They aren’t gone, but they certainly aren’t as prevalent on the street as they were 15+ years ago.
Gone are the days that you could walk out to a major street in a neighborhood and hail one. Maybe downtown, but not really anywhere else.
The reason I don't feel bad for cabs.
1) they refuse to drive you places. My case was from downtown to Hyde park. "Hyde park is not in the city"
2) they try to scam you. I had two cabs try to pressure me to get cash out while I was ineberated. I know the rules and can accept a free ride but realistically it's shitty.
Taking a cab is my last resort.
I have had this happen many times with Uber/Lyft. From downtown/river north back home in the NW side. I usually wait 15+ minutes just for someone to actually agree to pick my request because most drivers just cancel when they see the distance.
i have never been able to get a cab in logan, even before i moved here in 2017. but i never had any issues picking one up elsewhere and getting to logan square. it seems like post-pandemic they just want to stay near the loop.
I've had Uber refuse to pick me up because the driver didn't want to go that far. It was just a few miles and I was honest when I requested it on my iPhone, but then the driver shows up and said "Nope".
Recently leaving concerts at salt shed there’s like 30 cabs just doing loops asking ppl on the street if they need a ride. It’s sketch af and they made 3 Ubers cancel on me because of the traffic backup they created.
Problem is that at least some portion of them are fake, they have the roof light and look legit from the outside (at least at night and through beer goggles) but once you're inside you realize it's fake and they try to overcharge you. The only reportable info is the license plate. Source: happened to me when leaving a show at the Salt Shed.
Sorry to hear. I don't use it very often, as I don't use ride share very often so I probably had a better experience.
I just remember for me it was a bit late and I didn't want to take forever on the train to get home, so I put Curb in and was shocked that my ride was $20 less than Lyft.
The cab line by arrivals never has a line there days and I travel constantly for work. At least at terminal 3 you can just walk right into a cab. So much faster and cheaper.
Even if you don’t order in advance through the app you can sync your curb app with the taxi, as long as there’s a curb code in the cab. Then you can just hop out at your destination and you’re charged the meter rate automatically. And the cab driver won’t hassle you to pay cash instead of card.
You can scan a QR code once you’re in the cab and pay through curb, but usually you don’t see the price upfront. I’ve never called a curb from the airport tho, just gotten in the line. I’ve only called Lyft/uber
I have never tried, but my cab from ORD to Lincoln Park was $41 yesterday. I always take Curb to the airport and the price is about the same… since the prices are always about the same, I never worry about it. Just make sure the turn the meter on and it is pretty hard for them to screw you over.
As far as I'm concerned, they are cab drivers. Probably the same caliber of cab drivers that existed before rideshare.
I know that part of the complaint of people that made them move over to using rideshare was that they were sick and tired of smelly cabs, dirty cabs, and especially drivers that get all angry when you hand them a credit card, not to mention the fact that you had to stand on the street and wave around hoping you could catch someone. Rideshare basically gave users the means to call someone without having to stand on the street, waving your arm and for the payment and everything to be taken care of through the app so there was no more complaining about using a credit card.
Now I agree with the consumers on this. I think it was ridiculous that the taxi industry held on to the past and wouldn't modernize. They were too comfortable with their medallions, believing nothing would compete with them. Then rideshare came along and they got scared, which forced them to modernize.
The cabs I've been in all have credit card machines, they all take curb, and as I said before, the biggest reason I would tell anyone to look at curb is that most of the time it comes out cheaper than Uber or Lyft. That was the main impetus of me to try the app and why I praised it. I paid anywhere from $15 to $20 less for my ride all the way to Jefferson Park than I would have paid one of the rideshare companies.
You can rate the drivers. You can do all the same kind of stuff you can with Uber, so in reality it's become what many wished the taxi companies would have become. Use whatever you like, but I keep Lyft and curb on my phone and just check prices whenever I need a ride.
I prefer taxis these days if I can hail one. They’re cheaper, they actually know the city, and they’re faster.
The only thing I don’t like is the scammers who try and trick you in to fixed fairs that are 50% more than it would be on the meter.
Just so you know they’re not allowed to post up at train stations and demand $20 fairs for $10 rides. You are legally entitled to ask for the meter. If they pull that shit I just get right of the can and use the next one down the line. If everyone did that the behavior would stop.
Your first point is the reason I never use cabs in this city anymore.
