Yeah, I’m sticking with Uber/Lyft.

Why pay 23% more, when you can pay double!

Uber/Lyft in NYC is routinely MUCH more than a cab, in my experience.

Cabs rarely travel to the boroughs that dont end in Manhattan. So Uber/lyft is usually my choice.

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How often do you see yellow cabs outside of manhattan to begin with? Even if I wanted to take yellow cabs I wouldn’t be able too. I see your tag say Harlem. I’m going to guess you don’t have much experience outside of manhattan with yellow cabs. Because believe it or not people live outside Manhattan I know shocker.

I’ll gladly pay a bit more if it means not having to deal with refused rides, or being hassled over my method of payment or feeding the meter purposely and on top of asking for 20% tip.

And tbh Uber/Lyft has not been anymore expensive than yellow cabs in my experience.

That's a different discussion. I generally had no trouble pre-Pandemic, as long as I was in somewhat of a population center, regardless of borough. Pandemic + Uber/Lyft appears to have changed things a lot.

I travel to Brooklyn and Queens often for shows. I don't disagree that yellow cabs are pretty much gone in those areas, which is a shame. I've had $150 Uber rides back to Harlem, which is utterly ludicrous.

I do Chelsea to Harlem very often at the 3/4am mark. Cabs are always ~$25+tip. Uber/Lyft are routinely $45+.

Just Uber yesterday night from Washington Sq Prk to Hudson yard for $16. Not sure Yellow taxis would’ve been any cheaper.

Cost of living is killing us all.

Uber / Lyft have announced they will be hiking prices commensurate with the increase in taxi rates

Im not a fan of yellow cabs. Some of them discriminate by not stopping for you, unless you have a certain skin color. Plus if they stop and ask where you are going, and say anything other than the airports or outside of manhattan, they play dumb and take a long traffic route to jump the fare up, or wont go at all.

One drove off cause we said the bronx.

Uber drivers routinely accept my rides and then spend 10-20 minutes driving in circles as the ETA keeps getting pushed later and later. Also, there's no reason an Uber driver cant just ignore requests from "certain people," is there?

Add in the absurd cost relative to yellow cabs, the history of misconduct by Uber drivers, and the generally shitty exploitative labor and Wal-Mart-esque business practices of Uber/Lyft, and yellow cabs are the clear winner.

Back to uber!!!!!!

How come they can’t raise advertising fees 23% instead?

Even in Manhattan it’s far less efficient. If I’m taking Uber/Lyft, it’s usually because I’m trying to get somewhere as quickly as possible and at a specific time, or because I’m feeling too lazy to use the train and just want a comfortable ride.

So my options are, 1) Call Uber/Lyft, be picked up right outside my apartment/bar I’m leaving, know exactly how much I am going to pay, have a clear idea on arrival time, have the ability to track the route so I know it’s legit, and (for the most part) have the option to go for a quiet and comfortable ride. Or 2) I walk outside and roll the dice trying to flag down a cab which may or may not be there/already be occupied, just hope the price isn’t outrageous, have little insight into ETA or ability to push back if the driver takes a bad route, and be forced to watch whatever they insist on playing on the TV they shove in your face.

Not to mention that if there are issues, it’s far easier to dispute payments on Uber/Lyft than it is with a yellow cab.

Uber/Lyft are scummy companies, but people really need to stop blaming them for the downfall of yellow cabs, without recognizing the plight of yellow cabs was largely self inflicted. They provided a shitty service for decades, and became a prime target for displacement as soon as someone figured out a way to compete. While it’s great these guys are getting a more liveable wage, they really need to fix a lot of these issues or they’ll eventually end up with no job at all.

Uber it is

Perhaps not. Timing is key. My Chelsea/Harlem experience is pretty consistent.

When I first started as a real estate agent a decade ago the only yellow cab drivers that would stop for me were African drivers. I made a note to count, got to about 9 before a driver who I presume to be Arab stopped for me. Didn't count the ones that straight up passed me by even though they had their availability lights on smfh. Was embarrassing having clients standing on the sidewalk while I stand in the street getting passed left and right. Uber was a godsend.

