Introducing Uber
Last night my flight from Seattle to Chicago got delayed, so I had a nice 4 hour layover in Denver.
I ended up getting in at 10:30PM and couldn’t find a ride home so I had to take Public Transit (CTA).
Although I could have taken a Cab, that would have been like $40 and the CTA is only $2.25 so it is hard to beat!
Anyways, I live close to Wrigley Field and the CTA Blue Line stop that goes to O’Hare is a good 3 miles away from my place and is not in the best part of town.
While I could have taken the Bus after getting off the Train, I figured it probably wasn’t the best idea to hang around waiting for the Bus, as it could take up to 30 minutes.
My friend had told me about this Smartphone App called Uber, and I had previously downloaded it so I decided to give it a whirl.
Basically Uber is a on-demand Black Car / Taxi service.
The Train Stop where I get off is really in the middle of nowhere, so it is really hard to find a Cab.
So while I was on the Train, I simply fired up the Uber App and told it exactly where I needed to be picked up.
On the App, it shows you all the surrounding Uber Drivers and where your Driver is on a map in real time, as well as the Driver’s phone number.
Uber doesn’t have their own Drivers, instead they just give Cabbies and Black Car Drivers their App, and if those guys are idling or can’t find a Customer, they can use Uber to see who needs a ride.
Once I got off the train, my Cab was waiting right at the exit.
Uber’s Taxi Fare is basically determined by the meter rate and then they add on the tip.
Uber’s Black Car fare has a separate rate which can be found here.
It seems the rates to and from the Airport are a fixed rate, but the Taxi & Black Car rates are basically the same price as if you just flagged them down on the street.
The nice thing about Uber is that once you load your Credit Card info into the App, then the Drivers can just charge you via their App going forward. No need to ever take your Credit Card out again!
Also the tax, tip, and fare are all included in your price, so once they charge you, you can hop out and they email you the receipt.
The service has gotten rave reviews and just launched in New York City today.
I believe Uber is now available is almost all major metropolitan cities across the U.S and Canada,
Even if you don’t think you will use Uber frequently, I still highly suggest downloading it because in the event you absolutely need a ride and can’t find one, then it will save the day.
If there is one downside to Uber, it is that you can’t set a pre-arranged ride.
So if your flight lands at 8PM, you can’t schedule someone to come pick you up. You have to wait until your plane lands, fire up Uber, and get someone to pick you up.
Typically it takes about 5 minutes for your Uber driver to arrive, which isn’t bad at all, but again it would be nice if you could pre-arrange it.
Anyways, if you are interested in trying Uber out, feel free to use my link below.
Once you take your first ride, they will credit you with $10.
A little trick I found out (at least for Chicago) is that if you sign up for Uber and don’t use it for a couple weeks, a Community Manager will email you and credit you with $40 of fare as an incentive to try Uber out!
I used my personal email, so I know it isn’t because of FFU that I got the $40, so I suggest signing up and trying that out!
Let me know if you have tried Uber before and what you think!
-Parag
