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If you’ve ever been stuck trying to hail a cab without any luck, you’ve probably wished for a magic wand to make a ride appear. Uber is your magic wand.
Uber is like having your own private car and driver, you’ll feel like a celebrity when you summon an Uber car to pick you up and take you to your intended destination. But Uber isn’t a car service. It’s a tech company that organizes car services in cities and sends cars to its customers within a few minutes of a request. Uber has teamed with existing car service companies in major cities and acts as a high-tech dispatch service.
Yesterday, I met with Travis Kalanick, the CEO of Uber, in anticipation of today’s launch of Uber in Philadelphia. He explained his service by saying, ” We’re a technology company. Our service is bits and asphalt and we partner on the asphalt. Our motto is ‘Everyone’s Private Driver.'”
People mostly start using Uber on the weekends. “They want date night to go well. Or they’re going out with friends and they want to go in style. They get used to pushing that button and then it starts to bleed into the weekdays, said Kalanick. “The weekend is the sizzle for the weekday steak.”
Using Uber
You use Uber from your cell phone, either from an app or by sending a text message. You must register for an account, including providing a credit card number and your billing address (with the app you can scan your credit card, if you quake at the thought of typing a long credit card number using a smartphone keyboard). Multiple credit cards can be saved to your account if you want to use Uber for both business and pleasure.
You can sign up for an account from the app, from the company’s website or its mobile site.
If you have an iPhone or Android phone, you can download an Uber app that you can use to summon a car. Open the app and you’re shown a map with your location and the location of the closest cars with an estimated time of arrival. When you order a car, Uber dispatches the nearest driver and sends you a text message with the first name of the driver, his rating (more on that later) and how long until he arrives. You can track the car on the map as it approaches and call the driver from within the app if you’re having trouble locating each other.
If you don’t have an iPhone or an Android phone, you can still use Uber by sending a text message to 827-222 (UBR-CAB), in the US and Canada, requesting a car and giving your pickup location.
Uber’s cars are large luxury cars, such as Cadillac Escalades or Lincoln Town Cars. According to Kalanick, their drivers are dressed professionally and the cars are kept clean. The ride is designed to be comfortable and quiet so you can relax or be productive and get work done.
After you arrive at your destination, Uber automatically charges your credit card for the fare plus a tip. No money changes hands nor is a credit card swiped. You just get out of the car and continue on your merry way. It’s easy to get spoiled by such luxury. “When I’m traveling in a city where we haven’t launched Uber yet, I’ll sometimes start to get out of a cab forgetting to pay,” said Kalanick.
Uber emails you a receipt for the ride plus the app gives you an opportunity to rate the driver and leave a comment. Drivers rate passengers as well, so make sure to be on your best behavior.
Prices and Coverage
As with many services, convenience and luxury come at a premium. Uber’s service is more expensive than a cab fare. Each city has its own fare schedule, available on Uber’s website. The minimum fare is $15 and the base fare is $7.00. Uber charges per mile with speeds over 11 mph and per minute at speeds below 11 mph. Uber also offers flat rates between certain destinations. At times of “intense demand,” Uber’s rates can change to ensure availability.
Areas covered by Uber include central urban locations and airports. If you’re picked up in an area covered by Uber, you can go anywhere, including outside Uber’s coverage area. Kalanick gave the example of one passenger who took an Uber car from New York City to Washington, DC. “He opened the app, pushed the button, the car came and he went to DC.”
Uber’s website shows coverage maps and the app will let you know if you are in an area covered by Uber.
Traveling
Currently Uber is in:
- Boston
- Chicago
- Los Angeles
- New York City
- Paris
- Philadelphia (as of today)
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Toronto
- Washington, DC
with plans to expand to San Diego and Vancouver shortly. Uber also plans to have service for the Democratic and Republican National Conventions this Summer.
If you’re traveling in a city that has Uber service, you can use the app in the same way you use it in your home city. For example, if you have a trip to Paris coming up, don’t worry about getting stuck in a long taxi line at Charles de Gaulle airport when you arrive. Use the Uber app when you land and have your car waiting for you.
My Test
I tested the service at Uber’s expense for travel between my suburban home and Philadelphia for my interview with Kalanick. Since my house is outside the coverage area, Uber arranged for a driver to be close by at the arranged pickup time. I opened the Uber app and saw that an Uber car was one minute away. I summoned the car and Uber driver Raj Patwal arrived quickly. I had a chance to chat with Patwal on my trip into Philadelphia and learned that he is very pleased with Uber and how it treats its drivers.
Patwal pointed out an advantage of using the service is if you’re in an office building or an apartment building, you can order a car and have it waiting for you by the time you get to the lobby. No waiting in the rain or in the dark trying to hail a cab.
He also said it was handy for passengers who left their cell phones behind that they had a record of which driver they used so they could be reunited with their phones. Patwal gave me an example of a time when a passenger left an iPad in his car and he used his personal car to drive two hours to the man’s house to return the iPad. It’s no wonder Patwal has been rated 4.9 stars by his passengers.
Apps
The Uber app is available free for iPhones from the iTunes App Store and for Android phones from Google Play.
Bottom Line
If you’re stuck for a ride or want to travel in style, check out Uber. Be careful though. It’s very easy to get spoiled.
Have you ever struggled to find a cab? Did you ever wish you could have a private driver? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Wonderful Carolyn!
I think such services do provide us all the convenience sitting at home, something that any of us would love to go in for when we don’t have our own vehicle or are stuck as such.
Though Uber isn’t at our end, but we do have such services called by different names in our country too, and just as you mentioned – they arrive within a set time period right to your doorstep. And yes, their rates are fixed also according the distance, which sounds fair enough.
