifically that it's not happening even if he drove me to an ATM. He ended up taking about 10 minutes longer than the usual route to the airport (from downtown he went to the NE and took the airport tunnel rather than deerfoot to airport trail). As I usually try to minimize my airport time, that 10 minutes added a lot of stress through the check-in/airport process, much less the arguing in the cab itself.

2) Me and 3 friends after the bar taking a cab home. We live within 500m of each other near downtown. The cab driver drops off the first person, we direct him to the next building (which is about 2 blocks away). He immediately goes into a rant about how we're scamming him, and reset the meter. Basically charging the initial $3.80 for an additional 2 blocks. I was so drunk that I didn't think about it until the next day when it dawned on me what he was doing. Basically scammed an extra $8 out of our party.

Neither of these cases was about the agreed upon price ($3.80 + mileage). It was pure scumbag taxi driver behavior.

Happy that Uber is coming.
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Old 10-15-2015, 11:37 AM   #109
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Except that everyone reports much better customer service experiences with Uber than with taxis.
Yeah, in the beginning when Uber is subsidizing drivers with VC money. But as time goes on, and Uber drops rates and operating costs start to mount, you'll find the good drivers either gone or gaming the system to earn a living. You'll also find Uber steadily decreasing vehicle quality requirements (some markets allow 15 year old vehicles) and recruiting more desperate drivers.

It's pretty much how every Uber market has gone over time.
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Old 10-15-2015, 11:40 AM   #110
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You can have cheap, fast and quality but only 2 at the same time. choose accordingly.
BS.

I have talked to a ton of people that have used Uber in the states, and they are getting all 3.

I cannot remember the last time a cab provided me with more than one. My last cab ride with a major Cab company:

Camry with 450,000 kms, a broken front suspension, and smelled like it has a gas leak, and a driver that reeked of BO and had breath that would choke a maggot. Quality? no

Waited 45 minutes for that Heap of Garbage. Fast? No

Paid $36 to go from 1 block from Chinook Centre, to Northland Mall. Affordable? No.
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Old 10-15-2015, 11:51 AM   #111
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BS.

I have talked to a ton of people that have used Uber in the states, and they are getting all 3.

I cannot remember the last time a cab provided me with more than one. My last cab ride with a major Cab company:

Camry with 450,000 kms, a broken front suspension, and smelled like it has a gas leak, and a driver that reeked of BO and had breath that would choke a maggot. Quality? no

Waited 45 minutes for that Heap of Garbage. Fast? No

Paid $36 to go from 1 block from Chinook Centre, to Northland Mall. Affordable? No.
Agreed,

I had fantastic service in Orlando, the drivers actually talked to you - carried the conversation. Gave us some neat tips about the area, facts that I wouldn't know about if it wasn't for the driver.

Cars were all fairly in good shape, one was a bit of a beater but it was still beyond top service.

Having the system linked to the app makes it quicker to enter/exit the car.
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Old 10-15-2015, 12:00 PM   #112
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You'll never convince me that the calgary city council isn't taking bribes from the taxi industry. Adapt or die, it's not the consumers fault that you've made your cartel into mess.
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Old 10-15-2015, 12:01 PM   #113
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I'm tempted to drive an uber during the winter/summer festivals in chestermere. There is maybe 1 cab in town. Would be nice to have a cheap cab to get home after the pub too.
Chestermere isn't subject to the Calgary Livery bylaw- You can set up your own cab company and your own rates tomorrow in Chestermere ( but I thinK you might need a Chestermere business licence).

but if you go with uber at the Chestermere summer festivals... you probably can take advantage of the Uber's surge pricing

Last edited by para transit fellow; 10-15-2015 at 12:03 PM. Reason: afterthought..
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Old 10-15-2015, 12:02 PM   #114
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Yeah, in the beginning when Uber is subsidizing drivers with VC money. But as time goes on, and Uber drops rates and operating costs start to mount, you'll find the good drivers either gone or gaming the system to earn a living. You'll also find Uber steadily decreasing vehicle quality requirements (some markets allow 15 year old vehicles) and recruiting more desperate drivers.

It's pretty much how every Uber market has gone over time.
Got any links to stories referencing this? I've never heard decreasing vehicle quality as a concern.

Chicago was one of the first markets to have Uber (since 2011) and I never had any issues with vehicle quality when I was there this summer.
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Old 10-15-2015, 12:04 PM   #115
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You'll never convince me that the calgary city council isn't taking bribes from the taxi industry. Adapt or die, it's not the consumers fault that you've made your cartel into mess.
Well, they can probably swing elections.
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Old 10-15-2015, 12:05 PM   #116
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So how does my first free ride work? I just go on my first ride, and it will be credited>
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Old 10-15-2015, 12:08 PM   #117
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BS.

I have talked to a ton of people that have used Uber in the states, and they are getting all 3.

I cannot remember the last time a cab provided me with more than one. My last cab ride with a major Cab company:

Camry with 450,000 kms, a broken front suspension, and smelled like it has a gas leak, and a driver that reeked of BO and had breath that would choke a maggot. Quality? no

Waited 45 minutes for that Heap of Garbage. Fast? No

Paid $36 to go from 1 block from Chinook Centre, to Northland Mall. Affordable? No.
Definitely agree that you get all 3 with Uber.

I live in San Francisco and I use Uber about 10 times a week. When I request an Uber it takes less than 3 min for a car to come pick me up. You also have the option to enter your destination address so as soon as I get in the car, the driver gets the direction right away.

For the last couple months, Uber has been really marketing Uber Pool. It's like UberX but they'll match you with another person with a similar route and they'll give you a huge discount for getting matched.

In San Francisco, Uber Pool fare is capped at $7 for most area so my average fare has been decreased from $10-12 a ride to $7 which is pretty damn amazing. I don't mind taking extra 5 min to pick up another passenger but saving up 50% of the fare adds up.
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Old 10-15-2015, 12:11 PM   #118
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Again, the Taxi industry brought this upon themselves by offering an expensive, unreliable service with poor quality and digging their heels in on any sort of change.

Taxi service in Calgary is reprehensible. Full Stop.

What did they think, that people were going to lie down and take their extortion forever? Something was going to have to change and instead of even pretending to adapt they blocked opportunities at every avenue in order to maintain their absolutely shameful Status Quo.

So now they're going to have to change, adapt and compete and do it all without any goodwill from Calgarians because they burned it all over the years.

Uber isnt perfect, no one is saying that, and I cant comment knowledgeably on their business model or practices, but I dont care about any of that when I want to get home from the pub in -30 and either way, perfect or not, they're a step in the right direction.
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Old 10-15-2015, 12:22 PM   #119
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I am looking forward to hearing a report from someone on this forum regarding what it is like to work as an Uber driver in calgary.
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Old 10-15-2015, 12:23 PM   #120
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Got any links to stories referencing this? I've never heard decreasing vehicle quality as a concern.
Maybe you got lucky, Chicago is one of those markets that already allow vehicles from 2001 to work. And at only 90c/mile before Uber cut and given the costs of operating a newer vehicle in a big city (IRS mileage rate is about 57c/mile), most drivers are barely covering the operating costs of a newer vehicle. It's even worse in cities that are at 75c/mile like Detroit.

There are forums like http://uberpeople.net/ where you can read up on the experiences of Uber drives. The cars driven by those making a living at Uber end up being similar to cars driven by taxi drivers, older depreciated, fuel efficient and reliable models like a Prius.

Last edited by accord1999; 10-15-2015 at 12:29 PM.
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