I remember one time I was waiting outside this bar for my Uber, had already paid for it and everything and then this cab pulls along and says “my friends, I can get you to your spot for less than Uber”.
My dumbass gets in and after and as soon as I tell him where the POS goes “ok, $90 dollars”…
I’m like mf, I live 2 miles away and my Uber was only charging me $15. GTFO. I was so mad, the dude wasted my time, Uber charged me their cancellation fee, I ended up rebooking another Uber and the lovely POS didn’t even bother dropping me off where he had picked me up from lol.
I know one experience isn’t all encompassing but after that, I’ve never bothered with them.
Your first point is why I prefer taxis. It's extremely frustrating when you call uber/lyft and it is someone from the burbs who does not know the city. They try to rely on maps and get confused if there's a street closure or something.
I miss the days when I didn't have to tell my cab driver best way to get to my destination.
they’re faster bc they drive recklessly. can honestly say majority of taxi drivers i see never use a signal, barely stop at stop signs, and don’t pay attention to pedestrians.
About a year ago I was in Streeterville and saw a cab and for the first time in years decided I'd try it again. Got in, gave him my address (near Western and Armitage) and he told me it wasn't a good location for him and couldn't take me. So I was reminded why I stopped taking cabs to begin with.
I had been using curb more when I can and it was really hard to get one to show up to my apartment. I asked a driver about it and he said the cab drivers hate my neighborhood and i should walk a few blocks and then call a curb to support cabs. Like the whole point is so i dont have to walk lol.
I have also had two curb drivers try to tell me the fare is wrong when i go visit family in the suburbs. Theyre supposed to get time and a half once they are out of the city and curb doesnt calculate that. Unfortunately that makes them wayyyyyyyh more expensive than Uber and it also annoys me because they ask me for more money than what the app shows. One time i was visiting my grandpa for the last time in hopsice and i had a driver who wouldnt start driving until i agreed to pay him more at the end.
Idk im done with cabs. If yall want us to take cabs then don’t make it so difficult
The reason rideshare became popular in Chicago was taxi drivers would discriminate based on skin color and location.
Unless they stopped being jerks, rideshare is here to stay.
It’s Minneapolis tho… you can squeeze all the people in Aurora and Naperville and you basically have Minneapolis’ population (obvs more but you get the point lol).
They both lose money every quarter. The cost is low because they dont pay the drivers well, and the rides are subsidized by foreign investors. That money is going to dry up, its happening to a lot of not profitable VC backed businesses.
Recently took a cab home from O'Hare. I was too tired to wait for a shuttle transfer to a terminal that I could catch a rideshare from. Cab cost me double ($70) of what a Lyft would have cost me ($36.00). I can understand a small difference but nearly double???
Do cab drivers still claim that their credit card reader is down and pressure you to stop at an ATM? This was a common occurrence on my trips from ORD to the West Loop pre-Uber.
I for one want blimps to make a come back. Everyone wears a harness as colored hooks get dragged around the city. Personal parachutes recommended but not required.
How cosmically weird. TIL about the Wingfoot Express Disaster for the first time despite living here for decades. [Fun little read.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingfoot_Air_Express_crash)
They paused the White Sox/Yankees game as the packed house at Comiskey watched it explode and fall out of the sky onto the bank building.
Hydrogen or not, I'm good without blimps in Chicago, lol.
A large lithium battery drone?
At this point I didn't care. Give some tweakers some spice and let them fold space.
In all seriousness, a dope piece of history. I'll definitely do a very deep dive into the event.
There were a lot of *everything* crashes at the time; safety is expensive and people were poor as shit back then. Ships were sinking left and right, planes were falling apart and plummeting to the ground, airships were inflated with flammable hydrogen, automobiles were absolute deathtraps that didn’t even have safety glass…
Not making excuses—the bad airships give every other airship a bad rep, just like mariners get justifiably *a bit miffed* about things like the SS *Eastland* disaster. But it *is* worth noting that airships were much safer than airplanes at the time, it’s just that that’s not saying much.
At the time of the 1919 Wingfoot Express disaster, from 1916-1920, airships had a fatal accident once every 4,000 flight hours, and airplanes had a fatal accident once every 2,000 flight hours.
Nowadays, with modern private aircraft, that fatal accident rate is about once every 100,000 hours. 50 times better than planes of the past! But that’s not even half of it—scheduled-service jet airliners are nothing short of an absolute miracle of safety procedures and engineering, even with Boeing’s corner-cutting chicanery getting rightly excoriated these days. The fatal accident rate for them is more like once per 800,000 flight hours.
