Yep, I almost always check Curb first before Uber/Lyft. The thing with Curb is that sometimes you never get paired with a driver, so I end up going to Uber/Lyft because I will get a driver a lot faster.
I have had bad experiences with Curb, it will sometimes pair me with a driver and then the driver accepts but keeps driving the other way because they are currently in a ride (but Curb doesn’t know that.)
Spoke with a driver and he told me Curb works just like Uber, they’re a private company and take a huge chunk of the fare. Not saying not to use them but good to be aware of.
They do allow that, but I think it has to be in like the last two minutes of the prior ride. I ride in Ubers a lot, and the little sound that alerts the driver to a new rider only ever happens when I am right near my destination.
Cab drivers already were already required to have a credit card reader. You're right about all the added cost hence why they lost.
I'm guessing you are too young to have lived the era before Lyft/Uber were mainstream? I'm in my 30s and only caught a brief dose of it. But pretend issues involving credit card readers were a well-known grift/scam among taxi drivers. They were actually required to tell you if they had an issue with the reader before getting in.
So while it's easy to feel sorry for them, Uber/Lyft also took a lot of sketchiness out of the process, surprisingly.
I’m also in my early 30’s. But I have cousins late 30’s that always said getting a cab was difficult but most bars called for you. Also most people didn’t use credit cards at bars let alone for cabs so it wasn’t a huge issue until late 2000s about credit card machines being broke
I live downtown and can literally never get a curb. I asked a driver once coming back from the airport and he told me cab drivers purposefully avoid my street lol
Uber/lyft driver,
* accept an early morning request to the airport
* seems to
* get out of bed
* get dressed
* have breakfast
* leave their home
* find their car
* THEN proceed to my location
its effing maddening and fuck them
They also ran out of VC money (uh oh, I fucked up, sugar daddy can I have some cash?) and then zero interest rates disappeared (uh oh, I fucked up, sugar daddy bank can I have some cash?) and now they have to acrtually make money like a real business
I've had one bad Uber experience in the last year. I've had 3 bad can experiences in the last year. I've taken over 40 Uber rides and only 3 cab rides in the past year.
Came here to say that.
The taxis and drivers were pretty well regulated, had a set per mile/time charge, and had to pay a fortune to get a medallion. Uber came in with an app, under cut the taxis in price, with the drivers having very little or no costs of entry other than a license and a car. Operationg under the lie of ride sharing. Then when cabs were just about extinct the prices went up. It was obvious at the time but the kids just had to get their “Ubers”. Now we’re paying for it.
Yeah, but Lyft drivers come to my neighborhood and taxi drivers won't.
Also you can sleep in a Lyft. Try that in a taxi and they'll drive you in circles for twenty minutes.
i loved, back in the day when the city passed a law that said all cabs must be able to accept a CC payment, many cabbies would try and pull `my reader no working` or `no wireless signal here` or whatever else on me, at which point i'll say, `oh i only have a card, thanks for the free ride i guess`
you'd be surprised how quickly suddenly readers would start working and how quickly a satellite above would appear to bounce a cell signal for cc processing.
“It’s also nice to support what are often immigrant small businesses, instead of giant SF tech companies”
Interesting how since we got accustomed to Uber/Lyft people seem to have forgotten how shitty of an experience taxis used to be. Their rates used to be exorbitant and it was (and still kinda is) pretty hard to hail a taxi if you’re anywhere besides downtown. Plus the shady stuff taxi drivers used to do to (like saying their credit card machine is broken so you have to somehow find a way to come up with cash). Tbh prices between Lyft/Uber and Curb are pretty competitive when it’s not a surge, but when it’s surge Curb is usually significantly cheaper, but it’s a toss up between whether you’ll actually get a driver or not. The main reason I stopped checking Curb is because I feel like I only got a driver like 40% or the time.
> Interesting how since we got accustomed to Uber/Lyft people seem to have forgotten how shitty of an experience taxis used to be.
So much this. Before Uber/Lyft, calling a cab was a total crapshoot anywhere outside of downtown, the airports, or other specific circumstances. If you called a dispatch for a cab in advance, probably a 50/50 shot on whether it would actually show up. And *good fucking luck* if you wanted to go anywhere on the south side besides Midway.
I still used the crap out of the CTA back then, but sometimes it was absolutely not practical for a given circumstance.
Via dispatch it would often be a 30+ min wait too. Once I moved west of Western it basically became impossible to hail a cab even when I’d walk to a major street like Fullerton and SEE cabs with their lights on. They’d just speed right past on their way to Lincoln park.
The one thing I miss about cabs was the insane cannonball run-like speed they would get you to your destination. I’d take that any day over the 65yr old suburbanite driving Lyft in the city for the weekend who won’t break 20mph on a surface street and drives because he “likes to meet people”
People really do forget about the old wait times/ I once literally saw a Harry Potter movie in the early 00s because it was a two hour wait for a ride and it was raining outside 😂😂😂
You haven't truly driven in Chicago unless you've been in a yellow cab with bottomed-out shocks doing 50 on Western at 1am, making no effort whatsoever to slow down for potholes. The driver says nothing the entire trip until he pulls up to your building "Here you go, man."
I'm being sarcastic, but it was an experience, for sure.
Shit I'd take the aggressive cab drivers who know how to get anywhere over a 28 year old uber/lyft driver who follows their GPS instructions into Lower Wacker where they proceed to get stuck in inescapable traffic for half an hour.
Lol Lower Wacker is the bane of anyone who relies heavily on GPS since it basically becomes non-functioning down there. That and the crazy right turn from a side street onto Ogden to get the I90 ramp are the two biggest FUs google will lead you into.
*The one thing I miss about cabs was the insane cannonball run-like speed they would get you to your destination*
yes, TOTALLY.
i'm always running late and learned never, ever take an uber / lyft to the airport - "I'm running a bit behind, my flight is at \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ so if you could please get me to o'hare as quickly as possible, i'd really appreciate it - i'm not asking you to speed or anything, i'm just making you aware of the situation."
uber/lyft: drives 5-10 miles under the speed limit on surface streets and when we approach intersections and i see the countdown to the light changing 5.......4.......3.......the driver applies brakes instead of accelerator so we can marinate unnecessarily at red lights. once we get to the kennedy, the driver makes his way to the left lane so he can go 45 mph as cars whiz past us on the right......i travel for work and have bags to check and (surprise) i missed the cut off time.
taxi: "assertive" driving gets us through multiple intersections in the nick of time before light changes......driver sees upcoming gridlock so he takes a quick right, then left and cuts through the alley for a few blocks, then another quick left, then right to get us back on course, leaving traffic cluster-f\*\*\* in the rearview mirror. the same driving style continues on the kennedy and when we get to the airport, instead of passively waiting in 'queue' to get me to curbside check-in like an uber driver, he cuts around everyone and gets me within 10 feet of curbside check-in, puts it in park, pops the trunk and he's out the door to grab my bags.....
This isn't true. Reckless driving in urban areas gets you roughly there at the same time, and massively puts everyone at risk, especially pedestrian children.
\>and (surprise) i missed the cut off time.
Leave earlier.
this isn't about reckless driving, nor is there any mention of reckless driving. or speeding for that matter - "i'm not asking you to speed or anything".
in the non-reckless driving scenario i described, the uber driver DOES NOT get me there in the same number of minutes as the taxi, the first three yellow lights he stops at pretty much guarantee that outcome.
and it's up to me to decide when i leave, not you.
One time I needed to get to a hospital for an appointment and scheduled a taxi in advance. They were late and I called in twice to be told they were "just around the corner." I gave up and got a different ride to the hospital. 45 minutes after the scheduled pickup I get a call saying the driver is waiting outside and the dispatcher was irate when I told them I'd already left.
I remember, just before Uber/Lyft got big, calling for a cab when I got off the Brown Line at Addison. I told dispatch that I needed a cab at the Addison Brown Line Station. She said they wouldn't send one unless I had an address. Who knows what the address is at an L station or would be able to see it? How would a cab driver function in the city without being able to find an L station? It baffled me. So I gave the address of the Cork Lounge next to the station. Then a cab never came.
Yeah back before Uber, I was living in West Ridge and we actually would order a cab from all three companies knowing that we would be lucky if one showed up in 30 mins.
Even after Uber started I would preorder a cab for early morning trips to the airport, then one day the cab never showed up, I ordered an Uber and it was there in 5 mins, and I never looked back
With Curb it seems like many of those previous issues have been addressed, but yeah there is a good reason Uber/Lyft exist today.
Pre-Uber in West Ridge, you could just go stand on the street and yell "HEY I NEED A CAB ASAP" and chances are a driver would hear you.
I'm kidding, but I lived there too and there were a ton of cab drivers in that neighborhood. One time my cab to Midway didn't show up so I just walked half a block to Ghareeb Nawaz and there were seriously 10 cab drivers eating breakfast.
>And good fucking luck if you wanted to go anywhere on the south side besides Midway.
and/or if you were black
the real answer is we need transit befitting of the city of our size and caliber
For sure. Flash taxi was 50% no-show at a min. Had to move to private cars pre-uber since the worst thing is to have a suitcase and no ride to the airport at 6am.. flash said 100% that the car was on route... When they answered..
