Uber STL

stlhistory · PostSep 23, 2015#2512015-09-23T01:28+00:00

^The original purpose of medallions was not to improve the wages of taxi drivers, but to regulate quality during the 1930s when lots of folks wanted to be drivers and few people were very good at it. There are better ways of maintaining quality than the current system. I would put forward that better quality can be had by introducing competitive forces.

Alternately, even if the reason we have a medallion system is to maintain wages of the drivers, they are failing miserably at that. According to the BLS survey for May 2014, there are 1,340 taxi drivers and chauffeurs in the STL metro area. Assuming that 90% are actually taxi drivers, that's about 1,200 people. The mean annual wage for that category is $24,800, or a mean hourly wage of right under $12. http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_41180.htm#53-0000

jcity · PostOct 04, 2015#2522015-10-04T23:09+00:00

So, has everyone else been using uber too? Perfect service each time I've used it. Mark, I assume you're sticking with the traditional cab companies?

MarkHaversham · PostOct 05, 2015#2532015-10-05T00:00+00:00

jcity wrote:So, has everyone else been using uber too? Perfect service each time I've used it. Mark, I assume you're sticking with the traditional cab companies?

WalMart is great too, when you aren't watching your business shuttered or your wages plummeting. But good job missing the point entirely.

stlgasm · PostOct 05, 2015#2542015-10-05T02:00+00:00

I Ubered last night for the first time in St. Louis and it was great (I've used it in other cities several times). Service is lightning fast, clean and friendly. And as much as consumers love it, both my drivers were going on and on about how great it has been for them. Good money, flexible hours, interesting conversations, opportunities to discover new neighborhoods and restaurants/bars/etc. And according to one of my drivers, the MTC is backing off, because the cab companies haven't seen any decline in business since Uber began operating. We shall see.

dweebe · PostOct 05, 2015#2552015-10-05T02:48+00:00

MarkHaversham wrote:
jcity wrote:So, has everyone else been using uber too? Perfect service each time I've used it. Mark, I assume you're sticking with the traditional cab companies?

WalMart is great too, when you aren't watching your business shuttered or your wages plummeting. But good job missing the point entirely.

I'm missing the connection where Uber = WalMart and taxi companies = mom and pop stores.

matguy70 · PostOct 05, 2015#2562015-10-05T02:55+00:00

Had a confirmed Laclede cab pick-up made for a client for today (Sunday) at 6:15 am pick-up. Made reservation with Laclede on Friday afternoon. 6:45 a.m. called Laclede - gave confirmation # for now 1/2 hour late cab... was told they "were working on getting my client a cab to p/u". Now 7:15a.m. - still no cab for my client (one hour after set confirmed pick-up time) - called Laclede was told they "were working on getting my client a cab to p/u". ONE HOUR late. My client needs to be at airport NOW! Called UBER - they picked up my client at hotel in 10 minutes and saved day.
At 9:22 AM - get a call from Laclede "hello we are at the hotel for pick up for you", I said "really? You are 2 hours and 7 minutes late on a will-call confirmation. Their response "Sir, I am sorry but we are very busy". IT IS SUNDAY MORNING - Busy, really? Let these companies go out of business - because they really are not in it to "do" good business.

Happens with County, Yellow and now Laclede. I am done!

MarkHaversham · PostOct 05, 2015#2572015-10-05T13:07+00:00

dweebe wrote:
MarkHaversham wrote:
jcity wrote:So, has everyone else been using uber too? Perfect service each time I've used it. Mark, I assume you're sticking with the traditional cab companies?

WalMart is great too, when you aren't watching your business shuttered or your wages plummeting. But good job missing the point entirely.
I'm missing the connection where Uber = WalMart and taxi companies = mom and pop stores.

The point is that a macroeconomic disaster can still have good customer service and low prices.

sirshankalot · PostOct 05, 2015#2582015-10-05T15:10+00:00

so the onslaught of WalMart's putting mom and pop stores out of biz = macroeconomic disaster?

