SUPPORT TO OUR TEACHERS: SAMPLE DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY BY A FORMER STUDENT.

UBER TAXI IN the Dominican Republic

People normally hate it when they have to make it on time to a place and can’t rely on public
transportation or regular taxis. (GS). Sometimes when students have to come to university,
they experience similar problems. (D1) There are many options for public transportation, but
the fastest ones in our country are Taxis and Uber. (D2)There are three main aspects to
consider at the time to analyze UBER compared to other taxi centrals, which are the cost, the
time efficiency and the quality of the service. (TH)
(TS). Before Uber, taking a taxi was the only option to have comfortable public
transportation, since both public cars and OMSA buses were often considered uncomfortable
by most people. However Uber arrived to the country and things started to change,
considering that most vehicles used by UBER drivers were new cars, with better Air-
conditioning systems and usually more spacious. (D1)Another key example of quality, has to
do with the implementation of feedback ratings from customers, where each customer is able
to report how they felt after they use the service and rate a specific driver positively or
negatively. (D2)
As claimed by most UBER users, one of the biggest advantages is the cost of Uber. (TS). It is
easy to remember that before Uber, it would cost from $150 to $200 pesos to get to school for
most taxi users, even if they lived 5-10 minutes away from university. (D1)This happened
because the price for most taxi centrals was calculated considering a base fare which was
never lower than $150 pesos. On the other hand, UBER’s current base fare is only $60 pesos
for very short rides. That being said, one of the biggest strengths of Uber was the fact that
people didn’t need to have cash on their pockets. (D2)Customers were only required to
register a credit or a debit card and the cellphone application took it from there.
At first Uber used to save people a lot of time, while a taxi ride would take a lot more due to
the fact that regular taxi centrals did not use any GPS systems to know where to pick people
up. (TS). However today the story is quite different, since there are lots of complaints
registered in online blogs from customers who spent even an hour trying to find an available
Uber driver. (D1) The company says the reasons are related to high demand, especially
during rush hours and holidays. (D2)
From one customer to another, we will always find people who state that quality service is
priceless, and they strongly believe that there is nothing better than that. (TS). For Carl
Richards, an UBER customer interviewed by LISTIN DIARIO last week, when the service
provided is great, price is not the most important thing. When it comes to transportation, Carl
says, nothing is better than Uber, Uber vehicles are usually cleaner than taxis, they are safer,
and drivers are a lot nicer. (D1) Therefore, even if there are still some issues, UBER keeps
loyalty from its users. (D2)
In most cases, for customers without specific preferences, choosing the most convenient
option is not an easy to do, especially, when you are they are in a rush. (RTH) After
considering all the aspects described above, choosing UBER or any other taxi service
depends on each customer’s ways of thinking and own circumstances at a given time. (FS)
However a, UBER is still a new and fresh option Dominican customers did not have in the
past, which is far from perfect as any other thing in life. (FS). As Travis Kalanick once said:
“I´ve had failures myself before Uber”, nobody is perfect. (QT). So, after considering costs,
time and quality of service, would you ever choose UBER? (INV).
Written by a former student of the English Immersion Program.
DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY STRUCTURE:
GS: General statement (Intro).
TH: Thesis statement. (Intro).
D1: detail 1. (Intro and paragraphs).
D2: detail 2 (Intro and paragraphs).
TS: Topic sentence (paragraphs).
RTH: Re-taking the topic sentence (conclusion).
FS: final statements (closure facts; not opinions; conclusion).
FS: final statements (closure facts; not opinions; conclusion).
QT: quotation (by a famous author for example, or relevant person: UBER
founder)
INV: invitation to the readers find out more or come to their own conclusion).

Note to students
The descriptive essay must not contain any personal opinions from the writer.
If they contains opinions, they must refer to the people, the institution or the
entity sustaining the opinion. It must contain facts only. The fact that a
specific person expresses an opinion, and it is on the newspaper for example, is
still a fact, because it can be proved or verified by checking the newspaper for
that day.
Opinions articles are not descriptive essays. They are totally different.
Step by step writing, following teacher’s guidelines will make it all possible.
Please follow your teacher’s instructions.