A familiar reader of my libertarian-leaning political blog knows that I have championed competition for consumer transportation in the form of Uber and Lyft services. Basically, these networks recruit drivers using their own vehicles as virtual taxicabs; typically as a customer/passenger, you first register a new account online and provide payment information (i.e., credit card details); you then download the service's app on your smartphone and log into the app, which uses GPS and functionality in the phone to pinpoint your pickup location for Uber drivers. There is an Uber services menu at the bottom, of up to 5 services, including the budget UberX option; after you select the service, you select/confirm the pickup location (the default location may be set by GPS) and you may also specify your target destination. (For a more detailed discussion, see here. You can also query Youtube video clips.) There are nuances from the use of taxis which I've used during my road warrior days (when I worked for Oracle Consulting they would only let me commute home every other week); for example, drivers and passengers rate each other.
As a car owner, I usually don't use taxis. I moved from WV to the Southeast US around springtime last year. Uber had started serving the local city a year before. I was planning an extended Christmas break; I live fairly close to the airport (I consider less than a half hour drive or so close). Normally I would consider airport-area parking, but I got sticker shock from a nearly $100 estimate. A local taxi company estimated a $25 fare one way. In the interim, I had checked with apartment management for their suggestions, and they didn't really have any recommendations other than to point out Uber operates locally although they hadn't personally used them.
I decided it might be a good way to try Uber, although I was more worried about my return trip due to arrive near midnight. The initial ride was a good experience; it took about 10 minutes from requesting a ride for the driver to arrive. The app didn't seem to let me enter my apartment building number and perhaps I needed to finetune the pin/pickup location. He wasn't quite sure where I was in the complex but he called while circling the complex and found me while calling me. The ride was pleasant, and the price significantly below the taxi estimate. (I had not come across an incentive for a first Uber ride credit of up to $20, which I think I saw at one of the airports during my holiday travel.)
I got an email notification for my transaction by the time I checked my luggage and went through security. I found doing the rating portion was not usable via my cellphone and somehow the rating was lower than I intended to score. Being unfamiliar with the process to modify a mistaken rating, I dashed off a message through Uber Support, which made the change and included some boilerplate for how to do it myself.
I'm not going to rant about TSA here other than to recall how I had taken my first plane ride after 9/11 and the shoe bomber incident; I guess the TSA had just implemented the shoe screening, and I was quickly surrounded by agents who got my shoes. I remember being in a state of confusion wondering what the hell they had done with my shoes. This time I got disoriented by something innocuous in one of my pockets, plus I also got pulled aside for a post-screen pat down. By the time I got to my trays I found my notebook PC missing; had another passenger stolen it? Another TSA employee eventually guessed what I was looking for and told me they did an extra security check on my PC, which they had left at another location. One might think they would have told me that in the interim.
The biggest issue I had on the trip to Texas was a connecting flight through Charlotte; I had an hour between flights, except the plane had to taxi for a half hour, and it turned out my flight to DFW was in a different concourse--not pleasant for an obese passenger. The flight was already boarding--including a 10-minute delay--when I got to the gate.
The reason I mention that was because I had a direct early evening flight home from DFW on my return due in (including time change) at 11:30 PM. I had similar concerns when I flew into a different concourse with a tighter flight schedule. But with the Skyway, it turned out I got to the gate with enough time to spare before boarding, I halfway flirted with the idea of grabbing a light dinner at the nearby McDonald's. We then ran into an exasperating series of delays starting with crew members and then a mechanical issue. By 'maintenance' I thought they were referring to cleaning the cabin, but eventually we got briefed on a part on the way to the plane; at some point, they decided to substitute planes, and I recall the cumulative delay was something like 2 hours or so; I got a long series of flight-related text messages pushing out our arrival on the East Coast.. In the interim, there were rumors from other passengers that our target airport would be closed before our rescheduled arrival time, and the flight could be scrubbed.
I wrote the above on my flights just to provide a context for my unexpectedly long delay back to the East Coast, now pushed well after midnight. I had no idea whether any Uber drivers might be available at 2 AM near the airport, especially if the airport usually closed by midnight or so. Uber, at least to the best of my knowledge, doesn't accept reservations. There isn't anything like a taxi dispatcher I could check on status or availability.
When the plane finally came in and I retrieved my luggage, I started up the Uber app. The airport seemed deserted except for a small group of construction workers. The interface seemed to suggest drivers were available anywhere from 4-10 minutes away. (My cellphone was also complaining about the need for a recharge.) I'm fairly sure I submitted my request as per the above process; I recall I got a much higher fare estimate for UberX--not much different from the earlier taxi estimate. But I got no popup of an assigned driver. That process is not transparent. It's possible I got blackballed by my first driver over the rating mistake, and any available drivers declined the business, but I had contacted the driver to tell him that the rating would be fixed and to let me know if it was still a problem.
I was confused because I hadn't gotten a driver identification, but the time remaining for the vehicle seemed to go down from 6 to 4 minutes; a taxi agent asked if I had a ride coming or he would let a couple of remaining taxis go for the evening. Soon after they left, I noticed the minutes counter spike from 4 to 10 minutes away. There were no obvious status indicators, e.g., 'no pending request', 'request in process', 'driver en route', 'no driver available; try again later'. I have seen some reports that indicate the Uber app sometimes provides misleading information (e.g., here).
It's possible, but unlikely, in my tired state that I had not submitted a request correctly, but I think it's more likely there wasn't an Uber driver available at 2-3 AM in the morning--what bothered me is not so much Uber not having drivers available but the lack of closure; I would have looked at my alternatives sooner than later. Eventually I gave up and contacted the 24-hour taxi service I had gotten an earlier estimate but it took probably took another 30-40 minutes before a taxi finally arrived (which I felt confirmed my hypothesis about a lack of available drivers). The dispatcher had made a shorter estimate, but I was able to call back for a status.
I was motivated enough to contact Uber Support. They were basically evasive on the point of what happens if drivers are not available. They basically apologized for the inconvenience and argued that they were trying to recruit more drivers in my metropolis. But when I approach usability of an interface, I want transparency and closure. One of the rumors I read on the web is that Uber might want to defer a customer's decision to consider another mode until a driver becomes available. I'm not sure that allegation is correct, but I would have felt better if I would have known sooner than later Uber couldn't provide a driver.
I'm sure that there are some readers who want to say, "Cry me a river"--a 2-3 hour delay is nothing compared to the recent winter storm knocking out thousands of flights with stranded passengers. True enough--but I will point out that the weather conditions were generally known in advance. I do not know if I would have run into an Uber issue if the flight had arrived on schedule.
In conclusion, I still see my Uber experience as positive, a win/win for drivers and customers. Furthermore, Uber has been an innovative service, with additional niches like alternate spins on taxis, carpooling, and delivery services; they are looking at Google's work with driverless cars. Nevertheless, I see room for improvements in the user interface.
