Have used Uber all over the U.S. (but mostly at home in the Bay Area) and in Amsterdam and Lima.

In Lima about half the time the cars were the sketchy unofficial taxis, but I felt safer knowing Uber was tracking the ride, and other than the typical hectic driving I didn't feel unsafe during the ride(s). Once a driver seemed particularly insistent about something (that I approve his route?) before we left, but the language barrier got in the way (Spanish is not one of my languages, unfortunately!) and it was fine in the end. Still would be interested to know exactly what he was concerned about - tried to explain to a local tour guide later, but she had no clue either!

Just back from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Pretty much flawless service from Uber in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Penang, and Ipoh and Singapore. And cheap too, barely any of my journeys in Penang or Chiang Mai were more than $1!

Chiang Mai is very new, had only been up and running a week or so, so drivers were still getting used to Uber. In fact one driver must have messed up because I only got charged for the final 200 yards of the journey (I tried to contact Uber to make sure he's paid for the remainder, but they don't seem to want to help.) Another driver turned up in a pickup with her brother in the passenger seat and son lying down in the back of the pickup - I didn't have the heart to complain.

Bangkok was the hardest place to use. From the airport was fine, and the driver easily found me on the correct door of arrivals. Other rides were more difficult. They all seemed to ignore where I had placed the pin, phone me to ask were I was (sometimes in English) and then ignore that too. Coupled with the fact that if you spend more than 15 seconds by the side of the road looking out for your ride, you'll have 400 taxi drivers trying to pick you up...

Was in Phuket and Koh Samui too, where Uber don't operate. Very much missed them there.

Does the app. Show the total charge for the ride before you order it like in the US?

In USD?

The app shows the total price in local currency.

Hmm, okay.

No chance they let you pay with Apple Pay in these smaller countries is there?

Apple Pay should still be usable.

AFAIK, the only payment-related caveat is that US dollar promos and credits will not work abroad, and vice versa. So if you have (for example) a $10 off promo in your account, that will only work for rides within the states.

Ah OK, I had a $30 credit from Chase and didn't use it in Australia, didn't really try.

Ended up using it when I returned, from the airport. $18 ride used it all up.

But what was really annoying was that it wouldn't let me use Apple Pay, said it's not supported in the region. This was in SJC, the backyard of Apple.

I noticed that when in india, i once got hit with a cancellation charge from a lazy driver. Uber just gave me a credit instead of a refund. Basically if you don't take a ride again in India if you left already your out of luck as it was in INR.

I've had the "credit in local currency" problem in the past as well. I called up my credit card company, explained that the siatuation, and got a credit back to my account for the charge.

I couldn't use Apple Pay for Uber when I was in Mexico City. Had to enroll my card directly into Uber.

Worked great otherwise, though.

Apologies for replying to an old post... Yes, In India Uber drivers always call first. I think that

(a) they don't always know how to read and follow maps; one driver didn't know that the map could be enlarged with one's fingers for better detail. I don't know if Uber provides any training. In my experience Ola drivers were much better.

(b) Their customers are also inexperienced and may not check to see if their current location is being reported, so the drivers have to make sure they are going to the correct place.

As a result, using Uber in India with a foreign phone number is not the greatest idea.

Re: Bratislava, Slovakia to Vienna, Austria

Thinking of catching an Uber from Bratislave to Vienna, the ride is around 40miles, and both cities/countries have Uber legally operating.

This is possible right?

I'm guessing this is not possible.

CPT (Cape Town airport) to Stellenbosch
 

We'll be arriving at CPT and will want to transfer to our accommodation at Stellenbosch, approx 35km/24 miles (not via Cape Town).

Does anybody know if this is Uberable, and if so, where is the CPT pick-up point? Thanks.

Just for info, we have happily used Uber within Cape Town.

Uber picked me up in the indoor car park connected to the terminal when I was in CPT. There's a waiting area in the middle where you can see cars arriving.

Have a look at the Uber website as it'll show you the catchment area for Cape Town. At the very least, you'll be able to get there. Getting back might be different. However, I had several Uber drivers trying to solicit future rides off-the-record when long distances were involved.

Thanks very much, Skatering. Useful info.