Uber is just as, if not more, expensive than this. y’all complain about everything. Subway the same price if it’s that rough for ya lol

Y’all want your paychecks to reflect inflation but no one else smh

You just wouldn't understand.

so this is the beginning of the end for yellow caps?

Yellow taxis need a reliable app. I’ll just go through Uber/Lyft and choose the cheaper one. It’s nice have documentation of where you’re going and how much you’re gonna pay.

Idk the prices on Lyft are still usually pretty reasonable in my experience, especially if you have a Lyft Pink subscription which also gives you free Citibike rides among other benefits. At the very least you can see what you'll be paying before you call the ride so there are no surprises and you're pretty much guaranteed to have a car at your location in a few minutes that will take you anywhere in the city (crucial if you live outside Manhattan like most do). Not to mention the routine discrimination demonstrated by taxi drivers.

If you're white and live in Manhattan then yeah, yellow cabs are probably the better option but for everyone else the rideshare apps win out.

Can't wait until Uber/Lyft gets fully automated, it will fix a lot of these annoying transportation issues, kill these bullshit unions, and make the streets safer and drive these costs down.

Man, I remember one night I was out super late/early morning. Trains were garbage going back to Queens but completely worthless once I got to Queensboro Plaza; just not running to Ditmars at all.

I got out of the station and hopped into a cab on Crescent like a block up from the entrance into the 59 Street Bridge. "Going to XX in Astoria, please." You could tell dude was not happy with having to go back and miss the rush hour in Manhattan.

He basically ignored my request and proceeded to get onto the bridge. I told him to stop fucking around, let me out, and I had to walk alongside the on-ramp for the bridge and find another cab willing to take me to Astoria.

I don't think Ubers see passenger information before accepting the ride so, it's harder to discriminate against race. They might see you're going to a typically minority neighborhood and decide not to take the trip, but the way yellow cabs will simply ignore minorities trying to flag them down is not quite the case.

It's almost worse seeing a cab in the outer boroughs because you just know they won't have any interest in taking you anywhere else. They're there either against their will, or beginning/ending their shift.

Good luck trying to get a cab from Williamsburg to go to Bed-Stuy.

Isn’t that what Curb is?

You realize cabs are pretty much nonexistant outside of Manhattan?

Anecdotally in my experience with dozens of yellow cabs and hundreds of lyfts and ubers, yellow cabs have delivered a worse experience to me as a rider 99% of the time. They were more expensive, got into MULTIPLE car accidents driving recklessly (and once tried to intimidate us into defending them to the police) less clean, more rude, and refused our rides a few times. A couple even flat out scammed us by having “meter” issues.

The technology and experience that Uber and Lyft use is rider-first, so while im glad yellow cabs are getting paid, they won’t be getting my business unless I’m forced to.

Seems like a lot of people in this thread are unaware that it exists based on their comments.

Curb also prevents them from driving away because you ask to go to the Bronx. It penalizes drivers that cancel on rides.

I use Lyft, exclusively, unless my hand is forced and it's usually slightly cheaper than Uber during the times I've compared, but almost invariably more than a cab.

please automate cars faster space man i dont need a better twitter i need cheaper private transit

“[Insert Industry/Company] frontline workers get raise by [Insert Company]’s decision to put the cost of wage increases directly on consumers. CEO of [insert Company] happy to announce profits will remain stable and C-level bonuses will increase 300,000%. “

When asked about the new change CEO of [insert company] replied “it’s a win-win! Our workers get paid more, our shareholders remain happy and only our customers get royally f**ked!”

Biggest issue for me is cabs won’t use GPS. They take insane slow routes. I don’t think it’s tok drive up the fair I think they just are not looking at traffic data. Many do not know the city well and won’t use GPS to help.

I've been in one accident with an Uber as well, in addition to the fuckery I mentioned. I've also had bad experiences with cabs, just not enough to justify 2x the cost, a non-zero amount of fuckery, and support for a business that fundamentally depends on eliminating competition by leveraging economies of scale, operating at a loss for years, then jacking up the price once their competitors leave the market.

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Lie, i take it to Astoria ALL the time

I'm not a fan of not knowing how much I'm going to pay before I enter the cab.

