stop hailing strange taxis. Call a dispatch. Boom, accountability.

>With Uber you are 100% sure the driver is working for Uber, since you ordered it through the app and the app shows you the license plate. With regular taxis you have to trust that the taxi license is real if you hail a cab on the street.

that's unfair as the comparison is simply outside the scope of what Uber offers. One could also argue that Uber drivers cannot pickup a person hailing them; but no one should make that argument, because Uber does not try to emulate that particular function of the taxi service.

> With Uber you don't need to have anything representing money on you to get a ride. With regular taxis you need either cash or a credit card on you to pay for the ride, which is a safety issue before, during and after the ride.

how is a credit card a risk? Give it to the perpetrator , ensure your safety, claim the losses. If you're talking about material worth, I hope you don't carry any devices with you.

>I agree with you that there are some issues with a company like Uber just doing whatever they want. However, there are some pretty big issues with the current taxi industry and Uber is doing a prety good job at highlighting them and providing alternatives.

A third party hopping and skipping over established transportation safety regulation is not doing a good job at providing alternatives; it's simply trying to make money before government regulation radically changes the market or the IPO occurs (which will in turn cause a sudden relaxation of 'boundary-pushing' on Uber's part, relaxing government legal worries and providing customers with a worse product after brand establishment and customers begin to rely on earlier iterations)

Doesn't that require a photo of the driver?

Just like if I have a Barbeque at home and invite my friends it's a different scenario than selling Barbeque and beer out of my backyard...

My opinion of Uber was something like "great for competition". But of course they can only compete because they're doing so not quite legally, and to great benefits compared to normal taxi drivers.

A normal taxi company might've gotten this large by releasing a good app with some funding, but I doubt it because of the huge advantage Uber has compared to everyone else.