Was a ride with UberX safe and efficient?
WHAT is the fuss with Uber? It claims to offer a better, faster and cheaper service than traditional taxis. Reporter Josephine Lim put the company’s basic UberX service to the test.
CALL me paranoid but I have never had a taxi drop me off right in front of my house.
Many nights out with mates have ended with us catching an Uber ride home together — so often in fact that one of my friends is so well known within the Uber drivers’ circle we often joked they must sit around after their shift to chat about him.
The Uber app on your phone shows the driver’s name, contact number and type of vehicle, and a tiny thumbnail of a black car creeping along the map towards where you are.
Getting on a first-name basis with an Uber driver is common and this sets it apart from taxi drivers — that instant connection you feel when you know someone.
Most Uber drivers I have met are easygoing, curious about what you do and, in return, eager to share their experiences too.
So when I took UberX on a Tuesday morning, I was eager to compare the difference to its luxurious counterpart Uber Black and took advantage of its promotion, which costs $4.99*.
It took some 10 minutes for an UberX vehicle to become available and another 15 minutes for it to arrive.
There was some confusion over the pick-up location (it was the wrong carpark at the Morphettville racecourse) and in the end we set to meet at McDonald’s on Anzac Hwy.
It is the first time a driver had asked me to meet at another location, albeit close, for pick up but I would not have obliged so quickly if this had happened at night.
The car was a Toyota Corolla Ascent, which curiously showed a Camry in the app, and different to the usual high-end shiny leather-seated luxury service of Uber in Adelaide but that was where the distinction ended.
The driver was amicable, a full-time aged-care worker spending at least two days a week as a driver to help pay off his mortgage.
He was meant to be finishing his shift when I requested the ride so it was kind of him to take on a customer. He was not paid a commission but an hourly rate of $25.
The ride was safe, clean and enjoyable with someone as friendly as my driver, and not dissimilar from Uber Black.
A ride of the same distance that I took with a Suburban Elite taxi at the same time of the day costs $22.40.
Current regulations in SA only allow Uber Black, which uses registered hire-car drivers and vehicles.
Last week in a move to lobby for UberX to operate in SA, Uber offered free “fun rides” around the city and in exchange passengers had to upload a photo in the Uber vehicle to social media.
The controversy about Uber mainly surrounds the lack of taxi regulations and licensing — whether it is safe to be riding in a car which is not regulated by the taxi industry, and a driver who is not licensed by the Government.
The driver of the taxi I took had actually gone to a session by Uber for new drivers and believed the lack of regulation was risking passenger safety.
Was I safe in an Uber car? I was probably as safe as being in a second-hand car or a taxi on which I had been told all safety checks were done.
Did I feel safe? Absolutely yes, especially when I shared my real time travel with my friends.
*The rides for UberX and Suburban Elite were paid for by The Advertiser without prior notification to both companies.