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Test-riding uber, the populist car service you summon with a mobileapp by 123wert sdfsf
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Test-riding uber, the populist car service you summon with a mobileapp |
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Business,Business News,Business Opportunities
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By Scott Kirsner, Globe Columnist San Francisco-based Uber is planning to launch its transportation service in Boston thisThursday. They already operate in New York, San Francisco, Seattleand Chicago, and they've been pilot-testing it here over the pastfew weeks. I used the app this afternoon to travel from KendallSquare to Brookline in a semi-swanky black Mercury Grand Marquis. Uber is a way to summon a town car using an app on your mobilephone.
For livery drivers, it's a way to fill in extra work attimes when they might otherwise be sitting around. And forconsumers, it's a way to get a ride in a car that's more spaciousand better-maintained than your typical cab. And the Uber app alsoprovides better information about when exactly you'll be picked up. Here's how it worked for me... As my 1:30 PM coffee meeting in Kendall Square was wrapping up, Iopened the Uber app on my iPhone.
I'd already set up an account,giving Uber my credit card information. The iPhone's built-in GPSknew just about where I was, but Uber's app gave me the opportunityto adjust my location to the exact spot on the map where I wassitting. (Voltage Cafe, at 303 Third Street.) It told me that adriver named Hassan would arrive in about ten minutes, and thatHassan had received a 4.9 star rating from other passengers. I left the app open on my phone, and could watch on the map asHassan's vehicle made its way from Boston across the river.
You don't tell Uber where you're going the company doesn't wantits drivers to accept or reject passengers based on theirdestination and so one drawback is that the app doesn't reallygive you a sense in advance for how much the ride will cost. (Ubertries to position its service as slightly more expensive than acab, but far less expensive than a traditional car service.) Exactly ten minutes later, I saw Hassan's car pull up outside. Itold him where I was going, and we set off down Memorial Drivetoward Brookline. Suction-cupped to his car's windshield was aniPhone supplied by Uber, which relayed rider requests to him, andallowed him to accept or reject them based on whether he wasavailable. The car was spotless, and Hassan was attired in a bluesuit and natty striped tie.
There's a $7 base charge as soon as you get into an Uber car, plus time and distance charges . (Uber charges a distance fee when the car is traveling fasterthan 11 miles per hour, and a time fee below that speed.) The finalfee includes any tolls as well as a tip, and is automaticallybilled to your credit card. When I arrived at my destination, the total $23 showed up on myphone, and shortly after on Hassan's. We both had the opportunityto rate one another on a scale of one to five stars.
(I gave Hassanfive stars.) By the time I opened my laptop at my home office, Uberhad e-mailed me a receipt: $7 base fare, $14.56 distance, and $2.21time, for a total of $23. (They round down to the nearest dollar.)Uber takes 20 percent off the top, with the driver receiving therest. The cost of my Uber ride was comparable to what it would've cost tohail a Cambridge cab. That would've run me about $18.40 without atip. When I tried to get an estimate for how much it would cost toarrange for a Boston Coach sedan to do the trip, the company's Web site told me thatarranging for a car in 15 minutes would be impossible.
But with anhour's notice, the Cambridge-to-Brookline trip would've cost $111,including tip. I mainly try to travel around Boston using public transportation,my bike, and occasionally, my own car or a Zipcar. I rarely usetaxis or town cars. I can definitely envision myself summoning anUber car when I'm pressed for time, or traveling a route thatrequires multiple T transfers.
Also, for airport or train stationtrips when I'm schlepping lots of luggage. Based on this first experience, I liked getting a more spacious andspiffier car than the typical Boston or Cambridge cab, and knowingexactly when it would arrive. And the price felt like a good value a town car experience at a yellow cab price point. All that wasmissing was the Wall Street Journal waiting for me on the seat..
Uber feels like a car service designed for the 99 percent. I am Apparel & Fashion writer, reports some information about soft toy cow , zoot suit store.
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