Also worth noting to try the curb app. It has its issues but works for the most part.

Subway for the rich!!

I never took a taxi and i never will im the queen of paris

All of this is true, but with the increase in volume/demand coupled with how expensive the ride sharing apps are now, Yellow cabs look more and more doable for me. Wait times and these drivers completing other trips first is a huge deferent. Honestly cabs now are a lot cleaner than they used to be, probably because it’s a main point of contention for those who chose Uber.

I think they each serve a purpose, but I’m finding myself wanting to just get in a car and start driving rather than spending time waiting for an Uber. Neither are good options and I’ll walk/bike/subway it instead.

Refused to use yellow cabs since uber came along. A 23% fare increase isn't going to entice me back is it. They need to compete with uber and Lyft and have a set fare. Charging you for sitting in traffic is just bs

Second this.

I recently had a guy not want to let me out of his car because he wanted me to pay him in cash. I legit didn’t have cash on me but he didn’t believe me. I wasn’t locked in the car or anything he was just really pressuring me. It was sad, he seemed desperate.

So you must be willing to pay double occasionally or you wouldn’t know the price of them.

Because no one would pay that. Titty bars are hurting too.

I would have called the cops if he locked you in. They dont want card cause its a paper trail.

You could have used the curb app too

How do so many anti-rideshare people know the exact price difference between yellow cabs and Uber/Lyft? 🤔

I wasn’t locked in and didn’t really feel threatened. It was a “normal” nyc shakedown that we all experience from time to time. I mostly just felt bad for him because he was clearly on hard times.

Brilliant deduction!

I took a yellow cab for the first time in a long time Manhattan to bk was $22, Uber quotes was $37!

They will just tak on a Self Driving fee and charge you more.

It’s gotten much better over the years. The TLC routinely does undercover stings to catch discrimination and tickets drivers.

If anyone refuses to give you a ride in the 5 Boros, call 311 and report their taxi medallion number on the roof. There’s a $300 fine for the first offense.

Lmao Iwas coming back from jfk for a 13 minute ride to Queen blvd mofo wanted 55 dollar I told him to smd.

Totally agree. Also, who makes the money from those God awful tv sets? That alone should be making them good money. If not, they should remove them.

I’m old school and still call car companies. What would cause $25 in an Uber is $15, I just have to wait a little longer

Yep. Taxis are now dead for general use and are probably only worth it now for drunken 3am trips back home or airport shuttling. Train/bus for everything else!

Astoria is the next Park Slope.

Only 15 miles from park slope

A long 15 miles honestly.

hahaah

If it's monopolised by a large tech corp they will still charge the same and just prop up shareholder profits.

I’m fine with the increase, they haven’t had it in a very long time but then offset all the BS taxes and surcharges. I feel like I either walk, citibike, or subway everywhere now because taxis and Ubers become insanely expensive. From midtown to Brooklyn will easily cost you $40-$50 depending on time and weather conditions

Except you know, without the park. Or the brownstones.

Can you share a few names please?

Uber operates on a massive consumer surplus for a reason.

The ease of access and convenience they supply trumps yellow cabs. The ridership numbers going in opposite directions for each, supports that.

Yup, people can’t use a tool they’ve never heard about

You know what? I hope this runs them out of business. Taxi drivers are some of the biggest assholes I've ever seen in my life. They have no regard for anyone and treat their own customers like trash.

I'm with you there bro. They nickel and dime their passengers and treat them and everyone on the road like absolute garbage. I hope this runs them out of business.

Would have a point except, Astoria Park exist. Brownstones sure no but how about a backyard?

Astoria Park is pretty far from central Astoria. It’s also tiny in comparison to Prospect Park. I think it’ll become more and more let’s say “popular” but I think the vibes will remain different.

It won't be monopolized, there are many companies competing on it, so the competition will drive down prices.

Then, another company will see the giant market opportunity and undercut them.

Why can’t people just use public transportation?