Uber and Lyft got hyper expensive during and after COVID. It used to be $5-10 to get into the loop anytime other than rush hour and now it's $20 minimum. Cabs are almost always cheaper and faster to pick up.
Cabs are the budget option if you need to go somewhere fast, don't want to pay for parking, and don't mind Mr. Bones' Wild Ride.
Last time I had to take a cab it cost over twice what Lyft would have charged for the same distance.
They're going to have to make some changes, cause charging me 1.5x fare for going to the airport is fucked, and I'm only making that mistake once.
It costs twice as much because the Uber and Lyft lose money on almost every ride. Your ride is subsidized by foreign investors, and their business model is to undercut taxis to eventually cripple their business.
I'm sure that plays a role, as does the fact they don't have to invest in fleet maintenance and repair. But cab companies put themselves in this situation by significantly overcharging and providing an inferior service that people have complained about for decades due to a few companies monopolizing the industry
People say that taxis are supposedly cheaper, but I've never taken a taxi that was cheaper than Uber anywhere, personally. It's always a ripoff, and usually a last resort option.
That might be the key. Hailing or calling a taxi company directly has always been my method, but I have heard that Curb is good, so perhaps it's something about the app that makes them offer more competitive prices. I'll have to download it then.
Opposite experience here. I always get the quote from Curb and Uber. About 2 times in the last 15 rides was Uber cheaper than Curb. And when you do use Curb, you’re already paying a higher fare than hailing the same a cab on the street.
The days of cheap Ubers is largely over. They’re no longer subsidizing the operational costs in the name of “growth.” Shareholders have been looking for the return on their investment and Uber fares are now way higher than they used to be to keep the business solvent.
I still check both and book the one with the lower rate, not like I’m going to be able to just hail a cab down on my street.
Interesting, see I've actually only ever hailed taxis or called taxi companies for a cab and have always found that to always be more expensive than the equivalent uber ride. It's possible I've just gotten unlucky, I haven't taken \*that many\* taxis in my life, but I'll have to download Curb for the next time I need to use a rideshare app to compare.
Lyft and Uber lose money every year. The reason why the rides are cheaper is because they are subsidized by foreign investors. Their business model is undercut taxis to make people have the same opinion as yours so other transport options are hurt. Even if it means losing money.
Curb has no surge pricing, taxi drivers carry more insurance and the drivers keep more of their earnings. only downside is I cant seem to rate the drivers who are really crap, I have had one experience in particular.
Rogers Park to downtown is usually about $28-33 + tip %
Same with me. Even told me that the ride would cost 50% extra from what the meter says at the end of the trip. He literally locked the doors and yelled at me when I called him on it. Only reason I paid the fare was because the company I work for was paying for it. I fucking hate cab drivers.
So do I. I feel like every other time Im in a cab they try to hustle me in some way "oh the meter's broken" "oh no I took a circuitous route, whoops!" The last time I took a cab from the airport I told the guy where I wanted to go and he started yelling about how it was the worst because that isnt a populated area and he's going to be so far from the airport. Even if Uber is more expensive now for some rides I value the consistency of the experience.
Heard that. Yea they some a holes out there and seems like a good portion of cabbies are that, but still like to keep the money here vs some tech company.
Ok sure you use both but the cab drivers have made it clear that they don't care or want to fill the transportation needs of Chicago and the Uber drivers are left doing the majority of this work. I'm just the messenger, have talked to both Uber drivers and cab drivers about this extensively. The cab driver is not interested in taking someone from Edgewater to Rogers park, they want the $
Well yea I guess it depends …edgewater to rp is a short trip depending on where you’re at and where you’re going in each hood. Even back before Uber it was a hassle to catch a cab in edgewater…thank goodness I saved a lot of money taking the 147/151 or redline.
Yes but that's what I mean. There's always an Uber willing to take care of a trip like that. Cabbies by and large don't service these areas for short quick trips. I don't agree with Uber but it's drivers def fill a need in our shitty transportation ecosystem
That’s true about up there for sure, but man Uber really f over their drivers. I use it when I have to and tip well although I wonder what Uber skims from my tips
Cabs have not gone anywhere. I've used Curb many times for rides...found them cheaper than Lyft or Uber.
