Thought it might be worth mentioning that you can actually use Uber to hail a regular taxi in a bunch of cities, including SF, Boston, Chicago, and Toronto. You do have to pay a guaranteed tip (which incentivizes the taxi drivers to take Uber dispatches), but in return you get the same race-blind properties of Uber at regular cab rates. Plus no dealing with "broken" credit card terminals...
And yes, obviously there is still inherent socioeconomic filtering that happens when you ask someone to use an expensive smartphone to hail a cab, but the phones will get cheaper, the apps will get better, and hopefully the level of accountability in the transportation ecosystem will continue to increase over time.
Thought it might be worth mentioning that you can actually use Uber to hail a regular taxi in a bunch of cities, including SF, Boston, Chicago, and Toronto. You do have to pay a guaranteed tip (which incentivizes the taxi drivers to take Uber dispatches), but in return you get the same race-blind properties of Uber at regular cab rates. Plus no dealing with "broken" credit card terminals...
And yes, obviously there is still inherent socioeconomic filtering that happens when you ask someone to use an expensive smartphone to hail a cab, but the phones will get cheaper, the apps will get better, and hopefully the level of accountability in the transportation ecosystem will continue to increase over time.