That’s why I love curb, can book yellow cans through that and it’s always 30-40pc cheaper than Uber/Lyft (I guess prior to this increase)

The reason is also tied to the price of medallions in order to operate as a taxi vs the ease of renting a car for Uber. Can’t forget that

It’s also tied to the abysmal working conditions and lack of employment protections for Uber drivers

Bro what. That’s not old school that just weird in nyc

Sure good with me

Ah the good old days of waiting for some random arecibo driver to pick you up on a random corner. Might be 2 mins, might be 30 mins.

Curb is good for when Uber’s are surcharging other than that Ubers have a better price point every other time.

Which is the majority of times I’d want a taxi lol

I use Delancey on the Lower East Side. Cars are sometimes suspect, but I’ve used them dozens of times and only had one dickhead driver. Always cheaper than Uber

Just put car service onto google maps. Itll show you the ones near wherever you are.

And of course New York is even more for the rich now.

That hasn’t been true for at least a year and a half

The man is a moron just look at hyperloop (ended up just being cars getting struck in traffic in a small tunnel in vegas). I would look to cruise or waymo for full self driving or even some Chinese company.

Ubers/ Lyfts from Midtown to Williamsburg are like $45 - $50 each way. I only try to use them when they offer some percent off the next few rides. It'll probably be $60 - $65 by if the economy takes a nose dive. All the tech companies are trying to cut cost by raising prices and laying off staff.

Another reason why not to ride yellow cabs. Cab prices and rideshare are already high as they are in this city smh

How old are you lol?

A cabbie refused me service after a Mets game because (I suspect) I wasn’t going far enough for them to get a high fare. 🙄 (I would’ve taken the subway, but I was with my dad, and he was in substantial pain due to his sciatica so going up the stairs since there’s no freaking elevator at Mets Willets Point would have been murder. We took an Uber instead.)

Anybody who doesn’t live close to a subway station is fucked now.

Spoken like a true Manhattanite lol.

Dispatch only had 2 times they gave you.

"5minutes boss"

Or

"10 minutes boss"

I hope you reported that guy. These people are all under super strict rules enforced by the taxi, limousine, commission. My relate was a nyc judge for tlc, you’re input absolutely has ramifications for these guys — just so everyone knows.

I don’t use Uber either. I’m just saying who calls a cab here when you can just hail a taxi?? I guess it makes sense of you live deep in outer boroughs though

That’s fine. But to interject you’re sticking to something implies you have a choice.

It's a little weird not knowing exactly, I get that. But over the past 5-6 years yellow cabs have been cheaper every single time I've compared them to Uber. Like, no exaggeration. Every single time, sometimes literally half the price.

Uber looking better all the time

No, it was like 4:30 in the morning.

EDIT: …and so I wasn’t focused on trying to get this driver’s info.

You may be waiting a long time. It was only in the past 1-2 years if I recall right that Uber changed their financial prospectus and shareholder info on their long term strategy. Originally, yes the entire system was predicated on removing the biggest cost: labor, through automation. But then, to no one's surprise, the cost of development and lobbying for regulation of fully autonomous vehicles in challenging environments become apparent. Uber cut back development money and no longer is "counting" on automation, hence the rising prices, because they know they cannot survive for potentially many years losing money "waiting" for automation that may never even come. If they were confident that automation was near we'd still see low prices to suck everyone in, but I think they had a come to Jesus moment lol

I mean would you work at a job that didn't give you a raise in 10 years? I sure as hell wouldn't lol

That’s really neither here nor there. Naturally you’d report this during business hours.

4 in the morning is when they make the “shift change” excuse.

Currently (wont last forever) the blue Revel Teslas are pretty cheap, but I’m sure its just a marketing growth strategy.

They’re way cheaper than Uber or Lyft right gut now

You’ve taken “dozens” of yellow cabs trips and gotten into multiple car accidents? Lol okay. Yellow cabs are now much cheaper too.

When this happens you report them to 311. They don’t play around with this stuff. It became illegal like over a decade ago.

Yes, one major (stopped traffic on FDR, we luckily weren’t hurt) and two minor (fenders)

Not to say Ubers are without incident. One Uber driver memorably got confused about his GPS and stopped in the space adjacent to the offramp on a BQE exit during fast evening traffic, which was very unsafe. Had a couple others simply go the wrong way- twice we crossed a borough bridge when we were not supposed to leave the borough.