I checked the website and managed to get a quote for three different Uber services between CPT and Stellenbosch..

Looks like we're all set.

Thanks, I am going to give it a try when I get there. Bratislava is right on the border of Austria, like two miles away, so hope it's doable.

Used Uber out of DXB this week. Driver meets you inside of the parking garage of whatever terminal you're in.

Also used uber from BKK last night again. UberX is now only 375 THB from BKK. Uber Black is still 1000 THB.

So far have used Uber in London, Paris, Helsinki, Porto, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Auckland, Tokyo and Dubai. Overall mixed but mostly positive experience. Definitely needed to have a working phone and data plan multiple times. Will continue using Uber if the price is right.

Why? There are no passport controls. Are you aware of any no-border-crossing-rule among those countries?

I was curious about this and tried the Uber Fare estimator and it shows you can do this trip for €55 with UberX. I guess as long as the car and driver are insured for Austria, why not? Also the car would need an Austria vignette as I recall from when I made that drive. Many thousands of cars cross that border every day.

I have taken Uber to go between Denmark and Sweden. It's not unusual for taxis to go between these countries. Much the same goes for trips between Vienna and Bratislava.

I have recently been using extensively while traveling in Asia and Europe, following experiences:

- Malaysia
Very large number of drivers and type of Uber. Used the Uber X as it was the cheapest for me. Much cheaper and more reliable than the taxis in the country, usually half price compared to taxis, except for long distance trips where the difference is not as big. Average rating of drivers is lower than in the US but only good experiences. Local traffic conditions make the waiting time a bit unpredictable though.
Uber drivers are very afraid of taxi drivers who have been known to attack them but did not have any issues in around the 15 trips I took there.

-Thailand (BKK)
Uber is actually not really cheaper than taxis and often much less convenient to use as getting the driver to find you is often a struggle. Wide availability of taxis make it less interesting.

- France
Rather good experiences, much more polite and helpful drivers than the usual grumpy taxi drivers. Also so easy as the card in charge instead of the need to having cash. Quite expensive though.

- Denmark
A bit cheaper than taxis but still very expensive. Drivers seem afraid of the police and taxis, even if they claim the service is legal in the country. Still an ok experience.

In Norway and Myanmar, Uber is not available or does not exist.

I echo the thoughts in the post above mine about France. I used Uber twice in Paris (once Uber X and once Uber Pool) and once in Lyon and all the experiences were excellent.

I can't believe Vancouver BC doesn't have Uber or Lyft. I booked a 6 am flight thinking - yeah, I'll just Uber out there, because the Skytrain doesn't run at 4 am. Now I have to go old school taxi.

Definitely not by choice. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...ides-1.3813210

Great info on Malaysia..will try there next month

Just used it at SGN around 6PM On a Monday night. First, while waiting in line for immigration, found a ridiculously fast airport wifi, something like 114 Mbps down. So I quickly checked Uber and it showed my hotel.

Then I got thru immigration, got my bag, then bought a SIM card and checked Uber again, like 88k VND so I requested it. First 3 requests showed 7 minutes and eventually cancelled. Tried one more time and the driver finally showed up.

Tiny Kia car. Driver gestured with his hands to put the luggage in the backseat so I did it and got in the front. He showed me the Uber screen asked me about the hotel. I just told him the Street it's on and he seemed to know it.

Crazy traffic with all those moped drivers. He paid the departure fee and had the AC going at 20 degrees. I don't know how he'd make any money. It was about 25 minute ride and the bill was $3.67.

I guess the pricing is meant to encourage Vietnamese to use the service. The moto Uber's are like half the price. But Westerners really benefit from he pricing.

I'd downloaded the Grabcar and Vinasun apps. as well but didn't bother to check them since this price was so good.

Hopefully the return trip to SGN is smoother. One of the guys who cancelled actually called me and even though my iPhone was on airplane mode with wifi on tethered to my iPad with the mobiphone sim, the call popped up so I answered it but guy on other end answered "hello" but nothing else. He was one of the guys who canceled.

Just realized answering may cost me $5.99 for roaming on T-mobile ...

The thing I found in SGN was that the Uber Black cost was tiny compared to other cities. So, I just ended up booking Uber Black all the time. A 10-15 minute ride would cost around £2.