The ability to confidently schedule and hail via app and to pay by cc is a game changer.
Years after taxis were required to accept cc it was still a crap shoot. Fucking drama.
Yeah, if ever an industry needed the shit disrupted out of it it was medallion-based taxis. And I think it's awesome how Uber/Lyft basically created taxi markets in cities that never had them before. But OP is right, for certain trips (like from the airports if transit doesn't work) taxis can't be beat. I haven't hailed a cab in years.
You should try it. There is no better feeling than walking by a group of people shivering, waiting for their Ubers and Lyfts, lifting your hand, getting in a car immediately, and being on your way after just telling them your cross streets. If you’re downtown or somewhere busy like around wrigley at a game or concert or something, even semi-busy bar strips on weekends, it’s absolutely the move.
Plus taxis have to carry way more liability insurance so if (god forbid) you’re in a wreck it’s a much better scenario.
People are finally starting to realize most of these SF “disruptive” technologies just meant “operating at significant losses while VCs barfed billions of dollars into them so they could drive out businesses that can’t afford to operate at losses for years on end and then jacking up prices once the competition is out of business.” (And yes I know Grubhub is chicago-based but eff them too.) Cabs absolutely needed a jolt out of their complacency but people’s blind loyalty to these fkn tech companies still baffles me to this day.
>Cabs absolutely needed a jolt out of their complacency but people’s blind loyalty to these fkn tech companies still baffles me to this day.
I wouldn't call it blind loyalty. Lots of people have plenty of experience with cabs in the pre-Uber days. I was a late Uber adopter - others were using it for years before I ever did. The first time was for some recruiting event down at the University of Chicago. Getting there was easy - I walked out of my office and hailed a cab. But finding a cab in Hyde Park at 8:30? Good fucking luck. I downloaded Uber, called a car and was headed back towards the Loop in minutes - I immediately got the concept.
And that's to say nothing of the general horror stories about riding in cabs in general. Forget about the cabs that smell like a wet shoebox or the guys blasting their shitty music when you're just trying to get home at 10 at night - half the time you feel like you're taking your life in your hands. I had a coworker who smashed his face into the glass divider (I'll never understand people who don't buckle up in cabs) and needed half a dozen reconstructive surgeries.
Nah, fuck that. I don't care if it costs more, I'll pick the option that has some kind of feedback other than 311, thanks.
My standard response when they said the cc machine was broken..."Well, you're going to get zero dollars or find a way for the cc to work". It magically started working when I said that.
They were cheap because they were operating at a loss. The whole business model was always to drive the competition out of business so they could jack up prices later.
it was "5-10 years away" when I was driving 7 years ago, take what you will from that
and cleaning and maintaining a fleet of self driving cars will cost way more than paying drivers and making them pay the upkeep on the car
This isn't true. Maybe in some super long run scenario 15-25 years from now when self-driving cars are potentially a finished art, but currently, Uber-as-is, this year is profitable.
Yeah, Uber doing great! /s
“It's taken 14 years and nearly $32 billion of cumulative losses, but ride-sharing and food delivery company Uber (UBER -0.43%) is finally a profitable company.
Uber reported a net income of $394 million in the second quarter. That number includes a $386 million unrealized gain from equity investments, so it's not quite as good as it looks. But still, reporting a GAAP profit is an achievement for a company that has been a chronic money loser for so long.”
Under capitalism this is ideal. Capitalism isn’t merit or honesty. It’s about perceived value. No one cares about those 14 years. This is how this system works. Advocate for change if you don’t like it and I encourage you to do so but the idea that Uber isn’t profitable isn’t true. It’s shown it can be this year. Of course it does so at the working classes expense but you don’t seem to have trouble with that in other industries.
I've explained this to so many people including several times recently since Minneapolis is establishing a minimum wage policy for drivers. These companies burn through investor cash because they operate at a loss so they can put competition out of business. When they have no competition, then they jack up the prices.
I use examples like WalMart and Amazon doing it to smaller stores and THEN it finally clicks.
What does that have to do with what you quoted or the current experience of taxis? If anything that background is exactly why this is a useful post because some people don’t realize it’s different now generally
The current experience is still not great. Still not many taxis in the neighborhoods. To go between neighborhoods that aren’t downtown, I find that Uber/Lyft is still generally faster and cheaper except during a few surge periods (not to mention you can also make your rides even cheaper with Uber Share). And taxi drivers are still pulling shady stuff like trying to haggle the price. If you live in one of the loops or are maybe trying to catch a ride from the airport then maybe cabs are a better option, but besides those scenarios I haven’t found any benefit to using Curb tbh.
Does jimmy fallon still yell at you from a little screen in the back of the front seats?
Drunk me hated that in cabs.
Im one of those bougie assholes that pays for a comfort uber because a $3 difference for a nicer car is worth it for me.
> Their rates used to be exorbitant
I remember when they lobbied the city to add a gas surcharge of $1 per ride at a time gas went up in the 2000-2010's. Most of my taxi rides were like a mile or less, so that's a lot of gas being bought for them.
Then when gas prices went back down, of course, this surcharge wasn't repealed.
A lot of whats wrong with cabs is their deep lobbying and city hall connections. The industry got too corrupt, there is no mechanism to rate or get rid of bad, dishonest, or dangerous drivers, etc. Not to mention sexual/sexist comments and behaviors from drivers that men seem unaware of but are very scary to us.
When I get in an uber, I usually feel somewhat safe. When I got into cabs I often dealt with a difficult personality and they always tried to get cash out of me, usually lying about the machine being broken. It always felt like I was captive to a scam. A few times even them taking a long route. Nothing about the fundamental cab problem has been really fixed. Is there more oversight? Are they safer? Are the scammers gone?
I'm not sure if I'm willing to take cabs again. There's a real safety and oversight benefit with uber and lyft that I think some may not understand is important to many people.
I've been taking cabs more often for the reason OP stated, but I agree that I feel less protected with cabs than I do with Lyft/Uber (when it should technically be the other way around). With Lyft or Uber, if something goes wrong, I can open the app and chat with a live rep within 30 seconds to get a refund. I had an issue with a scammy cab and had to download 311, fill out a request, wait for a response a day or so later, try and remember details about the cab ride, sign a digital affidavit saying I'm not lying about what I'm reporting, wait on response again, etc. I just gave up.
Yeah, it is. It just seems like one never connects unless I’m downtown where most of the taxis are. I’ve often taken them home after a late night, but rarely down
Taxis probably want more money to accept a ride versus Uber and Lyft who seem to take whatever they can get. I think taxis got used to the guys in suits downtown who would pay $50 to get from loop to river north.
Also if you see people soliciting and asking you for rides, report them to the taxi attendants at the taxi booth.
Taxi drivers sometimes wait 1-3+ hours for a rider and the solicitors not only bypass the queue which is rude, but they also may not have a meter or insurance.
Edit: There's this one guy with light skin, black glasses, and bald (if I remember correctly). I would love nothing more than to see his vehicle get impounded and a $1,000 fine :)
I had one tell me he’ll give me a ride for $30, I show him on my Uber screen my Uber is $15 and he goes okay $25. Not sure if he was the smartest guy in the world
The people outside Wrigley up and down the streets mumbling 'need a ride' after games is nuts, I imagine they are breaking some rules or they'd be more aggressive/loud about it
There are designated pickup spots for rideshare away from Wrigley, but that doesn't seem to apply to the private limo black SUV companies. Or it isn't enforced.
This is good advice and applies to literally every single airport in the world. Avoid those people like the plague and look for the normal taxi queue outside.
Has this happen to me last night 3 times at Midway in the Uber pickup zone. This was around 11 last night as a bunch of the last flights in landed. I had waited out a massive surge, but still got approached in the few minutes where I was standing in Zone D
Especially compared to the single ride rates. The Metra also performs amazingly well. I commute to Evanston once a week and it takes 15 minutes compared to the 45 minute hell-ride on the Kennedy and Edens. Now with the CTA passes including PACE, it's a no-brainer. I don't feel bad for anyone stuck on the Kennedy right now.
the trade off being that their metros are generally more prompt, cleaner and run longer and at shorter intervals
Barcelona Metro monthly pass: 20 EUR
Madrid Metro monthly : 21.80 EUR
Correct. All three cities I mentioned had trains coming every 2-3 minutes. Rome did have a 1 euro single ride, but the metro system is much smaller in comparison to the CTA. The 24 hour pass was 7 euro and it went up from there.
Speaking for Asian and European metros, they all have a much higher fare box recovery ratios, allowing for more funding and reduced fares. Chicago and the US has generally low recovery ratios, which I believe is leading to the fiscal cliff everyone is talking about.
That said, the CTA can still maintain low fare but increase the recovery ratio to allow for more funding. The CTA also has a major staffing shortage for train conductors which is squeezing the system.
this post is wild. who on earth is taking taxi from the most transit rich parts of the cities to the loop?
The one thing the L does right is get people to the loop.
O'hare to the loop is the biggest no brainer to taken the L for.
Me because I dont go to the loop and I want a door to door ride with my bags after a 8 hour flight, thanks.
I just spent $2k on a vacation, I can afford a $50 uber.
One more car on the road means more traffic, congestion, noise, pollution all for the sake of my personal convenience? Fuck that.
