On 06/03/2018 20:06, Roland Perry wrote:
A £5 fare would be (at 20mph) 2.6 miles, £20 11.5 miles. That's a stupendous amount of "getting lost"

Is Uber any good?

I've not been encouraged by their website. For a journey that we do occasionally by taxi from our local station to home, it shows a range of fares from £4 to £16 (a black cab typically costs £5.50). But the route shown on the web-site's map is neither the shortest nor the fastest, and indeed would involve getting lost, as it goes through two roads that actually do not connect (there is a mistake on Open Street Map that I've tried to correct but after several years it's still there). If that's what they use for navigation then I'm not impressed at all. It shows the same impossible route for some other journeys in the area.

--
Clive Page

In message , at 10:36:14 on Wed, 7 Mar
2018, Clive Page remarked:

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

Is Uber any good?

I've not been encouraged by their website. For a journey that we do
occasionally by taxi from our local station to home, it shows a range
of fares from £4 to £16 (a black cab typically costs £5.50).

Once you get outside metropolitan areas the cost per mile is a killer.
Even a short-ish trip to an airport (let's say 50 miles) is grossly
uncompetitive with local minicabs.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
news
In message , at 10:36:14 on Wed, 7 Mar
2018, Clive Page remarked:

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

Is Uber any good?

I've not been encouraged by their website. For a journey that we do
occasionally by taxi from our local station to home, it shows a range
of fares from £4 to £16 (a black cab typically costs £5.50).

Once you get outside metropolitan areas the cost per mile is a killer.
Even a short-ish trip to an airport (let's say 50 miles) is grossly
uncompetitive with local minicabs.

I've just got a quote for central Brighton to Gatwick Airport (around 30
miles) that compares reasonably well with a turn up and go fare in a
minicab. Wise travellers to an airport use a pre-booked specialist airport
car service, but I once had to grab a cab off the rank at Brighton station
when I arrived to find the rail service to be in tits up mode.

--
DAS

In article , (D A Stocks)
wrote:

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
news
In message , at 10:36:14 on Wed,
7 Mar 2018, Clive Page remarked:

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

Is Uber any good?

I've not been encouraged by their website. For a journey that we do
occasionally by taxi from our local station to home, it shows a range
of fares from £4 to £16 (a black cab typically costs £5.50).

Once you get outside metropolitan areas the cost per mile is a
killer. Even a short-ish trip to an airport (let's say 50 miles) is
grossly uncompetitive with local minicabs.

I've just got a quote for central Brighton to Gatwick Airport (around
30 miles) that compares reasonably well with a turn up and go fare in
a minicab. Wise travellers to an airport use a pre-booked specialist
airport car service, but I once had to grab a cab off the rank at
Brighton station when I arrived to find the rail service to be in
tits up mode.

You could of course just get a direct train from Brighton to Gatwick Airport!

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote in message
...
In article , (D A
Stocks)
wrote:

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
news
In message , at 10:36:14 on Wed,
7 Mar 2018, Clive Page remarked:

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

Is Uber any good?

I've not been encouraged by their website. For a journey that we do
occasionally by taxi from our local station to home, it shows a range
of fares from £4 to £16 (a black cab typically costs £5.50).

Once you get outside metropolitan areas the cost per mile is a
killer. Even a short-ish trip to an airport (let's say 50 miles) is
grossly uncompetitive with local minicabs.

I've just got a quote for central Brighton to Gatwick Airport (around
30 miles) that compares reasonably well with a turn up and go fare in
a minicab. Wise travellers to an airport use a pre-booked specialist
airport car service, but I once had to grab a cab off the rank at
Brighton station when I arrived to find the rail service to be in
tits up mode.

You could of course just get a direct train from Brighton to Gatwick
Airport!

Only if such a train is available.

--
DAS

In article , (D A Stocks)
wrote:

wrote in message
...
In article , (D A
Stocks) wrote:

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
news In message , at 10:36:14 on Wed,
7 Mar 2018, Clive Page remarked:

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

Is Uber any good?

I've not been encouraged by their website. For a journey that we do
occasionally by taxi from our local station to home, it shows a range
of fares from £4 to £16 (a black cab typically costs £5.50).

Once you get outside metropolitan areas the cost per mile is a
killer. Even a short-ish trip to an airport (let's say 50 miles) is
grossly uncompetitive with local minicabs.

I've just got a quote for central Brighton to Gatwick Airport (around
30 miles) that compares reasonably well with a turn up and go fare in
a minicab. Wise travellers to an airport use a pre-booked specialist
airport car service, but I once had to grab a cab off the rank at
Brighton station when I arrived to find the rail service to be in
tits up mode.

