Goldorak

come on Tamino, this is one of the most common scam for Parisian taxi drivers ! This is of course not unique to Paris or France taxis of course. You never faced that because you are French (I suppose) and the drivers who want to rob their customers know who they can cheat and who they cannot. When they face foreigners with obvious no knowledge of itinerary, it's very easy to take a longer way. You can dictate your itinerary only if you are knowledgeable about it, which is not the case of most foreign tourists or business travelers.
My office is 10 min drive from CDG terminals and I can't tell you how many times foreign visitors visiting my office and taking a taxi from CDG told me "Oh, you told me your office was very close to the airport, but it took me 45 min". Now I always send a pre-ordered taxi to such visitors to avoid that kind of robbery.
Personally, I use only Uber and Le Cab now and am very happy to not have to deal anymore with those morons. Of course, not all of them are bad, but this corporation has dig its own tomb with their behavior and practices and so I have zero compassion with them.

kajonesbu

Quick update on my original post. My wife and I used Uber everyday over the long weekend. The UberX cars were superior to those in the US and the drivers were extremely professional and most spoke at least some English. We only ran into one hiccup when taking it to the French Open and the driver dropped us off in a non-drop off area hence we proceeded to get yelled at by the Police. All in all worked great.

Tamino

This is all very easily said but where is the evidence? I just do not see it nor do I read about it on travel forums other than by those pushing uber. The taxi rates around CDG are zone B, possibly zone C rates and are higher than the rates in Paris. One should expect to pay more for a taxi out near CDG.

The rates between CDG and Paris are fixed and only taxis have access to the HOV or bus lanes. It´s a 135€ fine if a Uber driver is caught in a bus lane.

I live in Paris and I occasionally use Uber but probably use Snapcar more often than uber or taxis for trips to the airports. I don´t portend any one, specific transportation solution. Each has its place. What I find disconcerting are the quick dismissals about using taxis and that the drivers are all thieves but somehow all uber drivers are saints. This is simply nonsense. 85% of the taxis parisiens are driven by the owner of the taxi himself. Most of these drivers are small business operators associated with a single company, Taxi G7, for dispatch purposes only. A driver´s ultimate obligation is to the Préfecture de Police which issues licenses and regulates how drivers operate.

Taxi drivers are not a group of thieves that should be treated with distrust and disdain.

keisari

It has happened many times. The last time was a taxi driver chatting on the phone and just passed the street and kept going. I told him he was going the wrong way but by the time he turned back it was probably an extra few euros. There is also the language barrier. My french is not good at all and some taxi drivers pretend (or maybe really) do not understand when I tell them how to get from one place to another.
This is not only in Paris. It happens in NYC or Buenos Aires or any other city that I know my way around.

Tamino

If this actually occurred in Paris, you need to report the driver as mobile phone use while driving is absolutely forbidden. Here is the complaint form in English.

Jaimito Cartero

We've used Uber and Uber Pool about 10 times in the last week. Mostly good. I had one driver mess a pickup at the Wilson Market on Saturday. He was 200 meters down the road.

He started and ended the trip with me not in the car, so I got billed 6€. He eventually pulled up to me, but then he denied he was my Uber. I always take a picture of the assigned driver screen with license plate info. Of course I got the ride voided, but it's always annoying.

The next driver arrived to the perfect spot.

I always check pricing of Uber vs taxis. Now that it's hard to tell if there is surge pricing, it's easy for the Uber to go from €12 to €20 or vice versa in 10-15 minutes.

I'm headed from the Hyatt Etoile to Marriott Village by Disneyland today, and the Uber fare is about €70. Taxi's seem 5-8€ less, but then we'd probably pay for our 5 bags, so might be a wash.

stut

So, what's the recommendation on travelling about with a baby in Paris? Am going over there with my one-year-old, and while we're happy walking, using the bus, using the sling, using the RER and metro 14, there will be occasions (e.g. to/from the Eurostar) where a taxi or VTC will be by far preferable. I understand G7 let you specify a taxi with a child seat, but do any of the VTC operators? Or is there room in a van to keep a child in a small pushchair, like in a London taxi (without that van costing the earth)?

Any tips & experience much appreciated!

GateGuardian

Hi everyone,

I'm staying at the W Paris and have a flight at 2pm. I plan on leaving at 10am on the safe side. Do you think I'll have any issues finding an Uber Sunday at 10am?

Mountain Trader

I have never tried getting an Uber witrh a child seat, but I think that might be tough to do. G7 is trying hard to meet the special needs of customers so I would look to them. You can do a timed advanced reservation for an additional 7 euros, or a "call to come now" for an additional 4 Euros. I think you could ask for a vehicle with a child seat for either of those, but I am not sure. G7 has an English speaking line, and it helps if you have a phone you can get a text with.

Mountain Trader

I think you will arrive at the airport quite early for that 2 pm flight. In additon to Uber, there should be taxis at your hotel or close-flat rate 50 euros to CDG including bags. There's also the Roissybus on Rue Auber, which is about a 10-15 minute walk from your hotel which costs 12 euros:

Roissybus coach

Goldorak

No problem to find a Uber on sunday. Sunday mid-day traffic will be very low, so leaving 4 hrs before is way too much. If you are talking about the W hotel at Opéra, it will take you 45 min max to reach either CDG or ORY.

Mountain Trader

stut

Thanks!

So it sounds like G7. I've installed the app, and it seems they use the Burger King opposite the station (now there's classy) as their meeting point. I've looked on Twitter about Uber, LeCab, Chauffeur Privé, Snapcar, Allocab, and Marcel and they all seem to be 'working on' having baby seats. Some drivers carry them, but there's no consistency. Some parents seem to recommend using vans (where you can fit a pushchair in unfolded) but there's little cost/convenience/availability advantage over a G7. I'm OK with speaking French.

I don't mind some steps - my local station (I live in a small town and travel with the little one by train a fair amount) is access by bridge and we *still* have no step-free access despite over a million passenger entries a year! So I'm used to that. But it's a question of quantity. So I'm happy to travel by bus if the traffic's not too bad (used to that) and will be headed out to the suburbs on the RER or Transilien too, but that's accessible-ish.

Yahillwe

Strollers have a special place on buses, so no problem there.

KDS777

One time there were 3 taxis at my St. Germain hotel at 600 AM and two drivers were having a fistfight in the street over who was going to take me and my wife to CDG.

Another time coming from CDG and going to St. Germain with my wife and in-laws, the taxi driver started to deviate from what I knew to be the shortest route. I could tell he was going thru the Champs de Elysees, Trocadero, etc, but was fine with it as the looks on my in-laws faces were priceless as they gazed out the windows of his Peugeot at the sights in the Parisian sunrise. As my in-laws don't speak a word of English and the driver did, I told him when I paid him that I knew what he did but I was not complaining as my in-laws were speechless.

I haven't tried Uber, but going to and from the airport now I always take the metro into and from St.Germain. Otherwise, I walk everywhere. Gotta work off the calories somehow.......right ??