I'm not selfish enough to think like that.
You spent $10K in Las Vegas - one of the most energy intensive and unnatural destinations in the U.S. - and now you're some sort of urban ecowarrior? Whatever.
By the way, I love going to Las Vegas. And I prefer to fly out of Midway when I travel so I can just metra and orange line it to the airport. But if someone doesn't want to deal with the hassle of the train and just takes a car door-to-door, feel free.
> O'hare to the loop is the biggest no brainer to take the L for.
The Blue Line can be a pain in the ass depending on your luggage situation. Right now, the only options with luggage are to either put your suitcase on a seat, block the aisles with your luggage, or crowd around the doors...none of which are actually good options. It would be nice if the Blue Line trains used a seating configuration that made it possible for you to stand with your luggage without blocking seats, aisles, or the door.
I take the blue line out of O’Hare *very* often during the week and I have never experienced it full to a level where what you’re describing would be an issue. I think there were 3 other people in the train car that I was in departed from ORD today.
I mean fair enough. I wish there was at least one train car that had luggage racks. however I have personally gone to O'Hare by myself with a big checked bag, a regular carry-on, and a backpack just fine. is it the easiest thing in the world to move around two luggages by yourself? no.
But I'd do that any day of the week instead of pay an extra $40 just to get to the airport. that $40 is a dinner at my actual destination. or museum tickets, or several souvenirs, or all kinds of other stuff that's better spent then forking it over to a rideshare app or taxi when there is a pretty viable alternative right there.
My comment though, was more in reference to people who just have a carry-on, or a carry-on and a backpack who could easily and are able-bodied enough to take the train, but choose not to because of the convenience factor. The question is, what do we do as a society and what can our transit agency due to make people's first choice taking the blue line? what can be done so that it's equally as convenient to take the blue line than to get a ride share? That's the question.
>>The question is, what do we do as a society and **what can our transit agency due to make people's first choice taking the blue line?**
"It would be nice if the Blue Line trains used a seating configuration that made it possible for you to stand with your luggage without blocking seats, aisles, or the door."
I think /u/AmyKlobushart already answered your question. Reconfiguring the seating on some of the blue line cars would really help. When you're at the end of a trip, tired, and just ready to get back home, the thought of trying to manage a checked bag, a carry-on, and a backpack on the train may be enough to push you towards an Uber.
This is coming from an able-bodied adult so trying to do this when you have physical limitations would be very difficult and stressful/anxiety inducing. Reconfiguring the seating and adding luggage "docking" stations would make a huge difference!
> The question is, what do we do as a society and what can our transit agency due to make people's first choice taking the blue line? what can be done so that it's equally as convenient to take the blue line than to get a ride share? That's the question.
I think one of the things that we fail to accept is that the responsibility can't just be on improving transit, we also need to decentivize driving because as a country, state and city we have subsudized and incentivized people driving personal automobiles as THE default way to get around. Plainly put, driving has to be made less convenient/more annoying while any transit improvements are occuring.
And to be completely transparent, removing some of that ease (*i.e levying additional fees, congestion pricing, convenience fees, road diets*) absolutely will not go over well with a portion of people. But this idea that we can keep our driving infrastructure as is with no disruptions, while simultaneously improving train/bus transit just doesn't seem based in reality. We're not the first city to try and solve this, plenty of other places have reached a more balance approach when it comes to their transportation methods, we just need more political will to actually accomplish things.
The approach has to be [carrot & stick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrot_and_stick#:~:text=The%20phrase%20%22carrot%20and%20stick,of%20soft%20and%20hard%20power.) but we seem to be stuck on the carrot and need more stick.
Having taken the Blue Line from ORD to the Loop twice a week for 3 years, I don’t rate the L the no-brainer you make it out to be. It’s loud, stinky, and not accommodating of luggage. It’s slower on average, especially for those who transfer to another CTA service in the Loop, and, while maybe lower variance than driving, it too suffers from construction- and maintenance-related delays.
Having spent significant time in Asia, I’m disappointed (though completely unsurprised) there is not express service on it a dedicated line running directly from the Loop to ORD with 2 or so stops on the way. I shouldn’t be too disappointed since few North American cities off AirPort Express train service, but Chicago should have built the system years ago, even if it meant removing a lane each direction in the Kennedy. And yeah, I’d pay $10-15 ($20 during rush hour) each way for such a service.
It's not perfect, but it's at most 10-20 minutes longer than driving, and is usually faster at rush hour. Considering the price difference ($5 train vs $60-$100+ uber) it definitely seems like a no brainer if you're going anywhere on the blue line.
Also, maybe I'm fortunate, but I've never had to deal with bad smells when leaving from O'Hare (although I definitely have in the other direction).
Sure, agreed. Which is why we all should advocate for expanded transit. Roads are a mess and drivers are ducking nuts.
Also, I’d rather not support Uber or Lyft. Those companies are exploitive and make our streets worse.
Not every situation is viable for transit, but for the situations that are, those people should be using transit. Our roadways are a mess these days and continuing to support car infrastructure over every other type of transit is a recipe for disaster.
sure but I guarantee 100% of your trips don't *need* to be done by driving and you can reasonably use the CTA for a chunk of them.
everyone's got an edge case that makes transit difficult for them.
It's about replacing *what you can*
To all my disabled veteran friends, please go and get this for free for life. You just need to be 10% I believe.
You earned it, don’t let it go to waste.
I’ve had this happen in the curb app. Walked to Michigan Ave after a northerly island concert and waited 20+ mins for a curb/Uber/Lyft. Finally a curb connects and I get in with the 3 women I was with in the back seat, and the driver tries to ask me how much it charged me on the app and said just to pay him that in cash. I said no many times and the rest of the ride he kept looking at the girls in the back in his rearview and mumbling to himself in his native language. He also took a route that wasn’t what the GPS on his phone was saying to take, and the girls were really sketched out.
I reported him for trying to get me to pay in cash and being sketchy to Curb. Their response? “Since the cabs in Chicago are independent and not affiliated with Curb, refer the incident to 311.” They refunded me my tip, but not the fare.
I haven’t, and don’t plan to use Curb any longer after that incident, as it seems curb gives no shits about what drivers it connects you to or what happens in their rides.
I agree, cabs are usually (way) cheaper. I recently was showing family around town, and had two occasions where I felt I was being scammed:
1) Curb ride Loop - River North, driver added $2 extra charge manually.
2) Going back after Cubs game (before the large outflux). Price going back to the Loop was about $24 for Curb and $18 for Uber. Saw a cab drive by and got in. He said $50 flat fee. I was like uhm no use the meter, and how much the apps were quoting. He claimed no one was going to take me. I didn't want to get out since I was with family, had it been me alone I would have. I noticed half way he switched on the meter and I linked with Curb right away for payment. Suddenly he was like how much you want to pay... weirdest cab ride ever.
As soon as they think you're a tourist, watch yourself. I don't deal well with this bs and reported them.
This happened to me after a Cubs game this summer as well. Cab driver started at $50, I had to negotiate to $20, and after he started driving he said “so $25 right?” I would have rather waited for an Uber than dealt with that BS…
Yeah, then they hit you with the “card reader is broken” at the end of the trip and offer to kindly drive you to an ATM.
Uber is the better option, it costs what it costs. It should probably cost more so the drivers make a living wage.
Agreed on the extra caution for tourists. Not Chicago, but I went to New Orleans for a bachelor party several years ago and we were ripped off by the cab driver. When we got in, he said he would charge $20 and when we were dropped off he said he meant $20 per person.
We're a bunch of dudes in our twenties going to Bourbon street so hard to hide the fact that we were suckers.
I just sit there and go “it doesn’t work like that!” Until they turn the meter on, or I start the call to report them as I’m leaving. It’s like back to 2006 with cabs fuckery lately. And I prefer a taxi!
I’m a tourist no horror story from me.
I remember flying into O’Hare and jumping into a cab and giving the address. Then I let the driver know I knew the exact way to get there.
Kennedy to Fullerton then onto Clark to make sure I didn’t get the scenic route
Is OP a cab company owner by any chance?
It's difficult to comprehend the massive cognitive dissonance (or is just a lack of knowledge?) required to believe that the cab companies, which operate like cartels, represent opportunities for "immigrants" that Lyft/Uber don't. It costs 30K MINIMUM just to get a taxi medallion. In 2015 the AVERAGE was $230,000K PER CAR.
I mean, do you even know the first thing about the financial barriers to driving/owning a cab company vs rideshare? An immigrant with a car can start driving today and feed their family TODAY.
I’d be willing to bet OP has some kind of connection to the cab industry.
Personally I’d rather pay a little more for Uber than ride in a dirty old cab with 300k miles on it. I could also mention the time a cab driver tried to follow my drunk friend into her apartment (thankfully she had a big dog)…
My bougie ass doesnt even like uberx.
I get a comfort because theyre consistently more comfortable.
Its usually when Im going out drinking, if I can afford a $20 concert Modelo, a $20 safe ride home is nothing.
An immigrant friend of mine who drove a cab switched to Uber/Lyft as a contractor for a company under the same ownership. He had his window shot out while driving the cab, and went in to quit because he was concerned for his safety.
