Letters: Uber a much more pleasant experience than a cab ride

I JUST READ about the plight of the taxi drivers in light of Uber's ever-growing presence in our city. I took interest in the article because I recently took my wife out to dinner to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. We live in South Philadelphia, and we took an UberX to a fine restaurant in Old City. I used Uber for the first time about two years ago, and now it is my go-to, anytime I have a need. While I ordered our ride during surge pricing, I still paid only $10.81. The ease in which a ride is ordered is great; the price is right; and I much prefer the ride in someone's fairly new, mostly very clean vehicle instead of the isolated, uncomfortable ride of a taxicab.

What makes all this relevant is how the Uber experience compares with the taxicab experience. As we exited our restaurant, a taxi pulled up and I instinctively hailed it. I can't say the experience was horrible, but, in contrast to my Uber ride, the same distance only two hours earlier, it was subpar. Anyone who has taken both forms of transportation knows what I'm talking about.

The cherry on top of all of this is that my taxicab ride, with 15 percent tip, cost me $20, almost double what my Uber ride was. Also, as an Uber rider, I had no need to reach for my wallet, adding to ease of the experience. On the contrary, with the cab ride, I had to use my debit card with a chip three times (always a charm) before completing the payment and exiting the cab.

The bottom line is that, on a human level, it is sad what these cabdrivers are experiencing as a result of riders' choosing Uber, which is clearly a superior service. As long as Uber offers a better experience at a lower price, using Uber when you need to get around is clearly the way to go.

Chris Capelli

Philadelphia

Trump's outreach

to Hispanic voters

I have to laugh over creation of the National Hispanic Advisory Council for Donald Trump, which seeks to facilitate outreach from the Republican standard-bearer's campaign to the Hispanic community.

It makes as much sense as Adolf Hitler establishing a council for outreach to Jews. Trump's group is likely to be just as successful as Hitler would have been.

Oren M. Spiegler

Upper Saint Clair, Pa.

School drinking water

Praise to the School District for providing clean drinking water for children and staff ("City schools get water hydration stations this fall"), but don't take it for granted. Teachers and students initiated the push for these "hydration stations." And, let's not forget, the district tried to strip water fountains from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers contract in 2013.

What place do water fountains have in a teacher's contract? Quality of work items, such as telephones, copy machines, caps on class size and drinking fountains were placed in the contract because they were not always a given in our city's schools. The union had to fight for them.

Reducing stressors on children, particularly those exacerbated by conditions of poverty, is critical to address the hierarchy of needs that enables children to concentrate and learn in school. By providing water, nutrition, counselors, librarians, nurses and adequate staffing to meet basic needs, we help create quality learning environments.

Tom Quinn, teacher

Philadelphia