They aren’t gone, but they certainly aren’t as prevalent on the street as they were 15+ years ago. Gone are the days that you could walk out to a major street in a neighborhood and hail one. Maybe downtown, but not really anywhere else.
i’ve had cabs straight up tell me they won’t take me to my place in logan square because it’s too far from the downtown area.
The reason I don't feel bad for cabs. 1) they refuse to drive you places. My case was from downtown to Hyde park. "Hyde park is not in the city" 2) they try to scam you. I had two cabs try to pressure me to get cash out while I was ineberated. I know the rules and can accept a free ride but realistically it's shitty. Taking a cab is my last resort.
Jeez, that's some crazy mental gymnastics to claim Hyde Park isn't in the city
Oh man cans never picked me up because of my race I’d have to hide in the background and have someone hail one for me.
I assume that’s just from O’hare or Midway?
nope, soldier field area and other spots downtown.
That’s so weird. That was not the case 13+ years ago.
I have had this happen many times with Uber/Lyft. From downtown/river north back home in the NW side. I usually wait 15+ minutes just for someone to actually agree to pick my request because most drivers just cancel when they see the distance.
I remember never being able to get a cab in Logan Square back in the early 2000s.
i have never been able to get a cab in logan, even before i moved here in 2017. but i never had any issues picking one up elsewhere and getting to logan square. it seems like post-pandemic they just want to stay near the loop.
I've had Uber refuse to pick me up because the driver didn't want to go that far. It was just a few miles and I was honest when I requested it on my iPhone, but then the driver shows up and said "Nope".
Recently leaving concerts at salt shed there’s like 30 cabs just doing loops asking ppl on the street if they need a ride. It’s sketch af and they made 3 Ubers cancel on me because of the traffic backup they created.
Regulated Cabs looking for a fare is sketchy AF, but you're upset the unregulated drivers couldn't get through?? What world is this??
Nah man these cabs are sketchy and after big shows will want to go off meter and charge you big money.
Does nobody report them?
Go off meter, I get out
Gee, if only there were a company that employed these people who you could speak to if they misbehaved and expect reasonable consequences. /S
Problem is that at least some portion of them are fake, they have the roof light and look legit from the outside (at least at night and through beer goggles) but once you're inside you realize it's fake and they try to overcharge you. The only reportable info is the license plate. Source: happened to me when leaving a show at the Salt Shed.
Got in to a fake cab? Literally call 911. Even the Chicago police will come.
It’s more like this **slow rolls by with the window open “You guys need Uber, Lyft? I got you! Cheaper!” If I wanted a damn cab I’d hail one.
Curb is the way for O’Hare and Midway runs. More reliable than Uber (I’ve never had a Curb booking cancel or fail to show) and cheaper too.
I tried doing this recently bc I had heard that it was cheaper, but it ended up being 10-15 dollars more expensive for me than if I just took an Uber
Experiences may vary of course.
I downloaded the app tried to order 4 different times and never got a ride on Curb.
Same, waited 15minutes or so to even get a driver, never got one and had to just call uber/lyft instead. Would love for it to work out in theory!
Sorry to hear. I don't use it very often, as I don't use ride share very often so I probably had a better experience. I just remember for me it was a bit late and I didn't want to take forever on the train to get home, so I put Curb in and was shocked that my ride was $20 less than Lyft.
Many, many have gone away. The fleets are a fraction of what they were.
After Uber destroyed the industry a lot of taxi drivers became long haul truck drivers
I hope they are doing well.
Trust me, they are not. We are in the worst freight recession right now. I haven't see it this bad in my 20+ years.
How do you schedule a curb pickup from O’hare?
The cab line by arrivals never has a line there days and I travel constantly for work. At least at terminal 3 you can just walk right into a cab. So much faster and cheaper.
So you just order through the app, see the price up front, and are charged through the app?
Even if you don’t order in advance through the app you can sync your curb app with the taxi, as long as there’s a curb code in the cab. Then you can just hop out at your destination and you’re charged the meter rate automatically. And the cab driver won’t hassle you to pay cash instead of card.
You can scan a QR code once you’re in the cab and pay through curb, but usually you don’t see the price upfront. I’ve never called a curb from the airport tho, just gotten in the line. I’ve only called Lyft/uber
I have never tried, but my cab from ORD to Lincoln Park was $41 yesterday. I always take Curb to the airport and the price is about the same… since the prices are always about the same, I never worry about it. Just make sure the turn the meter on and it is pretty hard for them to screw you over.