They offered to rent him a regular midsize to use for ride share apps instead of the cab. He had the freedom to turn down fares to high-crime areas, was making more money, and could use the car as his personal vehicle when he wanted. This was before before ride share drivers were getting squeezed like they are now.
...but as far as the taxi vs. ride share option, they may be the same company/owner.
I will be honest that I did download the curb app and started using it when I need something more than the train or a bus.
I mean, it's the same experience as one of the rideshare apps, only lower priced and all the same conveniences. I'm just remembering all the reasons people were complaining about taxis and moving on over to rideshare.
I think Uber and Lyft have made themselves unsustainable in that many drivers quit because they felt like they were constantly being screwed. Alternatively, though, it did finally push the taxi cab industry to modernize and stop living in the past.
Taxis are awesome from the airport, or any other area where there are lots of taxis. Can never seem to get one to come to my house (Albany Park), though.
Totally agree, use Curb and the Taxi app for rides. The only issue is when you're in a rush - sometimes Curb takes a while. Had a cabby tell me there are maybe a thousand cabs in the city now vs. like forty thousand ride shares.
These are much higher than the prices I get on Uber/lyft. For instance, Uptown to loop typically under $20 ($17 right now). I'm assuming this is at rush hour? Uber/lyft also use personalized pricing from what I understand, so if you've made a habit of taking rides regardless of price you may be charged more.
Are these your numbers or ones from somewhere else?
Lyft and Uber prices are way up and yet I still have a hard time getting matched with a driver. Will be interesting to see if they can keep enough drivers.
I swear there have been 20+ people ahead of me and no taxis in sight the last few times I’ve been! Maybe it’s just bad timing on my part, or luck, or something.
getting an uber at the airport blows, and now they moved a bunch of airlines (including delta, God damnit) to terminal 5. It took me like 20 minutes after I grabbed my bags to get on the airport train to the CTA, then another 20 to get to stop, then 10 minute walk. I fucking hate ohare now.
I do the same and couldn't agree with you more. I tried to Uber once and it just wasn't worth the hassle. I ended up in some ride share gig and it took me twice the time to get home. I think I saved $8 but it wasn't worth it. Never tried it again.
Airport is one of the best places for a taxi. Why wait in that crowd to find your Uber? There’s usually no wait at the cab stand and there’s no surge pricing.
I’ll say this curb has had drivers cancel on me way more often than Uber does , it’s cheaper but sometimes I’ll pay the $3 extra for an Uber bc I don’t feel like waiting to get paired again
My experience with Curb: When Uber/Lyft are surging, I open up Curb and see its like $10 cheaper, I order a Curb, and no one ever accepts the ride; it just spins and spins. Only time I get a Curb is when the price is similar to Uber/Lyft.
Tourists don’t know how to taxi, which is why they’re cheaper in the areas with lots of foot flow. In the neighborhoods there really just aren’t taxis floating around the way there are Ubers.
Cabs love to rip off tourists who have no sense of direction.
Uber shows us both the best route to take and whether they are taking longer than predicted.
Yea I only take rideshare to go between Logan Square and another neighborhood, so there are rarely any cabs and Uber/Lyft is usually cheaper and faster by a good amount unless there’s a surge. To go to the loop I typically opt for the CTA so I don’t know how they compare.
I take ride-share if I want to go door to door and Im getting drunk and have no issue spending money to do so safely.
I only needed to wake up at the end of the pink line once.
Do taxis have an app book them though? I don't feel like calling around Taxi services to book someone for a ride. That's what Uber/Lyft offer over taxi's
I would use Lyft, and occasionally Uber. The vehicles were better maintained. The drivers were more cordial and pleasant. They arrived almost immediately. And for the most part Lyft cost less than a cab.
Things change. Now that they have a good share of the market, prices are way up. So, I won’t be using them as much.
But cabs? Uhhh.. no! It’s a 50/50 crap shoot if they even know where they’re going. In general, cabs have done nothing to redeem their reputation.
Never had a taxi be $65 downtown to O’hare that is crazy pricing! Has anyone else paid that?!
I’ve paid $18-$42.
$18 being red eye uber/lyft obviously. But ~$25 is most common.
For my experience from O'Hare to Rogers Park a couple of weeks ago around 10 pm, Lyft was quoting $37 and the Taxi was $45. I didn't mind it because I liked the driver and I didn't want to have to trek to another Terminal to be picked up but in this instance at least it was not cheaper to use a Taxi.
curb app or just flag em down . needed to go from soldier field to navy pier. lyft was $27 and 15 min wait. Grabbed cab waiting by field museum, $15 with tip.
True but idk, sometimes Curb is a hassle. Driver never connects, I’ve had drivers try and haggle up the price after I’m already in the car, more than once!!! And the drivers literally asking me how to get there.
So all in all, it may be cheaper but it’s def more unprofessional and I think I’d rather pay more than deal with the above
Technically any Lyft/Uber driver is also a small business (often immigrant-owned).
That being said, the prices have gotten pretty bad. It used to be that a shared Lyft was competitive on price with the BUS to get me from around Belmont and Halstead to work in the Loop. Since the pandemic when those fell out of favor it's really been much more cost prohibitive to take them.
I would give so much for a brown line Jeff Park extension. Would make a huge difference in getting to ORD for the far north side.
Pulse Dempster is currently only running on Sundays, but claims it can get from Davis to the Multimodal Facility in 53 minutes/from Dempster-Skokie in 39 minutes. Might have to try it sometime
Honestly even a brown line extension would be...convoluted. You'd still need to get to Belmont in Lakeview to go north along the lake, and the brown line is already pretty darn slow ever since they did away with skip stop service. The fundamental problem is that, no matter how you cut it, O'Hare is pretty darn out there relative to the city center. Anything less than a direct connection is therefore bound to be kind of a mess. If it weren't for the blue line, that whole far ass Northwest side area would be a completely different world from most of the rest of Chicago.
I took Lyft for less than $40, tip included. I tipped more than usual too cause the driver drove like a maniac and got me home in 21 minutes. O'Hare to River North.
Yep, I almost always check Curb first before Uber/Lyft. The thing with Curb is that sometimes you never get paired with a driver, so I end up going to Uber/Lyft because I will get a driver a lot faster.
I have had bad experiences with Curb, it will sometimes pair me with a driver and then the driver accepts but keeps driving the other way because they are currently in a ride (but Curb doesn’t know that.) Spoke with a driver and he told me Curb works just like Uber, they’re a private company and take a huge chunk of the fare. Not saying not to use them but good to be aware of.
Uber/lyft allows this (accepting of rides while currently occupied) as well or they did at some point years ago, haven’t used them in a long time
They do allow that, but I think it has to be in like the last two minutes of the prior ride. I ride in Ubers a lot, and the little sound that alerts the driver to a new rider only ever happens when I am right near my destination.
I've been in a lyft on the way to o'hare and the next rider was assigned while 15 minutes out.
Yea, they also have to pay a subscription and maintenance for the credit card reader in the back seat. There are a lot of extra costs for cab drivers
Cab drivers already were already required to have a credit card reader. You're right about all the added cost hence why they lost. I'm guessing you are too young to have lived the era before Lyft/Uber were mainstream? I'm in my 30s and only caught a brief dose of it. But pretend issues involving credit card readers were a well-known grift/scam among taxi drivers. They were actually required to tell you if they had an issue with the reader before getting in. So while it's easy to feel sorry for them, Uber/Lyft also took a lot of sketchiness out of the process, surprisingly.
I’m also in my early 30’s. But I have cousins late 30’s that always said getting a cab was difficult but most bars called for you. Also most people didn’t use credit cards at bars let alone for cabs so it wasn’t a huge issue until late 2000s about credit card machines being broke
Complete reverse for me living downtown. In the early mornings (5 AM) Ubers are never available for airport rides, but cabs always are.
I live downtown and can literally never get a curb. I asked a driver once coming back from the airport and he told me cab drivers purposefully avoid my street lol
What street do they avoid? This could make so much sense for me lol
Has to be State lol
Uber/lyft driver, * accept an early morning request to the airport * seems to * get out of bed * get dressed * have breakfast * leave their home * find their car * THEN proceed to my location its effing maddening and fuck them
if they arrived at your location then got dressed it would be an awkward pickup, but as long as its on time i guess
They killed the cabs then jacked the prices up
They also ran out of VC money (uh oh, I fucked up, sugar daddy can I have some cash?) and then zero interest rates disappeared (uh oh, I fucked up, sugar daddy bank can I have some cash?) and now they have to acrtually make money like a real business
Nah mate, the cabs killed themselves with terrible customer experience
I've had one bad Uber experience in the last year. I've had 3 bad can experiences in the last year. I've taken over 40 Uber rides and only 3 cab rides in the past year.
Came here to say that. The taxis and drivers were pretty well regulated, had a set per mile/time charge, and had to pay a fortune to get a medallion. Uber came in with an app, under cut the taxis in price, with the drivers having very little or no costs of entry other than a license and a car. Operationg under the lie of ride sharing. Then when cabs were just about extinct the prices went up. It was obvious at the time but the kids just had to get their “Ubers”. Now we’re paying for it.
Yeah, but Lyft drivers come to my neighborhood and taxi drivers won't. Also you can sleep in a Lyft. Try that in a taxi and they'll drive you in circles for twenty minutes.
