ILovetheReds

Hopefully they will be allowed at LAS and the strip soon. Cabs should also be prohibited from charging those absurd credit card surcharges as well.

I don't know why the cab drivers are pissed. I have trouble getting cabs off the strip and when a friend's mom that lives in Vegas broke her leg a few years ago she had trouble getting a cab to her house. She would want to go two miles to a doctor's appointment and my friend or his brother would have to take her because cabs would refuse to go such a short distance, same when she needed groceries. If the cab drivers don't want these fares why are they pissed about Uber taking them? Not like it's stealing any of their business.

ILovetheReds

If a cab driver purposely long hauls you and complains you don't have to pay the fare but most people aren't aware of that, but most people aren't aware they are being long hauled either.

Back in November I was going from LAS to a convention center area hotel. I told the driver when I got in the cab to take Paradise. He noticed I was on my cell phone and not paying attention and got on the interstate and when I called him out on it he insisted the interstate was a lot faster at night. I go to Vegas many times during the year and know that Paradise is the most direct route and ended up with a $30 fare which is absurd even during rush hour, let along 11 on a weekday night. I offered to pay him what it normally is and he insisted on the meter fare. The valet got involved. I told the valet the route he took and that I had told the driver to take Paradise and the valet said since I was purposely long hauled I wasn't responsible for the fare. Suddenly the driver was content with what I offered him but I was so pissed by that point I refused to pay.

At least with Uber you get an email with a detail of the route the driver took.

Same if a NYC cab drivers credit card machine isn't working. I found out if their credit card machine isn't working and you want to pay by a credit card, the fare is free. Someone from my office was aware of that rule and the cab driver told them their machine was broken and they couldn't accept credit cards at that time after a trip from LGA to midtown. She told the cab driver she didn't have much cash but wasn't a big deal since she knew the fare would be free but did have $10 to tip him By some miracle his machine was suddenly working

kettle1

This is exactly why Las Vegas "locals" are thrilled with the Gov. signing off on these bills today. It is very hard getting a cab anywhere except the Airport, "The Strip", Convention Center, Nightclubs, Strip Clubs or Downtown. 2+ million people actually "live" in the Las Vegas area (Clark County, NV) and (most of the) cab drivers refuse to do short hauls or even visit residential neighborhoods. Uber will fix this.

I do not know why the cab drivers are pissed off, but they are. One cab company held a picket line on "The Strip" today (5/29/2015). I visit a place next to a cab company and many of the drivers are complete scumbags. I have been told by many of them they are encouraged to long haul by the Cab Company they work for. Many of the cab drivers are terrible tippers at the place I visit, and the waitresses hate serving them. They work for tips (both the Cab Driver and the Waitress).

I very rarely take a cab in Las Vegas, but many people do. Next thing they need to do is extend the Monorail to the Airport and Downtown. Than the cab companies and drivers would really be pissed off. If they did this the Monorail could actually make money.

Thank you Gov. Brian Sandoval for signing these bills! I hope the LAS and RNO Airports will allow Uber to pick-up. I am sure a drop-off would be no problem. For "Locals" in both Las Vegas and Reno - this was a big deal.

Everyone, have a Great Weekend!

Loren Pechtel

Yeah, that's why it doesn't go to the airport--the taxi drivers would absolutely hate it.

gengar

No, there is not. But it is actually illegal for taxi drivers to longhaul (see NRS 706.8846(3)), so a threat to contact the Taxicab Authority generally results in the taxi driver being unwilling to push the matter further.

xSTRIKEx6864

Yes - apparently if you call the police the driver gets fined...

WheelsFirst

I've become so fed up with the taxis at LAS I just rented a piece of junk Hertz car for my next trip.

bambinomartino

I got tunneled the other day, LAS - Planet Hollywood. I had read about cabbies doing that but because there were 6 of us, and apparently taxis have a lower limit on riders (?) I decided to get an UberXL. Don't know why, probably assuming that the high-tech nature of Uber would preclude crap like this, the prospect of being tunneled completely left my mind, and I was tired (it was 11pm) so I wasn't paying attention. I just read through some Uber driver forums, and they openly brag and encourage each other to longhaul, boy was I wrong that they would be a different breed of driver.

The estimated $22 became over $35. On that particular day, there was road work near the airport, and it took ride-sharing vehicles about 20 minutes longer to arrive at the T3 pickup location. They seemed to come in spurts, 10 or so vehicles at a time. Our driver was in a really foul mood, which I can understand in the circumstances. Mentioned something about only one of 4 lanes being open (there was an airport employee there as well, announcing every couple of minutes that there were delays due to road work outside, so that bit was legit).

I will dispute with Uber, and if necessary with my credit card - what can I expect from either one of those routes?

I do want to be fair to the driver, so for people familiar with Vegas traffic, two questions:
1. From the limited description of the road work, could it be that exiting the airport the non-tunnel way would have been a 20 minute nightmare?
2. 11 pm on a Friday night - is traffic on Las Vegas Blvd sufficiently crazy to justify taking the freeway?

Thanks all!

Silver Fox

Did you look at the route on your Uber app during the journey? I thought they were pretty much tied into that and would be interested if he somehow over-rode it. I have to say that I have pretty much stopped using Uber in Vegas now and switched to Lyft.

gengar

First off, going from LAS to Planet Hollywood doesn't even require traveling on Las Vegas Boulevard. There's an entrance on Harmon to the underground drop-off area for Planet Hollywood, Elara, and Miracle Mile shops.

There's also no way tunneling is the best alternative to avoiding roadwork near the airport. Even if the construction was on the portion of the Paradise interconnector between LAS and Tropicana directly north of the airport, it's still possible to exit LAS to the east of the airport, onto Russell, and loop around. This would add maybe a mile to the trip compared to the 4.5-ish mi that tunneling adds.

Finally, the trip via tunnel probably took at least15 minutes anyway. So it's not saving much time even if the claimed 20 minute trip was true.

I wouldn't worry about being "fair" to someone who tried to scam you. Just dispute it with Uber. IME when getting longhauled, Uber just refunds me the entire trip.

escog

Looks like tunneling won't be an issue anymore. The Vegas Taxi Authority just unanimously voted for flat fares based on zones for rides from the airport to the strip. Any place outside of the zones is not a flat fare:

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2019/se...ip-taxi-rides/

Zone 1 — Sunset north to Tropicana, $19
Zone 2 — Tropicana north to Flamingo, $23
Zone 3 — Flamingo north to the Stratosphere, $27

Looks like they're going to start rolling this out on January 1, 2020.

gengar

Win for cab drivers, win for rideshare companies and their passengers, win for clueless cab riders. Saavy travelers (esp. those traveling off peak) take the hit as usual.

Silver Fox

I must be being thick here, what is the hit that travellers will be taking?

gengar

The flat rate fares are significantly more than what the current taxi fare would be, especially without traffic.

Hopefully this just pushes a lot more business to the rideshares - I'm fine with that.

Silver Fox

The only time I don't get a rideshare is when I land at LAS as I just hate that scramble after an international flight, and I never seem to get good reception so I bite the bullet and get a cab. At least now I don't have to say "no tunnel".