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Your coworkers haven't figured out how to get a monthly pass? A lot of employers offer a program to buy them with pre-tax income, so effectively a large discoun

Your coworkers haven't figured out how to get a monthly pass? A lot of employers offer a program to buy them with pre-tax income, so effectively a large discount. Can you get Uber for $40/month?

accountyaccount 10y ago
They're aware of pre-tax passes — but UberPOOL prices are generally within a dollar per-trip, so they'd rather pay that premium to save the time and hassle involved with public transit. Bridj was also slightly more expensive than public transit, and still had many of the downsides.
- lovich 10y ago
  Speaking first hand. UberPOOl costs me an average of slightly under 5 dollars per ride so about twice as much as the T. In exchange my commute goes from 45 minutes minimum on the t, with walking included, to about 28-30 minutes. Between the time saved, not having to walk through weather, and not having my eardrums destroyed by screeching of the rails on the red line or the random delays that can possibly double my trip time, it ends up being worth it. If the price goes above 8 dollars I do end up taking the t however. It's unfortunate that public transport isn't better in Boston, but Uber is almost always a better value for the time and reliability
runamok 10y ago
Not sure if they are still doing this "POOL Pass" thing but possibly. https://newsroom.uber.com/us-massachusetts/july-pool-pass-ride-for-a-penny-all-month-long/ https://newsroom.uber.com/us-massachusetts/july-pool-pass-ri...
- praneshp 10y ago
  Any idea why they have to charge $.01 per trip? My wife uses the unlimited flat fare package in south bay, 2.99 per pool ride or 7 per uberX ride (with caveats that apply rarely).
  - xapata 10y ago
    I have a few guesses: - Their software isn't set up to do $0 rides. Even the "free" rides show the total charge and take off a discount. - They want to do analysis on the price elasticity of demand and don't want to have a divide by zero error. - Someone thought it'd induce better behavior. Humans start getting weird with "free" things.
    - praneshp 10y ago
      Thanks for replying. I was wondering if they had to charge something to comply with a law or something (not that they would really let that get into the way of a feature).

Your coworkers haven't figured out how to get a monthly pass? A lot of employers offer a program to buy them with pre-tax income, so effectively a large discount. Can you get Uber for $40/month?

accountyaccount 10y ago

They're aware of pre-tax passes — but UberPOOL prices are generally within a dollar per-trip, so they'd rather pay that premium to save the time and hassle involved with public transit. Bridj was also slightly more expensive than public transit, and still had many of the downsides.

lovich 10y ago
Speaking first hand. UberPOOl costs me an average of slightly under 5 dollars per ride so about twice as much as the T. In exchange my commute goes from 45 minutes minimum on the t, with walking included, to about 28-30 minutes. Between the time saved, not having to walk through weather, and not having my eardrums destroyed by screeching of the rails on the red line or the random delays that can possibly double my trip time, it ends up being worth it. If the price goes above 8 dollars I do end up taking the t however. It's unfortunate that public transport isn't better in Boston, but Uber is almost always a better value for the time and reliability

runamok 10y ago

Not sure if they are still doing this "POOL Pass" thing but possibly. https://newsroom.uber.com/us-massachusetts/july-pool-pass-ride-for-a-penny-all-month-long/ https://newsroom.uber.com/us-massachusetts/july-pool-pass-ri...

praneshp 10y ago
Any idea why they have to charge $.01 per trip? My wife uses the unlimited flat fare package in south bay, 2.99 per pool ride or 7 per uberX ride (with caveats that apply rarely).
- xapata 10y ago
  I have a few guesses: - Their software isn't set up to do $0 rides. Even the "free" rides show the total charge and take off a discount. - They want to do analysis on the price elasticity of demand and don't want to have a divide by zero error. - Someone thought it'd induce better behavior. Humans start getting weird with "free" things.
  - praneshp 10y ago
    Thanks for replying. I was wondering if they had to charge something to comply with a law or something (not that they would really let that get into the way of a feature).