[ovoxo]

> "5-20 minutes" - Sure. That does depend on where you are though.

> "You have no idea who is picking you up" - 99% of the time this is a moot point.

> "Often times they wont even show up if you aren't at a hotel" - I've never encountered this in my entire life.

[jmccree]

I live in downtown Atlanta. Cabs are simply horrible here. I don't think I've ever called a cab that's arrived in under 30 minutes. Several times a passing cab has stopped, flat out lied and claim to be my driver, only for me to 5 minutes later get an angry cabbie calling me asking where I am. More than once this has ended up with the driver of the taxi I was in "asking" for my phone and engaging with a shouting match with the other taxi driver on my phone.

I've had cabs refuse to take me to my apartment building, saying they would only go to hotels. Others stating up front 2-3X what the meter rate would be, which of course I refuse. I've had them drive in circles, "miss" the exit to stretch out trip, and not a one seems to know where anything other than major hotels and the airport are in the city, or have GPS. Only half the time will they bother to turn the meter on. Very few will take credit cards without a fight.

Those are just some of my first hand experiences, everyone I know that uses cabs frequently in ATL has the same and/or worse stories. Cabs here basically seem to only want to ferry out of towners to and fro the airport to hotels downtown. Unsurprisingly, Uber has been a huge hit in Atlanta. You can actually get a car in 5 minutes or less some times, that's unheard of.