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Taxis and ride-sharing in Toronto

nfitz said:
If the world had moved on without me, there wouldn't be a taxi stand across the street. There's no way that the 30 second walk to the front of it is faster than using uber.
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You're lucky enough to be next to a taxi stand.

More than 90% of us aren't that lucky. And more than 50% of us don't live in a downtown core where taxis can easily be hailed with a raised hand, New York City style.
 
nfitz said:
The suburbs? Did you retire there grandpa? The world has moved on ... :)
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I live in Hamilton's equivalent of Toronto's Riverdale Area, in a Cabbagetown-style house (but costing a fifth as much) only 25-30 minute walk from Hamilton downtown and walkability score 85 like a Danforth or Cabbagetown neighbourhood (also 30 minute walk away from Toronto downtown). I'm on a core route, 1 block off Hamilton's upcoming LRT. Not quite suburb, but not quite downtown.

But that is not where I hailed Uber.

I left my car at a GOtrain station at Aldershot, and I was unusually away from Toronto's downtown at the time, I had a moment where I needed to get from point A to B more efficiently than public transit.

You can't easily hail a taxi curbside at Withrow Park, a few blocks away from Danforth Ave.
You'll also have difficulty curbside-hailing in the middle of Cabbagetown, a few blocks away from Parliament & Gerrard.
You'll also have difficulty curbside-hailing at Beverly & Sullivan (except at taxi peak), near the AGO museum.
You'll also have difficulty curbside-hailing on Queens Quay (except at taxi peak) if you're not near Billy Bishop
You'll also have difficulty curbside-hailing from many parts of City Place or Liberty Village condos, if you're 4 blocks away from the favourite taxi stand in rainy weather.

Even in these close-to-downtown locations, clicking a button summons a car faster than walking a few blocks. That's because several Ubers are driving within several blocks.

You gotta call for taxi, to get fast 5-10 minute. Or have to walk 5 minutes to Danforth or Broadview Avenue, when a Uber can reach your front door in less time than that, and faster than calling for a taxi. (BTW -- I am deaf since birth, so I hate using the telephone. You hearing people have the same difficulty with some call centres that speak poor English, too.)

And, with Uber, you can even watch the Uber car approach your location as a car logo on a Google Map. No worrying, no anxiety, wondering if the estimate was accurate or the taxi not showing up. And you know when it's time to step outdoors.

Your ride is pretty much literally guaranteed to show up, you're actually watching a moving dot on a map approach your location....

Also, if you're in an office tower, apartment or condo, this is convenient --
You know when to hurry to elevator, when that moving dot on map gets within 2 blocks.
And Uber driver can reach you if Uber arrives before you exit the condo building.
You even can tell which curb or building side the Uber driver parked at.
Because your Uber driver is a dot on a Google Map on your phone.

Google map instantly appears (with all nearest Ubers cars) the moment you launch Uber app.
Time estimates quoted by Uber is uncannily accurate;
10x more accurate than the taxi dispatcher phone number.
If it says 4 minutes, it often arrives in 3.5 or 4.5 minutes, etc.

Imagine being stuck in an office park after a meeting and needing to hail a taxi quicker than 15 minutes. Or needing to attend an interview. Or you need to visit a family living in the suburbs. And you don't have your car with you...

Regardless, if we ban Uber...
...we need to make it possible to have this lovely modern hailing ability in Toronto somehow.
 
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spider said:
How long will it take before the first cab driver who owns his own car signs up with Uber and play both sides of the street rather than sitting on his ass outside a hotel or plaza?
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My Uber driver this week was a taxi driver as well. He says he uses Uber on weekdays and drives his taxi Friday and Saturday night. He told me that it's hard to make money one weeknights with the rental fee and fuel, but weekends are still lucrative. He really likes doing both. Unfortunately, he drives like a taxi driver, which is not what Uber passengers like, so I don't know if his rating will be high enough for the company to keep him.
 
dowlingm said:
Uber (with the exception of UberPool) is sharing like Gardiner East is a "hybrid".
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True, it is semantics. Though one can argue it's sharing your own passenger spot.

Regarding Uber and "share economy"... I did a couple of very good academic terminology discussion in a different forum about the "sharing" and "sharing economy" terms, and how it's frequently applied to Uber. I'm now including them here:

One "share-economy" viewpoint:

BTW, equivalent of a share economy existed tens of thousands of years.
We traded furs, shared milk from animals, shared wood for fires, shared
huts with travellers on old silk road path, often in small primitive
civilizations where everybody was in earshot of each other.

