After being redirected by Yellow Cab because my fare wasn't going to be significant enough, I found Thunder Express Cab on my handy Yelp App. They had the most reviews and the highest ratings. Now I can see why. I called the dispatcher and asked him if I could get a ride from my apartment half a mile to Bart because I had a sprained knee.. "No problem" he says "are you ready now?" Five minutes later I was at Bart. Awesome.. Thank you Muthana.. read more

Service- 5 stars Dog Friendly - 5 stars!! It was late Saturday night when I realized that I had forgotten to coordinate an airport shuttle for the following day from Hayward to SFO for two people and a yappy poodle puppy. I desperately searched Yelp and took a chance with Thunder Express. My bet paid off...Muthanna was FANTASTIC! He arrived right on time and zipped us over the San Mateo bridge to get to SFO in no time. We were so impressed with both Muthanna's service and prices, that we reserved an airport pick-up when we returned (calling at the last minute the night before - again). He was on airport property when we landed and came right over to pick us up once we had our bags. Muthanna is very friendly, giving us lots of restaurant suggestions and telling stories about his kids. He was a good sport with our puppy who is not too friendly around strangers. I think he usually serves the Berkeley area but was more than willing to come to Hayward. His rates were far less than a dedicated airport limo company I had called. We will definitely use him again!! read more

I love Oakland, I really do. BUT one of my biggest gripes with Oakland is that getting a cab anywhere outside of Downtown can be a b*tch and a half. After the debacle of dealing with Friendly Cab prior to calling Thunder Express, I was in desperate need of a cab to Prizefighter (I was thirsty and keeping a friend waiting), so on a whim I called Thunder Express. I reached a dispatcher and asked for a time to dispatch a cab to my place and he said about ten minutes. With baited breath, I agreed and sat and waited. Nine minutes later, the driver called me to notify me that he was downstairs. YAY! I ran down and as I was walking up to my cab, the driver greeted me and popped open my door for me, while still in his seat. Smooth and classy move. At this point, I'm already impressed. I gave him my destination and address and we had a VERY lengthy conversation about the Friendly Cab establishment and apparently what happened to me (see my previous review for the story) happens all the time with them. Well that's pretty upsetting to hear as a cab-catching-consumer here in Oakland. At any rate, the driver (I wish I remembered his name to give him props) got me to Prizefighter, at which I swiped my card and tipped him 20% just for being reliable and awesome. I will continue to use Thunder Express for all of my taxi needs and hope they are as constantly reliable as they were for my first ride. read more

This review is long overdue as I've been a faithful customer of Muthanna's for almost a year now. As a bartender without a car of my own, I have the need for taxi service A LOT -- both for my customers and for myself. I complained for a year about the fact that "No one knows how to drive a cab in Oakland," as I had been repeatedly let down by Oakland cabbies displaying any combination of the following: A) Having no idea how to navigate Oakland -- to an absurd degree B) Unbelievably rude -- or just spend the whole ride hitting on you C) Unreliable (don't show, are late, or -- my favorite -- simply don't pick up the phone) D) Overpriced Muthanna knows Oakland, is always on time (or early), incredibly nice, funny, friendly, and will absolutely bend over backwards for his clientèle. He has family who drive cabs as well, so if he happens to not be available when you call, he'll send a brother or cousin. He has gone above and beyond for me on a number of occasions, but I'll just name one, last night: I went for drinks with a friend and then walked home, leaving my friend to call his regular cabbie to get himself to the other side of Oakland. His regular guy didn't pick up, so he called a few others and could NOT get a cab. He texted me, kind of freaked out because he had an early meeting. So I, from home, called Muthanna. He was unavailable but took my friend's number, made a call, and within minutes my friend was on his way home. I scored big points with my friend and Muthanna scored (even more) big points from me. This is the kind of guy you want to give your business to. Take it from someone who has tried EVERY cab company in Oakland -- you will eventually be let down by everyone other than Muthanna. Also -- if you're ever fortunate enough to meet his 4-year-old son, you're in for a real treat! read more