You could of course just get a direct train from Brighton to
Gatwick Airport!

Only if such a train is available.

If you're travelling at times when there are no trains (0010 to 0510) taxi
fares tend to attract premium rates.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 07/03/2018 23:47, wrote:
In article , (D A Stocks)
wrote:

wrote in message

You could of course just get a direct train from Brighton to
Gatwick Airport!

Only if such a train is available.

If you're travelling at times when there are no trains (0010 to 0510) taxi
fares tend to attract premium rates.

Those aren't the only times there were no traiins - large chunks of 2017
had a similar problem...

In message , at 17:16:08 on Wed, 7 Mar
2018, D A Stocks remarked:

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

Is Uber any good?

I've not been encouraged by their website. For a journey that we do
occasionally by taxi from our local station to home, it shows a range
of fares from £4 to £16 (a black cab typically costs £5.50).

Once you get outside metropolitan areas the cost per mile is a
killer. Even a short-ish trip to an airport (let's say 50 miles) is
grossly uncompetitive with local minicabs.

I've just got a quote for central Brighton to Gatwick Airport (around
30 miles) that compares reasonably well with a turn up and go fare in a
minicab.

It's not as different as I expected for a trip to Stansted (~1hr on the
road) where I've got an estimate of £75 from Uber, and a fixed fare of
£55 from a local minicab firm.

That exercise has also reminded me of what my apparent confusion was
regarding Uber fares being fixed or variable. I took their site to mean
that "we estimate your fixed fare, should you wish to book at the
moment, will be £75".

On a different day, different time, I'd have expected a different such
estimate[1], but I (naively it seems) expected the fare quoted when I
booked to be honoured (like it is for minicab firms who are off their
Local-Authority meter).

[1] Or, as every time I've actually tried taking my mystery shopping to
the next stage, a "no bid".
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 17:16:08 on Wed, 7 Mar
2018, D A Stocks remarked:

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

Is Uber any good?

I've not been encouraged by their website. For a journey that we do
occasionally by taxi from our local station to home, it shows a range
of fares from £4 to £16 (a black cab typically costs £5.50).

Once you get outside metropolitan areas the cost per mile is a killer.
Even a short-ish trip to an airport (let's say 50 miles) is grossly
uncompetitive with local minicabs.

I've just got a quote for central Brighton to Gatwick Airport (around 30
miles) that compares reasonably well with a turn up and go fare in a
minicab.

It's not as different as I expected for a trip to Stansted (~1hr on the
road) where I've got an estimate of £75 from Uber, and a fixed fare of £55
from a local minicab firm.

Is the minicab firm a pre-booked fare? Generally these are cheaper - I
assume this is because the firm has a better chance of finding a customer to
pay for the return trip.

I would expect Uber prices to be more comparable with taking a metered taxi
off a rank.

--
DAS

In message , at 13:05:13 on Thu, 8 Mar
2018, D A Stocks remarked:
"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 17:16:08 on Wed, 7
Mar 2018, D A Stocks remarked:

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

Is Uber any good?

I've not been encouraged by their website. For a journey that we do
occasionally by taxi from our local station to home, it shows a range
of fares from £4 to £16 (a black cab typically costs £5.50).

Once you get outside metropolitan areas the cost per mile is a
killer. Even a short-ish trip to an airport (let's say 50 miles) is
grossly uncompetitive with local minicabs.

I've just got a quote for central Brighton to Gatwick Airport (around
30 miles) that compares reasonably well with a turn up and go fare in
a minicab.

It's not as different as I expected for a trip to Stansted (~1hr on
the road) where I've got an estimate of £75 from Uber, and a fixed
fare of £55 from a local minicab firm.

Is the minicab firm a pre-booked fare? Generally these are cheaper - I
assume this is because the firm has a better chance of finding a
customer to pay for the return trip.

Such fares are generally pre-booked with the minicab firm, but only
offered to drivers at the last minute (the minicab firm is betting that
there will be at least one affiliated driver in their pool willing to
accept the fare when broadcast). So really it's not so much booking a
cab in advance, as booking the cab firm's solicitation broadcast to the
fleet in advance.

Most of the time the individual drivers will be fighting to get those
kinds of fares, because it's much easier and more lucrative work than
ferrying a succession of drunks a couple of miles home at night.

I would expect Uber prices to be more comparable with taking a metered
taxi off a rank.

oh dear oh dear, you'll have the utl thought-police to answer to, if I
start describing how even minicabs in my area are metered (if they don't
negotiate a fixed fee in advance).
--
Roland Perry