[thecupisblue]

It's all an Uber illusion:

# No money changes hands, so safer for drivers.

Not true in many countries where cash is supported in Uber.

# No payment is made in the vehicle, so faster exit times.

Not true in many countries where cash is supported in Uber.

# Uber uses any credit card, so your boss can pay for your ride without the need for separate expensing.

I wouldn't do that a lot of times - I switched a few cards on my Uber account and had to contact support a lot of times because they froze all my payment options after that. Imagine being in the middle of US as European then getting all of your cards declined by Uber because you added your friend's card.

# Rating - I've been in a LOT of awful, awful cabs.

And I've been in a lot of awful ubers - the rating system doesn't work unless people actually do rate drivers, and people don't rate as much as you think. Also, if you don't want a driver but there isn't many drivers online, you keep getting reconnected to him even after canceling and selecting it's because of the driver multiple times.

# Drivers can work 1 hour and make some money. Try that with any other job.

Not really, the amount they earn in that 1 hour - when you remove Uber's cut, tax cut, gas and vehicle amortisation is terribly low. Some say they barely make ends meet with 8 hours driving.

[Jommi]

>Cash Argument

Im not sure what you're trying to say? All Uber markets that support cash also support card.

> Card Declines Of course you will get blocked if you add an active uber accounts payment method. Thats basically a huge red signal for fraud.

> Rating Of course someone needs to be the first one to rate the drivers. Yet this is 100000x better than nothing, which is what most regular cab companies give.

>Money Not really? This is absolutely country/city dependent and the whole point is that YOU as the driver get to decide if its worth it or not. There are no upfront costs involved.

[thecupisblue]

I'm trying to say that all these "advantages" are just in specific situations.

And the card decline wasn't done with a card that already was active on Uber. And their "fraud" system got triggered months later, repeatedly, after a drive or two.

Also yes there are upfront costs in my area, in US maybe it isn't but here you have them.

I'm not saying Uber is worse than cabs. I'm saying that a lot of "advantages" Uber has aren't really all that. They are in a race to not burn their money before their AV investment can can come in, and in the end, it's just cabs with an app, not much better or worse than cabs.

3-4 years ago, the play was different, but now, it's becoming "just another cab company" in that area.

[Jommi]

Specific situations which make for a majority of their market? I don't think "specific" is an honest word here when it's mostly standard per continent.

Their fraud system is one of the best in the world, but of course it will have false positives. You know that your anecdote is not applicable to the business in general.

What upfront costs do you have? Where are you based?

I maybe get your point but I think you're vastly underestimsting the difference between a tech company optimizing digital transportation vs. A local cab company hiring a consultancy to make them a white label app.

[JimmyAustin]

> Not true in many countries where cash is supported in Uber.

I've taken Ubers in at least 7 countries, many of which have had a cash option (India and Vietnam), neither of which I took up. The average uber driver will have considerably less cash on them then the average cabbie.

> No payment is made in the vehicle, so faster exit times.

Only if you pay in cash.

> Uber uses any credit card, so your boss can pay for your ride without the need for separate expensing.

Uber supports having both a business and personal profile, which you can change before or during a ride. Every business uber I take has the receipt sent directly to my work email, and charged to my work CC.

[alpha_squared]

There's at least one country I've been to (Egypt), where it's cash-only. Unsure if it's the standout, but I really wouldn't be surprised if there were others.

[Jommi]

It's not true anymore, with the Careem acquisition.