h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was having a conversation with Sasha about taxis, and I said that I was raised in the way that you'd never catch a taxi – except in extreme cases such as you or your loved ones were going to/actually in hospital, such as during childbirth. I'm perfectly happy to catch other forms of public transport, such as catamarans, hydrofoils, hovercraft, car ferries, chain ferries and/or floating bridges, , train, tram, funicular, chairlift, lift, escalators and aeroplanes – but not taxis. They seem to be somehow for 'other' people – whether snobs and yuppies by day, drunks and students by night.

Sasha speculated whether there was a cultural divide, whether people in London and the north of England are far more likely to catch taxis than those in the south. Is this true? Have You travelled by taxi recently or regularly? (I can honestly say I've not been in a taxi within the last year).

<BB<

I'm like you.

We never had any money, so simply couldn't afford it. We used to walk everywhere, or cycle, except when we needed to catch a bus on longer trips (10 miles or so). We took regular holidays on the east coast of the Isle of Wight, getting there by bus/ferry/bus/long walk from Bembridge.

Taxis were for other people. We had time where they didn't.

It's not even an option around here. And I don't just mean my local, gulf coast community. Even up in the big city, the 4th largest city in the US, Houston, you don't "catch" cabs. They aren't roaming around looking for fares. Hailing a cab is just not an option outside of the airports, and maybe a few places downtown during events. We don't have a concept of public transportation to start with. We have a very limited light rail system that transports a few people between basically only two parts of town; downtown and "The Medical Center" with a few sporadic stops between the two. There's a city-wide bus service, that's mostly used by commuting workers and takes significant planning to navigate. Taxis are dispatched. You call one of the cab companies, and wait up to an hour for one to arrive, depending on location.

People here drive their own vehicles and all other transportation options are ancillary. I wish it were otherwise.


Now, out here in the 'burbs, ride-sharing services like Uber are changing the situation. I have issues regarding such services (I think they ultimately undercut wages and earnings) but out here in the boonies, proper taxi service is just not viable. Like I mentioned, it can take an hour to call a cab out here. But an Uber is usually less than 10 minutes away. I haven't used Uber myself, yet... but I'm thinking seriously about doing so on evenings out.

Taxi's are always for when there isn't another option, like when too ill to walk or get public transport, or where there is no public transport and walking isn't an option for whatever reason. used to use them a bit more frequently a few decades ago, again only when there was not an easily accessible alternative namely public transport, but perhaps more frequently then as they were just so comparatively cheaper.
I tend to use a cab now, maybe once a week or a fortnight, getting home from a friends, who lives some way away (but we walk there), but I am travelling back useually about 5 AM whilst pretty much inebriated to the point of being unable to walk and sometimes we've used them in citys we don't know, or when on expenses for travel when overseas etc; but even then, if we thought we could figure out where to walk and it wasn't say more than half an hours walk, we'd be inclined to walk it anyhows as a child our family never had a car anyhow, so I've always just been used to walking everywhere within say half an hour or so, or using a bus, when its on a route that makes sense in the context of the final destination and starting point, and we used trains a lot too, for anything more long distance, out of the town/city etc; to some extent I've just carried on the same, and still remain in a car-less household as I have been all my life - The only time that's really been an issue is things like getting to hospital when I'm so ill, but not quite ill enough to get the blue light transportation out borad

'eee, when I were a lad we couldn't afford to walk. Father used to tie our arms and legs, stuff our mouths with stones and throw us in t'canal to be pushed by boats to school.

I'd *like* to catch a taxi, but none of my traps are big enough.

Vary rarely and only by extreme necessity, this is partly due to the fact of being a two car family for many years.

As a long term experiment it has been interesting and my calculations have shown being a car owner has in fact worked out in terms of time and cost only marginally slightly more expensive than being a non car owner.

Regarding the extra benefits of personal transport, 24/7 availability, comfort, and convenient journey planning it makes public transport a serious second best.

However I have found the parameters need to be!
Do Not to buy new cars there is little point, the loss of value is to costly.

1, Buy well bomb proof cars with a strong personality eg MG, Volvo, Peugeot and Japanese cars that sell well when you have finished with them.
2, Insure well in case you break it.

It worked quite well even it there were a were a few lemons.

I have a 20 year old Subaru with 111000+ miles. I expect to get at least half that many more on it unless something dire happens.



I also want to note that the first time I ever actually hailed a cab was a Black Cab in London, 1985.

