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I've never used uber or lyft, but I used sidecar yesterday for the first time, and given this was my first experience with this kind of service I have to say th

I've never used uber or lyft, but I used sidecar yesterday for the first time, and given this was my first experience with this kind of service I have to say this is so much better than having to hail a taxi. It sucks that you have to have a smartphone, (what do you when battery is out) but otherwise it's easy to see how transformational this kind of new service is. You can pick your driver, your driver can accept or reject based on your destination, you can see how much they will charge up front, and you can tip right from your phone making the thing entirely cashless. It's pretty amazing.

avalaunch 12y ago
I've used Uber and Lyft but have not yet tried Sidecar. Based on your description, Sidecar sounds a lot better than hailing a taxi but a lot worse than Uber/Lyft. I would much rather give up the ability to pick my driver to have the convenience of only having to click one button to hail a car. Plus the idea that the driver can reject you and then you have to start over... what an unnecessary bit of friction.
rayiner 12y ago
Uber sucks. Have you ever taken a cab in a city with decent cab service? You just hold up your hand and an experienced driver takes you where you're going. With Uber, you futz with the app, then the driver circles the block trying to figure out where you are, while three cabs pass by you, and if he doesn't cancel the pick up after giving up, futzes with the GPS and takes you along an inefficient route because he doesn't know better.
- jusben1369 12y ago
  Man I've done a lot of both and feel that exact opposite. Cabs are the pain and all the futzing to pay and tip squirming in back seat with bags etc.
  - harryh 12y ago
    I think it depends a lot on what city you're talking about. Cabs in NYC are awesome. Cabs in SF are atrocious. There's lots of variance in between.
- philwelch 12y ago
  I've literally never had that much trouble with Uber. I also live in a city without decent cab service.

avalaunch 12y ago

I've used Uber and Lyft but have not yet tried Sidecar. Based on your description, Sidecar sounds a lot better than hailing a taxi but a lot worse than Uber/Lyft. I would much rather give up the ability to pick my driver to have the convenience of only having to click one button to hail a car. Plus the idea that the driver can reject you and then you have to start over... what an unnecessary bit of friction.

rayiner 12y ago

Uber sucks. Have you ever taken a cab in a city with decent cab service? You just hold up your hand and an experienced driver takes you where you're going. With Uber, you futz with the app, then the driver circles the block trying to figure out where you are, while three cabs pass by you, and if he doesn't cancel the pick up after giving up, futzes with the GPS and takes you along an inefficient route because he doesn't know better.

jusben1369 12y ago
Man I've done a lot of both and feel that exact opposite. Cabs are the pain and all the futzing to pay and tip squirming in back seat with bags etc.
- harryh 12y ago
  I think it depends a lot on what city you're talking about. Cabs in NYC are awesome. Cabs in SF are atrocious. There's lots of variance in between.
philwelch 12y ago
I've literally never had that much trouble with Uber. I also live in a city without decent cab service.