Great experience, wonderful customer service and quick. I was in a jam and needed a taxi, NONE AT LAKE MERRIT BART, and I yelped and google really quick and I found Thunder Express. Called in and was picked up in the 5 mins that they said they would. It was a black taxi, which looked more like a police car to me. But the driver was really sweet. He took me to my location in less than 10 minutes without breaking any laws or traffic violations, which is a plus for safe driving. The inside was clean and well kept. He did minimal small talk which I appreciated since he wasn't trying to pry into my life and learn my life story before the ride was over. Exceptional service, I will be calling them for my taxi needs if ever needed again! But if you're stranded at Lake Merritt Bart Station, they are the best people to call for your transporting needs! read more

Thunder Cab, HO! Friendly, fast, non-nonesense! AND slightly reminiscent of saturday morning cartoons! read more

I arrived at Lake Merritt BART around 8:45 on a Friday night and there were no taxis to be found. I called Bayporter Cab based on its good Google reviews but they said the soonest they'd be able to send someone out was 15 minutes. Next I called Friendly Cab and the phone rang at least 15 times without anyone answering. Checked on Yelp and saw Thunder Express with very mixed reviews and decided to give them a call. Someone answered on the second ring and was very friendly and said they were sending a cab out. Sweet. 17 minutes passed with no signs of a taxi... Then, a Moonlighting Cab Co car pulled up and parked right in front of me. I asked if he was open and gladly hopped in, even though I have never stood up a taxi I called for before without calling and letting them know. My main gripe isn't that the wait was 17+ minutes, but the fact that they gave me the impression someone would arrive shortly. If the nearest available taxi was not close, they should have given me a quote on time (like Bayporter did) so I can decide whether I want to wait or try a different company. read more

Recently had to take a taxi to Bart for a trip and Faiz picked me up, he arrived early and was very polite. When I came back from my trip I called him on my way to Bart, he was there as well to pick me up as scheduled. I would highly recommend his service as reliable, punctual and excellent. read more

I mean the below review as nicely as possible. They said that though it would be close they'd be there in time to catch my flight to OAK. This turned out not to be the case and I missed my flight due to their inability to say No when they actually couldn't make it in time. read more

I found these guys on Yelp and ended up very pleased. I had a 6am flight to the airport, so I needed to sure they were able to pick me up by 4:30am. He showed up right on time and didn't have a dreary attitute for picking me up so early. The next timeI need a cab to the airport, I've found my man. read more

Great service! Driver started his own taxi company focused on timely arrivals and repeat business. Definitely recommend. He went out of his way to get us to the airport in time for our flight when another cab company was a no show. read more

I heart Mo!! (I call him Mo for short). This is a one of a kind taxi driver. Mo will do whatever it takes to get you where you need to go. He has a big enough van for all your friends and then some. He will play fun music and he's not only my #1 cabbie, he's also my friend. I've lived in Oakland for almost 5 years and I've never been able to find a reliable (and safe) cab company. Several experiences have lead to my friends getting drugged and being super duper late or the cab not showing up at all. Not to mention utter lack of friendly service. I understand there may sometimes be a language barrier, but I just don't enjoy sitting behind a cage while you try to make idle chit chat. Mo is super friendly and has a wonderful story if you get to know him. Keep him in your speed dial when you need a cab because he is always reliable! read more

I recently moved near the lake and I thought these guys had great reviews! so when i called them the day before thanksgiving to schedule a pick up to the airport on turkey morning at the obscene hour of 4:15am, and i was assured that they would be there, i actually believed them! I planned to give them a very large tip for the crazy hour on a holiday. fast forward: 4:15 am, 4:17am, 4:20am....called them, no answer. 4:30am: no answer. They left me stranded. by then it was too late to call another cab. thank god i have a car and had to end up driving myself and paying for parking. too bad my return flight went to sfo and i had to bart back and then manage to get myself to the offsite parking i found the last available parking spot in. i don't usually complain and i've grown to have a love/hate relationship with this website due to their harassment of businesses. but i still read it and i wanted to warn people out there that if they have somewhere important to be, it'd be wise not to rely on these guys. Next time I will use Marwan, if he will travel to my new location because he arrives 5 mins early for your airport pickup. read more