TBH I didn’t know the price swapped so aggressively. I hadn’t thought offpeak rideshares were more expensive than what i assumed cabs would cost for the same ride

I have an open TLC complaint about an overcharge thats been open since august despite them telling me I’d hear back within a month. So im not confident

I don’t find this to be true. I take yellow cabs from mid town to Queens at night often.

You think everyone gets raises? A lot of New Yorkers are on fixed income. Not everyone is fortunate as you are.

I do not miss getting in fights arguing “You have to take me to Brooklyn now!”

Why would they take a long route these days? Everyone’s phone has map apps installed. Every yellow I’ve gotten into asked me to punch in the address in Waze when I would take it into Queens. Unfortunately it is true, during rush hour 4pm-7pm, they don’t like going to the Bronx because they won’t get a fare up in the Bronx. I wouldn’t take a cab to the Bronx during those hours anyway because a train will take the same amount of time and $45 less due to traffic.

Yellow isn’t really for broke people. It’s for people living in Manhattan who need a quick ride from the curb to their destination.

I give my yellow drivers cash if it’s a short ride. I tell them not to turn on the meter and hand them a $10.

I don’t think he was on hard times. These guys are averaging $300-$400/day. They just like good ‘ol cash. I take yellow a lot and most of them say they make that amount after gas. Some of them say business sucks but I can tell they’re new drivers by the way they drive.

I can’t speak for all of them, but I was always called back in a few weeks. It’s a big system, who knows what’s happened with your case, sorry to hear though.

Yes, when they read certain names from certain neighborhoods in the boroughs, they very much cancel. I stumbled upon that discussion on an online forum when googling something related to Uber.

😂😂😂

I find this hard to believe. I use yellow a lot. I also know that their business case is mainly for Manhattan residents. Most of the drivers drive confidently and know exactly where to go. Every single Uber X I used was an incompetent driver constantly using Waze.

Every yellow I take either knows the city very well or uses Waze. Yellow is for wealthy Manhattan residents unfortunately. I’m not saying I’m a wealthy Manhattan resident but that’s the true business case for Yellow. Rides for people who spend about $150/day using yellow cabs.

Every yellow I take either knows the city very well or uses Waze. Yellow is for wealthy Manhattan residents unfortunately. I’m not saying I’m a wealthy Manhattan resident but that’s the true business case for Yellow. Rides for people who spend about $150/day using yellow cabs.

This is the #1 for me. For the most part (less and less these days), cab drivers know what's up. I've been on too many Uber rides where the route simply was nonsensical and ended up doubling my trip (despite there being no meter to run up the fare).

$300-$400 a day probably in Gross. But how much are they paying for the medallion?

I’m talking about the guys that lease the cabs from the garages. $110/day for the car + another $20ish/day in gas. Most of them say they take home $300-$400 “clean” after all that.

The point being I was more focused on getting home than taking down the cab number and info.

If the destination is in Manhattan...

Which is 98% of the time for regular yellow cab riders. Yellow riders spend on average $150/day on yellow cabs. School run, work, errands, appointments & dinner all in Manhattan. A rando one time taxi rider complaining on Reddit is not the business case for a yellow.

I hope you support requiring Uber to bear the full costs of congestion pricing.

So there is a stronger case to give them a raise then since they were already less fortunate yes?

How can you tell? Yellow cabs are metered so you can't get a set price? Or has that changed since I last got one

Because I use both quite a bit from going to and from the same locations and at the same times. Since like early 2021 cabs are pretty much always cheaper than the cheapest ride share rates.

I’ve never met a taxi driver who’s struggling. They always made good money from what I understand. Being south Asian I know many.

Coming back from the airport Uber / Lyft was quoting 160 and yellow cab was around 65/70 with tip

Hell yeah.

>Yellow riders spend on average $150/day on yellow cabs.

Citation?

Just go to one of those doorman buildings on Park Ave between 59 & 96th streets and ask them. Regular yellow taxi riders don’t have the time to get on Reddit and complain about yellow taxis. They just need their yellow taxis.

Special commenter indeed

Stick to your Uber / Lyft.

You make up information to support your made up narratives 👋