Thanks for sharing more about Uber with all of us. 🙂
Hi Harleena, You’re right, they’re not in your neck of the woods yet, but I’m glad you have similar services. I can think of so many times in my life where having Uber service would have been fantastic. I’ve been stuck in a pinch quite often, either because a car service didn’t show up at the airport to pick me up or because I couldn’t grab a cab. I plan on keeping this app on my phone for future use!
Hi Carolyn,
I really like this idea. When I was really ill, I had problems getting cabs. I tried to get one from hospital and couldn’t hear when I phoned for all the noise. I used a hospital phone to call a cab they had an arrangement with and it was the driver from hell.
I eventually took a cab driven by the owner of a local company. He gave me a free phone number to call and all my problems were over. I called the number or asked the hospital to because it was free-phone. They always said, ‘be there in 5 minutes’ and they were, because they owned nearly all the cabs around here! I liked the fact that most of their cabs were easy to spot; they were all yellow too. They would even send a chauffeur driven limo sometimes at no extra cost!
I have finally got Google analytics working for a Zillion Ideas, it still won’t work for my WordPress blog, everything comes up zero. I have readers in 60 countries on a good week now! 🙂
Hi Mike, That’s excellent customer service you got at a time when you really needed it. I would think that you don’t need Uber because you have a great taxi service at your disposal right there.
I have been really stuck quite often so I think Uber is a fantastic idea and, after trying it twice yesterday, I can say that the service delivers. (Pun intended.)
I need to stop by and check out your Neodigital Art post, Mike. I was a bit tied up yesterday, but I never miss my weekly photography lesson! Perhaps I can add the US to the list of countries that visits your blog today?
What a concept ! Splendid. This type of services not only saves time but also gives you the confidence to do your office work more confidently, without the tension of thinking how would you head back home . And to make it even more awesome, they have an app for this. Totally worth it !
Would love to give it a try whenever I go to the US or Canada. or MAYBE I can start one here 😛
Hi Mushfique, Excellent point. Uber can help you be more productive and perhaps save some companies money.
When I used to live in New York City and worked on deals, we would get a car service home after a certain hour. You would have to arrange the car service hours ahead of time, so you would use your best guess as to when meetings would be over. Sometimes the drivers would have to wait quite a while because the meetings would run past midnight. If we had Uber then, we could have saved the company a lot of money and have been secure in the knowledge that we could have a car within a few minutes of pressing the button.
Let us know if you try it when you come to North America, Mushfique! 🙂
Since I am always in Seattle this would be perfect for me. I simply hate standing outside stores waiting for a cab. This service makes a lot of sense since I can see how long it will take before a driver gets to me and that way I can get a coffee or finish up my shopping before they get there.
Thanks for showing me this service I am pretty sure I will use it in the near future.
Adam
Hi Adam, I’m so glad that Uber will be useful to you. You’re right, if you’ve been shopping and are loaded down with packages, hailing a cab can be a challenge. One press of the Uber button and you’re all set! I hope you enjoy the service, Adam. 🙂
Hey great idea; high class taxi service with much better communication and dispatch.
The next time i leave a concernt and forget if i parked in parking lot D or Z5 i can get my UBER app and have someone pick me up to tour the cities parking lots looking for my car; or just having them take me back to my room and trying again tomorrow.
Options are great.
Hi Anne, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Your comment made me laugh. I once had that happen. I looked for my car after a concert and couldn’t find it. Turned out I was looking in the wrong parking garage. If I had Uber then, I could have avoided such issues. 🙂
Of course, if you have an iPhone, check out the Park and Find app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parkn-find/id290111428?mt=8. If you have an Android phone, check out Find My Car: http://www.appbrain.com/app/find-my-car/com.elibera.android.findmycar.
Wow. Uber sounds awesome. And, I would have loved to sit in a car like the one on the picture. I don’t think I have ever seen one of them before. I think it’s time that I move to the US, you guys have so many awesome things that we don’t have in Norway 🙂
Hi Jens, That’s a Cadillac Escalade and it’s a large ride. Yes, it’s about time you moved to the US. I think you’d enjoy it here a lot, even more than the last time you moved here! 🙂
Wow Carolyn, that’s a really cool service. What a smart idea.
I will admit only using cabs when I’m out of town and didn’t want to rent a car if we weren’t really going to need one so I’m not sure how often I would need that service. Probably by the time I do I’ll have a smart phone and they’ll be all over the US. lol…
Okay, I’m not talking forever here but I hope you saw the humor in that.
As always, Carolyn is on top of all the latest and greatest stuff. Plus, she gets to meet fascinating people for interviews. How cool!
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, I agree, traveling is when I use cabs, but how great is it to arrive in a city knowing you don’t have to worry about a ride? I can see myself using this service if I arrive at an airport and the line for cabs is an hour long or so. It’s a bit more expensive than cabs, but for the convenience, it just may be worth it.
You don’t actually need a smartphone to use this service, Adrienne, so long as you have a phone that can send a text message you’re all set. But the smartphone app makes it easier because of the mapping feature.
Yes, meeting CEO’s of up and coming tech companies is a very cool perk of my job!
Wow Carolyn – As Adrienne has rightly pointed out, we never think outside of the box when we are travelling. We resort to cabs using the yellow pages or maybe rent a car and drive along.
This is an awesome service, and I would really love to go in such a car if they provided one 🙂
Hi Carolyn,
I like that. I can think of a number of trips I have taken where I waited for almost an hour to catch a cab or rent a car. Sometimes I would be more than willing to pay a bit more for the convenience of knowing that I could leave when I wanted to and not when they got around to me.