IF we broaden the term to "silly levels", then:

- Buses are share economy. (shared ride)
- Trains are share economy. (shared ride)
- SoBi bikeshare is share economy. (shared bike)
- Borrowing uncle's car is share economy. (shared car)
- Stadiums and arenas are share economy. (shared building)
- Uber is share economy. (shared of a passenger seat)
- Parks are share ecnomy. (shared land)
- Garage sales and Kijiji/craigslist/ebay is share economy. (sharing/trading)

Etc.

It's only because software/apps make the share economy easier again
in big megacities, almost as easy as it is for tiny towns 10,000 years ago!

The hipster term "share economy" is just silly. It's old news.
We've been sharing FOREVER. Apps just make it easy to share rides.​

A different "share-economy" viewpoint:

Did you know in some languages other than English, French and
many other languages, the equivalent-language word they use for "trading",
also applies to a piece of paper money or a coin? Sometimes only a foreign
word roughly similar to "transaction" is available.

We're just nitpicking on English vagaries. Spun literally, "trading" can
be applied to trading a piece of cash for a piece of consumable.

But we don't use the English language that way.

Also from another POV, "share economy" may not exist at all, if spun a different way, because we pay a bus fare, we pay admission to a stadium, we give milk in exchange for a fur pelt, we receive a chicken for a stay in our hut. We trade a piece of info for a different piece of info. We trade a map for a book. We trade cash for an item. If we view it from that perspective, the "share economy" never existed -- it's more "trading economy".

That was also, indirectly, my point too. :)

The hipster phrase that primarily exists only in the English language, "share economy", to apply to this great technological glue of multiple now-common things to instantly provide an easy ride "transaction". The line between "share economy", "trading", "purchasing" -- has historically been really blurry.

It's great we've managed to combine a GPS, plus an electronic map, plus a pocket computer (aka "smartphones") -- and thanks to Intel/Bell Labs/Einstein/Etc that made all the tech possible -- into a disruptively much easier ride transaction which we now can enjoy. Even if ride transactions has existed forever; as long as civilization existed.

Uber drivers just has a phone that tracks their unmodified car and broadcasts it to users' Uber maps. Users have a phone to automatically attract nearest Uber drivers to their GPS location. Voila. Not just Uber, but other hailing services too, whether private or publicly owned.

It's nice to now be able to push a button and have a car almost suddenly show up at your GPS location, already pre-paid and already pre-routed to where you want to go. Eventually, Hertz, ZipCar and TTC can all do this, when self-driving cars are mature.

I expect even Toronto's TTC to do things similiar to uberPOOL, by Year 2050, once fully self-driving minibuses arrive with good safety records. Cheaper to run in low-transit suburbs where big buses run almost empty. Front door service. Good transit connectors when you're far away from a frequent bus/train route.​
 
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Napoleon said:
Wow that is indeed extreme. I'm not exactly sure what standing they have here though.
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I believe (part of) the claim is Uber is operating a commercial transportation service without requiring drivers to have a commercial license.
 
rbt said:
I believe (part of) the claim is Uber is operating a commercial transportation service without requiring drivers to have a commercial license.
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I meant that in a more legal sense. I'm much more familiar with US law than Canadian law, and there standing, meaning having a valid right to sue someone, is much more narrow than one might think. In this case, it's not clear they can directly sue Uber for what should in fact be enforced by the government. Of course, the government can sue Uber. Perhaps the taxi association could sue the government if they were not enforcing a clear statue. Anyway, not a lawyer, just curious.
 
Napoleon said:
I meant that in a more legal sense. I'm much more familiar with US law than Canadian law, and there standing, meaning having a valid right to sue someone, is much more narrow than one might think. In this case, it's not clear they can directly sue Uber for what should in fact be enforced by the government. Of course, the government can sue Uber. Perhaps the taxi association could sue the government if they were not enforcing a clear statue. Anyway, not a lawyer, just curious.
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I am no fan of Uber but I think you are right....maybe, even, the government can't sue them but, rather, charge them and (if found guilty) levy the penalties that are contemplated in the law they are guilty of breaking.
 
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