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I had no idea Lyft was operating at a loss. My Lift rides are consistently 10% to 20% higher than Uber rides of the same distance and time and they even encoura

I had no idea Lyft was operating at a loss. My Lift rides are consistently 10% to 20% higher than Uber rides of the same distance and time and they even encourage tipping. I'm not looking forward to what these companies charge when (or if) they're ever profitable. I already find them expensive, especially Lyft.

flylib 10y ago
they operated at a $600 million loss in 2016 http://www.businessinsider.com/lyft-lost-600-million-in-2016-uber-2017-1 http://www.businessinsider.com/lyft-lost-600-million-in-2016... the number will be higher in 2017 as they are expanding internationally (http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/13/lyft-to-go-global-take-on-uber-outside-the-us.html http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/13/lyft-to-go-global-take-on-ube...), they are primarily still US only while Uber is in most of the world
sigmar 10y ago
>I already find them expensive, especially Lyft. Expensive compared to what exactly?
- kobeya 10y ago
  Not the person you are replying to, but if I used Uber/Lyft for everything I normally do with a car, it would be more expensive than owning a car for my own exclusive use. Even reasonable cutbacks of trips I don't really need to make if I'm paying per-mile still only get it down to about parity. Uber/Lyft has the extra cost of paying the driver, but also the supposed cost savings of sharing vehicle cost across multiple riders. I would expect it to be slightly cheaper, if it were a sustainable model.
  - greenhatman 10y ago
    The driver's pay is really what makes it more expensive. These ride sharing companies will only really become sustainable once self driving cars become prevalent. Even if it just allows the car to get to you, and then have you drive it where you need to go. I'm not sure what other costs they can cut easily. Unfortunately for them, second and third players entering the market has a huge advantage in terms of less spent on development and exploration, because they had an example to follow. Uber made the way for them, by building the app first, and testing regulators and authorities. And there is nothing keeping Uber's user base from using competitors instead. They should probably have thought about some kind of reward system. Or anything to make their users invest and want to stay more. I think they've got big problems. Problems that will be overcome better by their competitors.
elmar 10y ago
lyft financials https://mattermark.com/lyft-financials/‬ https://mattermark.com/lyft-financials/‬

flylib 10y ago

they operated at a $600 million loss in 2016 http://www.businessinsider.com/lyft-lost-600-million-in-2016-uber-2017-1 http://www.businessinsider.com/lyft-lost-600-million-in-2016... the number will be higher in 2017 as they are expanding internationally (http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/13/lyft-to-go-global-take-on-uber-outside-the-us.html http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/13/lyft-to-go-global-take-on-ube...), they are primarily still US only while Uber is in most of the world

sigmar 10y ago

>I already find them expensive, especially Lyft. Expensive compared to what exactly?

kobeya 10y ago
Not the person you are replying to, but if I used Uber/Lyft for everything I normally do with a car, it would be more expensive than owning a car for my own exclusive use. Even reasonable cutbacks of trips I don't really need to make if I'm paying per-mile still only get it down to about parity. Uber/Lyft has the extra cost of paying the driver, but also the supposed cost savings of sharing vehicle cost across multiple riders. I would expect it to be slightly cheaper, if it were a sustainable model.
- greenhatman 10y ago
  The driver's pay is really what makes it more expensive. These ride sharing companies will only really become sustainable once self driving cars become prevalent. Even if it just allows the car to get to you, and then have you drive it where you need to go. I'm not sure what other costs they can cut easily. Unfortunately for them, second and third players entering the market has a huge advantage in terms of less spent on development and exploration, because they had an example to follow. Uber made the way for them, by building the app first, and testing regulators and authorities. And there is nothing keeping Uber's user base from using competitors instead. They should probably have thought about some kind of reward system. Or anything to make their users invest and want to stay more. I think they've got big problems. Problems that will be overcome better by their competitors.

elmar 10y ago

lyft financials https://mattermark.com/lyft-financials/‬ https://mattermark.com/lyft-financials/‬