Uber coming to OKC

[Pete]

^

The issue is finding a driver in the area where you want to picked up.

For example, I live outside of the official L.A. coverage area but as a driver, I can choose to be on-line at home and if someone requests a ride within about 5-10 miles, I'll get a notice.

I think the biggest difference is that if you are outside the area and no drivers happen to be on-line, you are stuck. If you are within the area, they will dispatch the nearest driver even if it's a decent distance.

So in other words, I think they take responsibility for finding a driver within their published boundaries but can't guarantee anything outside of them.

[shawnw]

Thanks Pete, that makes a ton of sense

[Pete]

The other thing Uber does is that it will text drivers if they are seeing good demand in a particular area that is not well covered by cars.

I get them all the time: "Big event at Hollywood Bowl -- need drivers in the area." or "Tons of demand in Santa Monica this evening".


I'm very impressed with their operation and about 99% of the experiences seem to be quite favorable.

Compare that to a typical cab ride where most the time you are in some old, crappy, smelly, squeaky car with a scary driver driving like his hair is on fire.


This revolution has been a long time in coming and credit to companies like Uber who are smart enough to capitalize and make it work effectively.


And if the Oklahoman is going to report on this, they need to do a much better job.

[shawnw]

The next report in the DOK should be by someone who has ridden in one. I nominate Steve to do a report, where he rides in an OKC cab, and then rides in an Uber, and does a fair report on the experiences.

[no1cub17]

My driver yesterday said they'll drive you wherever you want. As far as pick-ups go I think that is correct, they'll only pick up in the designated area - which does somewhat limit it's usefulness if you wanted to use Uber to go from Edmond to Norman for example - not to mention that would cost healthy amount. Pete, I didn't realize they notify drivers of busy locations/times - that's incredibly smart - some should be intuitive (Thunder games), but if their app actually picks up on users who are actively searching for a ride - wow!

The Oklahoman ought to do a more thorough interview with Nick Collison or someone else high profile who uses Uber frequently. Come on Steve!

[AP]

Used Uber tonight and requested the uberx to use the special they have running right now. Ended up getting picked up by a Mercedes GL450, so that was a nice surprise for a free ride.

[no1cub17]

Used Uber tonight and requested the uberx to use the special they have running right now. Ended up getting picked up by a Mercedes GL450, so that was a nice surprise for a free ride.

Nice! My driver said today UberBlack is on the cards for OKC, as soon as they have enough cars. Wouldn't be shocked if your driver is just getting his feet wet as an "X" for now and then will be one of the "Black" drivers. I am now obsessed with Uber btw. Am going to use it to the airport now on, and every other chance I get. Pretty soon I won't need my new car that's barely 5 months old.

[mkjeeves]

I'm visiting Chicago and we've used my son's uber account a half dozen times to get cabs. Really handy to get one headed to the curb while still in the hotel or apartment before getting dressed up for the weather or standing in the rain waiting for one to hail. I asked two of the drivers how it was working for them. One wasn't too enthused about it, saying cancellations after rolling were frequent. Also said people wouldnt be ready at the location whn he got there. Phone call would result in them saying they would be down in a minute. He does use the one star rating for those types. The other driver said it was great. Increased his business 20% without increasing his costs.

[mkjeeves]

Uber won't run on my current IOS but I used Hailo to get a cab to ohare the morning. I'll upgrade and try the private car thing with uber in OKC sometime.
Shouldn't this thread be in transportation?

[Jeepnokc]

Used Uber tonight and requested the uberx to use the special they have running right now. Ended up getting picked up by a Mercedes GL450, so that was a nice surprise for a free ride.

I used it Wednesday night for an employee after our Christmas party. It was a Lincoln mkz. Nice ride and with the December promo, was free.

[Bunty]

So many people are buying 4 door pickups these days. Would plenty of people love to be picked up in one of those?

[ljbab728]

So many people are buying 4 door pickups these days. Would plenty of people love to be picked up in one of those?

Not me.

[Jeepnokc]

Not me.

Some of the four door pickups have more luxury than a lot of cars on the road. Have you ever been inside one of the Ford King Ranch trucks...pretty nice. (pricy also)

[Anonymous.]

Uber is really spreading. Multiple people who I thought would have no idea about the service, were using it this weekend.

