As a brief reminder: scores of taxi drivers plan to strike tomorrow to protest new credit card fees and delays to cab fare increases. As one driver-activist in charge of rallying the cabbies told the Examiner last week, the idea of the strike is "to make taxi gridlock." In other words: don't expect to flag down a cab tomorrow. Meanwhile, Uber, a service that allows smartphone users to hail limos and towncars, hopes to use this opportunity to snatch up your business by offering towncar rides for the same rates as a San Francisco taxi cab.
In a release sent to users of their service today, the on-demand car request startup says they hope to "do our part to keep San Francisco moving" while the taxi drivers "circle City Hall in hopes of getting a better deal." In a somewhat ironic twist, Uber had to ask their drivers (private limo owners) to take a pay cut in order to match the cab rates, but tomorrow from 12:01 a.m. until midnight, all Uber rides within SF proper will be 50% off
We've given Uber a couple test drives ourselves and have to admit it's a swanky alternative to the current stand-on-the-street-and-wave method. Plus there's the added bonus of arriving at your destination in a towncar, but the usual rates ($8 just for hopping in, plus nearly five bucks per mile after that) are steep if you're heading out on the town solo.
Join the conversation
Comments
Comments load automatically as this section approaches.