David Cantrell wrote:
On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 02:48:12PM -0000, Recliner wrote:
David Cantrell wrote:
On Wed, Aug 17, 2016 at 01:26:03PM +0100, Recliner wrote:
One obvious reason: it's more expensive
IME Uber is cheaper than a local minicab company by around 25%.
especially at 'surge' times.
OK, I'll grant you that. They're rare though.
Lots of people say otherwise.
My own journey history says otherwise, but that, of course, isn't a
particularly valid survey :-) But then, nor is people bitching about it.
Looking through the details of the few journeys I've made where surge
pricing was in effect, and where I have a rough idea of how much a
non-Uber cab would cost - surge pricing only appears to bring the cost
up to that of a non-Uber cab most of the time.
- Second reason: it's less likely to have cars available locally in
residential areas (just like black cabs).
Wrong. There are four, right now, within 500 yards of my flat.
I suspect you're near the sort of traffic magnet that attracts Uber
drivers. They don't otherwise hang around residential areas.
I'd love to know what traffic magnet there is near CR7 8JH during the
middle of a working day.
Thornton Heath station, a Tesco superstore, a shopping parade with
restaurants, etc.
And, yes, right now an UberX car is shown as 3 mins away.
- Third reason: you have to have a smart phone, with a signal/wi-fi
access (which is why very few blind people will have an Uber account).
The blind people I know actually find a smart phone more useful than a
dumb phone.
And how exactly do they operate the Uber app if they can't see the screen?
I take it that you're not familiar with modern smart phones.
I've never needed to enable any sort of voiceover system with mine.
They'd operate it the same way they'd operate any other app. At least in
Apple-land, the Uber app has "Voiceover" enabled. It is apparently fully
accessible for blind people. See eg
http://www.applevis.com/forum/access...sible-are-they
And please note that most "blind" people aren't completely blind. The
term covers all kinds of serious visual impairments. Many moons ago this
thread was whining about guide dogs. You don't have to have absolutely
no sight at all to have a guide dog.