Uber options from this year's travels around:

Santiago to/from airport. Much cheaper than other options, just know that you need to wait in the short-term parking area to pick up the uber, and uber is definitely illegal here so they insist on you sitting in the front seat (as a friend) and warn you to not say anything about being an uber if someone asks (also they hide their phone when closer to the airport). But overall good experience and the best way to get to/from Santiago airport.

In Buenos Aires, similarly illegal and had some unfortunate/bad experiences where multiple uber drivers cancelled on me after 5-10 minutes (or messaging me asking me to cancel which I refused to do). Got some uber credit out of it, but had to take a regular taxi in the end which cost more than what uber was quotng. But then again, at another time was able to easily get an uber at 1am in buenos aires after some bars and that was far cheaper than taxi. Lots of posters around the city warning that uber is illegal.

Lima Peru, uber works fine within the city or going to the airport. From the airport, it was kind of confusing to figure out where the pickup spot is, so ended up taking a cab.

Vietnam (various cities HoChiMinh, Hanoi, Danang etc), uber is the best way for short trips. For longer trips easiest to just flag down someone and negotiate a full day rate (or ask hotel to do it for you).

Cambodia/Thailand, found it easier and faster to just stop the next tuktuk and ride in it, or negotiate a full day rate. But uber did work in bangkok if needed late night once metro closed down.
LaPaz (Bolivia), also found it fast to just grab the next cheap cab.

Dubai uber was fast and very easy, best way to go unless you're on their metro line (in which case metro is better).

Karachi Pakistan has an uber alternative called Careem which is way more popular (but uber can work also in a pinch). Careem in general seems to be a thing around various arab/middle-eastern countries.

Highest court in the EU ruled that Uber is a transportation service and need to be regulated as such.

The suit had been brought by taxi union in Barcelona.

Uber was already deemed a transportation service in some EU countries already, treated like livery services and such.

Still you wonder if it could lead to higher prices in Europe?

Recent trip:

- Istanbul: No trouble getting a ride on the Asian side which was nice. The ride itself was in a VW Van with curtains on the windows, leather couches in the back, a DVD player and a cooler which means I think you have to drive for a limo type company to drive for Uber. The ride was cheap and comfortable.

- Athens: Apparently the taxi drivers do not like Uber. You also have to sign a contract with the driver which claims you've hired him for the day in case you're stopped by the police. Also their pick up and drop off locations at ATH are not very good. No trouble getting one at 7 AM though.

I have uber US account. Need to use it in India.
What things do I need to update (contact number?) in order to use it in India?

Nothing. You don't need to update the number either, although it's helpful if a driver wants to contact you.

The ARS pricing is only a suggestion. Just did 5 days in BUE and took Uber all the time. Can't complain about the pricing really. The issue is they don't have the ability to charge ARS (or accept Argentina credit cards) so the entire process is done outside of Argentina. It perhaps would have been better if they just did USD quotes.

Had some bad experiences too with drivers cancelling after 10-15 minutes. Also had one where they cancelled and then we were sent another car - ended up with 3-4X surge (which can happen there quite a lot).

Vancouver is basically a completely disorganized and corrupt city with incompetent government and bribes everywhere. Now that's a generalization - but it's decades old pattern whereby there is so many strange rules and regulations - it makes certain things impossible. Think of what Planet Hollywood felt when then opened 20 years ago only to find out there was a rule that prohibited restaurants from having more than 3 TV screens - limiting their size - and also requiring them to be positioned such that only one could be seen from any seat angle. - - These rules continue on.

AirBNB - this is illegal but they fail to stop it (but I think they will eventually).

Uber - It's complicated - eventually Uber will operate - but there are several things which make it complicated. This starts which the fact that the government is the only provider or automobile insurance - and thus - as an Uber driver - you would not be able to be insured. Also - there are very strict rules about taxis - including a whole zone-based system whereby you can only pickup in your home zone. Uber could operate but the rules state that non-taxis must have a minimum fare of $75.

I don't live there any more - don't miss the stupidity of the government and seeming lack of ability to make proper progress - - and now that I travel the world and use Uber almost everywhere - it does seem a little bit odd that Vancouver is still left out . . .

