Wagga's Uber versus Taxi experiment: Which one should you choose for a ride?

To save you the trouble, The Daily Advertiser conducted a little experiment. 

At 5.02pm, journalists Claudia Farhart dialled for a taxi and Annie Lewis an Uber – both headed for Joyes Hall, Charles Sturt University. 

A taxi arrived at 5.07pm at the Peter Street offices and made it to the destination at 5.26pm, costing $42.42.

Claudia noted the taxi driver took the long way to Joyes Hall, by taking the second exit after the Gobba bridge. 

At 5.02pm there were no Uber’s available and a trip was not confirmed until 5.11pm with the driver needing to complete another job first.

The car arrived at 5.33pm for pickup and arrived at Joyes Hall at 5.44pm, costing $20.38. 

So, which is better?

The taxi arrived quite quickly and only took 24 minutes including calling the ride, costing $42.42. The uber had a longer wait time of 31 minutes but at $20.38 was less than half the price of a taxi. 

In terms of usability, the Uber app tracks the driver and also provides a cost ahead of the booking whereas this information isn’t as readily available when calling for a taxi.

The taxi, however, does provide a text message when the driver is close to the designated pick up spot.

We also acknowledge Uber is only in its second day and is likely to grow as a company as time goes on. 

What it ultimately comes down to is what you prefer to save – time or money?

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