5 Ways Uber Is Really Different From a Regular Taxi

Let's say you know you've got to be at the airport at 9 o'clock in the morning. The planners among us would call the airport while the coffee was brewing and ask for a cab to be sent over at, say, 8:15 a.m. The truly anal among us would call the night before. Those grasshoppers who trust the universe to provide for them would just stand at the curb at 8:30 a.m. and whistle real loud.

Uber doesn't really allow for any of that. You can only hitch an Uber ride via the service's app, and you cannot call ahead. You check the app a little before you want to leave and click on the next Uber driver who can get you there on time. No calling ahead, no whistling at the curb.

Some taxi drivers are chatty, and some are stoic. Same goes for riders. But there's never any mistaking the taxi driver for your friend. Driver in front, passenger in back, and sometimes a scratched-up window between the two.

Not so with Uber. It's like being picked up by a friend you never knew you had. You can sit in the front seat. If you've got luggage, it may go next to the driver's kids' toys in the trunk. You will almost certainly be called on to make a little small talk as a passenger.

At the end of the ride, driver and passenger both will be prompted by the Uber app to rate each other. The idea is to crowd-source out the crazies, so try to put up your least psychopathic public persona while in the passenger seat.

Taxis are regulated within an inch of their bright yellow lives, with a big red-tape bow on top. There can be only so many cabs on the streets, and only so many drivers can operate them. Thus the precious medallions, which can sell for as much as $1 million in NYC, that proclaim to the world this car has been approved by a real governmental agency to pick people up and drive them around for a fee.

Uber is neither constrained nor bound to any such regulation. There's no training, though there are now background checks. Uber thinks of itself as an eBay-like tech company in that it merely connects buyers and sellers, but Uber cars obviously pick people up and drive them around in the real world, not the virtual one, just like cabs. This leaves some uncomfortable wiggle room in the liability area when accidents happen and there's no medallion to act as a shield.

Uber uses GPS tracking for every ride its drivers give, so the system knows where you are at all times. You hop in and the driver punches the address into his phone for turn-by-turn directions and tracking. If your driver takes you down a dirt road and starts playing his "Dueling Banjos" Pandora station, don't worry. Uber knows where you are. Likewise, if your passenger gives you directions that lead to a dark, dead-end ally of the kind noir films are made of, Uber knows where you are. If you're in a cab, you better have the GPS in your own phone turned on if you want anyone to know where you are. If you're Julian Assange and trying to avoid capture by international police forces, you might want to avoid Uber altogether.

Uber is more expensive than a taxi. In fact, Uber will tell you that straight up. But since it's not paying for medallions or other regulatory fees, why pay more? According to Uber, passengers are getting "reliability, customer support ... style, and comfort." In most cases Uber cars arrive more quickly than taxis, saving time and frustration if not cold, hard cash. Style and comfort depend on the car and the refinement of your sensibilities.

Thanks to big data and the non-magic of algorithms, Uber knows when you want a car most, and it knows how much you're likely willing to pay for it. Uber uses surge pricing during rush hour, over holidays and in bad weather. The idea is to entice more Uber drivers to get out there and give rides, which means riders will be picked up more quickly. And, on the upside, your credit card is on file with Uber via the app. When the ride is over, you just hop out without that horrible haggle with the driver when you want to use a credit card. The driver's Uber app will tell the system what to charge you based on time and distance — just like a taxi, but a little more expensive.