Back in February I traveled to New York. The trip generally went well, but I had to take taxis everywhere and it was a big pain to have to flag them down for every trip. The last day of my trip I had to walk close to half a mile until I found an available one, dragging my heavy suitcase through snow. Not the best experience! When relating this story, my sister asked me why I hadn’t signed up for Uber yet. “It’s so easy!” she said. “You get the app, ask for a car, they pick you up and drive you, and the payment comes from your credit card automatically!”
Fast forward three months. I had another trip to New York, but since everywhere else I have gone I rent a car, had not yet signed up for Uber. My first day there I landed in Newark and took a cab to the New Jersey office for a few meetings. Once they were done, I called the local cab company to come pick me up and take me to the train station.
“When do you want the cab?” the dispatcher asked. “Now?” I replied. “No can do. The earliest we can get you is 90 minutes,” was the dreaded response. I asked if there was another cab company I could call, and he said no.
Now, 90 minutes may not seem like a lot. But I was trying to get into the city to see my sister, and I didn’t want to wait another 90 minutes! Plus then my niece would be in bed, and I wouldn’t get to see her at all. After a few minutes of pondering my options, I remembered. Uber!
I downloaded the app and created an account, which took all of about two minutes. Then I requested a car. Ten minutes later the car pulled up. Once the driver dropped me off I was emailed a receipt within minutes. It was seriously the easiest thing ever. I used Uber the rest of my trip, and every time the car arrived in under ten minutes and got me to where I needed to be. Cost wise it was a little over what I would have paid for a cab, but it saved so much time and effort that it was completely worth it. If you are in a city where you would normally take cabs and Uber is available, I completely totally recommend it.
Readers, do you use Uber? What has your experience been?
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Don’t forget thanks to Delta Air Lines you can get $25 off your 1st ride:
http://boardingarea.com/deltapoints/2014/04/22/delta-teams-uber-25-new-user-credits/
With the code DELTA25 until the end of July.
Not to be snarky, but welcome to the 21st century. š
@graham hah no worries! I am like the last person in the world to get on the Uber train. I just always go to places where I have to rent a car. It wasn’t until the past year that I started going to the New York area. It’s almost embarrassing how proud I am of my success using the train š
I travel to DC very often and after one too many creepy driver experiences in cabs, I downloaded Uber and haven’t looked back.
It is the best!
have taken uber a few times in the past because a lot of bloggers recommended it. However, my experience was not always positive. The process is nice but the fare usually goes over the estimates they give. Also, the pricing is not very clear, and the customer service afterward is not nice, not knowledgeable, cannot do simple maths. The attitude that the customer service has is really bad. Overall, the company has a really low ethical standard.
What planet have you been on? Do you read Boardingarea? š
I’ve also had great experiences using Lyft, which competes with Uber. There’s growing in a bunch of cities too!