Wow, I must've have missed it...I guess I'm alseep at the wheel.

dweebe · PostOct 05, 2015#2592015-10-05T15:25+00:00

matguy70 wrote:Had a confirmed Laclede cab pick-up made for a client for today (Sunday) at 6:15 am pick-up. Made reservation with Laclede on Friday afternoon. 6:45 a.m. called Laclede - gave confirmation # for now 1/2 hour late cab... was told they "were working on getting my client a cab to p/u". Now 7:15a.m. - still no cab for my client (one hour after set confirmed pick-up time) - called Laclede was told they "were working on getting my client a cab to p/u". ONE HOUR late. My client needs to be at airport NOW! Called UBER - they picked up my client at hotel in 10 minutes and saved day.
At 9:22 AM - get a call from Laclede "hello we are at the hotel for pick up for you", I said "really? You are 2 hours and 7 minutes late on a will-call confirmation. Their response "Sir, I am sorry but we are very busy". IT IS SUNDAY MORNING - Busy, really? Let these companies go out of business - because they really are not in it to "do" good business.

Happens with County, Yellow and now Laclede. I am done!

They're also useless on Monday and Tuesday mornings. I was on Laclede's no pick up list years ago because they'd be an hour + late for a reserved pickup and I'd have to drive myself to the airport or take the bus to MetroLink. I'm not sure what was worse: their irritation when I'd call the night before to confirm or their irritation when they'd call me while I was at the airport when I'd stopped waiting and used alternate means to get there.

MarkHaversham · PostOct 05, 2015#2602015-10-05T15:29+00:00

sirshankalot wrote:so the onslaught of WalMart's putting mom and pop stores out of biz = macroeconomic disaster?

Wow, I must've have missed it...I guess I'm alseep at the wheel.

You definitely are.

Edit: I mean, have you paid no attention whatsoever to wages the last few decades?

sirshankalot · PostOct 05, 2015#2612015-10-05T19:08+00:00

If you're talking about wages inequality I have not been asleep...bu I had no idea Sam Walton is/was the sole reason behind it.

MarkHaversham · PostOct 05, 2015#2622015-10-05T19:23+00:00

sirshankalot wrote:If you're talking about wages inequality I have not been asleep...bu I had no idea Sam Walton is/was the sole reason behind it.

Wal-Mart is part of a trend, it's silly and reductive to say either that it's the sole reason, or that if it's not the sole reason then it's completely off the hook.

But I don't want to wander too far from the topic (Uber). I'm not even against Uber, per se. I'm just arguing against the mentality some people have taken that if StL doesn't do everything it can to slash regulations to get foreign companies to set up shop here it's somehow guilty of being backwards-thinking. Particularly when Uber has been in the news for labor disputes in progressive cities as much as it has for anything else. I don't know whether Uber is a net good or not, but the attitude of shutting down even discussing Uber's impact on anything but taxi wait times is exactly the reactionary short-sightedness St. Louis should be moving past.

DowntownNick · PostOct 07, 2015#2632015-10-07T16:34+00:00

"The St. Louis Metropolitan Taxicab Commission has filed suit against Uber Technologies and is seeking a restraining order to bar the ride-hailing company from operating in the city and in St. Louis County...

...So on Monday, the taxi commission filed suit in St. Louis County Circuit Court against Uber Technologies and its related operating entities for violating Missouri law by operating UberX service within St. Louis County and in St. Louis...

...The suit also names 19 Uber drivers. Of those, 11 don't have a commercial driver's license. One has a larceny conviction and another has an open warrant in Wellston. None have applied for a vehicle-for-hire license and all are in violation of the vehicle-for-hire code, the commission said...

...A hearing is set for Tuesday on the request for a restraining order."

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crim ... b0a07.html

Just would like to clarify that I fully support Uber and have used them many times in St. Louis in other cities. Excellent service every time.

jstriebel · PostOct 07, 2015#2642015-10-07T17:09+00:00

It's not simply about taxi wait times. It's about Uber simply being a useable service that greatly increases my quality of life and our taxi system being nowhere near that. If it takes some de-regulation (especially when the regulation itself was probably unnecessary and/or ineffective) to get that in place, then yes, let's absolutely do so.

jcity · PostOct 12, 2015#2652015-10-12T19:10+00:00

Mark,
Face it, you are anti-Uber. Please don't use it then and stick with Laclede Cab or whomever. Everyone else, while Uber might be imperfect, LOVES their service! I have used it 20 times and have never had a bad experience. Has anyone? I can name 20 bad experiences with cabs. MTC needs to die! shut it down! they do not serve St. Louis at all. Perhaps there was a time for them 20 or 30 years ago, but they are irrelevant! and ticketing the pedicab/rickshaws!? really? who takes a cab for two blocks? These old whities need to die off! Just look at that old F in the local CBS video. what a joke.

