[mseebach]

Uber has deals with car rental agencies in several places that doesn't "allow" you to "eat out" your vehicle equity (I've seen Enterprise in CA and, I think, one other place, and Otto in London). The viability of such deals suggests that the numbers work out even without spending your equity.

[csomar]

Uber was more expensive than a Taxi for me in Paris. Uber gave me a 10-14 euros quote. And for the same distance the taxi took only 7 euros. I'm pretty sure the math might be working on some places. I'm only suggesting that it is possibly not working on other places and users are not aware of that.

[richardknop]

I've been using Uber and similar apps for years mostly in Europe and Asia and 80+% of the time the price would be substantially cheaper than taxis (often 50% cheaper in places like London). They use dynamic pricing though based on supply/demand so it is very possible to have higher price than taxi based on parameters (i.e. if you booked a ride in central Paris during rush hour the price would spike up). But from my experience you cannot use those anecdotes because if you use Uber a lot (like hundreds of rides) you will statistically see they they are cheaper in big majority of cases.

[mseebach]

Was this before UberX? Checking just now Uber quotes about the same as a taxi for UberX in Paris. The premium Uber (called "Berline" in Paris) is 60% more, so matches your experience.

The rentals I'm referring to are all UberX.

https://www.uber.com/fare-estimate/

https://www.taxifarefinder.com/main.php?city=Paris-France

[csomar]

yes it was for UberX

[TuringNYC]

Uber does minute-to-minute dynamic pricing, so any one ride isn't indicative of the actual cost. It may well be more expensive, but one or two ride anecdotes would not prove it.

[csomar]

Their lowest range was 40% higher than the Taxi. That's quite an amount.

[TuringNYC]

I've seen dynamic prices to be 200% base, I've heard it can be even higher, like 300%. With regular taxis during rush hour, or a concert, or during a snowstorm, or during drivers' dinnertime, the price stays the same but availability disappears. With Uber, availability stays but prices go up, manyfold sometimes.

[slededit]

There's been a few times where the yellow cab flat rate to JFK was cheaper than Uber in NYC as well.

[dionidium]

Yes, this happens. For example, it's raining in Manhattan right now and Uber to JFK is more than the flat-rate from where I'm sitting.