[jonknee]

A five mile trip in SF by taxi would cost $16.70 plus tip while Uber would cost $24.50 tip included. An extra five bucks to have a hassle free experience does not seem that extravagant, especially considering what it costs to live in SF. Certainly not "super rich" territory, it's more on the order of staying at a 4-star hotel instead of a 3-star hotel. A nice perk, but the super rich guy is getting an amazing sweet you didn't even know existed.

[billpaetzke]

I live in LA and found it (uber black sedan) to be 1.5 to 2x the normal city taxi rate. So I use the taxi magic app, and works great like uber. Although, most drivers prefer you pay cash unless it's a high fare.

[maguay]

This is making me glad I live in Bangkok. A 5 mile trip would cost less than $3 US, unless traffic is really heavy, and there's enough taxis everywhere that you almost never wait more than 5-10 minutes to hail one curbside. No fancy tech required.

[aetherson]

I note that in your example, it's $7.80, not $5.

There are other companies in the same general space as Uber ("hail a cab with your smartphone") that focus more on the lower end of the market.

[jackowayed]

It's ~$5 when you add tip to the regular taxi ride.

[timjahn]

I live in Chicago.