I was pleased with my experience. I arrived at West Oakland Bart Station on Thanksgiving, around 9pm, expecting there to be a line of taxis, but I was wrong. There was none there... So I went on Yelp and search for "taxi cab" and 'Thunder Express Cab' was the second on the list. I called, and the man I spoke to gave me an approximate time of 15-20 minutes. It was a smooth ride home. Accurate promise time and a smooth ride home. Thanks. read more

My wife and had the pleasure of using this gentleman's service from the Amtrak station at Jack London Square to our hotel in Fisherman's Wharf and back. Great and friendly service and will hire him again when we return to that area. read more

Great service, I called mid afternoon and they came in 15 minutes and it was only for a 12 minute ride. Drove safely too! Only criticism is that the car was a little beat, would not want to drive to Vegas in it but around Oakland was fine. read more

Used them recently to get a ride to the bart. Called the night before, and they indicated should call the morning of to get the ride. Driver was very nice and eager to please. I got to the bart and realized it wasn't open yet, so called back to get a ride to the SFO airport they were more than happy to oblige - the damage was about 74$ plus tip = $80. Thank you to the kind woman also waiting at the bart station who agreed to ride and split this with me! driver had some difficulty getting onto 880 around west oakland (if you know the area, this is a confusing area, and there was construction at some of the on ramps). He ended up restarting the meter to account for lost time which I thought was very cool. more recently, called and asked for them to meet me at lake merrit bart. "Can you meet me there in 5 minutes?" "um, [sounding dubious] I can have a driver there in 10 minutes" when I arrived there in 10 minutes there were several other cabs there, but noone from Thunder Express. I was a bit confused whether to wait or not, but figured they were not there when they said, and so took another cab. 10 minutes after that (i.e., 20 minutes) I got a call from Thunder express, which I missed, but they didn't leave a message. pros: nice driver clean well maintained cabs they show up no b/s no hassle driver knows the area pretty well safe driving cons: -like most cab services, their idea of time is a little stretchy. ( When they say 10 minutes, they usually mean 10 - 20 minutes.) -not as efficient drivers or with the region as NY taxicab drivers, but then again this ain't NY I would recommend them and plan to use them again. I would expect them to arrive about 5-10 minutes later than when they say they will, and would factor this into the timing. read more

I called this cab company at 12:30 at night for an early morning pickup after being put on hold for a long time by another cab company. This driver took me to the Oakland airport from urban Oakland at 6:30 AM. He was promptly on time and really nice. First, I told him I found him on Yelp and when we were settling up he said there's a 15% discount for Yelp. Then, when he was making change for the tip, I told him to keep all but five bucks and he said, "No, that's too much, I didn't earn that much. I'll keep five and you take seven." He was right, but it was so early I was thinking quite yet. How's that for a great guy? read more

Comfortable car, friendly dude, fast ride, good price...what else is there?!