Sorry for it not being available but it should - - - it should be running by the end of 2018.

Used Uber in Melbourne a couple of days ago.

First of all, Apple Pay wasn't available as an option. Now maybe the problem is that the visa I put in a couple of years ago was cancelled so the app. Wasn't going to let me use it without rendering a valid credit card? I did so but still didn't see Apple Pay as an option, though I've used it pp Apple Pay everywhere else durin pg this Australia trip.

secondly, I didn't see a way to tip the driver. Maybe they don't offer tips outside the US? Tipping is less common in Australia.

Took half a dozen Uber rides in Mexico City last weekend. Five the rides were great: drivers were friendly and polite driving new, well maintained and very clean vehicles. The sixth got lost at MEX and I had to get half the fare refunded. Still, I never had to wait a long time to be picked up and the fares were dirt cheap.

Apple Pay isn't supported by Uber's payment processor in Australia, so that's why you can't use it. It's a violation of the merchant agreement to use a cross-border processor so they can't use their US processor for the transaction to allow you to.

Tipping is NOT supported in Australia, and is expressly not part of the culture. Australian workers are paid a rate that, provided the employer isn't doing the dodgy, is more than sufficient to survive (unless of course they live in Sydney). You absolutely should not tip for anything unless you received service that went so far above and beyond that it almost gave you a heart attack.

Funny thing is, the fare was about 7-8 AUD, for about a 3 km ride.

Back home in the US, the minimum Uber fare seems to be 8 USD and now they want tip on top of that.

And petrol is a lot more expensive here!

I took Uber in Singapore in November. Worked fine, was like I was in the US in terms of ease of use. And it was cheaper than a taxi.

Please keep stupid American tipping culture out of civilized societies :P

In Queenstown, New Zealand. Actually, staying in Frankton.

I'm about a mile away from the airport and Uber will display 7.50 NZD fare but says no cars available. Yet it looks like it will let me tap the big black button which says "No Cars Available." Wonder if that would make the drivers reconsider.

Change the destination to Queenstown CBD, which is maybe 4-5 miles away and it offers UberX for about 27 NZD.

Hotel says there aren't that many drivers around.

I dropped off my rental car next to the terminal a couple of days before departure. From there, Uber X is available to my hotel for about the same 7-8 NZD fare. Not sure where they pick up there or whether there's a fee to enter the airport.

Hotel says if I took a bus, it would be $10 instead of the normal $5 it would take to go into QT because they think there's some kind of drop off charge. Again, we're talking just a mile away.

But they also have a "special flat rate" of 18.50 NZD with one of the local taxi companies. I guess the taxis are just hanging out at the terminal and would want a higher fare to drive a mile here to pick up and go back to the airport.

Had a fairly good experience with Uber in Russia this year. The location of the car wasn't updating well on the app, but the drivers seemed to have no issue finding my location. Charges came from a third party company, but no issues to speak of.

Anyone take Uber from LIS or in Portugal in general recently?

Did it a bunch last month in LIS. Tons of drivers, very easy and cheap.

ANYTHING is better than Russian taxi drivers.
Never been ripped off or attempted to be ripped off more than by these guys.

Used uber in LIS all weekend long last month. Very cheap and convenient and quick pickups.

At the airport you need to go upstairs to the drop off parking lot area to find your driver.

Thanks!

Yup, as others mentioned. I also downloaded and used Bolt, which usually seemed to be cheaper and equally reliable in Portugal.

I used Uber a half dozen times in Porto last year. It was very reliable and affordable. Good cars, friendly and knowledgeable drivers. All five star rides.

Good to know it's available in Porto. Seems like a long ways from OPO to the center, at least via metro, so it might be worth it to save some time.

Rideshares have been a bit of a hassle in large airports after arrival of big flights. Unfortunately alternatives aren't much better

Prefer to use Uber than local taxis in most cities I travel to. Here in London (Abroad for some of you), I recommend it over black cabs. It's a little bit of a pain to get a ride at LHR but only because of the waiting time, as they tend to park outside the airport and can be a 10-30 minutes wait until they arrive to the pick up point. Around the UK is pretty much the same: Cheap, easy, reliable. Used it in Belfast few weeks ago and was lucky with the cars, first ride was on a Tesla, then the rest were Mercedes.