Anyone who owns a car here, in this city, is either mad, or comutes to London for work, I guess, or commutes elsewhere I guess... I'm assuming the average car speed, during the day is about 2 MPH, given we often end up getting off the then beating it the next half mile down the road, to the turning off to near where we live, as the traffic is so slow Eventually the aweful traffic here, will I think make us move somewhere else, not just the polution, but the noise is just endless If trying to get to the rail station here, for say an early morning train at 10 AM, or thereabouts, you'd want a cab, or to set off in a car, 45 minutes before the train, at the very latest, if on foot, you can leave 20 minutes before th train leaves, as you'll walk there so much faster than a car can get there through the traffic if only people would or could decide where they needed to live, to work, and then, like actually live there... everyday people from here commute by train, and car, into London, or, indeed out to other citys, towns, etc, and simularly, all the people who work here, who can't afford to live here, drive t two hours into the city and get charged £25 Per day to park, in order to work here, at low paid jobs

Good point 2legs
Fortunately I have never worked in London or any other city, the closest I got to a city center was 9 miles from Barcelona, so my experience of city workplaces is limited.

Nothing is within walking distance in Texas.

I hope your WC (bog in UK english) is

Sometimes they can be a fur piece down the road (over yonder in Texas English).

You can say that again

If you do, I won't listen.

Everything Has to be somewhere

I've driven in Cambridge. It really is only worth doing if you're not in a hurry, as 2legs says. Cycling is probably hardly any quicker.

Here in provincial Southern Germany, I cycle most short distances, and there is a tram/train line which is far enough away from our house not to be a nuisance, noise-wise, but near enough to walk to, even with a suitcase.

If we have to take a really early train, or there is not a connection to the local main station from the village at an appropriate time, I will phone for a taxi the night before.

I've never waved a cab down - wouldn't dare! Although my sister did once, when we were standing in London in the pouring rain.

And once, even in our one-horse town, after the university's summer party, I stumbled out of a pub at 3 or 4 am, and fell practically right into a taxi, who, miracle of miracles, was free.

No idea how Uber works, but I doubt if it exists out here in the sticks. My son uses it, but, then, he lives in Silicon Valley.

It works through a mobile app. Your billing info is in the app. You decide to get a ride and open the app. It will show nearby drivers on a map and give you estimated times for them to get to you. You also get some information regarding the vehicle and driver (ratings), select one, wait. The app will display an icon showing the vehicle in transit on a map and alert you when it arrives. You hop in, go to your destination, and the fare is transferred through the app to the driver (with a large percentage going to the company). The fare can vary greatly depending on demand. It uses some mystical algorithm to calculate rates on the fly.

These are people's personal vehicles that they keep up (or don't) out of their own pockets. They are considered independent contractors so they get no benefits or base pay. And it significantly undercuts the local cab companies. (Which, you may consider good or bad. I, personally, feel it's just another way for workers to make less while profits soar.)


It works particularly well out here "in the sticks" as traditional cab companies take a very long time to dispatch cabs while an Uber is likely near by.

Good thread

There are two factors to my experience of taxis - as I am disabled, I went to school by taxi for some years as I couldn't get on the school bus, plus my dad is a big fan of taxis and has been since he was a yuppie in the 1980s. In London if we needed to go more than 2 miles, taxis were the only way to travel with him - buses and the Tube were not an option.

It was a novelty for me in 2000 when I went on a London bus for the first time (with my mum) and we found an accessible Tube stop to get us to the Millennium Dome. However, the journey via the accessible Tube stop took 2 hours in total - for the return trip we got a taxi and got to the station in 20 minutes...

I don't find taxis the easiest, though, especially ones that you have to pre-book. Some turned up ridiculously early to take us to the station/airport to go on holiday, so my parents made us leave earlier than planned, even though we had already planned to leave early enough for contingency time, so it was always a rush instead of a plan. Then when my adapted car broke down one time I had to rely on taxis and there were two occasions when the taxi couldn't find me - it took me an hour to push my wheelchair 2 miles home each time because the taxi company wouldn't answer the phone...

On my holiday this week, I was pleased that all the journeys I did by taxi were about £5 each, so not as expensive as I had been expecting, but it was a challenge to get the taxi companies to answer the phone at times... I achieved my missions, anyway - I saw buses in the distance, but never found a stop, so I couldn't have done as much as I did without the taxis

Once in a great while I travel abroad. If my return flight gets to Logan Airport late at night, I will take a taxi home rather than run the risk that the subway lines have closed down for the night.