Took my first Uber ride today

[Crusty]

The drivers are taught to refuse the tip, but if the passenger insists they will take it. You can, and you should, tip the drivers. They make crap for money.

In Austin and in Dallas there have been undercover cops who book rides and then try to tip the driver. If the driver accepts the tip they fine the driver and impound their car.

 

[rudeguy]

In Austin and in Dallas there have been undercover cops who book rides and then try to tip the driver. If the driver accepts the tip they fine the driver and impound their car.

I'm so glad I live in a city where cops have real things to do with their time.

 

[Nebor]

yeah, their CEO is an uber dickscarf. I don't like the service because I really don't trust that guy.

Their CEO and corporate culture is amazing. A breath of fresh air compared to the PC, apologize for hurting people's feeling management of most companies.

 

[zinfamous]

Their CEO and corporate culture is amazing. A breath of fresh air compared to the PC, apologize for hurting people's feeling management of most companies.

I don't give a dick if they are hurting people's feelings. I give a dick about his desire to keep a database of every registered customer, and where they are at any given second...which is kinda his thing.

fuck that.

 

[Crusty]

I don't give a dick if they are hurting people's feelings. I give a dick about his desire to keep a database of every registered customer, and where they are at any given second...which is kinda his thing.

fuck that.

You pretty much hate any 'Internet of things' company then, don't put this on their CEO.

Put this on the precedent set by the companies like Google and Facebook.

 

[jlee]

In Austin and in Dallas there have been undercover cops who book rides and then try to tip the driver. If the driver accepts the tip they fine the driver and impound their car.

Wow, that's shitty. I wonder what law they use for that.

 

[Crusty]

Wow, that's shitty. I wonder what law they use for that.

Something about driver for hire w/o proper registrations, CDL, or insurances.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I don't give a dick if they are hurting people's feelings. I give a dick about his desire to keep a database of every registered customer, and where they are at any given second...which is kinda his thing.

fuck that.

Turn off background location services..

 

[Merad]

Yup, I started Lyft just for fun -- on Valentine's Day night, I pulled ~$25/hr or better. Last weekend, $34 in 3 hours (this doesn't count fuel/depreciation/etc). Plus, it's 1099 income, so taxes suck.

Sooooo yeah. I will likely only go out on nights I expect to be super busy.

On Valentines how many miles did you drive in how many hours? Even if a dedicated driver can average pulling in say $15-20 per hour over the long haul, I can't believe it's worthwhile once you consider fuel costs and wear on your car. Even if you are only averaging 1 GPH fuel usage that's already 10-15% overhead before you account for wear and taxes.

 

[zinfamous]

You pretty much hate any 'Internet of things' company then, don't put this on their CEO.

Put this on the precedent set by the companies like Google and Facebook.

I'm definitely not a fan of the Zuck. no sir. still facebook-free over here.

 

[MongGrel]

Never have tried it myself, but always thought would be funny if someone showed up driving a Ferrari or something, and they were doing it for grins and giggles.

 

[Nebor]

Never have tried it myself, but always thought would be funny if someone showed up driving a Ferrari or something, and they were doing it for grins and giggles.

A kept woman in my building does it in her 2014 Cayenne Turbo to pass the time.

 

[Red Squirrel]

The idea behind Uber is awesome. It's too bad that it's considered illegal. Stuff like this needs to be encouraged, not stopped. I see it as a sign of freedom.

Someone here was posting on facebook on NYE that if they want a ride to or from a party they'll do it for a certain amount of money. Was just someone who had no plans on NYE and figured they'd make a few extra bucks while keeping the streets safe. The person was told it was illegal. Why? What's the point of making that illegal? Just stupid the bureaucracy today.

 

[zinfamous]

A kept woman in my building does it in her 2014 Cayenne Turbo to pass the time.

Oh, I'm sure she accepts tips....

 

[RossMAN]

I don't give a dick if they are hurting people's feelings. I give a dick about his desire to keep a database of every registered customer, and where they are at any given second...which is kinda his thing.

fuck that.

You had me at the big D.

 

[Fenixgoon]

uber and lyft are what cab services SHOULD BE. why cab services haven't figured this out yet is beyond me.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Here is my Uber experience, not getting into ethics of their business model.
I tried a cab first, was told by a very over worked sounding guy that it would be a long wait. I said OK, will it be more than an hour. He quickly said around an hour. Well 90 minutes passes and I call back, this time an over worked sounding woman answers she says a cab will arrive shortly around 30 minutes. That cab may have arrived but it parked far away and someone else took it. I called back cab company said another will arrive and they'll call me when its there. I waited another hour and called cab company again. They said one is on its way and they will call when it arrives.
I decide to toss morals aside I load the Uber app, enter information, bumble around with the confirmation text (kind of screwed it up). Then 22 minutes later (I timed it) a really friendly guy showed up and dropped me off where I needed to be.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

I've used Uber several times while traveling - it really is an excellent service. The surge pricing kind of stinks though, but I totally understand the rationale behind it.

Most of the drivers are nice/personable, and the talkative ones say they like it much better than driving a cab, they end up with the same amount of take-home, if not more with more flexibility.

 

[jlee]

The idea behind Uber is awesome. It's too bad that it's considered illegal. Stuff like this needs to be encouraged, not stopped. I see it as a sign of freedom.

Someone here was posting on facebook on NYE that if they want a ride to or from a party they'll do it for a certain amount of money. Was just someone who had no plans on NYE and figured they'd make a few extra bucks while keeping the streets safe. The person was told it was illegal. Why? What's the point of making that illegal? Just stupid the bureaucracy today.

Because then other people can't figure out how to make money off of it. 😛

 

[rudeguy]

Because then the government can't figure out how to make money off of it. 😛

I'm sick of so much of our lives being ran by government greed. If someone told me the reason we don't have teleporters yet is because the government would lose money on taxes I would believe it.

 

[DesiPower]

So in San Antonio, the city counsel relax some rules but they were still not good enough for Uber and Lyft and they plan to stop operations. Upon further reading it seems that the main beef was over background checks, apparently for Taxi conventional drivers, they have get finger printing and FBI background check and all that and the city wanted the same for Uber and Lyft. Now my question is, do the cab drivers really go though these background checks? I know for a fact that in many cities illegal immigrants operate taxis, how do they get past finger printing and FBI background checks?

 

[vshah]

So in San Antonio, the city counsel relax some rules but they were still not good enough for Uber and Lyft and they plan to stop operations. Upon further reading it seems that the main beef was over background checks, apparently for Taxi conventional drivers, they have get finger printing and FBI background check and all that and the city wanted the same for Uber and Lyft. Now my question is, do the cab drivers really go though these background checks? I know for a fact that in many cities illegal immigrants operate taxis, how do they get past finger printing and FBI background checks?

they operate unlicensed taxis.