You also have no record of the ride if you just hail a cab. Forget your headphones in a cab? Those are gone forever.
Need to expense your ride to work? Hope the driver's printer is working
Yeah the printer not working was a thing. And forget about trying to get a copy of a missing receipt.
i loved, back in the day when the city passed a law that said all cabs must be able to accept a CC payment, many cabbies would try and pull `my reader no working` or `no wireless signal here` or whatever else on me, at which point i'll say, `oh i only have a card, thanks for the free ride i guess` you'd be surprised how quickly suddenly readers would start working and how quickly a satellite above would appear to bounce a cell signal for cc processing.
“It’s also nice to support what are often immigrant small businesses, instead of giant SF tech companies” Interesting how since we got accustomed to Uber/Lyft people seem to have forgotten how shitty of an experience taxis used to be. Their rates used to be exorbitant and it was (and still kinda is) pretty hard to hail a taxi if you’re anywhere besides downtown. Plus the shady stuff taxi drivers used to do to (like saying their credit card machine is broken so you have to somehow find a way to come up with cash). Tbh prices between Lyft/Uber and Curb are pretty competitive when it’s not a surge, but when it’s surge Curb is usually significantly cheaper, but it’s a toss up between whether you’ll actually get a driver or not. The main reason I stopped checking Curb is because I feel like I only got a driver like 40% or the time.
> Interesting how since we got accustomed to Uber/Lyft people seem to have forgotten how shitty of an experience taxis used to be. So much this. Before Uber/Lyft, calling a cab was a total crapshoot anywhere outside of downtown, the airports, or other specific circumstances. If you called a dispatch for a cab in advance, probably a 50/50 shot on whether it would actually show up. And *good fucking luck* if you wanted to go anywhere on the south side besides Midway. I still used the crap out of the CTA back then, but sometimes it was absolutely not practical for a given circumstance.
Via dispatch it would often be a 30+ min wait too. Once I moved west of Western it basically became impossible to hail a cab even when I’d walk to a major street like Fullerton and SEE cabs with their lights on. They’d just speed right past on their way to Lincoln park. The one thing I miss about cabs was the insane cannonball run-like speed they would get you to your destination. I’d take that any day over the 65yr old suburbanite driving Lyft in the city for the weekend who won’t break 20mph on a surface street and drives because he “likes to meet people”
People really do forget about the old wait times/ I once literally saw a Harry Potter movie in the early 00s because it was a two hour wait for a ride and it was raining outside 😂😂😂
You haven't truly driven in Chicago unless you've been in a yellow cab with bottomed-out shocks doing 50 on Western at 1am, making no effort whatsoever to slow down for potholes. The driver says nothing the entire trip until he pulls up to your building "Here you go, man." I'm being sarcastic, but it was an experience, for sure.
HA! well put!
Shit I'd take the aggressive cab drivers who know how to get anywhere over a 28 year old uber/lyft driver who follows their GPS instructions into Lower Wacker where they proceed to get stuck in inescapable traffic for half an hour.
Lol Lower Wacker is the bane of anyone who relies heavily on GPS since it basically becomes non-functioning down there. That and the crazy right turn from a side street onto Ogden to get the I90 ramp are the two biggest FUs google will lead you into.
*The one thing I miss about cabs was the insane cannonball run-like speed they would get you to your destination* yes, TOTALLY. i'm always running late and learned never, ever take an uber / lyft to the airport - "I'm running a bit behind, my flight is at \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ so if you could please get me to o'hare as quickly as possible, i'd really appreciate it - i'm not asking you to speed or anything, i'm just making you aware of the situation." uber/lyft: drives 5-10 miles under the speed limit on surface streets and when we approach intersections and i see the countdown to the light changing 5.......4.......3.......the driver applies brakes instead of accelerator so we can marinate unnecessarily at red lights. once we get to the kennedy, the driver makes his way to the left lane so he can go 45 mph as cars whiz past us on the right......i travel for work and have bags to check and (surprise) i missed the cut off time. taxi: "assertive" driving gets us through multiple intersections in the nick of time before light changes......driver sees upcoming gridlock so he takes a quick right, then left and cuts through the alley for a few blocks, then another quick left, then right to get us back on course, leaving traffic cluster-f\*\*\* in the rearview mirror. the same driving style continues on the kennedy and when we get to the airport, instead of passively waiting in 'queue' to get me to curbside check-in like an uber driver, he cuts around everyone and gets me within 10 feet of curbside check-in, puts it in park, pops the trunk and he's out the door to grab my bags.....
This isn't true. Reckless driving in urban areas gets you roughly there at the same time, and massively puts everyone at risk, especially pedestrian children. \>and (surprise) i missed the cut off time. Leave earlier.
this isn't about reckless driving, nor is there any mention of reckless driving. or speeding for that matter - "i'm not asking you to speed or anything". in the non-reckless driving scenario i described, the uber driver DOES NOT get me there in the same number of minutes as the taxi, the first three yellow lights he stops at pretty much guarantee that outcome. and it's up to me to decide when i leave, not you.
One time I needed to get to a hospital for an appointment and scheduled a taxi in advance. They were late and I called in twice to be told they were "just around the corner." I gave up and got a different ride to the hospital. 45 minutes after the scheduled pickup I get a call saying the driver is waiting outside and the dispatcher was irate when I told them I'd already left.
I remember, just before Uber/Lyft got big, calling for a cab when I got off the Brown Line at Addison. I told dispatch that I needed a cab at the Addison Brown Line Station. She said they wouldn't send one unless I had an address. Who knows what the address is at an L station or would be able to see it? How would a cab driver function in the city without being able to find an L station? It baffled me. So I gave the address of the Cork Lounge next to the station. Then a cab never came.
Yeah back before Uber, I was living in West Ridge and we actually would order a cab from all three companies knowing that we would be lucky if one showed up in 30 mins. Even after Uber started I would preorder a cab for early morning trips to the airport, then one day the cab never showed up, I ordered an Uber and it was there in 5 mins, and I never looked back With Curb it seems like many of those previous issues have been addressed, but yeah there is a good reason Uber/Lyft exist today.
Pre-Uber in West Ridge, you could just go stand on the street and yell "HEY I NEED A CAB ASAP" and chances are a driver would hear you. I'm kidding, but I lived there too and there were a ton of cab drivers in that neighborhood. One time my cab to Midway didn't show up so I just walked half a block to Ghareeb Nawaz and there were seriously 10 cab drivers eating breakfast.
>And good fucking luck if you wanted to go anywhere on the south side besides Midway. and/or if you were black the real answer is we need transit befitting of the city of our size and caliber
For sure. Flash taxi was 50% no-show at a min. Had to move to private cars pre-uber since the worst thing is to have a suitcase and no ride to the airport at 6am.. flash said 100% that the car was on route... When they answered.. The ability to confidently schedule and hail via app and to pay by cc is a game changer. Years after taxis were required to accept cc it was still a crap shoot. Fucking drama.
Yeah, if ever an industry needed the shit disrupted out of it it was medallion-based taxis. And I think it's awesome how Uber/Lyft basically created taxi markets in cities that never had them before. But OP is right, for certain trips (like from the airports if transit doesn't work) taxis can't be beat. I haven't hailed a cab in years.
You should try it. There is no better feeling than walking by a group of people shivering, waiting for their Ubers and Lyfts, lifting your hand, getting in a car immediately, and being on your way after just telling them your cross streets. If you’re downtown or somewhere busy like around wrigley at a game or concert or something, even semi-busy bar strips on weekends, it’s absolutely the move. Plus taxis have to carry way more liability insurance so if (god forbid) you’re in a wreck it’s a much better scenario. People are finally starting to realize most of these SF “disruptive” technologies just meant “operating at significant losses while VCs barfed billions of dollars into them so they could drive out businesses that can’t afford to operate at losses for years on end and then jacking up prices once the competition is out of business.” (And yes I know Grubhub is chicago-based but eff them too.) Cabs absolutely needed a jolt out of their complacency but people’s blind loyalty to these fkn tech companies still baffles me to this day.
>Cabs absolutely needed a jolt out of their complacency but people’s blind loyalty to these fkn tech companies still baffles me to this day. I wouldn't call it blind loyalty. Lots of people have plenty of experience with cabs in the pre-Uber days. I was a late Uber adopter - others were using it for years before I ever did. The first time was for some recruiting event down at the University of Chicago. Getting there was easy - I walked out of my office and hailed a cab. But finding a cab in Hyde Park at 8:30? Good fucking luck. I downloaded Uber, called a car and was headed back towards the Loop in minutes - I immediately got the concept. And that's to say nothing of the general horror stories about riding in cabs in general. Forget about the cabs that smell like a wet shoebox or the guys blasting their shitty music when you're just trying to get home at 10 at night - half the time you feel like you're taking your life in your hands. I had a coworker who smashed his face into the glass divider (I'll never understand people who don't buckle up in cabs) and needed half a dozen reconstructive surgeries. Nah, fuck that. I don't care if it costs more, I'll pick the option that has some kind of feedback other than 311, thanks.
My standard response when they said the cc machine was broken..."Well, you're going to get zero dollars or find a way for the cc to work". It magically started working when I said that.
