Otherwise Absolute Quality

I tried Uber for the first time here in Beijing today, for a morning’s meeting in the city.  And, a sure sign that I’m hooked, I used the service to come back home as well.   In the U.S. the etiquette seems to be that the driver accepts the ride and comes to you straight away without any contact.  I texted Mr. Chen my housing name and number and waited.  The toy car, which is a primal, boyish UI feature, inched its way toward me.  He called.  I clarified.  Before too long, he arrived. 

The first thing I noticed was the driver’s funny accent.  “Where are you from?”  “Shandong.” “Really?  Where in Shandong?” “Rizhao.”  This would never happen in a Beijing cab.  Beijing cabbies are from Beijing.  Beijing cabbies have a Beijing brogue.  I am simultaneously enthralled to consider the widening pool of provincial possibilities that will be part of my regular ride to the city, and wistful of the dilution of the otherwise absolute quality of a metered ride in Beijing.

And, as is the case in New York or San Francisco, Uber is a lot cheaper.  The ride down is normally eighty renminbi.  This was a little more than half that.  I’ll have to read something about how it is they pulled this off legally, without a compromise to the brand name, or interface.  Must the data collected here be shared and stored here?  Are the drivers all contractors?  Certainly they’re not employees. 

The ride home was fine, eventually.  The first guy answered right away and when he called, I explained where I was and where I wanted to go and he hemmed and said: “I’m not very familiar with that area.”  On queue I said: “It doesn’t matter.  I know it and I’ll tell you how to go.”  He hawed.  I said, “Then why did you waste my time?” and hung up.   This was an Uber with Chinese characteristics.  I had to fiddle to make the first guy’s face disappear.  The next guy popped up and it suggested he was seventeen minutes away, which seemed a ludicrous amount of time to consider waiting.  But from the navigation tool I could tell he wasn’t far.  I called again and explained where I’d be.  It was very cold out today.  But he didn’t keep me waiting, once the little toy car icon turned left on to Gong Ti Bei Lu.