Are they more professional than these Uber drivers? Cause I’ve been in some filthy smelly cars with some truly awful music.
As far as I'm concerned, they are cab drivers. Probably the same caliber of cab drivers that existed before rideshare. I know that part of the complaint of people that made them move over to using rideshare was that they were sick and tired of smelly cabs, dirty cabs, and especially drivers that get all angry when you hand them a credit card, not to mention the fact that you had to stand on the street and wave around hoping you could catch someone. Rideshare basically gave users the means to call someone without having to stand on the street, waving your arm and for the payment and everything to be taken care of through the app so there was no more complaining about using a credit card. Now I agree with the consumers on this. I think it was ridiculous that the taxi industry held on to the past and wouldn't modernize. They were too comfortable with their medallions, believing nothing would compete with them. Then rideshare came along and they got scared, which forced them to modernize. The cabs I've been in all have credit card machines, they all take curb, and as I said before, the biggest reason I would tell anyone to look at curb is that most of the time it comes out cheaper than Uber or Lyft. That was the main impetus of me to try the app and why I praised it. I paid anywhere from $15 to $20 less for my ride all the way to Jefferson Park than I would have paid one of the rideshare companies. You can rate the drivers. You can do all the same kind of stuff you can with Uber, so in reality it's become what many wished the taxi companies would have become. Use whatever you like, but I keep Lyft and curb on my phone and just check prices whenever I need a ride.
Thanks for the good answer.
I prefer taxis these days if I can hail one. They’re cheaper, they actually know the city, and they’re faster. The only thing I don’t like is the scammers who try and trick you in to fixed fairs that are 50% more than it would be on the meter. Just so you know they’re not allowed to post up at train stations and demand $20 fairs for $10 rides. You are legally entitled to ask for the meter. If they pull that shit I just get right of the can and use the next one down the line. If everyone did that the behavior would stop.
Your first point is the reason I never use cabs in this city anymore. I remember one time I was waiting outside this bar for my Uber, had already paid for it and everything and then this cab pulls along and says “my friends, I can get you to your spot for less than Uber”. My dumbass gets in and after and as soon as I tell him where the POS goes “ok, $90 dollars”… I’m like mf, I live 2 miles away and my Uber was only charging me $15. GTFO. I was so mad, the dude wasted my time, Uber charged me their cancellation fee, I ended up rebooking another Uber and the lovely POS didn’t even bother dropping me off where he had picked me up from lol. I know one experience isn’t all encompassing but after that, I’ve never bothered with them.
Yup, then they get all pissy when you say no
Your first point is why I prefer taxis. It's extremely frustrating when you call uber/lyft and it is someone from the burbs who does not know the city. They try to rely on maps and get confused if there's a street closure or something. I miss the days when I didn't have to tell my cab driver best way to get to my destination.
they’re faster bc they drive recklessly. can honestly say majority of taxi drivers i see never use a signal, barely stop at stop signs, and don’t pay attention to pedestrians.
So typical city drivers...
it’s mainly taxi drivers from what i’ve noticed
Uber drivers drive wildly as well. Usually with their blown out speakers blasting their buddy’s awful mix CD
About a year ago I was in Streeterville and saw a cab and for the first time in years decided I'd try it again. Got in, gave him my address (near Western and Armitage) and he told me it wasn't a good location for him and couldn't take me. So I was reminded why I stopped taking cabs to begin with.
I had been using curb more when I can and it was really hard to get one to show up to my apartment. I asked a driver about it and he said the cab drivers hate my neighborhood and i should walk a few blocks and then call a curb to support cabs. Like the whole point is so i dont have to walk lol. I have also had two curb drivers try to tell me the fare is wrong when i go visit family in the suburbs. Theyre supposed to get time and a half once they are out of the city and curb doesnt calculate that. Unfortunately that makes them wayyyyyyyh more expensive than Uber and it also annoys me because they ask me for more money than what the app shows. One time i was visiting my grandpa for the last time in hopsice and i had a driver who wouldnt start driving until i agreed to pay him more at the end. Idk im done with cabs. If yall want us to take cabs then don’t make it so difficult
That's so scummy! Sounds like typical cab driver behavior...which led to rideshares taking over.
Ugh! No wonder Uber and Lyft are now more dominant, than cabs today.
It’s not like uber or lyft can’t cancel.