When my daughter and I were heading to Oakland, I called this company up to meet our train. My phone call was not answered and they had no voice mail. Just as I was about to call another company, they called me back. Obviously they have caller ID. I arranged for them to meet us at Jack London Square in Oakland to take us to our hotel in Pleasanton. They called me when they got there and I told the driver the the train we were one was going to be late and he said no problem, that he would wait. We got there and he was there, helped us with our luggage and got us to our hotel in Pleasanton. He seemed to take the long way around saying that any other way we would hit traffic, but it seemed that, on a Thursday night, rush hour should have been over at 7:15, but I let it go. Anyway, we decided to use them to get back to the train station in Oakland 2 days later when we were going to leave. I called them the night before and spoke to the other driver within the company. I explained to him that we needed to be back at the train station in Oakland by 8:15 the next morning and that we wanted to be picked up at 7:30. He said it back to me saying that he would pick us up at 8:15 and I corrected him, telling him again that we needed to be picked up at 7:30. He seemed to understand. At 7:25 my daughter and I stepped out of the hotel to wait for the ride back to the Amtrak station in Oakland. We waited...and waited. at 7:35 I called to make sure that they were on their way. It just rang and rang. I waited another couple of minutes and called again. No answer and no voice mail. Called again right away and, once again, nothing. I went into the hotel and they arranged for a cab for us and he got there within 7 minutes, got us to the train station quickly and cost $20 cheaper than the ride to the hotel. Don't use this company. Not only did they not pick us up at the arranged time, they never called me to apologize or even explain why they didn't show up. This is NOT how a company should be run!! **I just got off the phone with the company. The person I spoke with, not the owner, apologized and offered me a $40 credit. That doesn't do me any good since I won't be going back up there or using a cab service when I do. What I told him would make me happy is that the driver that left us stranded should be fired. He said that he would make sure that would happen, but I doubt it. Also, he told me that they are not supposed to take reservations going from Pleasanton to Oakland. Let him know that obviously the drivers weren't trained well.** read more

Because "We charge a 35 dollar minimum from San Leandro to the oakland airport". No thanks. read more

I flew into SFO from the East Coast on a late-landing flight and didn't get to my home BART station, West Oakland, until ten to midnight. I had read about Thunder Express Taxi on Yelp, and their service was very well reviewed, so I gave them a call. The driver (I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't get his name), picked up on the first ring, told me he'd be there in ten minutes, and arrived in nine. He was quick, cordial, extremely helpful with my multi-faceted and rather heavy luggage, and made no complaint when I asked him to drop me less than a mile away. In short, Thunder Express in every way lived up to the great reviews I had read on Yelp. Because I have had bad luck with taxis in the past, when I was safely delivered to my doorstep, I offered the driver a fairly generous tip. "It's too much," he said, and tried to argue me down (very politely), something that I have never experienced before. Thanks to Thunder Express for bringing a very long day of travel to a very stress-free, easy, end. read more

WooHoo, we were picked up in a sweet Towne car, on Christmas morning! JLS to Oakland Airport...Fast, Safe and Super friendly driver too!!

These guys are not your average cab drivers. They are taking their trade to another stratus. Friendly, punctual, honest and great guys. Mo and Faiz are as down to earth as they come while maintaining a level of service at a high calibre. I have found my cabbies for life. read more

The driver was late and didn't even know how to get to Oakland airport. Also, the driver was texting while driving.

People always say Oakland is like Brooklyn. I'm from New York, and I moved to Oakland 4 weeks ago (with San Francisco and Santa Cruz in between), and believe me: Oakland is no Brooklyn. Take the cab situation. Basically, there is no cab situation. It is next to impossible to get a bleeping cab. I say bleeping because I don't know if I can say what I want to say or risk having this review deleted for profanity. And I want this review to be seen. I see the rave reviews of this company about how THIS company is different and the cabs actually DO come, and don't blanch when you say you're in Oakland. It is now Sunday night - Labor Day weekend - and I would think I'm not the only person who would like a ride home from a BBQ at 10pm. But not in Oakland. Driving someone somewhere on Labor Day Sunday night is apparently unheard of by cab companies here. And Thunder Express is no exception "So sorry, mem. No kebs in Oakland. No kebs tonight." Oakland is most definitely not Brooklyn--I mean, really: where are we, Peoria?! 2 stars instead of 1 because Yelp often hides very low ratings and also the dispatcher was very nice. Other cab companies in Oakland are as endearing as the Soup Nazi (i.e., "NO KEB FOR YOU!!") read more

The BEST! I have had great experiences. I have recommended to friends that they call Thunder Express and all have been pleased as well.