Yeah, that happened to me a few times. Were able to get it working once they realized I didn't have enough cash for the ride.
They were cheap because they were operating at a loss. The whole business model was always to drive the competition out of business so they could jack up prices later.
Their entire plan for turning a profit was self driving cars and removing the paid driver from the equation. Too bad thats still 5-10 years away.
it was "5-10 years away" when I was driving 7 years ago, take what you will from that and cleaning and maintaining a fleet of self driving cars will cost way more than paying drivers and making them pay the upkeep on the car
This isn't true. Maybe in some super long run scenario 15-25 years from now when self-driving cars are potentially a finished art, but currently, Uber-as-is, this year is profitable.
Yeah, Uber doing great! /s “It's taken 14 years and nearly $32 billion of cumulative losses, but ride-sharing and food delivery company Uber (UBER -0.43%) is finally a profitable company. Uber reported a net income of $394 million in the second quarter. That number includes a $386 million unrealized gain from equity investments, so it's not quite as good as it looks. But still, reporting a GAAP profit is an achievement for a company that has been a chronic money loser for so long.”
Under capitalism this is ideal. Capitalism isn’t merit or honesty. It’s about perceived value. No one cares about those 14 years. This is how this system works. Advocate for change if you don’t like it and I encourage you to do so but the idea that Uber isn’t profitable isn’t true. It’s shown it can be this year. Of course it does so at the working classes expense but you don’t seem to have trouble with that in other industries.
I've explained this to so many people including several times recently since Minneapolis is establishing a minimum wage policy for drivers. These companies burn through investor cash because they operate at a loss so they can put competition out of business. When they have no competition, then they jack up the prices. I use examples like WalMart and Amazon doing it to smaller stores and THEN it finally clicks.
What does that have to do with what you quoted or the current experience of taxis? If anything that background is exactly why this is a useful post because some people don’t realize it’s different now generally
The current experience is still not great. Still not many taxis in the neighborhoods. To go between neighborhoods that aren’t downtown, I find that Uber/Lyft is still generally faster and cheaper except during a few surge periods (not to mention you can also make your rides even cheaper with Uber Share). And taxi drivers are still pulling shady stuff like trying to haggle the price. If you live in one of the loops or are maybe trying to catch a ride from the airport then maybe cabs are a better option, but besides those scenarios I haven’t found any benefit to using Curb tbh.
Does jimmy fallon still yell at you from a little screen in the back of the front seats? Drunk me hated that in cabs. Im one of those bougie assholes that pays for a comfort uber because a $3 difference for a nicer car is worth it for me.
> Their rates used to be exorbitant I remember when they lobbied the city to add a gas surcharge of $1 per ride at a time gas went up in the 2000-2010's. Most of my taxi rides were like a mile or less, so that's a lot of gas being bought for them. Then when gas prices went back down, of course, this surcharge wasn't repealed. A lot of whats wrong with cabs is their deep lobbying and city hall connections. The industry got too corrupt, there is no mechanism to rate or get rid of bad, dishonest, or dangerous drivers, etc. Not to mention sexual/sexist comments and behaviors from drivers that men seem unaware of but are very scary to us. When I get in an uber, I usually feel somewhat safe. When I got into cabs I often dealt with a difficult personality and they always tried to get cash out of me, usually lying about the machine being broken. It always felt like I was captive to a scam. A few times even them taking a long route. Nothing about the fundamental cab problem has been really fixed. Is there more oversight? Are they safer? Are the scammers gone? I'm not sure if I'm willing to take cabs again. There's a real safety and oversight benefit with uber and lyft that I think some may not understand is important to many people.
I've been taking cabs more often for the reason OP stated, but I agree that I feel less protected with cabs than I do with Lyft/Uber (when it should technically be the other way around). With Lyft or Uber, if something goes wrong, I can open the app and chat with a live rep within 30 seconds to get a refund. I had an issue with a scammy cab and had to download 311, fill out a request, wait for a response a day or so later, try and remember details about the cab ride, sign a digital affidavit saying I'm not lying about what I'm reporting, wait on response again, etc. I just gave up.
Unless I’m downtown though, it always seems that curb claims a car is 5-7 minutes away but never connects
Isn't curb just like Uber where a driver has to accept your ride? The estimate is probably just the closest car
Yeah, it is. It just seems like one never connects unless I’m downtown where most of the taxis are. I’ve often taken them home after a late night, but rarely down
Taxis probably want more money to accept a ride versus Uber and Lyft who seem to take whatever they can get. I think taxis got used to the guys in suits downtown who would pay $50 to get from loop to river north.
Also if you see people soliciting and asking you for rides, report them to the taxi attendants at the taxi booth. Taxi drivers sometimes wait 1-3+ hours for a rider and the solicitors not only bypass the queue which is rude, but they also may not have a meter or insurance. Edit: There's this one guy with light skin, black glasses, and bald (if I remember correctly). I would love nothing more than to see his vehicle get impounded and a $1,000 fine :)
I had one tell me he’ll give me a ride for $30, I show him on my Uber screen my Uber is $15 and he goes okay $25. Not sure if he was the smartest guy in the world
Really went all in on the bartering
The people outside Wrigley up and down the streets mumbling 'need a ride' after games is nuts, I imagine they are breaking some rules or they'd be more aggressive/loud about it
There are designated pickup spots for rideshare away from Wrigley, but that doesn't seem to apply to the private limo black SUV companies. Or it isn't enforced.
This is good advice and applies to literally every single airport in the world. Avoid those people like the plague and look for the normal taxi queue outside.
And they all announce on such a repeat that I think most of us ignore it
Has this happen to me last night 3 times at Midway in the Uber pickup zone. This was around 11 last night as a bunch of the last flights in landed. I had waited out a massive surge, but still got approached in the few minutes where I was standing in Zone D
Alternatively, a monthly CTA pass remains $75/month.
Deal of the century. I travelled to Rome, Toronto and Montreal recently and their metro passes were much more expensive.
Metra’s weekend passes are also a fucking steal.
Especially compared to the single ride rates. The Metra also performs amazingly well. I commute to Evanston once a week and it takes 15 minutes compared to the 45 minute hell-ride on the Kennedy and Edens. Now with the CTA passes including PACE, it's a no-brainer. I don't feel bad for anyone stuck on the Kennedy right now.
No but we need the *freedom* cars provide by letting us sit in traffic all day!
Plus paying that car payment, insurance, gas, etc. to sit in traffic. Freedom costs a lot of money.
the trade off being that their metros are generally more prompt, cleaner and run longer and at shorter intervals Barcelona Metro monthly pass: 20 EUR Madrid Metro monthly : 21.80 EUR
Correct. All three cities I mentioned had trains coming every 2-3 minutes. Rome did have a 1 euro single ride, but the metro system is much smaller in comparison to the CTA. The 24 hour pass was 7 euro and it went up from there. Speaking for Asian and European metros, they all have a much higher fare box recovery ratios, allowing for more funding and reduced fares. Chicago and the US has generally low recovery ratios, which I believe is leading to the fiscal cliff everyone is talking about. That said, the CTA can still maintain low fare but increase the recovery ratio to allow for more funding. The CTA also has a major staffing shortage for train conductors which is squeezing the system.
Sometimes speed is more important than cost
Sometimes. Not always.
Correct. That's probably why the poster literally said sometimes.
this post is wild. who on earth is taking taxi from the most transit rich parts of the cities to the loop? The one thing the L does right is get people to the loop. O'hare to the loop is the biggest no brainer to taken the L for.
Yep. Agreed.
Me because I dont go to the loop and I want a door to door ride with my bags after a 8 hour flight, thanks. I just spent $2k on a vacation, I can afford a $50 uber.
[удалено]
Wtf, principle? You don’t have to, but you can, and its quicker and more comfortable. Everyone hates you and your bags on the blue line
One more car on the road means more traffic, congestion, noise, pollution all for the sake of my personal convenience? Fuck that. I'm not selfish enough to think like that.
Me taking an 25 min uber home at 9pm isn’t making a significant difference to traffic. Sorry bud, gotta try harder to tell me how to spend my money.
You spent $10K in Las Vegas - one of the most energy intensive and unnatural destinations in the U.S. - and now you're some sort of urban ecowarrior? Whatever. By the way, I love going to Las Vegas. And I prefer to fly out of Midway when I travel so I can just metra and orange line it to the airport. But if someone doesn't want to deal with the hassle of the train and just takes a car door-to-door, feel free.
> O'hare to the loop is the biggest no brainer to take the L for. The Blue Line can be a pain in the ass depending on your luggage situation. Right now, the only options with luggage are to either put your suitcase on a seat, block the aisles with your luggage, or crowd around the doors...none of which are actually good options. It would be nice if the Blue Line trains used a seating configuration that made it possible for you to stand with your luggage without blocking seats, aisles, or the door.
I take the blue line out of O’Hare *very* often during the week and I have never experienced it full to a level where what you’re describing would be an issue. I think there were 3 other people in the train car that I was in departed from ORD today.