Been using it a lot in Hanoi. I want to do a certain amount of walking but it's nice to return to the hotel for about a dollar from a couple of kilometers away.

They navigate through all the swarms of scooters (which you have to do on foot whenever you cross a street) and they got the AC going.

I don't know how the economics work at a dollar a ride. I've left bigger tips at the hotels than a lot of these Uber rides.

I went on a tour and the Vietnamese guide said that average incomes are $2500 and scooters are about $700 while cars start at $20k, apparently because of taxes to discourage car ownership? Maybe used cars are much more affordable.

GrabCar is even cheaper and appears to be in the smaller cities that Uber is not in.

If I already didn't have my credit card in Uber, I probably would have tried it out.

Just discovered that Budapest has driven Uber out, apparently since ~July 2016. (Last time I was here was in May.)

The public transport in Budapest is so good (and the downtown/interesting parts of the city are so small) that I don't need it on a regular basis, but I was hoping to take it to the airport, as it was significantly cheaper (50%?) than a taxi last time. Right now I'm considering taking the long route to the airport via metro + bus just out of spite (but probably won't).

Does my US phone # need to be working?
 

I have the Uber app on my iPhone. My account is tied to my iPhone #.
I'm going to the UK this fall and would like to use Uber in London and possibly in Edinburgh as well. I will have a MiFi with me, so will have wifi wherever I go, as long as it's turned on.

To order Uber car I just use the app, correct? However, if driver needs to call me (as they seem to need to do a lot of the time) should I provide my Skype number -- and add that to my Uber account? -- or just hope they'll text instead and I can get it on my regular phone number. ?

I'm not sure I understand how this works, or even how to ask the question (obviously). :confused:

I travel to the DR often and recently started to use Uber there.

When I arrive it takes sometimes 1 hour for my Verizon Travel Pass to go into effect. So I have no phone number, however, if you have WIFI calling enabled on your phone you can and should be able to make phone calls as well as receive text. provided you have a smartphone with a provider that supports wifi calling.

You can definitely order an Uber via the app using wifi only. As for the phone number, I'd leave your phone number as is....the driver will probably just text you if he sees the international number (though I had a driver in Malaysia call me long distance to ascertain my location.)

When I have to order Uber via wifi only, I generally try to order it from an established (and thus hopefully easily recognized) nearby business instead of the "find me by the pin" option.

Is this still the case?

For instance, I saw private transfer on Viator for DPS to Ubud and it's $64 each way.

I just checked Uber and it appears to be 201-280k Rp, which is around $20 at the top end?

Can Uber or Bluebird pick up or drop you off at DPS? I heard there is one taxi company with a monopoly there.

Can you pay by credit card within the Bluebird taxi app? Do those Bluebird taxis have air conditioning?

I've been using Uber for about a year in various Latin American countries, and while it started out great — no negotiations with scammer taxi drivers — the service seems to be declining rapidly. I've been overcharged on a bunch of recent trips, from bogus cancellation fees to bogus add-on tolls to the meter not being turned off until 15 miles after I was dropped off. (And scams aside, not tipping will get you a 4 rating, at best.) Anyone using Uber in Latin America, especially as a non-Latino, is advised to watch your charges very closely.

I'm using uber in Buenos Aires and i'm being charged in USD instead of ARS. The receipt adds the total ride costin ARS, and then shows a dollar charge to my card. This seems to be DCC although the rates don't seem to be as bad as is typical of DCC. Anybody have similar experiences?

Which card are you using? Some card issuers show the charge in USD after it posts.

I'm confused. Are you using a US based credit card? Why wouldn't your charges post to your credit card account in USD since that's what VISA/MC/AMEX are going to convert the foreign currency to for purposes of billing you?

I use various Chase cards with Uber overseas and the final charge always posts to the credit card account in dollars - as I would expect it to. That's not DCC.

I'm using a US card, and yes, foreign transactions post in USD. But it also has an explanation of how much you got charged in the local currency. In the case of this Uber rides, some were charged in ARS and some directly in USD. It seems however that the rates were very similar. I'm thinking this has something to do with Uber charges not being allowed in local credit cards as a way to block the app from working in Argentina.