On 06/03/2018 09:32, tim wrote:


"John Williamson" wrote in message
...
On 06/03/2018 05:14, John Levine wrote:
In article ,
John Williamson* wrote:
I know one person "up North" who paid an Uber driver under a fiver to
get to the supermarket, but the trip back with a different* driver cost
over £20 because the driver got lost.

I am not a big fan of Uber but that seems rather apochyphal because
the Uber app quotes you the price before you get in the car.

I have no reason to doubt the truth of the report.

except that it's fundamentally flawed

Do you work for Uber, then? Otherwise, why are you calling the person a
liar?


--
Tciao for Now!

John.

In message
-sept
ember.org, at 09:40:33 on Tue, 6 Mar 2018, Recliner
remarked:

I know one person "up North" who paid an Uber driver under a fiver to
get to the supermarket, but the trip back with a different driver cost
over £20 because the driver got lost.

I am not a big fan of Uber but that seems rather apochyphal because
the Uber app quotes you the price before you get in the car.

I have no reason to doubt the truth of the report.

except that it's fundamentally flawed

I wonder if surge pricing could have been the reason?

It's a bit of a big "surge", but that can indeed account for different
prices for out and back legs.

However, the two things wrong are that the Uber price is quoted (and
fixed) in advance, and all the cars have satnavs so what's this "getting
lost" all about?
--
Roland Perry

"John Williamson" wrote in message
...
On 06/03/2018 09:32, tim wrote:


"John Williamson" wrote in message
...
On 06/03/2018 05:14, John Levine wrote:
In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
I know one person "up North" who paid an Uber driver under a fiver to
get to the supermarket, but the trip back with a different driver
cost
over £20 because the driver got lost.

I am not a big fan of Uber but that seems rather apochyphal because
the Uber app quotes you the price before you get in the car.

I have no reason to doubt the truth of the report.

except that it's fundamentally flawed

Do you work for Uber, then? Otherwise, why are you calling the person a
liar?

mis-remembering, mis-reporting

tim

On Mon, Mar 05, 2018 at 09:27:31PM +0000, John Williamson wrote:
On 05/03/2018 21:03, Offramp wrote:
On Saturday, 1 April 2017 09:47:13 UTC+1, e27002 wrote:
Has anyone used Uber? How does it work? What is the service like?
I still have not used Uber and I am not sure how it works.

You install the app on your phone. You create an account, hand over your
credit card details. Then when you need a taxi you tell the app where
you want to go, confirm that you are where the app thinks you are, pick
the type of service you want, and wait for your driver to show up. The
app will tell you the driver's name and his number plate so you can make
sure you get in the right car.

When you have arrived at your destination you don't have to do anything
to pay, it's all handled by Magic Elves.

In the unlikely event that something goes wrong you can use Uber's
website or the app to ask for a refund.

I know one person "up North" who paid an Uber driver under a fiver to
get to the supermarket, but the trip back with a different driver cost
over ??20 because the driver got lost.

I trust that your friend did the refund dance.

--
David Cantrell | Reality Engineer, Ministry of Information

Aluminum makes a nice hat.
All paranoids will tell you that.
But what most do not know
Is reflections will show
On the CIA's evil landsat.

On Mon, Mar 05, 2018 at 09:55:10PM +0000, John Williamson wrote:
On 05/03/2018 21:38, Recliner wrote:
Uber is still operating in London while the appeals process grinds along.
It seems to have a lot of very happy customers, and is being cited as a
reason wny TfL's tube and bus growth has stalled.
Which is odd, because their normal clients should be taxi and private
hire car users.

By making taxis much more convenient they have dramatically increased
the size of the market.

--
David Cantrell | Official London Perl Mongers Bad Influence

Your call is important to me. To see if it's important to
you I'm going to make you wait on hold for five minutes.
All calls are recorded for blackmail and amusement purposes.

On Tue, Mar 06, 2018 at 05:14:20AM -0000, John Levine wrote:
In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
I know one person "up North" who paid an Uber driver under a fiver to
get to the supermarket, but the trip back with a different driver cost
over ??20 because the driver got lost.
I am not a big fan of Uber but that seems rather apochyphal because
the Uber app quotes you the price before you get in the car.

It gives you an estimate, not a quote.

--
David Cantrell | Pope | First Church of the Symmetrical Internet

If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you're reading it in English, thank Chaucer.

In message , at 12:57:57
on Tue, 6 Mar 2018, David Cantrell remarked:

I know one person "up North" who paid an Uber driver under a fiver to
get to the supermarket, but the trip back with a different driver cost
over ??20 because the driver got lost.

I am not a big fan of Uber but that seems rather apochyphal because
the Uber app quotes you the price before you get in the car.

It gives you an estimate, not a quote.

https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/23/...cing-replaces-
estimates-with-guarantees/
--
Roland Perry

On 06/03/2018 14:36, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:57:57
on Tue, 6 Mar 2018, David Cantrell remarked:

I know one person "up North" who paid an Uber driver under a fiver to
get to the supermarket, but the trip back with a different driver cost
over ??20 because the driver got lost.

I am not a big fan of Uber but that seems rather apochyphal because
the Uber app quotes you the price before you get in the car.

It gives you an estimate, not a quote.

https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/23/...cing-replaces-
estimates-with-guarantees/

If you read down to the bottom of this page, it seems this only applies
in the USA and parts of India at the moment. There is no mention of it
being applied yet in the UK.

https://www.uber.com/newsroom/upfron...-no-surprises/

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

"David Cantrell" wrote in message
k...
On Mon, Mar 05, 2018 at 09:55:10PM +0000, John Williamson wrote:
On 05/03/2018 21:38, Recliner wrote:
Uber is still operating in London while the appeals process grinds
along.
It seems to have a lot of very happy customers, and is being cited as a
reason wny TfL's tube and bus growth has stalled.
Which is odd, because their normal clients should be taxi and private
hire car users.

By making taxis much more convenient they have dramatically increased
the size of the market.


Actually, by "employing" people on less than NWM in order to make the fares
significantly cheaper they have expanded the market

It remains to be seen whether that expansion will remain when TPTB
eventually put in rule that makes Uber pay their drivers NMW (which they are
minded to do when they can work out how)

tim

In message , at 15:44:42 on Tue, 6 Mar
2018, John Williamson remarked:
On 06/03/2018 14:36, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:57:57
on Tue, 6 Mar 2018, David Cantrell remarked:

I know one person "up North" who paid an Uber driver under a fiver
to
get to the supermarket, but the trip back with a different driver cost
over ??20 because the driver got lost.

I am not a big fan of Uber but that seems rather apochyphal because
the Uber app quotes you the price before you get in the car.

It gives you an estimate, not a quote.
https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/23/...cing-replaces-
estimates-with-guarantees/

If you read down to the bottom of this page, it seems this only applies
in the USA and parts of India at the moment. There is no mention of it
being applied yet in the UK.

https://www.uber.com/newsroom/upfron...-no-surprises/

Rules of thumb are indeed hard to find (our bad for assuming Uber has a
consistent product!) This page requires you to pick a city:

https://help.uber.com/h/d2d43bbc-f4b...b-4bd8acf03a9d

London fares (three-component like hackneys)

Base Fare £2.50
+Per Minute £0.15
+Per Mile £1.25

Here's Newcastle ("up north" straw poll):

Base Fare £0.60
+Per Minute £0.10
+Per Mile £1.40 -interesting this is higher

A £5 fare would be (at 20mph) 2.6 miles, £20 11.5 miles. That's a
stupendous amount of "getting lost"

--
Roland Perry