I’ve spent way too much time traveling in my life (and way too little time writing about non-technical things). It’s had ups and it’s had downs. But these days, a bunch of fun little technical breakthroughs that make traveling incrementally better. And one of those things is Uber (and other similar services) who have disrupted the short-range ground transportation game. And I like them so much, I decided to write a little list of the reasons why! While writing, I also realized that you can use this code and we both get Uber credit I never used a promo code. But you can: https://www.uber.com/invite/uberkrypted. Has nothing to do with why I wrote this, but it’s a nice thing for me to find while writing…
So here’s my top 10 reason Uber rocks:
- I believe in the model. People work when they want and seem generally happy. I’ve had a lot of students and people who drive a little after their day job just here and there whenever they feel like it. And they love it. It’s transparent. Everyone is wide open when it comes to talking about what they do and how the process works. Even in the apps, it’s all very transparent. The app requires the credit card, but you never have to give the card to the driver. You can text the driver (e.g. if you accidentally drag the pin a little when you’re a bit buzzed to let them know where to get you).
- The reason the model and the transparency are possible is that the tech is great. I can see a map of all the cars, the route they’re going to take, the exact(ish) number of minutes before they show up and the payment is all kinds of working for me. In fact, the tech is so great that I reference their interface here and there in UX meetings. For example, how that whole awesome credit card entry screen works (if you haven’t seen it, it should be the design everyone uses forever cause it’s that rad). But my credit card never goes in their hands. The maps are great and up-to-date and the app is bad daddy, sleek and probably should earn their UX team some awards (not awards like getting knighted but awards like getting a trophy or something). They email receipts, so I don’t have to cart around printed receipts to do an expense report. They have a web lost and found.
- It’s been faster than getting a cab every single freakin’ time! For some areas it’s like half an hour faster. Boom. And I don’t have to setup an appointment the night before with some craptastic Danny DeVito-style operator who still needs me to read out an address and then have that cab show up 15 minutes late when I’m in a hurry or 15 minutes early when I’m still in the shower and start calling over and over. I can see where the car is on a map. Love that. And if you tell a driver a better route, they actually listen…
- It’s not possible to tip in the app. Or not that I’ve found. I do still throw a few bucks their way here and there when I actually have cash because they’re awesome. But when I’ve not had cash it’s a no harm no foul kind of situation. They don’t expect it and they’re great people so usually deserve something more than $15 or whatever for the amount of time I spend with them…
- You rate the drivers. I have given all of mine 5 stars. And they can rate me. And they’ve all given me 5 stars. It’s not possible my experiences will absolutely always be this awesome (YMMV I’m guessing) but it’s definitely been a great run.
- Cab drivers are rushing around and rude drivers. Nothing harshes my calm more than feeling like I get some negative karma points for someone else hurling their car around like a vehicular version of the Jerky Boys.
- Credit cards. In the past year or two, at least half the time I’ve taken a cab, the driver gets annoyed if I can’t tip in cash, or sometimes pay in cash. I shared a cab with my friend Zack (@acidprime) once and since we were paying with credit cards the driver wouldn’t even charge us at all. Totally annoying… This does seem to be getting better with the cabs that have the video screens in the back. But I’d almost rather them get annoyed than having some of the early versions of those things screaming at me while I’m trying to talk during a conference call…
- The drivers are quirky and interesting. I have had a great run with this. I did have a funny little moment with this recently where a lady driver was telling me about her grandkids, which I thought was natural, but then she started telling me all about the “arrangement” she has with her husband and referencing knocking off early and hitting my hotel bar. Alright, it was fun to get hit on by my first Uber driver, even if she was 20 years older than me! The one on the way back to my hotel later that night was telling me all about his Tinder whoreness. Hilarious conversationing! Also, they all know how it works. I tried to get in the wrong Uber the other day and even though the guy got stood up he was like “no thanks.” I’ve had cab drivers from the same company pick me up and not radio it in and then I get nasty calls from dispatch when I thought I was getting in the right cab ’cause they lied about it! Teh lamer…
- Oh, and did I mention that Uber is cheaper than a cab. I once got a little too tipsy to drive and took a cab from the Los Angeles Airport (LAX) up to Hollywood. It cost over $100. I took an Uber to Sunset and started further away than LAX and it was $41. .
- Because it’s so much cheaper than a cab, there’s even less of a reason to get a DUI too. It seems like I see less drunk drivers later at night since it became a thing, too. So for the final one: Uber saves babies and makes the world a safer place.
Having said all these generalizations, I’ve had some absolutely wonderful cab drivers in my life. I was once riding around with a customer of mine and the driver was so awesome that my customer sent him a pallet of the product my customer makes. So YMMV, but this has been my experience thus far! And before anyone says it: I know Lyft is supposed to be cheaper and whatever, but I’ve had more experience with Uber, and I’m sure they’d be similar if it had been with another service…
Also, Uber continues to experiment with additional services and features. Black, Taxi and other options are the most obvious, but they also experimented with delivering Halloween costumes and makeup artists to your house for Halloween this year and I’m guessing they’re going to continue thinking of cool, quirky add-ons to the service. I love bringing an MVP to market in the app and then adding little tweaks here and there when the MVP actually works and people love it love it love it (yes, that’s an Eloise reference).
Finally, Uber isn’t for everyone just yet. Check to see it it’s in your city yet: https://www.uber.com/cities.
PS – Double Amex points if you use that to pay for Uber.