[aianus]

No, it's not, the real reason is that Uber is half the price of a cab and will actually show up when called.

[enraged_camel]

Have there actually been studies that prove Uber is significantly cheaper than cab?

Anecdotally speaking, I've taken Uber quite often in Austin, as well as various cabs, and they always seemed comparable to me. In fact, if you take into account Uber's surge pricing (which cabs don't have, afaik), Uber came out more expensive on average.

[aianus]

> Have there actually been studies that prove Uber is significantly cheaper than cab?

Where I'm from (Toronto) the taxi rates are fixed by law and the Uber rates are publicly available on their website.

Taxi rates: $3.25 + $1.74 per km + $0.50 per minute

UberX rates: $2.50 + $0.80 per km + $0.18 per minute

It's not even close.

[dbg31415]

My house in Circle C to the Airport via Uber... $20-25. Consistently. 20-25 minutes.

My house to the airport via taxi... $45-65. 30-40 minutes.

I fly 2-3x per week, thinking about putting together some expense reports to back this up... but for now you'll have to take my word. (=

[newacct23]

In Atlanta a taxi to the airport can be 40 dollars. An uber is less than 30.

[icebraining]

In Lisbon, it's mixed, since the price per minute is lower (0.10€ vs 0.25€) but the price per km is higher (0.65€ vs 0.47€). Taxis have an higher base fare (3.25€ vs 1€) but on the other hand the first 2 km are free.

[aioprisan]

Downtown Boston to Logan airport taxi: $30-40. Uber: $20.

[EdHominem]

You're comparing Uber's surge price to a Taxi's regular price when what really happens is that the taxi just doesn't come.

That comparison is only helpful if you note how long it took for both to show up.

[jacalata]

It varies by city.