[drzaiusapelord]

I'd love to see a similiar study for Chicago. The cabs here are, at best, customer hostile and at worst dangerous. My wife is sexually harassed by drivers or is on the receiving end of political talk. Complaint calls go ignored and every cab request is a like playing psycho whack-a-mole. One time I had to walk out of my home with a weapon to make sure my wife was able to get out of her cab safely as the driver kept pressuring her to get out a block away and to be 'helped out.' Oh, the CPD couldn't care less about these kinds of things.

Worse, there's a $1 'gas surcharge' for every single ride that was voted in a few years back when gas prices got high. So, a 8 block ride in a Prius means I have to pay an extra $1 in gas? Its incredible how corrupt the entire system is, especially considering how the meters here run on both time and distance and a tip is expected. What should be a $5 ride via a sharing service like uber, turns out to be $10+ with tip and charges. That's on top of inconveniences like loud auto-playing ads in the back of the taxi and constantly being pressured to pay cash or with the driver's swipe account on their personal cell phone (not sure if this is easily read by card reader apps, but shortly after I do this I often have fraud warnings).

Thus far our uber rides have been pretty low stress and problem-free. Its mostly younger people from the suburbs looking to make some extra cash. I think driver screening and taking complaints seriously is something uber can do to differentiate itself. I'd say a good 25% of cab drivers in the city have serious mental health issues, if not are wanna-be criminals, and should not be allowed behind the wheel. I think the narrative of safety is often ignored with the cab vs uber debate, but its important to many.