We’ve all been there. Freezing cold on a Friday at 2 a.m., waiting around for a cab that takes forever to come. Boston cabs can be pricey, costing about $.10 more in initial price and $.80 more per mile than New York cabs; and from my own experience, the cabs drivers don’t normally know their own way around Boston. With about seven cab companies available in the Boston metropolitan area, such as Metro Cab and Top Cab, some Boston University students question why they go through the hassle of trying to haul a cab in the first place. However, when it gets to that time at night when the T stops running, what other option do these students really have?

The best place to find a cab:

School of Education junior Sofia Gugliotta and School of Management junior Juliane Nyugen agree that the easiest place to hail a cab on campus is directly off of Commonwealth Avenue. Gugliotta said that she has waited up to 10 minutes for a cab to become available, which she called “ridiculous.” She also said that it is nearly impossible to get a cab between 2 a.m and 7 a.m. Nyugen said that she just picks a corner in the direction she is going in, and hopes that a cab will eventually show up.

Can you call ahead?

“Girls steal your cab if you call ahead. A cab driver will pull up to the side of the road and ask if they are the ones who called, and the girls will lie and say yes,” Nyugen said. “I only call when I am leaving from a certain apartment building, because the doorman usually calls for you and the cab shows up right in front.”

With new smartphone applications constantly springing up that help you find a cab, such as TaxiMagic and cab4me, cab riders can request a cab to their location, and even pay for it through their smartphone. The hope is to make the cab hailing experience more convenient and easier for the cab riders. However, Gugliotta said she probably wouldn’t use the app because like the cab drivers, she doesn’t think it would be very reliable.

End of the night gamble:

Hailing a cab at the end of the night, when some many other Boston residents are trying to do the same, can be difficult. Actually, difficult is an understatement. College of Communication sophomore Alex Hyken recalls a time when she had to ask a friend for a ride in the early hours of the morning, because the cab she called for never showed up:

“I waited until three in the morning for one that never came that I called at a house by Northeastern [University],” she said. “Me and my friend just waited for a cab to come and it was raining and we called like an hour later and it never showed up. Somebody at the party gave us a ride home.”

Yet, the only other option besides calling a cab is to walk. “At the end of the night I just walk with the hopes of the cab coming up on the side of me, which never happens. Most of the time that never works and they never come, which is really sad,” Gugliotta adds.

With the high prices, unreliable drivers and small amount of cabs available at any given hour, the benefits of hailing a taxi in Boston seem few. For BU students who have many Friday night cab experiences under their belts, the Boston cab scene seems to not be getting less frustrating.

“I only take a cab if I absolutely have to,” Gugliotta said. “But I try not to; its just not worth it.