7 ms·

Lyft, Didi, Ola and GrabTaxi Partner in Global Tech, Alliance to Rival Uber

60 points by kevindeasis 11y ago

srameshc 11y ago
The more I read such stories, the more I feel Uber will rule.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- pbreit 11y ago
  Why is that? Right now the local players seem to be competing very effectively.
  - mkaziz 11y ago
    Because they're trying so hard, and the only time I ever hear of people using Lyft instead of Uber is when Lyft is offering some massive promotion. (disclaimer: anecdote, but then again we're talking about vague feelings)
    - ecnahc515 11y ago
      It's funny you say that, because this is exactly how Uber itself expands (or used to at least). Lyft does indeed need to offer a promotion to get people to use it, it's almost always like that when cutting into an existing, (somewhat) established market. When Uber started, they had to do the same thing to convince people to use Uber, not only on the customer facing side, but on the driver side too.
      - wlesieutre 11y ago
        Uber still has promotions in new markets, at least as of late 2014. I registered about a year ago when they showed up in New Haven and periodically get emails reminding me that I have a $20 credit for my first ride.
        Jake232 11y ago
        Lyft does much more aggressive deals though. When I moved to San Diego ~ 3 months back, they gave me 1month of half price rides. Considering I spend > $1000 per month on rides, that was over $500 of savings.
        infecto 11y ago
        Woah, over $1000/month in rides? I have to ask why? Assuming you do not own a car but I would assume its efficient to own a vehicle in SD?
        manacit 11y ago
        When Lyft launched in NYC about a year ago, they handed me 15 free rides of $25 or less. For the last few weeks, they've been offering 50% off all Lyft and Lyft Line rides M-F. From what I've seen, Uber offers $25 or so against a single ride when you sign up, not much more.
  - funkyy 11y ago
    If they can lobby their way out of being illegal company to being somehow legal, they can use this power against competition. Remember what they did to Lyft year ago using some blackhat booking scheme? Imagine what they will do once they have lobbying power.
- Spivak 11y ago
  That's their marketing strategy. Convince everyone that they will be ubiquitous and as if by magic they will be.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- n-exploit 11y ago
  We'll learn a lot more as we get closer to the IPO (estimated) in Q4 '16 or Q1 '17. As an investor and rideshare driver (Uber and Lyft), I'm skeptical.
itgoon 11y ago
Do you want to beat Uber? Pay the drivers better. Uber has shown that this is plenty of money to be made. Let the drivers get it. Choke off Uber's resources.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- JumpCrisscross 11y ago
  > Do you want to beat Uber? Pay the drivers better. In a race towards a self-driving fleet, this does not appear to be the winning strategy.
  - spiralpolitik 11y ago
    Uber has to survive until they can get a self-driving fleet. The winning strategy in the short term is to choke off Uber's cash flow, so paying drivers more so they drive for you rather than Uber is the winning strategy at this point of the game.
    - toomuchtodo 11y ago
      > Uber has to survive until they can get a self-driving fleet. Which is hilarious. Tesla already has a semi-autonomous fleet of tens of thousands of cars, improving daily. Best of luck Uber.
      - untog 11y ago
        There is a long, long distance between what Tesla has today and a car with no driver.
        toomuchtodo 11y ago
        I bet you $1000 to a charity of your choice they (Tesla Motors, either itself or through a subsidiary) have a fully autonomous (level 4) vehicle in less than 3 years, and actively provides a ridesharing service with its vehicles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car#Definition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car#Definition "Level 4: The vehicle performs all safety-critical functions for the entire trip, with the driver not expected to control the vehicle at any time. As this vehicle would control all functions from start to stop, including all parking functions, it could include unoccupied cars."
tdaltonc 11y ago
If more and more intermediates are allowed to enter this meta-market, it should cause all of the intermediates to commodify. Drivers already run multiple ride-sharing apps to get the best price. This deal means that now all of the apps have made it trivial for riders to do the same. So what value are the intermediates (lyft, didi, ect) creating/capturing?
gscott 11y ago
If you add a bunch of turds together you don't get a diamond... you just get a larger turd.