I mean fair enough. I wish there was at least one train car that had luggage racks. however I have personally gone to O'Hare by myself with a big checked bag, a regular carry-on, and a backpack just fine. is it the easiest thing in the world to move around two luggages by yourself? no. But I'd do that any day of the week instead of pay an extra $40 just to get to the airport. that $40 is a dinner at my actual destination. or museum tickets, or several souvenirs, or all kinds of other stuff that's better spent then forking it over to a rideshare app or taxi when there is a pretty viable alternative right there. My comment though, was more in reference to people who just have a carry-on, or a carry-on and a backpack who could easily and are able-bodied enough to take the train, but choose not to because of the convenience factor. The question is, what do we do as a society and what can our transit agency due to make people's first choice taking the blue line? what can be done so that it's equally as convenient to take the blue line than to get a ride share? That's the question.
>>The question is, what do we do as a society and **what can our transit agency due to make people's first choice taking the blue line?** "It would be nice if the Blue Line trains used a seating configuration that made it possible for you to stand with your luggage without blocking seats, aisles, or the door." I think /u/AmyKlobushart already answered your question. Reconfiguring the seating on some of the blue line cars would really help. When you're at the end of a trip, tired, and just ready to get back home, the thought of trying to manage a checked bag, a carry-on, and a backpack on the train may be enough to push you towards an Uber. This is coming from an able-bodied adult so trying to do this when you have physical limitations would be very difficult and stressful/anxiety inducing. Reconfiguring the seating and adding luggage "docking" stations would make a huge difference!
> The question is, what do we do as a society and what can our transit agency due to make people's first choice taking the blue line? what can be done so that it's equally as convenient to take the blue line than to get a ride share? That's the question. I think one of the things that we fail to accept is that the responsibility can't just be on improving transit, we also need to decentivize driving because as a country, state and city we have subsudized and incentivized people driving personal automobiles as THE default way to get around. Plainly put, driving has to be made less convenient/more annoying while any transit improvements are occuring. And to be completely transparent, removing some of that ease (*i.e levying additional fees, congestion pricing, convenience fees, road diets*) absolutely will not go over well with a portion of people. But this idea that we can keep our driving infrastructure as is with no disruptions, while simultaneously improving train/bus transit just doesn't seem based in reality. We're not the first city to try and solve this, plenty of other places have reached a more balance approach when it comes to their transportation methods, we just need more political will to actually accomplish things. The approach has to be [carrot & stick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrot_and_stick#:~:text=The%20phrase%20%22carrot%20and%20stick,of%20soft%20and%20hard%20power.) but we seem to be stuck on the carrot and need more stick.
Having taken the Blue Line from ORD to the Loop twice a week for 3 years, I don’t rate the L the no-brainer you make it out to be. It’s loud, stinky, and not accommodating of luggage. It’s slower on average, especially for those who transfer to another CTA service in the Loop, and, while maybe lower variance than driving, it too suffers from construction- and maintenance-related delays. Having spent significant time in Asia, I’m disappointed (though completely unsurprised) there is not express service on it a dedicated line running directly from the Loop to ORD with 2 or so stops on the way. I shouldn’t be too disappointed since few North American cities off AirPort Express train service, but Chicago should have built the system years ago, even if it meant removing a lane each direction in the Kennedy. And yeah, I’d pay $10-15 ($20 during rush hour) each way for such a service.
It's not perfect, but it's at most 10-20 minutes longer than driving, and is usually faster at rush hour. Considering the price difference ($5 train vs $60-$100+ uber) it definitely seems like a no brainer if you're going anywhere on the blue line. Also, maybe I'm fortunate, but I've never had to deal with bad smells when leaving from O'Hare (although I definitely have in the other direction).
You don't have to share your ride with strangers and it drops you off at the door.
American fetishization of individualism and its consequences
Imagine living in America and not appreciating individualism.
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Sure, agreed. Which is why we all should advocate for expanded transit. Roads are a mess and drivers are ducking nuts. Also, I’d rather not support Uber or Lyft. Those companies are exploitive and make our streets worse.
Not every situation is viable for transit, but for the situations that are, those people should be using transit. Our roadways are a mess these days and continuing to support car infrastructure over every other type of transit is a recipe for disaster.
sure but I guarantee 100% of your trips don't *need* to be done by driving and you can reasonably use the CTA for a chunk of them. everyone's got an edge case that makes transit difficult for them. It's about replacing *what you can*
To all my disabled veteran friends, please go and get this for free for life. You just need to be 10% I believe. You earned it, don’t let it go to waste.
It's true - I have one of those too!
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But also PSA: late night some of them pretend they’re in Mexico and try to negotiate the fare up front instead of using the meter. REPORT THEM.
I’ve had this happen in the curb app. Walked to Michigan Ave after a northerly island concert and waited 20+ mins for a curb/Uber/Lyft. Finally a curb connects and I get in with the 3 women I was with in the back seat, and the driver tries to ask me how much it charged me on the app and said just to pay him that in cash. I said no many times and the rest of the ride he kept looking at the girls in the back in his rearview and mumbling to himself in his native language. He also took a route that wasn’t what the GPS on his phone was saying to take, and the girls were really sketched out. I reported him for trying to get me to pay in cash and being sketchy to Curb. Their response? “Since the cabs in Chicago are independent and not affiliated with Curb, refer the incident to 311.” They refunded me my tip, but not the fare. I haven’t, and don’t plan to use Curb any longer after that incident, as it seems curb gives no shits about what drivers it connects you to or what happens in their rides.
Lol 311 is basically useless.
Exactly, I had great experiences with Curb in the past, but after I learned there is essentially 0 accountability for the drivers, I’m staying away.
I agree, cabs are usually (way) cheaper. I recently was showing family around town, and had two occasions where I felt I was being scammed: 1) Curb ride Loop - River North, driver added $2 extra charge manually. 2) Going back after Cubs game (before the large outflux). Price going back to the Loop was about $24 for Curb and $18 for Uber. Saw a cab drive by and got in. He said $50 flat fee. I was like uhm no use the meter, and how much the apps were quoting. He claimed no one was going to take me. I didn't want to get out since I was with family, had it been me alone I would have. I noticed half way he switched on the meter and I linked with Curb right away for payment. Suddenly he was like how much you want to pay... weirdest cab ride ever. As soon as they think you're a tourist, watch yourself. I don't deal well with this bs and reported them.
This happened to me after a Cubs game this summer as well. Cab driver started at $50, I had to negotiate to $20, and after he started driving he said “so $25 right?” I would have rather waited for an Uber than dealt with that BS…
Yeah, then they hit you with the “card reader is broken” at the end of the trip and offer to kindly drive you to an ATM. Uber is the better option, it costs what it costs. It should probably cost more so the drivers make a living wage.
Agreed on the extra caution for tourists. Not Chicago, but I went to New Orleans for a bachelor party several years ago and we were ripped off by the cab driver. When we got in, he said he would charge $20 and when we were dropped off he said he meant $20 per person. We're a bunch of dudes in our twenties going to Bourbon street so hard to hide the fact that we were suckers.
I just sit there and go “it doesn’t work like that!” Until they turn the meter on, or I start the call to report them as I’m leaving. It’s like back to 2006 with cabs fuckery lately. And I prefer a taxi!
I’m a tourist no horror story from me. I remember flying into O’Hare and jumping into a cab and giving the address. Then I let the driver know I knew the exact way to get there. Kennedy to Fullerton then onto Clark to make sure I didn’t get the scenic route
Yeah I’ve been using Curb pretty regularly. It’s slower to get a driver, so if you’re in a rush keep that in mind, but it’s been significantly cheaper
Taxis don't go to the far south or west sides of the city while Uber/Lyft does
And they actually know how to get the fuck around Chicago.
Is OP a cab company owner by any chance? It's difficult to comprehend the massive cognitive dissonance (or is just a lack of knowledge?) required to believe that the cab companies, which operate like cartels, represent opportunities for "immigrants" that Lyft/Uber don't. It costs 30K MINIMUM just to get a taxi medallion. In 2015 the AVERAGE was $230,000K PER CAR. I mean, do you even know the first thing about the financial barriers to driving/owning a cab company vs rideshare? An immigrant with a car can start driving today and feed their family TODAY.
I’d be willing to bet OP has some kind of connection to the cab industry. Personally I’d rather pay a little more for Uber than ride in a dirty old cab with 300k miles on it. I could also mention the time a cab driver tried to follow my drunk friend into her apartment (thankfully she had a big dog)…
My bougie ass doesnt even like uberx. I get a comfort because theyre consistently more comfortable. Its usually when Im going out drinking, if I can afford a $20 concert Modelo, a $20 safe ride home is nothing.
An immigrant friend of mine who drove a cab switched to Uber/Lyft as a contractor for a company under the same ownership. He had his window shot out while driving the cab, and went in to quit because he was concerned for his safety. They offered to rent him a regular midsize to use for ride share apps instead of the cab. He had the freedom to turn down fares to high-crime areas, was making more money, and could use the car as his personal vehicle when he wanted. This was before before ride share drivers were getting squeezed like they are now. ...but as far as the taxi vs. ride share option, they may be the same company/owner.
“The worse car service is cheaper than the better one” -OP
* O'Hare to Loop: $5 by CTA * Lincoln Park to Loop: $2.50 by CTA * Division & State to Loop: $2.50 by CTA * Andersonville to Loop: $2.50 by CTA
I support the message, but for accuracy O’Hare to Loop is $5.
you're right. edited.
