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Before you get all excited about this, it's ONLY UberPOOL and your destination must start and end in Manhattan. So if you use this to commute for two weeks you'

by ixtli 10y ago

Before you get all excited about this, it's ONLY UberPOOL and your destination must start and end in Manhattan. So if you use this to commute for two weeks you're paying 10 (edit: obviously 100/20 = 5, it's early. leave me alone) dollars flat for a cab ride that you share and will take longer than normal because of the overhead of splitting the ride. There are certainly some people for whom this will be cost effective, especially if they spend most of their day traveling to places they can be 5-10 minutes +/- their target arrival. However for people like me who live on the east side of Manhattan and commute to FiDi it doesn't actually save a worthwhile amount of money. Also forbes is incredibly spammy so here's the link directly to the promo: https://www.uber.com/info/plus/newyork/ https://www.uber.com/info/plus/newyork/

empath75 10y ago
if you go both ways, it's $5
djrogers 10y ago
You forgot that people commute 2 ways in your math, so 2 weeks of commutes would be 20 trips coming out to $5/trip, not 10.
- morley 10y ago
  This is compared to ~$2.50 a trip on the subway, which (depending on which line you're near and whether you have a transfer) could take substantially less time than a car ride. There are however some "subway deserts" -- the upper-east and lower-east sides come to mind -- whose residences would greatly benefit from skipping two long walks a day.
  - hx87 10y ago
    For people who are intolerant of heat and odor like me, avoiding overcrowded and AC-less stations in the summer alone is worth the $2.50.
    - ixtli 10y ago
      This is a great point! Too bad they ran this promo right _after_ it stopped being 100+ degrees on the 4,5,6 platform at union square or I might have done it just for this reason o_o
bkjsbkjdnf 10y ago
> So if you use this to commute for two weeks you're paying 10 dollars flat for a cab ride that you share and will take longer than normal because of the overhead of splitting the ride. So, you take a ride to work and then you teleport back to your origin?
- ixtli 10y ago
  Hah. yes fixed.
dorianm 10y ago
Personnaly it's at least three trips, work, going out and home and sometimes more on the weekend so this is pretty amazing actually. It's much more comfortable than taking subways (which is also 100$ a month)
- 45h34jh53k4j 10y ago
  $116.50, +1 for a new metrocard Uber beats subway by $16.50; or three and a bit uberpools/month But there is the whole: subway = nuclear power = low carbon footprint vs uber = dead dinosaurs.
  - hiou 10y ago
    And the whole exploiting people who don't understand the math of their business and are actually losing money / putting themselves into life altering IRS debt thing...
  - ixtli 10y ago
    Many large companies in manhattan participate in pretax programs that allow people (myself included) to get a monthly metro card for ~60 dollars. So yeah these types of programs will never compete with that.
  - ryguytilidie 10y ago
    Does the NYC Subway really run on nuclear power? I had no idea, but that is cool.
    - ynniv 10y ago
      Probably half nuclear: http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=NY#tabs-4 http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=NY#tabs-4
      - mikeash 10y ago
        The rest is mostly natural gas, and virtually no coal. I'm jealous! (Here in Virginia, it's about one third each of coal, gas, and nuclear.)
kdamken 10y ago
Also, uberpool is terrible. Can easily make a 20 minute ride 60 minutes depending on how many other fares they pick up/drop off on the way. I took one into the city once to try it out. Normally a 20 minute drive, we stopped and picked up 2 other fares. They both got dropped off before me (which is insane), and it ended up taking over an hour. The worst part? The drive told me that if we dropped off one and another came up, he'd have to pick that up too before dropping me off.
- jayflux 10y ago
  Yeah I had the exact same happen to me, really annoying. I understand they're just doing their job, so i can't really have a go at them for it either. I would rather pay the extra for UberX now (or whatever it is called) instead of UberPool
- bpicolo 10y ago
  Been very good in my experience for going from San Francisco -> East Bay.
  - thesimpsons1022 10y ago
    yeah been great for me in sf as well but kind of shitty in seattle. wonder why.
  - untog 10y ago
    This is the core of why everyone argues about Uber online. In some cities it's fantastic. In others it's terrible.
  - ixtli 10y ago
    I have used uber and lyft in many cities and been satisfied. Never once in NYC. I probably just have bad luck, but honestly in manhattan it's the same price to get a cab even at 3am and doesn't require an app or surge pricing. I've heard the same anecdotes from friends. The notable exception is going to or from other burrows. It's often cheaper to get a car from a service if there's no surge, though the green cabs are starting to compete when traveling from somewhere outside manhattan. In general transit problems (and thus solutions) don't translate from other cities to New York or vice versa.
bharris315 10y ago
Refuse to read Forbes due to their aggressive stance against AdBlockers
- qq66 10y ago
  I'm not sure they have a problem with that... They save the page serving cost and they weren't going to get revenue for it anyways.