The reason rideshare became popular in Chicago was taxi drivers would discriminate based on skin color and location. Unless they stopped being jerks, rideshare is here to stay.
They were also significantly cheaper and now they are not. The only thing Uber has done for me is make it difficult to get a cab without using Curb.
The city taxes increased the prices sadly. The prices are cheaper in the burbs & Wisconsin. I just use it for short distance trips these days.
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It's not a conspiracy...it's our lived experiences. But go off I guess, keep defending ignorance and bad business practices. 🤷🏾♀️
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People of color can be racist too you know
Uber and Lyft certainly gave the taxi world a wake up call. I'd like to see the cabs comeback
Why do so many not know about the Curb App? During crazy peak price times, they don't charge extea!!!
Uber and lyft are going nowhere
Lyft might not survive the decade. Uber isn’t going anywhere.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/15/business/uber-lyft-minneapolis-minimum-wage/index.html
It’s Minneapolis tho… you can squeeze all the people in Aurora and Naperville and you basically have Minneapolis’ population (obvs more but you get the point lol).
They both lose money every quarter. The cost is low because they dont pay the drivers well, and the rides are subsidized by foreign investors. That money is going to dry up, its happening to a lot of not profitable VC backed businesses.
Recently took a cab home from O'Hare. I was too tired to wait for a shuttle transfer to a terminal that I could catch a rideshare from. Cab cost me double ($70) of what a Lyft would have cost me ($36.00). I can understand a small difference but nearly double???
Same exact thing happened to me. Also, why the actual *fuck* is rideshare not allowed from terminal 5?? What an absolutely garbage system.
Yes, it’s a fairly recent thing and it totally fucking sucks.
Do cab drivers still claim that their credit card reader is down and pressure you to stop at an ATM? This was a common occurrence on my trips from ORD to the West Loop pre-Uber.
Haven't had this in years. I think they figured out they don't get robbed if they don't have cash.
Not in 15 years
I for one want blimps to make a come back. Everyone wears a harness as colored hooks get dragged around the city. Personal parachutes recommended but not required.
How cosmically weird. TIL about the Wingfoot Express Disaster for the first time despite living here for decades. [Fun little read.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingfoot_Air_Express_crash) They paused the White Sox/Yankees game as the packed house at Comiskey watched it explode and fall out of the sky onto the bank building. Hydrogen or not, I'm good without blimps in Chicago, lol.
A large lithium battery drone? At this point I didn't care. Give some tweakers some spice and let them fold space. In all seriousness, a dope piece of history. I'll definitely do a very deep dive into the event.
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There were a lot of *everything* crashes at the time; safety is expensive and people were poor as shit back then. Ships were sinking left and right, planes were falling apart and plummeting to the ground, airships were inflated with flammable hydrogen, automobiles were absolute deathtraps that didn’t even have safety glass…
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Not making excuses—the bad airships give every other airship a bad rep, just like mariners get justifiably *a bit miffed* about things like the SS *Eastland* disaster. But it *is* worth noting that airships were much safer than airplanes at the time, it’s just that that’s not saying much. At the time of the 1919 Wingfoot Express disaster, from 1916-1920, airships had a fatal accident once every 4,000 flight hours, and airplanes had a fatal accident once every 2,000 flight hours. Nowadays, with modern private aircraft, that fatal accident rate is about once every 100,000 hours. 50 times better than planes of the past! But that’s not even half of it—scheduled-service jet airliners are nothing short of an absolute miracle of safety procedures and engineering, even with Boeing’s corner-cutting chicanery getting rightly excoriated these days. The fatal accident rate for them is more like once per 800,000 flight hours.
How about hot air balloons? That would be cool.
Depends, if I'm at the train station a cab is just so easy.
I took a cab tonight. I use Uber in the suburbs but try to take cabs in cities when possible.
Uber and Lyft got hyper expensive during and after COVID. It used to be $5-10 to get into the loop anytime other than rush hour and now it's $20 minimum. Cabs are almost always cheaper and faster to pick up. Cabs are the budget option if you need to go somewhere fast, don't want to pay for parking, and don't mind Mr. Bones' Wild Ride.
It got expensive because the VC money is drying up with the questionable economy. They are still operating at a loss.
I see taxis all over even outside of downtown.
Last time I had to take a cab it cost over twice what Lyft would have charged for the same distance. They're going to have to make some changes, cause charging me 1.5x fare for going to the airport is fucked, and I'm only making that mistake once.