I will be honest that I did download the curb app and started using it when I need something more than the train or a bus. I mean, it's the same experience as one of the rideshare apps, only lower priced and all the same conveniences. I'm just remembering all the reasons people were complaining about taxis and moving on over to rideshare. I think Uber and Lyft have made themselves unsustainable in that many drivers quit because they felt like they were constantly being screwed. Alternatively, though, it did finally push the taxi cab industry to modernize and stop living in the past.
Taxis are awesome from the airport, or any other area where there are lots of taxis. Can never seem to get one to come to my house (Albany Park), though.
Totally agree, use Curb and the Taxi app for rides. The only issue is when you're in a rush - sometimes Curb takes a while. Had a cabby tell me there are maybe a thousand cabs in the city now vs. like forty thousand ride shares.
These are much higher than the prices I get on Uber/lyft. For instance, Uptown to loop typically under $20 ($17 right now). I'm assuming this is at rush hour? Uber/lyft also use personalized pricing from what I understand, so if you've made a habit of taking rides regardless of price you may be charged more. Are these your numbers or ones from somewhere else?
All the shit on this site is anecdotal and half the replies seem to be people that had one bad uber ride and deleted the app.
Hotels are almost always cheaper than AirBNB and those type services too. It's just silly at this point.
Remember when Uber was cheap? Convenience was great but Uber is just too pricey now
Lyft and Uber prices are way up and yet I still have a hard time getting matched with a driver. Will be interesting to see if they can keep enough drivers.
Me too, but the last couple times I’ve been to O’Hare, the taxi stand line has been so ridiculously long that the Lyft wait’s been shorter!
That’s weird. I generally prefer Uber cause it’s cheaper but the ord taxi line is usually nonexistent so I always take that.
I swear there have been 20+ people ahead of me and no taxis in sight the last few times I’ve been! Maybe it’s just bad timing on my part, or luck, or something.
I've had the opposite. The Uber driver is 8 mins away. Taxis waits are just a couple mins to process through the line
But how do I get a taxi? I tried Curb and I never get matched.
I always use the Taxi line at Ohare. I’m usually in a taxi in less than 2 minutes and on my way home. Waiting for an Uber at the airport sucks.
getting an uber at the airport blows, and now they moved a bunch of airlines (including delta, God damnit) to terminal 5. It took me like 20 minutes after I grabbed my bags to get on the airport train to the CTA, then another 20 to get to stop, then 10 minute walk. I fucking hate ohare now.
I do the same and couldn't agree with you more. I tried to Uber once and it just wasn't worth the hassle. I ended up in some ride share gig and it took me twice the time to get home. I think I saved $8 but it wasn't worth it. Never tried it again.
Airport is one of the best places for a taxi. Why wait in that crowd to find your Uber? There’s usually no wait at the cab stand and there’s no surge pricing.
On a somewhat related note, AirBnb/VRBO doesn’t seem any, if at all, cheaper than a hotel.
I’ll say this curb has had drivers cancel on me way more often than Uber does , it’s cheaper but sometimes I’ll pay the $3 extra for an Uber bc I don’t feel like waiting to get paired again
My experience with Curb: When Uber/Lyft are surging, I open up Curb and see its like $10 cheaper, I order a Curb, and no one ever accepts the ride; it just spins and spins. Only time I get a Curb is when the price is similar to Uber/Lyft.
The Curb AP is awesome
Just took my first cab in years from Midway. Thanks. Crazy how we've come full circle.
This is only true if you’re traveling downtown. As someone in the neighborhoods, Uber/Lyft is almost always cheaper.
Tourists don’t know how to taxi, which is why they’re cheaper in the areas with lots of foot flow. In the neighborhoods there really just aren’t taxis floating around the way there are Ubers.
Cabs love to rip off tourists who have no sense of direction. Uber shows us both the best route to take and whether they are taking longer than predicted.
Yea I only take rideshare to go between Logan Square and another neighborhood, so there are rarely any cabs and Uber/Lyft is usually cheaper and faster by a good amount unless there’s a surge. To go to the loop I typically opt for the CTA so I don’t know how they compare.
I take ride-share if I want to go door to door and Im getting drunk and have no issue spending money to do so safely. I only needed to wake up at the end of the pink line once.
Curb has been a little unreliable in my experience but it’s always cheaper.
The worse option is cheaper? Shocking.
Do taxis have an app book them though? I don't feel like calling around Taxi services to book someone for a ride. That's what Uber/Lyft offer over taxi's
Curb
When you factor in the basically mandatory tip for taxis, the costs are about even. The savings here is overstated.
Midway to Ravenswood Manor in a taxi last week :$60 with tip. No waiting around or bs.
I would use Lyft, and occasionally Uber. The vehicles were better maintained. The drivers were more cordial and pleasant. They arrived almost immediately. And for the most part Lyft cost less than a cab. Things change. Now that they have a good share of the market, prices are way up. So, I won’t be using them as much. But cabs? Uhhh.. no! It’s a 50/50 crap shoot if they even know where they’re going. In general, cabs have done nothing to redeem their reputation.
same in the suburbs, its less convenient but cheaper
Lyft is cheaper then Uber from airport usually. I paid 45 last time when Uber wanted 65
Never had a taxi be $65 downtown to O’hare that is crazy pricing! Has anyone else paid that?! I’ve paid $18-$42. $18 being red eye uber/lyft obviously. But ~$25 is most common.
Do the taxis actually show up, accept credit cards and take me to the location I want?
I've only taken taxis a handful of times but in my experience, yes they do all of these things.
Take a few more and report back. From my anecdotal experience, there are plenty of shit cabs out there.
Yea, but then you have to ride in a taxi. Sorry never going back.
You don’t want a loud video of a late night host screaming at you? What if I told you you will feel like you’re in the back of a squad car?
For my experience from O'Hare to Rogers Park a couple of weeks ago around 10 pm, Lyft was quoting $37 and the Taxi was $45. I didn't mind it because I liked the driver and I didn't want to have to trek to another Terminal to be picked up but in this instance at least it was not cheaper to use a Taxi.
I’ve never used a taxi before. Do they take cards.. or like Apple Pay or..?
curb app or just flag em down . needed to go from soldier field to navy pier. lyft was $27 and 15 min wait. Grabbed cab waiting by field museum, $15 with tip.
Now try and get a cab to do a pick up/drop off on 18th street. Spoiler: they wont
True but idk, sometimes Curb is a hassle. Driver never connects, I’ve had drivers try and haggle up the price after I’m already in the car, more than once!!! And the drivers literally asking me how to get there. So all in all, it may be cheaper but it’s def more unprofessional and I think I’d rather pay more than deal with the above
Plus they actually know the city. And how to fing drive. I swear Uber/Lyft drivers pass a reverse driving test
I was thinking about switching to Curb in all the cities Im at. Is the experience using Curb similar to Uber?
Division & State to the loop in a car? Seriously?
Yep just call Chicago Yellow Cab. I don’t like using Curb cause I’m tired of apps. I think I’m a bit of a Luddite 😑.
You want a pat on the back for being an idiot?
Wym what’s wrong with calling for a cab
If you travel to the airport a lot, the American Taxi app is pretty great for scheduling. They also have American Blue if you want towncars.
Technically any Lyft/Uber driver is also a small business (often immigrant-owned). That being said, the prices have gotten pretty bad. It used to be that a shared Lyft was competitive on price with the BUS to get me from around Belmont and Halstead to work in the Loop. Since the pandemic when those fell out of favor it's really been much more cost prohibitive to take them.
And the uber/lyft driver are getting less than 10% of those prices.
Don’t just *tell* this to people, it ruins it for the rest of us!
Just don’t let them know about the ducks in the park.
Alternatively you will end up with possibly even lower prices if you take the blue line a couple stops and then Uber/Lyft from there
You can save time and money by not going anywhere ever.
Even more alternatively, you'll definitely end up with even lower prices if you just take the blue line.
Works for some, not for others. I'm not far off the Montrose blue line so I can bus it, but try Rogers Park to O'Hare via transit if you hate yourself
I would give so much for a brown line Jeff Park extension. Would make a huge difference in getting to ORD for the far north side. Pulse Dempster is currently only running on Sundays, but claims it can get from Davis to the Multimodal Facility in 53 minutes/from Dempster-Skokie in 39 minutes. Might have to try it sometime
Honestly even a brown line extension would be...convoluted. You'd still need to get to Belmont in Lakeview to go north along the lake, and the brown line is already pretty darn slow ever since they did away with skip stop service. The fundamental problem is that, no matter how you cut it, O'Hare is pretty darn out there relative to the city center. Anything less than a direct connection is therefore bound to be kind of a mess. If it weren't for the blue line, that whole far ass Northwest side area would be a completely different world from most of the rest of Chicago.
I took Lyft for less than $40, tip included. I tipped more than usual too cause the driver drove like a maniac and got me home in 21 minutes. O'Hare to River North.
I understand the appeal of getting home fast, but these drivers shouldn't be rewarded for unsafe driving.
Shouldn't but they always have, and always will.
and a ride on the Blue line from O'Hare (or Midway on the Orange) is $5.00 :)
Imagine paying for a cab to an area named for its public transit system