this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
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I visited NYC this spring with my wife and we took precisely one Uber ride, from the airport to our hotel. It was $80. We then proceeded to spend less than $80 total the rest of our several day trip crisscrossing all over Manhattan on public transit, including back to the airport to leave. Public transit was faster, cheaper, and easier than the Uber, for sure.
Uber jacks up prices in "airport zones" to an insane degree. For example an Uber from Seattle to Sea-Tac is about $75. I rented a car in Portland, drove up to Seattle for the weekend, and drove myself to the airport for $60. An Amtrak ticket from Portland- Seattle is around $40 usually.
This doesn't work everywhere, but when I'm flying back into PDX (the best airport) I'll take the light rail public transit two stops and get a ride share from the Target parking lot. Ends up being about half the price once you're far enough away.
Last time I took a taxi from an airport was when I was on crutches recovering from a leg injury, and even then I thought twice about it.
“From airport to city center” is such a common trip that it’s often going to be the best arrangement of transit lines the city has, even if other paths are less optimal.
Example: Las Vegas
Monorail on the strip, Uber to get there
Corruption? I don’t follow. Why would anyone want to make it harder to access a place of business? Where I live, businesses often make shuttle services directly to their location from common departure points to ensure people are deeply incentivized to come in and waste their money. The specific example I’m thinking of is a casino.
Profit scheming with taxi drivers directly off of someone’s first expenditure in the city kind of sounds like poor planning even for the greediest of schemers.