by ixtli 10y ago

empath75 10y ago

if you go both ways, it's $5

djrogers 10y ago

You forgot that people commute 2 ways in your math, so 2 weeks of commutes would be 20 trips coming out to $5/trip, not 10.

morley 10y ago
This is compared to ~$2.50 a trip on the subway, which (depending on which line you're near and whether you have a transfer) could take substantially less time than a car ride. There are however some "subway deserts" -- the upper-east and lower-east sides come to mind -- whose residences would greatly benefit from skipping two long walks a day.
- hx87 10y ago
  For people who are intolerant of heat and odor like me, avoiding overcrowded and AC-less stations in the summer alone is worth the $2.50.
  - ixtli 10y ago
    This is a great point! Too bad they ran this promo right _after_ it stopped being 100+ degrees on the 4,5,6 platform at union square or I might have done it just for this reason o_o

bkjsbkjdnf 10y ago

> So if you use this to commute for two weeks you're paying 10 dollars flat for a cab ride that you share and will take longer than normal because of the overhead of splitting the ride. So, you take a ride to work and then you teleport back to your origin?

ixtli 10y ago
Hah. yes fixed.

dorianm 10y ago

Personnaly it's at least three trips, work, going out and home and sometimes more on the weekend so this is pretty amazing actually. It's much more comfortable than taking subways (which is also 100$ a month)

45h34jh53k4j 10y ago
$116.50, +1 for a new metrocard Uber beats subway by $16.50; or three and a bit uberpools/month But there is the whole: subway = nuclear power = low carbon footprint vs uber = dead dinosaurs.
- hiou 10y ago
  And the whole exploiting people who don't understand the math of their business and are actually losing money / putting themselves into life altering IRS debt thing...
- ixtli 10y ago
  Many large companies in manhattan participate in pretax programs that allow people (myself included) to get a monthly metro card for ~60 dollars. So yeah these types of programs will never compete with that.
- ryguytilidie 10y ago
  Does the NYC Subway really run on nuclear power? I had no idea, but that is cool.
  - ynniv 10y ago
    Probably half nuclear: http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=NY#tabs-4 http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=NY#tabs-4
    - mikeash 10y ago
      The rest is mostly natural gas, and virtually no coal. I'm jealous! (Here in Virginia, it's about one third each of coal, gas, and nuclear.)

kdamken 10y ago

Also, uberpool is terrible. Can easily make a 20 minute ride 60 minutes depending on how many other fares they pick up/drop off on the way. I took one into the city once to try it out. Normally a 20 minute drive, we stopped and picked up 2 other fares. They both got dropped off before me (which is insane), and it ended up taking over an hour. The worst part? The drive told me that if we dropped off one and another came up, he'd have to pick that up too before dropping me off.

jayflux 10y ago
Yeah I had the exact same happen to me, really annoying. I understand they're just doing their job, so i can't really have a go at them for it either. I would rather pay the extra for UberX now (or whatever it is called) instead of UberPool
bpicolo 10y ago
Been very good in my experience for going from San Francisco -> East Bay.
- thesimpsons1022 10y ago
  yeah been great for me in sf as well but kind of shitty in seattle. wonder why.
- untog 10y ago
  This is the core of why everyone argues about Uber online. In some cities it's fantastic. In others it's terrible.
- ixtli 10y ago
  I have used uber and lyft in many cities and been satisfied. Never once in NYC. I probably just have bad luck, but honestly in manhattan it's the same price to get a cab even at 3am and doesn't require an app or surge pricing. I've heard the same anecdotes from friends. The notable exception is going to or from other burrows. It's often cheaper to get a car from a service if there's no surge, though the green cabs are starting to compete when traveling from somewhere outside manhattan. In general transit problems (and thus solutions) don't translate from other cities to New York or vice versa.

bharris315 10y ago

Refuse to read Forbes due to their aggressive stance against AdBlockers

qq66 10y ago
I'm not sure they have a problem with that... They save the page serving cost and they weren't going to get revenue for it anyways.