I hope I’m not back-in-my-daying this too much with this post but I’m writing it anyway:
The bus from Drinking Liberally to my apartment has been rerouted so now the best stop is like 10 blocks away from my apartment. It hasn’t been a bad walk the last few times I’ve taken it, but a few nights ago I was already dragging a bit. I had walked to Drinking Liberally when it was still pretty hot out, and I was out too late. 10 blocks was sort of that middle distance where it’s too short to call a cab or an get an Uber but I thought to m’self “if I see a cab, I’ll hail one.”
I didn’t see a cab until I was a block away from my apartment. I feel like even 5 years ago there were enough cabs out downtown — even at 11:30 on a weekday — that I would have caught one. Maybe this is me misremembering things, maybe it’s the route I took home, maybe it was just coincidence and I would have caught a cab most times.
Certainly, this personal story of one night isn’t data in any sense. But it does feel like now that Uber and Lyft are out there there are fewer cabs to be hailed. Maybe from a consumer’s point of view that’s a fine tradeoff for the advantages of ride sharing, but it is an issue. I’m not sure what the solution is.
I haven’t seen the new DL location yet. What’s parking like there? I sure as hell ain’t hopping there from my burrow. I’m too old for that.
@ Roger,
I haven’t driven to it yet, but I haven’t heard anyone complain about finding parking. It’s pretty far North, so there isn’t that much hill traffic.
There are, in fact, more cabs then there used to be. City of Seattle issued a few more licenses a few years ago, and most licensed cabs do operate 2 or 3 shifts a day, extending into the wee hours of the morning.
But then, I’ve never been able to hail a cab in a reasonable length of time in Seattle. Now that it’s around I use Uber, evil empire that they are, simply because I can rely on it when everything else lets me down.
@2 Maybe I’ll show up there one of these days, if I can ever get over my medical discomforts.
Where is the new location?
“Pretty far north”?
What’s Northgate? The Arctic Circle?
But it does feel like now that Uber and Lyft are out there there are fewer cabs to be hailed.
Fewer deaths from sepsis now that we have access to antibiotics, too.
@1 As a mid-westerner who has not been able to shake the comfort of taking my own horse and tying it up outside, the Roanoake is a very accessible venue from the north end. Easy access and escape to I-5, and, as there is not a lot going on in that area, there has always been plenty of free street parking out front or around the corner when I’ve gone. There is a bit of traffic, but again, not much there so the curbs are pretty open.