60 points by kevindeasis 11y ago

srameshc 11y ago

The more I read such stories, the more I feel Uber will rule.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
pbreit 11y ago
Why is that? Right now the local players seem to be competing very effectively.
- mkaziz 11y ago
  Because they're trying so hard, and the only time I ever hear of people using Lyft instead of Uber is when Lyft is offering some massive promotion. (disclaimer: anecdote, but then again we're talking about vague feelings)
  - ecnahc515 11y ago
    It's funny you say that, because this is exactly how Uber itself expands (or used to at least). Lyft does indeed need to offer a promotion to get people to use it, it's almost always like that when cutting into an existing, (somewhat) established market. When Uber started, they had to do the same thing to convince people to use Uber, not only on the customer facing side, but on the driver side too.
    - wlesieutre 11y ago
      Uber still has promotions in new markets, at least as of late 2014. I registered about a year ago when they showed up in New Haven and periodically get emails reminding me that I have a $20 credit for my first ride.
      - Jake232 11y ago
        Lyft does much more aggressive deals though. When I moved to San Diego ~ 3 months back, they gave me 1month of half price rides. Considering I spend > $1000 per month on rides, that was over $500 of savings.
        infecto 11y ago
        Woah, over $1000/month in rides? I have to ask why? Assuming you do not own a car but I would assume its efficient to own a vehicle in SD?
      - manacit 11y ago
        When Lyft launched in NYC about a year ago, they handed me 15 free rides of $25 or less. For the last few weeks, they've been offering 50% off all Lyft and Lyft Line rides M-F. From what I've seen, Uber offers $25 or so against a single ride when you sign up, not much more.
- funkyy 11y ago
  If they can lobby their way out of being illegal company to being somehow legal, they can use this power against competition. Remember what they did to Lyft year ago using some blackhat booking scheme? Imagine what they will do once they have lobbying power.
Spivak 11y ago
That's their marketing strategy. Convince everyone that they will be ubiquitous and as if by magic they will be.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
n-exploit 11y ago
We'll learn a lot more as we get closer to the IPO (estimated) in Q4 '16 or Q1 '17. As an investor and rideshare driver (Uber and Lyft), I'm skeptical.

itgoon 11y ago

Do you want to beat Uber? Pay the drivers better. Uber has shown that this is plenty of money to be made. Let the drivers get it. Choke off Uber's resources.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
JumpCrisscross 11y ago
> Do you want to beat Uber? Pay the drivers better. In a race towards a self-driving fleet, this does not appear to be the winning strategy.
- spiralpolitik 11y ago
  Uber has to survive until they can get a self-driving fleet. The winning strategy in the short term is to choke off Uber's cash flow, so paying drivers more so they drive for you rather than Uber is the winning strategy at this point of the game.
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    > Uber has to survive until they can get a self-driving fleet. Which is hilarious. Tesla already has a semi-autonomous fleet of tens of thousands of cars, improving daily. Best of luck Uber.
    - untog 11y ago
      There is a long, long distance between what Tesla has today and a car with no driver.
      - toomuchtodo 11y ago
        I bet you $1000 to a charity of your choice they (Tesla Motors, either itself or through a subsidiary) have a fully autonomous (level 4) vehicle in less than 3 years, and actively provides a ridesharing service with its vehicles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car#Definition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car#Definition "Level 4: The vehicle performs all safety-critical functions for the entire trip, with the driver not expected to control the vehicle at any time. As this vehicle would control all functions from start to stop, including all parking functions, it could include unoccupied cars."

tdaltonc 11y ago

If more and more intermediates are allowed to enter this meta-market, it should cause all of the intermediates to commodify. Drivers already run multiple ride-sharing apps to get the best price. This deal means that now all of the apps have made it trivial for riders to do the same. So what value are the intermediates (lyft, didi, ect) creating/capturing?

gscott 11y ago

If you add a bunch of turds together you don't get a diamond... you just get a larger turd.