[kevinpate]

Some of the four door pickups have more luxury than a lot of cars on the road. Have you ever been inside one of the Ford King Ranch trucks...pretty nice. (pricy also)

As a lengthy and anything but lanky fellow, I'd rather be picked up in a King Ranch or a Tahoe than a Civic, 328i, or even a Ford Escape any day (unless there was an available front seat.)

[PhiAlpha]

Used uber this weekend...so much better than taking a cab. And they have some great specials right now so I haven't actually had to pay yet, but if I had, it was half as much as cab fare to the same location. Win, win...I'm a fan.

My cousin drives for them in LA and I have been hoping OKC would get it since first hearing about it last year. Very pleased.

[blangtang]

What New Year's Eve Will Be Like for Uber | Inc.com

At about 12:15, though, all hell breaks loose for Uber surge pricing. "At about midnight, the ball drops, people kiss their special someone, they pop some champagne, and right after that, people want to get out of Dodge. And it's at 12:15 in cities around the world when the demand just way outstrips anything that supply can bring to the table." This lasts until about 3 a.m. "If you absolutely need a ride between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., Uber will be reliable. But it will be a pricey ride," Kalanick says.

---

so do the drivers get to share in the price hikes, or does it work some other way?

[PhiAlpha]

I suspect so since drivers are getting a % of the fare already. They are also issuing incentives for drivers to come out NYE like hourly wages as well. Drivers should do very well NYE night.

As I mentioned earlier, my cousin drives for Uber in LA and is planning to work on NYE because he should be able to make a killing. He said the price increases are pretty ridiculous (for ex. last year someone spent $312 for something that was normally between $20 - $40), but they do get to keep the same percentage on the increased fare which he said was around 80%. He didn't mention any hourly wages, but I'm sure that's not out of the question. Apparently people are willing to pay the increased price.

[PhiAlpha]

As you probably know, incentives are done at the network level so OKC may offer incentives not offered in LA. In OKC, there is a shortage of drivers so I'd expect them to do whatever they can to get people out driving. I've paid surge pricing many times. It never was prohibitively high enough that it still didn't make sense to use Uber. Most of the times it seemed to be in the range of 25-50% higher.

Yeah I'm sure that was the crazy exception to the rule. I would be interested to know what they offer for drivers here because you are definitely right, there are not many yet. If the promotional deals they are offering to riders are any indication (I've ridden 3 times and have yet to pay for anything), I'm sure they've got some great deals out there.

[Anonymous.]

It's worth mentioning most people needing rides home late tonight will not exactly be coherant enough to realize how much they're paying for a ride home until the next day.

[Urbanized]

No matter how much it costs it will be cheaper than a DUI...or worse.

[kevinpate]

No matter how much it costs it will be cheaper than a DUI...or worse.

True, even a limo at beck and call for ten hours is a fair price in comparison to even mild fairly bad endings.

[Pete]

I had mentioned previously that I signed up to be a Uber driver here in Los Angeles, more out of curiosity than anything else.

I usually throw a huge party on NYE but this year decided against it, and without any awesome plans for the big night (apart from standing around in a house or bar and wondering why I should be soooo excited) I decided to succumb to Uber's barrage of emails and texts begging for drivers and promising up to $1,000 in one night.

Let's just say it was a very interesting experience.


Where to start... First of all, the riders -- apart from one youngish family -- were quite young. I'd say everyone was under 30, which is clearly the Uber demographic.

Almost everyone wanted to know all the details.... Is this your car? How do you get paid? How much will you make in one night?

I'd also say that even though Uber has been in L.A. for a while, most people had never used it or just barely used it. Just goes to show how much room this company (and Lyft and Sidecar) has to grow. Scary if you think about it!


Of course early on everyone was happy and friendly and polite but as the night wore on, things got pretty messy. A couple of carloads of dudes were just completely smashed (before midnight) and one group of young women were in full-on drama mode with another friend we had to go pick up.

After midnight, people would see me stopped and looking for the rider (very hard to find the exact person at night in a bar district or hotel driveway) and beg me to drive them somewhere -- but of course, that's not the way the system works and I wanted to honor that.

Around 1:30 I picked up a young couple at a hotel and this other, random young woman was so hammered she just got in the car with them and was so out of it couldn't comprehend that I was not her driver and I just couldn't take her somewhere. But then I decided just to take her anyway as I was worried about her general state and didn't want to fight with a drunkard.

