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Originally Posted by pip
Hmmm.. I have a different opinion of Lyft and Uber. I had a friend visiting from South Korea recently and he took a taxi from the top of North Michigan ave to Belmont and Broadway, an $11 trip when I have taken it. The cab driver couldn't find Belmont and Broadway and was dropped off two miles from there at $40 later - my friend took a CTA bus to from there to the correct location. On his way to his Air Bnb in Wicker Park leaving Lakeview I told the taxi driver to drop my friend off at North and Milwaukee. We were at Belmont and Broadway. Later that night I text my friend if he got back ok and again the cab driver couldn't find North and Milwaukee and he got let off about a mile from there at $50 later. I know too many stories of people getting ripped off by cab drivers. When I worked in a restaurant I cant tell you the number of tourists that got screwed taking a cab from the Sears Tower to around Michigan and Ohio - $20-$60. At least with Uber and Lyft that doesn't happen.
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I'm surprised. I've never had this happen to me, even when I've very much looked like a tourist, and I take a LOT of taxis. I've never even heard of this happening in Chicago, in fact, and as an Airbnb host I've had over 500 bookings, about half of which have been foreigners.
It did happen to me once in San Francisco, he tried to charge me $30 for what I figured was a $10 fare but he'd driven WAY out of the way along the waterfront. I gave him $10 and got out. He started yelling at me, threatening to call the police. I told him to go ahead and call the police, that I had his nonsensical route in my trip history in my phone and would show the cops. He still was blustering when I finished off with, "Don't fuck with a Chicagoan, asshole!" He drove off and, of course, nothing came of it.
Except when there's a language barrier, people really need to stand up for themselves. All of us on here know that it's a bald-faced lie if a taxi-driver claims not to be able to find North and Milwaukee or Belmont and Broadway, but even for a reasonably savvy tourist with a guidebook and a map it should be extremely obvious that either of those places are a) easy to find, and b) common destinations that any taxi driver knows. I'm not in any way blaming the victim here, but at the same time I grew up as a meek and mild person and still am usually quiet and deferential but I refuse to allow people to cheat me, especially in a way that terribly inconveniences me. Dropping someone off miles from their destination is just unacceptable - overcharging is one thing, but dropping someone miles from their destination should be grounds for immediate loss of livery license, IMHO. In a just world, it'd be grounds for summary execution (ok, maybe not that extreme, but it is really unacceptable and far beyond "only" scamming a vulnerable person).
I'd strongly recommend you give any future Korean visitor friends or similar tips on how to avoid being scammed by a cabbie. It's not really that hard to call their bluff. I don't think any cop is going to side with a cabbie against a tourist if the fare is wildly off what it should be and most cabbies won't spend the time to wait for the cops and lose out of fares in the mean time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright
Yeah, the grass is always greener. I've had nothing but good experiences with Uber and nothing but miserable experiences with cabs. There is never a cab anywhere near where I am in Avondale and I've had people wait an hour or more for one to show up. Ubers are always instant and if they really can't find my place they just cancel and someone who can negotiate one way streets finds us.
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It's definitely true that the outer neighborhood benefit the most from Lyft/Uber. I can hail a cab in front of my home, but when I visit friends in areas without the taxi density of River North it's nice to have Lyft/Uber just a few minutes away from nearly any point in Chicago - I'll grant you that for sure.
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