Do to leg problems I had to give up driving and since selling my car and cancelling my auto insurance I have used UBER exclusively and I love it. I was initially concerned about giving up my independence but it's no problem because I still go when and where I please. At my age I was no longer taking long drives any way. I have made 27 trips with UBER since selling my car for a total cost of $116.78. That's just about what my auto insurance was costing me. I have never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a pick up and the vehicles were always clean and new. I am really impressed with this whole operation and how efficient they are. I went to my daughters for dinner the other night via Uber and she and my SIL insisted on taking me back home that evening. I said no and took Uber.
You posted about this here... http://www.seniorsonly.club/threads/free-at-last-free-at-last.5933/ But the added info is good to know....pretty cheap for all those trips. I have uber but haven't needed to use it yet, but have been with my son ad DIL when we've used it...it's really a lot nicer than calling a cab. They use it a lot when they go out and have some drinks...great for that!
@Shirley Martin How rural is it? How far to a town of reasonable size? How far is your nearest neighbor? Hopefully, you won't be offended by these questions, as there actually is "method to my madness"! In Missouri, we lived within the Mark Twain National Forest, which covers 7 million acres of land. Our property had been privately owned way before the N.F. was declared, and so was "grandfathered". Never knew just how much ground our little community pocket comprised, but would guess litttle more than several thousand acres. Gravel road, 5 miles off paved highway, our nearest neighbor was 3/4 mile away. Our mail delivery lady was hit head-on by a vehicle a mile from our farmhouse, the nearest homeowner heard the crash, it was the neighbor I mentioned, Harley, who telephoned 911 from in his house. There was no cell service. The local police chief responded from 10 miles away, radioed for a helicopter; Pat had a pacemaker. He feared moving her might kill her. He parked his bright red truck in the open in a field, so the chopper could see it. 1-1/2 hours later, it found the crash scene. The drive to Salem, 24 miles, would have been the better alternative at about 1/2 hour, but he feared moving her. Pat survived, but never delivered mail again. THAT'S rural! Frank
I'd heard good things about Uber so I did some research and tried it. Takes a little getting used to; it's done via app on the smartphone and billed to credit card. I was very impressed at how FAST the car arrived; less than 5 minutes...glad I had my jacket on and was ready to go. I was a bit nervous but I checked the license plate and driver photo. Both times I did short, quick errands. They don't make money sitting in parking lot waiting so when I was finished getting what I needed at the drugstore I tapped the app and another driver quickly arrived. There's also a requirement for customer to rate the driver and the driver rates the customer. Then they complete the order and sent a receipt. Drivers were polite, efficient, and fare was slightly cheaper than a cab. With a cab you never know....might be 10 minutes or might be 40 min... @Ren Tanner do you tip? I did although I hear tips are not expected.
Same here Shirley, I checked and because we live in a rural area it's not covered. The larger surrounding towns and cities ( London etc) are covered, but not here..
My son lives in a small town of about 13,000 population and he's used Uber there....I don't know what you consider rural or even if his town is but it's been growing but still small.
A friend and his wife both have cars but they use Uber often when they go out because 1) they don't want to deal with parking and 2) they both like to relax/drink and don't want to take chance on getting a DUI (getting arrested, suspended license and a heavy fine). So, it makes sense.
Like others here, we use both Uber and Lyft when we need to go downtown together for a concert or ball game. Seems that most drivers here drive for both companies. I like the fact that I can 'tip' the driver right thought the app on my phone when we use Lyft. And because it's the drivers personal car, they tend to drive sanely, unlike some taxicabs.
When I moved to a foreign country where driving is taking a chance of being run into just to sue you or just crazy drivers. I weighed the idea of buying a car but changed my mind. The cost here to take a 35 mile trip into Puerto Plata for the whole day was about US $47 and the driver knows the city better than I do. I make that trip two times a month to buy things I cannot get local.
I am so glad to see this topic started. Here in Canada Uber is having problems in some cities as the local cab companies do not like having to pay higher fees to operate than Uber. The cab company employees are unionized and the union is making a lot of noise. I do not drive and thinking ahead to where hubby will have to give up his license. So it is good to see that people are happy with the service and consider it worth giving up a vehicle. someone mentioned Uber bills to a credit card. What if you don't have a credit card and only use debit.
That seemed to be an issue here also at first @Missy Lee ...with the cabs but it seems to have died down now, don't know why though.