The buggy factory at Chouteau and Tucker (Blanke Building) closed down years ago too due to new technology.. Should we have kept it in business for the reason of "fair employment"? Hilarious.

robertn42 · PostOct 12, 2015#2662015-10-12T19:35+00:00

^Not only that, the clowns at MTC shut down the pedicab/rickshaws when if you try to take a short ride in one of their cabs (i.e. DT to Soulard) they will refuse to take you or act aggravated about it. It's time for a change. It's so crazy that at this point it is just comical.

dbInSouthCity · PostOct 13, 2015#2672015-10-13T15:55+00:00

One of my brothers friends is a STL Uber driver- says during surge pricing take the cab from downtown to the airport- Uber was $105. said last Saturday was the best night with all the bars full for cards/mizzou/blues...made $500 after Ubers cut.

Out of left field- picked up a couple at a downtown hotel after their wedding- they wanted to go to the nearest taco bell. He took them to the one on Chouteau Ave, they bought him taco bell too and gave him a $100 tip on a $12 fare.

dweebe · PostOct 13, 2015#2682015-10-13T16:21+00:00

dbInSouthCity wrote:One of my brothers friends is a STL Uber driver- says during surge pricing take the cab from downtown to the airport- Uber was $105. said last Saturday was the best night with all the bars full for cards/mizzou/blues...made $500 after Ubers cut.

How much is that?

dbInSouthCity · PostOct 13, 2015#2692015-10-13T16:34+00:00

dweebe wrote:
dbInSouthCity wrote:One of my brothers friends is a STL Uber driver- says during surge pricing take the cab from downtown to the airport- Uber was $105. said last Saturday was the best night with all the bars full for cards/mizzou/blues...made $500 after Ubers cut.

How much is that?

20%

roger wyoming II · PostOct 13, 2015#2702015-10-13T16:41+00:00

^ I think the difference b/w how taxi drivers and uber drivers are paid in general is that uber gets a high cut of each ride while taxi drivers pocket their fares (excluding a steep cut on credit card payments taken by the taxi co.) but taxi drivers have to get themselves out of a hefty hole before they break even as they have to pay for their car for the day... iirc, that's about $80 here in the Lou.

dredger · PostOct 13, 2015#2712015-10-13T17:02+00:00

I wonder how many who use Uber really understand surge pricing aspect or understanding they might be paying premium. At same time, I wonder how many Uber drivers really understands his own expenses, costs. As roger noted, a taxi cab driver is paying for the car, etc. so it is not a straight up oranges to oranges comparison on either cost to consumer or for the drivers.

One gripe that I think is legitimate is one business model is essentially subject to a form of rent control while the other can price the market to its advantages. Some one can correct me but taxi commission sets or can limit rates on traditional taxi cab. My take if I'm correct, let traditional taxi's price on demand.

dbInSouthCity · PostOct 13, 2015#2722015-10-13T17:21+00:00

Uber app notifies the customer when its in surge price mode and it gives you the price of your trip before you commit.

jcity · PostOct 14, 2015#2732015-10-14T19:04+00:00

Does it actually give you the price or just the "2.0 times" or whatever the cost may be. I was hit with a pretty high surge price on Saturday night.. This is where taxis can shine... I'll remember that next time, but again, i'd still rather have the option to have a guaranteed ride there within minutes than a cab that never shows..

timersman · PostOct 20, 2015#2742015-10-20T00:19+00:00

Can you grab an uber from the arrivals at lambert? I know here at LAX this was just recently allowed.

roger wyoming II · PostOct 20, 2015#2752015-10-20T02:34+00:00

^ I believe so,

Uber STL

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