[henrikschroder]

Some have already done it, Taxi Stockholm has a very nice app; enter pickup and destination, book it, track it, pay through it, etc. And they're marketing themselves by stressing all the things they provide that Uber doesn't. You get a licensed, properly insured taxi driver in a nice car.

[mjevans]

One advantage Uber has over the app you mention is that it's in many (most) cities. You only need /one/ app and one place to go to get fulfillment. The network effect is not insubstantial.

[cderwin]

Most people use Uber almost entirely in a single city. This is obviously not true for those who travel a lot, but for most people they only need a single app (whether or not it be Uber) for their home city.

The real advantage Uber has is brand trust when taxis go back to their shady and anti-competitive business practices and the regulatory environment relaxes. The important question is if brand trust will be worth anything.

[user5994461]

Taxis and their local apps have zone limitations. They arbitrary bounds, within parts of your "home city".

They may not go where you want, they may not be available where you are, because you are not in the right part of the city.

[cderwin]

But does Uber really have a competitive advantage here? In the multiple cities I have lived in in the past couple years (Boston, Austin, Dallas) I have never noticed Uber's range being greater than any particular taxi. I do prefer uber do to brand trust, but I had no issue switching to RideAustin after uber left the city.

[Daviey]

Most people? [Citation Needed]. Most of the people I know that use it, do use it in many locations.

[mattmanser]

The vast majority of people live/work in one place. No citation needed, just common sense.

Sounds like you're suffering from a pretty severe filter bubble.

[Daviey]

So the people I know that use Uber in multiple cities (mostly for work), spanning multiple employers and multiple countries and locations is a 'filter bubble' - but the inverse perception from you is common sense?

I'd say it is bad form to base an argument like this as fact, when there is clearly significant evidence of the inverse. We know that Uber has targeted airport usage, with a seemingly offline cache of airport GPS locations baked into the app - to tap the travel market... I'd be hesitant to say this doesn't alone make an impact.

[toomuchtodo]

How terrible. Having to spend 1-2 minutes downloading an app.

Expect Austin to occur elsewhere (Uber and Lyft leaving due to local regulation, and competitors filling the void).

[pfooti]

Spend time: figure out what app, download it (possibly on data roaming), make a new account, use app once, be stuck wuth data breaches forever, and good luck figuring out which one is tracking you all the time and running your battery to the ground.

Uber is not an angel, but at least with one app we have a lot of people pointing out privacy violations. With two (say, Lyft in US cities), there's some choice. If Uber really fails and the taxis end up running the streets again, I don't see any real pressure to make good ride hail / pay apps.

[farm_code]

I don't travel frequently. When I do, install the app at home and then uninstall on return. So they can't track me when I am not using them. I understand it's not for everybody.

[chrisseaton]

It's not the 1-2 minutes to download it, it's when I roll off a flight into some new city I've never been to before, how do I know what app to use?

[forthefuture]

Google it like everyone has googled everything for the past 15 years.

[chrisseaton]

Google for it and then stand around reading the reviews to figure out which is the best one, you mean. And sign up for a new account and everything with the new app. By that time I'm already on my way to my hotel with Uber.