Uber still tourists' go to taxi app in spite of London ban

In New York City Uber rides outnumber yellow cabs two-to-one. Photo / John Stillwell, Getty Images

There are few modes of transport like a taxi for making you feel as if 'you've arrived' at your destination. Flagging down a London black cab or battered, yellow Manhattan taxi was once a key part of a city break.

But times they are 'a changing. Increasingly people are reaching for their phone to use phone apps to catch a ride from a cabbie. Not quite as iconic, but far more convenient. For the rider at least.

Last year Kiwi tourists used the Uber app to summon cabs in 78 countries. Only drivers in Paraguay received no fares in NZ dollars.

The taxi-hailing app has revealed the top tourist destinations for riders around the world.

The top of the list in visits from taxis are both on the New York skyline, with The Empire State Building coming in first place followed by the viewing platform at Freedom Tower.

New York is the Uber capital of the world. With 500000 rides dispatched daily they outnumber yellow cabs two-to-one.

Catching a cab to skyscrapers seems a standout theme for Uber riders, with Dubai's Burj Khalifa coming in at number 7, Toronto's CN Tower in third and the Gustave Eiffel's iconic tower in Paris coming in fifth most visited by Uber.

It also appears many families are beginning their trip to Disney Land in Anaheim are beginning their holiday in an Uber cab.

1. Empire State Building, New York
2. Freedom Tower, New York
3. CN Tower, Toronto
4. Arc de Triomphe, Paris
5. Eiffel Tower, Paris
6. The Louvre, Paris
7. Burj Khalifa, Dubai
8. Disneyland, Anaheim
9. Buckingham Palace, London
10. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

Rounding off the top ten is Buckingham Palace at number nine – one presumes it's the only way to make a royal visit – and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in tenth.

While the figures expose our addiction to convenient city transport and potentially HRH's secret taxi binges – it also shows that the landscape for the way we get around a city holiday has changed drastically.

And it could soon be changed again. Transport for London stripped Uber of its operating licence for a "pattern of failures" that found them not to be "fit and proper" company to be ferrying tourists around the city.

With 3.5million passengers and 45000 drivers about to be locked out of the app, it's unlikely that Buck House will be appearing on next year's list.

It joins a list of cities and countries which – for better or worse – have decided to stick a pin in the ride hailing business.

Places where you can't catch an Uber

USA and Canada

The city of Austin has zero Uber drivers. Not as a result of a ban but because the app called it quits.

Meanwhile the states of Oregon and Alaska have lost their app-hailed taxi cabs.

Vancouver is the only Canadian city not to have embraced the mobile taxi revolution.

Europe

London joins a sway of cities who have said farewell to the ride hailing app, such as Nuremberg.

Italy might soon join Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary saying bye bye to Uber.

Asia

China has not allowed the San Francisco company in to compete with Didi Chuixing, the local version. Meanwhile Japan has yet to embrace the Uber revolution wholesale. There are drivers in Tokyo, but on a small scale.

Taiwan is without Uber coverage outside of Taipei and Singapore's city state is also Uber-less.

While you won't find many of the cabs in the rest of Indonesia, Bali has embraced the app.

Australia

Northern Territory was the final frontier for Uber until a ride hailing ban was overturned in 2018. Still, outside of Darwin, cabs are few and far between in Aussie's red centre. Best not to rely too heavily on rideshare apps.