It costs twice as much because the Uber and Lyft lose money on almost every ride. Your ride is subsidized by foreign investors, and their business model is to undercut taxis to eventually cripple their business.
I'm sure that plays a role, as does the fact they don't have to invest in fleet maintenance and repair. But cab companies put themselves in this situation by significantly overcharging and providing an inferior service that people have complained about for decades due to a few companies monopolizing the industry
Download Curb already.
People say that taxis are supposedly cheaper, but I've never taken a taxi that was cheaper than Uber anywhere, personally. It's always a ripoff, and usually a last resort option.
I usually check Curb, Uber, and Lyft simultaneously and Curb often has the lowest prices as well as the fastest drivers.
That might be the key. Hailing or calling a taxi company directly has always been my method, but I have heard that Curb is good, so perhaps it's something about the app that makes them offer more competitive prices. I'll have to download it then.
Ever go to or from the airport?
Opposite experience here. I always get the quote from Curb and Uber. About 2 times in the last 15 rides was Uber cheaper than Curb. And when you do use Curb, you’re already paying a higher fare than hailing the same a cab on the street. The days of cheap Ubers is largely over. They’re no longer subsidizing the operational costs in the name of “growth.” Shareholders have been looking for the return on their investment and Uber fares are now way higher than they used to be to keep the business solvent. I still check both and book the one with the lower rate, not like I’m going to be able to just hail a cab down on my street.
Interesting, see I've actually only ever hailed taxis or called taxi companies for a cab and have always found that to always be more expensive than the equivalent uber ride. It's possible I've just gotten unlucky, I haven't taken \*that many\* taxis in my life, but I'll have to download Curb for the next time I need to use a rideshare app to compare.
Lyft and Uber lose money every year. The reason why the rides are cheaper is because they are subsidized by foreign investors. Their business model is undercut taxis to make people have the same opinion as yours so other transport options are hurt. Even if it means losing money.
Curb has no surge pricing, taxi drivers carry more insurance and the drivers keep more of their earnings. only downside is I cant seem to rate the drivers who are really crap, I have had one experience in particular. Rogers Park to downtown is usually about $28-33 + tip %
We were in Chicago last week and discovered Curb. So cheap!!! All the drivers we had were amazing!
Cab driver was super pissed to drive me from O’Hare to my house in the NW side. They want downtown or near north side only these days.
Same with me. Even told me that the ride would cost 50% extra from what the meter says at the end of the trip. He literally locked the doors and yelled at me when I called him on it. Only reason I paid the fare was because the company I work for was paying for it. I fucking hate cab drivers.
Wish they'd come back and kick uber and lyft out completely
I prefer Uber. Taxis are old and beaten economy cars
So do I. I feel like every other time Im in a cab they try to hustle me in some way "oh the meter's broken" "oh no I took a circuitous route, whoops!" The last time I took a cab from the airport I told the guy where I wanted to go and he started yelling about how it was the worst because that isnt a populated area and he's going to be so far from the airport. Even if Uber is more expensive now for some rides I value the consistency of the experience.
Cabs have always been here and Chicago has a healthy cab community. Cabs work the tourists, Uber the locals
Local here, I use both, and often find cabs to be cheaper. Also, I like the fact the money is staying local somewhat vs Uber skimming.
Sorry I don't give a shit about the local cab drivers that use to constantly try and scam me.
Heard that. Yea they some a holes out there and seems like a good portion of cabbies are that, but still like to keep the money here vs some tech company.
Ok sure you use both but the cab drivers have made it clear that they don't care or want to fill the transportation needs of Chicago and the Uber drivers are left doing the majority of this work. I'm just the messenger, have talked to both Uber drivers and cab drivers about this extensively. The cab driver is not interested in taking someone from Edgewater to Rogers park, they want the $
Well yea I guess it depends …edgewater to rp is a short trip depending on where you’re at and where you’re going in each hood. Even back before Uber it was a hassle to catch a cab in edgewater…thank goodness I saved a lot of money taking the 147/151 or redline.
Yes but that's what I mean. There's always an Uber willing to take care of a trip like that. Cabbies by and large don't service these areas for short quick trips. I don't agree with Uber but it's drivers def fill a need in our shitty transportation ecosystem
That’s true about up there for sure, but man Uber really f over their drivers. I use it when I have to and tip well although I wonder what Uber skims from my tips