Is Uber now useless outside Central london?

[skyscraper101]

I believe they used to not show the drivers the route before they accepted the journey. Now they do show the route, which leads to drivers rejecting routes they don't want a lot more. The cost of rides has gone up quite a bit in London, presumably because of the increased costs. It's certainly no longer a cheap option, and they only advantage over a local cab company now is if they can arrive relatively quickly.

I suspected this may be the reason. After all, why do a pickup which involves journeying out to a remote suburb, when you'll have to double back the same distance with no passengers to the more lucrative central areas.

It's the modern day equivalent of black cabs not going south of the river.

 

[pinkmonkey]

I’ve used it only twice in the past year, both times to get from my aunts house in a village near Hitchin, to the station, because minicabs never come to the right place. Both times it’s been fine, most recently I used Uber last week and the price was exactly the same as the cab I took from the station to her house. I tried to use it in London before I left, last July and ended up not though because of astronomical price and low availability. Pre pandemic if I called one in Tottenham I’d see about 30 of them on my screen, post pandemic, maybe one? Now I’m in Yorkshire, I use minicabs, the few Uber drivers are based in the cities - Leeds and Wakefield, but not in towns like this one. The local firm I think is older than me and has a great rep. I still mourn the loss of the minicab office at Tottenham Hale station, they went when it got demolished and rebuilt, I used them all the time and they were lovely and so reliable.

 

[Ted Striker]

It's pretty comforting that they are so crap these days, I can now reject their use and internally convince myself I am making a stand against their dodgy business practices (i.e. when, in reality, it's just a rubbish product - who knew, that when they realised they'd have to make a profit one day...).

The 'special move' of accepting a fare, then parking up a mile away, awaiting my cancellation (and £6 fee), was especially galling though. All the AI in the world, and they pretended there was nothing they could do about this sand-bagging

Incidentally, it did actually make me use Black Cabs even more - what I saw as once the sole use of expense card holders or mega-rich types, is actually probably only a 20% premium on Uber rates, for an infinitely more prompt and reliable service.

 

[Ted Striker]

I use whatever is cheapest on the comparison app

What comparison app?

 

[The39thStep]

Not working in Paris

 

[T & P]

The 'special move' of accepting a fare, then parking up a mile away, awaiting my cancellation (and £6 fee), was especially galling though. All the AI in the world, and they pretended there was nothing they could do about this sand-bagging

Ah, I wonder if that is what is at play at Gatwick sometimes...

 

[wtfftw]

What comparison app?

ride hub

 

[salem]

that it's my third choice behind the taxi co-op (would use them more, but they are often not available)

Cab apps seem to me to be the perfect use case of a coop. The only issue I could see would be not having the funds of uber to subsidise journeys - however I suspect once the money runs out at uber the whole pile of cards may come down pretty quickly

Maybe it’s a Gatwick thing. I drive myself home in a Zipcar when flying to LHR, so seldom use Uber there.

Zipcar at Heathrow was brilliant, just a heads up in-case you're not already aware - the last time I did it they'd moved the drop off point to some random site outside the airport which you need to get a shuttle bus to (there was a note to call a mobile number to request the bus). It was OK as I was coming in to LHR but with all the pissing around must have taken a good half hour and I could see it potentially taking longer so take that into account if going there.

 

[Cloo]

I suspected this may be the reason. After all, why do a pickup which involves journeying out to a remote suburb, when you'll have to double back the same distance with no passengers to the more lucrative central areas.

It's the modern day equivalent of black cabs not going south of the river.

We couldn't get one late at night in NW London on Saturday - there were cars but I suspect they were all dropping off from central London and didn't want to take us somewhere else in the boondocks. Luckily a cab company mentioned by our host could be there in 10 mins - was about 50% more expensive than the Uber, but it actually came!

 

[what]

I only use Free Now in central London, works great generally.

Just looked up reviews for this and so many saying there being charged 2 or 3 times the quoted price. Mostly very recent.
Have you used recently?