Curb - Request & Pay for Taxis

I reserved my ride in advance being that it was extremely early morning and would still be dark. The driver arrived on time, appeared nice and loaded my bags in the trunk. I am not from the area but several minutes into the ride I noticed the driver making unusual turns, different than the driver I used upon arrival. I opened Google maps and noticed time was increasing instead of decreasing. I watched the app to determine if he was taking an alternative route only to begin panicking. The driver ends up down a dark alley in an industrial area that housed large and medium shipping trucks. He then comes to a stop and begins looking around as if waiting on someone. I unlocked the door preparing to run and simultaneously asked where were we and how much time to the airport I sent family the ride info and called someone to alert them of the situation. After stuttering for a second, I see him restart the GPS and begin driving. Then he states it would be 11 minutes to arrive at my destination. My family stayed on the phone with me and tracked my location. Upon arrival the driver apologized for scaring me stating he was trying to avoid tolls to save me $7. Why couldn’t he have said this during the ride. If he knew I was scared, why not provide an explanation to calm the passenger. This was a lie and only God knows what the intended plan was if I didn’t act swiftly. I would never use this ride share service again. Ladies be mindful, get off your devices and let someone know your whereabouts.

I use Curb pretty often both in NYC and Chicago. In NYC, it’s great for getting a cab from Manhattan back to Brooklyn (or around Manhattan), less so for calling a cab to the outer boroughs to begin with. It’s almost always much cheaper than Uber/Lyft, and it’s nice to support taxi cabs, but you do have to not be in a big rush. The cabs often take longer to get to you (unless you’re in a very dense area of Manhattan). But all the cab drivers I’ve been matched with through the app are very accommodating and kind, and often more flexible than Uber/Lyft on some things (e.g. seating 4 passengers in a normal-sized car). I’ve never had any payment problems. In Chicago, it’s a lot more hit and miss, but when it works it’s great! I got a cab to O’Hare from Hyde Park at $30 less than Uber/Lyft were charging. I just knew to expect a ~15 min wait so I planned accordingly. Tl;dr almost always cheaper than Uber/Lyft, but definitely longer wait times & more spotty availability; plan accordingly and you’ll be fine.

In NYC growing up, I never took yellow cabs because we knew they wouldn’t stop for us, or would refuse to drive us if we were going to Outer Boroughs, or would hike up meters on us. When ride apps got popular I was a huge fan, because drivers had to commit to the ride you requested to a static price you agreed to pay in advance. While Curb does manage to be cheaper than Uber or Lyft by a decent amount, the few times I’ve tried to use it on the past week have felt like dealing with yellow cab racism all over again. These drivers will drop your ride if they see you going to brooklyn (my friend from the bronx has had the same problem), and twice now I’ve been on the phone with a driver using my work voice only for them to drive right past me and cancel when they physically see me. Twice now despite putting in my numbered address, drivers have followed the terrible Curb GPS, tried to drop me off in the wrong place late at night, and then argued with me about it. I’m coping w a back issue getting to and from work in Manhattan and trying to use this for the last two weeks has been depressing. Truly worth just sticking to Uber or Lyft, which obviously have their own problems in excess & ridiculous surges but with way less rider discrimination at the very least. At least I get in a car and get where I asked to go, which I think is the bare minimum to ask from a ride service.