Awesome! Thunder Express gave me a drunken night out with no problems and no DD needed (which is usually me, anyway). Plus when they picked me up (in a super-timely way) from my house to deliver me to the club, I got to ride in a slick black Towncar. Fancy. Clean. Leather. Friendly driver. Better than any SF cab I ever took when I lived there. He drove me from my house on the east side of Lake Merritt to downtown Oakland. read more

I arrived at the Lake Merritt Bart station on a Saturday with no taxi in sight. After standing a couple of minutes of watching the sparsity of cars drive by, I decide to call this company based on the reviews on Yelp. Muthanna arrived within the amount of time he told me would and was even kind enough to call me to make sure he knew which customer had called him. Apparently, I was waiting for him from the wrong direction, and as he drove up, unbeknownst to me, two other people had asked him if he was available. He turned them down once he learned that they weren't the one who called him. What a guy! read more

Getting a cab at the West Oakland BART is one of the most annoying things about Oakland. I called them earlier today after a long flight (too long) and they arrived within 8 minutes. They even accept credit cards which is a major plus for those of you who are familiar with the east bay cab culture. Call 'em up. The driver was super nice too!! read more

Cab driver was 30 min late, then insisted on stopping to get gas. We nearly missed our flight, though made it only bc of the dizzying dash down 880. Felt like we might die. Never ever again. read more

Heres the deal. If you want a taxi ride with someone awesome, use Muthanna, if you would rather ride with some weird dude that constantly looks at you through the rearview, use any other service. But seriously, This guy is always on time AND he is quiet possibly one of the friendliest people I come in contact with on a regular basis. So, for those of you who hate reading, heres the breakdown Thunder Express Taxi Cab = Legit. Other taxi services in the East Bay/City = No good. Trust me, I drink a lot. read more

Aziz was an exceptional driver and communicator!!!! I was so drained after a flight delay, a bus delay, and a roommate who last minute flaked on me to pick me up from the greyhound. As soon as I called Aziz, he was able to instantly quote me on a price and showed up within 10 minutes. He even thanked me for selecting this company. This is clean, quick, cheap taxi cab service at it's finest. read more

I called in and ordered a taxi to pick me up a few hours before I needed to leave. Not only did they NOT show up, they ignored every call I made to inquire as to why they didn't show. DO NOT USE THEIR SERVICES. read more

Two stars for this company because they were ok in the past. Sadly, It looks like the owner do not care about his clients any more. Not showing up it's a very unprofessional behavior and to be honest I did not expect from this company. Next time I will call another cab company or I will get on the bus and if it's too late to catch the bus then I will walk., jog, swim or whatever it takes to get home without using their services. I'll simply do anything to avoid the Thunder Express Taxi Cab. read more

All of my experiences with Thunder Cab have been fantastic. They are fast, super friendly and have a can do attitude. They've picked me up twice now with 3 people and two bikes. He just bungeed them into the trunk. Perfect for when one friend is without wheels. They also come out to East O anytime. I definitely recommend using their cab company. read more

As past reviewers I really was looking for a reliable service to call when I needed a lift. I didnt have time to deal with no-shows or late-shows or attitude or anything else. I called up Thunder Express based on the Yelp reviews and I was so impressed I thought I would leave my own. Mo takes ownership of his service and is no-nonsense, prompt and service oriented while being friendly and helpful.. I know have his card on my fridge for any airport shuttle needs or taxi rides - try him out! read more

I love thunder express taxi cab. They usually come within 15minutes to my house and less if I am around downtown Oakland and takes me anywhere I want to go. The drivers are friendly, professional, and outgoing. I don't really like the mini van because it is red and doesn't look cool at all but the mini limo is pretty nice with leather seats, extra tinted windows, and plenty of leg room. So I always request the mini limo. Hassim is very nice and we always have wonderful conversations! If you build a rapport with them they will give you priority (or so it seems). They are on my #2 speed dial. I highly recommend thunder express taxi cab for all your last minute transportation needs. read more

Fast and friendly service-I couldn't of asked for more. I'm starting to spread the word to my friends that Thunder Express delivers.

I cannot say enough good things about them. I called them when I was getting into the train station and they were there within five minutes. The driver was very friendly which made for easy conversation (not creepy conversation though). I would definitely recommend them and I will be calling them anytime I need a taxi in the East Bay. Oh and the price was very reasonable. read more