But after I dropped off the couple, it became clear she wasn't drunk... She was completely wacked out on something and was incoherent and couldn't/wouldn't tell me where she lived and I decided just to take her back to the hotel. Fortunately, she got out of the car when we arrived and I decided to call it a night.


In the end, I don't think this will be that profitable even with their "surge" pricing in effect most the night. I ended up generating about $700 in fares over about 7 hours and Uber takes half (!) and also takes half (!) of your tips. The latter practice seems particularly greedy and has drawn some lawsuits.

In fact, taking 52% of the fare seems a bit ridiculous as well. They don't provide anything; it's your car, your gas, your time and aggravation.

Their promotion of constant fares for this particular night also proved to be inflated. I had a couple of hours with almost zero action. So, now when I get their messages about HUGE DEMAND IN HOLLYWOOD!! TOP DOLLAR POSSIBLE! I'll take it with a grain of salt.


Also, one very bad thing about driving for Uber in a city like L.A. is that it more often than not took forever to connect with the person you are trying to pick up. They just provide an address but you have no idea if it's a hotel, bar, etc. So, you burn a lot of valuable driving time searching/waiting. (You don't start charging until everyone is in the car and you are moving.)

They also don't provide you their phone number for calling or texting; it's routed through the Uber system where all calls and texts go through their main number, which is smart so after the trip neither party has the contact info for the other. But frequently, you just get dumped into Uber voicemail and when you text, you hope the person is getting it, not the last person you just dropped off. Since the phone number is always the same, you never really know.

And of course 95% of the time -- even though you send a message through the system that you are arriving and they had been provided your ETA by the system -- the person/people are not close to ready and you have to cruise around, texting and calling and hoping they respond.

Another thing: Uber provides you an iPhone 4 with their driver app, but no GPS nav software. I asked them if I could merely install their software on my iPhone but they politely said no. So, I have to use their phone to field the fares and conduct Uber business, then carry my phone for navigation, texting, calling, etc. Their phone is locked down to everything but Uber. It's a big pain having to deal with two phones while driving; you also have to keep both charged as the GPS drains batteries pretty quickly.


I fully realize I am not the profile of someone who drives for Uber and that NYE is a very unusual time, but I think most of these issues would be common any evening, at least in a bigger city.

I'm not sure I'll do any more driving for them but I will definitely use them as a rider.

[no1cub17]

Interesting to hear your side as a driver, Pete. Didn't know about those quirks - that you just dial the uber number to get in touch with a rider. Less than optimal for sure - because as a rider it sure seems like you get the driver's actual number. Should go both ways IMO.

Also - I thought that Uber keeps 20% of the fares? Had no idea it was 50/50. If so, that's completely insane and really would make me question if it's worth it. And 50% of tips too? Weird, because aren't Uber tips purely discretionary and in cash? Do Lyft/Sidecar do the same thing? I swear I saw something about Lyft coming to OKC too. I wonder if their terms are better if some drivers will defect. I saw an article about Uber offering free tanks of gas to drivers who switched to Uber from Lyft in SF.

[Pete]

Interesting to hear your side as a driver, Pete. Didn't know about those quirks - that you just dial the uber number to get in touch with a rider. Less than optimal for sure - because as a rider it sure seems like you get the driver's actual number. Should go both ways IMO.

Also - I thought that Uber keeps 20% of the fares? Had no idea it was 50/50. If so, that's completely insane and really would make me question if it's worth it. And 50% of tips too? Weird, because aren't Uber tips purely discretionary and in cash? Do Lyft/Sidecar do the same thing? I swear I saw something about Lyft coming to OKC too. I wonder if their terms are better if some drivers will defect. I saw an article about Uber offering free tanks of gas to drivers who switched to Uber from Lyft in SF.

Everything with Uber is through the app -- no money changes hands between driver and rider.

When you set up Uber as a rider, they ask you to enter a tip percentage and I believe it defaults to 15%. So, that is just automatically added to the charge without any action by either party.

Not sure how Lyft handles it but I believe it's very similar. I am actually a registered driver with Lyft as well but have never done anything with it. I was more interested in Uber because it was coming to OKC and I wanted to learn more so I could share.

One thing that is different about Lyft is they ask you to put this silly pink mustache on your grill when driving. It would certainly aid riders in finding you, but I wouldn't be caught dead with that thing on my car. With Uber, there is nothing to indicate you are a driver, which I strong prefer as there may be nights where I merely flip on the driver service after being out socially. Help to pay for an evening out and all that.