Another city I use it a lot is in Panama City (Panama). Highly recommend it if you're visiting the city. Most of the drivers speak English as well. Taxis are not metered, they are shared (so they can pick up people on the way), and tend to charge tourists more than locals.

I was quite surprised with how good Uber was in Kyiv (Ukraine). Friendly drivers, but they don't speak much English.

Only city I've used Uber in frequently in outside of the US and Canada is Lima. Bigger cities like London, Paris and Berlin, prefer to use public transit but Lima doesn't have a good public transit system. My Spanish isn't very good and with Lima taxis you have to negotiate the price with the driver ahead of time so it's nice not having to barter a price with a cab driver, especially if were to get a cab driver that couldn't speak English. Only complaint I had was that they don't have the same requirements for cars in Peru they do for the US. A couple times I rode in very old cars and once I was in an Uber that had a bused out dome light and torn up seats and the driver texted non stop while driving on his windshield mounted phone. He did pause to turn his head around and try having a conversation with me while driving with his head turned around and his English was as good as my Spanish so he just went back to texting.

Have used Uber all over Kyiv...as previous poster said, efficient but no English is the norm...actually got a ride in a Tesla heading back from the WW2 museum! Be careful where you try and access...have had cancellations on precoordinated pickups coming out of the InterContinental due to traffic congestion during rush hour.

Uber was fine in Guadalajara as well...my driver had to deviate from the route from the hospital to the airport due to a massive wreck...I started to wonder about the back streets but then, we popped out right at the airport!

Uber is/was supposed to be in Frankfurt, but couldn’t find the authorized pickup point and just went with a taxi.

Colombia:

- Bogota: Used it extensively the last week of December. Never a wait of more than 10 minutes to get a car even at 5 AM. No issues with drivers. I paid for the more expensive option to get better cars and ended up mainly in small SUVs (a lot of Chevy Trackers). I only had one 4* ride where the driver missed a small business and drove around the block a few times until I hopped out and walked. No issues getting picked up or dropped off at BOG either.

- Medellin. Not as good as Bogota. The driver picking us up at MDE told us to go stand somewhere different than the Uber app did. He also told me to get in the front seat because otherwise the cab drivers would get mad at him. The same driver also didn't follow the directions properly and got lost going into the city and demanded we pay in cash for a toll as he didn't have a toll tag. thankfully every other ride I had in the city was better and there were no long waits.

I've used Uber in Hanoi (Vietnam), Al Khobar/Dammam/Dhahran (Saudi Arabia), Bahrain, and Capetown (South Africa).

I had problems with drivers not coming in Bahrain outside of Manama, and I got stranded once. In Manama, and in all the other locations, it worked great. In South Africa, it was safer and more secure than a regular taxi.

In Colombia, the Uber rate is the same as the metered taxi rate. Especially from the airport, Uber drivers prefer you sit in the front. One driver told me his friend (fellow Uber driver) got into a fight with the airport taxi drivers so if you sit in the front, you look like the driver’s friend, not his customer.

I am sure the Uber cars are not any worse condition than the taxis. I never tried an Uber in Lima because I never spent more than a few seconds looking for a taxi and they were always cheap. Your comment about the driver making English conversation did make me smile. I have a lot easier time conversing in Spanish in person rather than over the phone, because the other person’s body language helps in understanding. Your driver felt the same.

Nice upgraded cars in Mexico City.

I had very good experiences using Uber in the UAE last month. The costs, especially compared to everything else in Dubai and Abu Dhabi were extremely reasonable, and virtually every car I rode in was a Lexus.

Paris was super charged for New Years Eve recently and taxis were hard to find. But Uber worked better than I had expected. I'm not sure if my Platinum status helped or not but I didn't have to wait long each time I used it.

They also have a class above Uber X called Comfort. It's not an SUV, but it did have enough space for 3 people and luggage so we were happy.