JAXPax

This was one benefit of cabs in the days before ride share took off... at least at some airports. Company I used to work for had its HR and training center about 3 miles drive from the ATL airport. They would tell people, especially those coming for interviews, take a cab. But however, at ATL the driver could talk to the queue manager who would give them a "short trip" ticket which let them come back and join the queue at the terminal versus sitting in the remote lot waiting to be called up. Same deal in another airport where I had to send employees for random drug screens and the clinic was about 2 miles away, they got some sort of ticket that got them metered in to the front of the line at the remote lot.

It's a mess with ride share when some like my former employer had a corporate contract with Uber to direct bill all rides... and then has a meeting of all company managers at a hotel about 3 miles from the FLL airport and tells 100 of us flying in to just Uber. I had times I went through 4 or 5 drivers before someone would show up. Same thing on the return... The last one we had, I just rented a car out of my own sanity.

JAXPax

I've taken the city bus from LAS to the Stratosphere (or like a block from it). It was like $2. Colleague suggested it when we were there for a conference and the ground transportation contracted company told us an hour wait.

jamesteroh

Just curious as to how long the ride was.

JAXPax

It has been a few years but I want to say it was no more than a half hour. Could have been less. I probably lost track of time catching up with my coworker. It didn't go down the Strip...

sunpass

This was the former SDX (Strip Downtown eXpress) route from the RTC of Southern Nevada. It has been paused during the pandemic and not yet slated for a return.

jamesteroh

They need to resume service seeing how many people are coming back to Vegas and what a pain it is to find rental cars and ubers/taxis.

I''m going July 4th weekend and resorts world is fully booked and caesars property rates are through the roof. Fortunately HGVC is reasonably priced for poitns that weekend.

fastflyer

Another part of the problem is that there are multiple distortions in local transportation markets -- taxicabs are slightly distorted by certain regulations (like the outer borough only cabs in NYC; the short trip ticket programs mentioned above, etc.) But then you have major distortions, like subsidized public transit to airports (sometimes even charging different fares based on the anticipated profile of the passenger -- O'Hare airport comes to mind). Or excessive (sometimes 50%) taxation on rental cars at airports. And city councils all over the US constantly discuss airport transportation and revenue -- it consumes a lot of ink and hot air. How to get the workers there cheaply yet maximize the cost to the business traveler.

Long story short, Uber is essentially trying to provide demand-based pricing against highly distorted markets. At my home airport, PBI, there is a county-subsidized local taxi service (I think the drivers get some kind of guaranteed minimum income if they do x number of shifts) -- these drivers are always waiting at the far ends of the terminal building. The cost to my home is almost always within a dollar or two of $18 -- a metered fare. That same journey by Uber can vary from $10 (middle of the day) to $40 -- late night surge pricing. If he didn't know about the subsidized taxis, a passenger might just pay this inflated Uber surge pricing. But as more people become aware of the cheap taxis, then fewer Uber drivers will do pickups at the airport.

In the UK, nearly everyone I know takes an Uber-esque arranged car service (strangers take you in their own car for a negotiated price) to Heathrow. The rest live close enough to Paddington to take the express train. Nobody takes the city taxis because of their extreme cost. Again, market distortions. So the Heathrow airport authorities are trying to crack down on private car drop-offs the the airport. Of course, this is how most non-tourist (residents) also get the the airport, so it becomes problematic to differentiate who is who.

At Providence airport I was astonished to be made to walk about a half mile to get to the Uber pickup location last visit. Completely unreasonable for anyone with a disability. Yet the local airport authorities think this is a good solution in order to persist with their locally subsidized taxi program. The other extreme is somewhere like Delhi airport which is a free-for-all.

Visconti

RE: Vegas

Arrived last night, and, again, was too lazy to call in for my limo before my flight (don't care if it's comp'ed, not going to hold for 30 minutes) deciding to just take my chances with rideshare. To my surprise, the wait time for Lyft was only 15 minutes, which is a drastic improvement from the prior 30 - 45 minutes I had waited. I just requested the ride the moment my flight was taxiing into the gate, and I arrived at T3's level V without about 5 minutes to spare.

So, it would appear that when you let supply & demand do it's thing, it works out in the end.

Auto Enthusiast

But how much did you pay? It might have been available, but at a high price.

Visconti

Ah, I've been pretty much making that decision based on the flat fare for a taxi to where I was headed, and on this trip it was $22. So, if rideshare were anywhere near that or lower, give or take, I'd just call it, assuming the wait is within reason. If more, then I'd just head to the taxi queue.

My preferred option is for the limo (but I'm not going to hold for 30 min), since I'd much rather pay by tipping them in cash, about $30 per trip and per person during the pandemic, especially since I've gotten to know some of them over the years. This isn't to suggest rideshare drivers couldn't equally use the extra cash, but it's just less personal when you call something on an app.

PS - On this trip, the quoted fare was about $18? So, I just requested the ride immediately.

Visconti

For whatever reason, at least at SFO & LAS, things seem to have more or less returned to normal. Had a relatively late night arrival into SFO a couple days ago, and had was quoted a normal rate with a 5 or 6 minute pickup accepted almost immediately. I was pleasantly surprised since it was a relatively busy night. From LAS, though I still relied on limo service, I checked the quotes to and fro the airport and they all appeared relatively normal price wise with an average wait time of about 6 - 8 minutes, which is an improvement from several months ago.

It appears that more drivers are responding to the sharp rise in demand.

CMK10

I needed to go from my house to RDU two Sundays ago. In 2019 this ride cost between $16 and $18. I checked and Lyft had no rides and Uber wanted $55. I ended up driving myself because parking for four days at RDU was cheaper than two Ubers. Used to be half the cost.

jamesteroh

Smart move and who knows what the uber ride would have been when you got back home, IF you could even find a ride.

Going from Toledo to DTW a few weeks ago I couldn't find a lyft and Uber was quoting me almost $175 for a 45 minute ride and some uber drivers can run the meter back to the ohio border so who knows what it would have been if that was the case. Parking was only $36 and it's not even two gallons of gas round trip so no brainer even though I had a friend to pick me up on arrival.

I found out there is a local facegroup that some uber/lyft drivers start where they'll arrange rides ahead of time with you but not sure how safe that would be. They are fed up with how much Uber is cutting their pay so they are making a lot more money not giving uber a cut and not paying tax on it and the passenger is coming out ahead with a lot lower fare.

Next time I fly international and will be on a long trip I'm going to just use the black car service. It's cheaper than uber.

Visconti

I recall about 5 years ago flying into LGA, an Uber driver approached me offering to drive me into midtown for cash. If I recall, it was a day with long taxi queues, and I took him up on it. Before I had gotten into his car, a very nice one by ride share standards, I checked his Uber signage and phone app. So, everything appeared above board, and I had no problem with it. We weren't breaking any laws. His contractual obligation with Uber was his business and had nothing whatsoever to do with me.

He offered me his direct number after dropping me off and assured me that I could call on him anytime I needed a ride in NYC.

strife

At LAX tonight, Uber was quoting $100+ just to Century City.