Important information - this is how Laclede Cab works, as explained to me by the driver: You place an order for a cab. The order goes out to drivers in the area. They individually choose whether or not to pick up you up. Laclede Cab, as a company, does NOT guarantee that someone will pick you up. Realistically, someone will *eventually*... but there is certainly no guarantee that you will be picked up at the time you requested.
It also doesn't matter how far in advance you book. One would think that, if you book the night before, your cab would be virtually guaranteed to arrive on time - or at least within a 10 minute window... not so.
My experience:
I booked a cab for 7:30am, using the website, the night before my 8am doctor's appointment. (The doctor's office is only an 10 minute drive away, but it's not very metro-accessible and I'm a college student without a car.) I figured 7:30am was too early for 10 minutes, and that I'd regret not requesting 7:45 once I had 20 minutes to kill in the waiting room... oh, how wrong I was.
When they haven't arrived by 7:35am, I call just to make sure that someone is on the way. The woman on the phone says that my "order hadn't been picked up yet" and hangs up immediately after I say "okay" without clarifying what that meant. I decide to wait a little longer, but by 7:45, I'm starting to worry and call again. She says that the order still hasn't been "picked up". At this point I call another cab company to book (they give a 10 minute estimate), then call Laclede back to cancel. They say, "are you sure, they're almost there", and I grudgingly accept, thinking they can't be TOO far off, and call the other cab company back to cancel that order. It's now 7:50am.
Laclede Cab (automated message) calls me at 8am to say that my cab has arrived. They're nowhere in sight - I'm standing outside the building. I've been standing just inside the doorway for the past half hour and have not seen a cab. I call them to ask where they are, why I got the call, and then the cab (finally) shows up at 8:05. So apparently "arrived" means "almost there" and "almost there" means "15 minutes away". Great.
The driver was awesome though, and totally brightened my morning - so 2 stars overall.
This is only the third time I've taken Laclede Cab, and they were super timely the first two times - one of which was also booked online the night before. I do like that they have a short phone wait and online booking. But as someone who basically only takes cabs to get to and from medical appointments, 2/3 on time (and 35 minutes late when *not* on time) isn't good enough.
tl,dr; If you want your 10 minute trip to take 45 minutes, take metro/bus, it's cheaper and more reliable. read more