8 ms·

> Uber is doing fine. Yes and no, they are in a space which is extremely price competitive. I literally am watching Uber take a dramatic hit in my area right n

> Uber is doing fine. Yes and no, they are in a space which is extremely price competitive. I literally am watching Uber take a dramatic hit in my area right now. Lyft came to town and probably 80% of the drivers solely use them now, driving up the Uber prices. Now, I only use Lyft - as do most of the people. Plus, most of the Uber drivers are shady here and the people think Ubers a snaky company. I realize this is ancidotal, but everywhere I go (I travel a lot, switching between Uber and lyft), Lyft seems to be more popular among drivers and riders. They simply don't use it because of price/market share. However, adjust the price or driver's and the equation changes. I honestly still don't see them making it out of their situation.

inverse_pi 9y ago
Uber is doing fine where I live. No one is using Lyft here. Also this https://xkcd.com/605/ https://xkcd.com/605/
chenster 9y ago
> Now, I only use Lyft - as do most of the people. Plus, most of the Uber drivers are shady here and the people think Ubers a snaky company. Why's that?
Taylor_OD 9y ago
It's really hard to look at ride sharing apps without being clouded by your own experience. There are likely other people in your town/city who would say most people use uber and 80% of the drivers only drive for uber. It's a weirdly personal experience so its hard to see other peoples point of view which is why we have to rely on statistics like this one that show what's going on without personal experience getting in the way.
cocktailpeanuts 9y ago
> Now, I only use Lyft - as do most of the people. Nope.
threeseed 9y ago
> Lyft came to town and probably 80% of the drivers solely use them now, driving up the Uber prices. Where is this and what facts is this number based on ? In Australia for example Lyft is simply non existent. And sure it's a smaller market but it demonstrates that Uber's aggressive international expansion strategy is the right one. > Plus, most of the Uber drivers are shady Pretty libellous, ridiculous and unfair thing to say.
- ubernostrum 9y ago
  it demonstrates that Uber's aggressive international expansion strategy is the right one. Does it? "We lose money on every customer, but we'll make it up in volume" is one of the classic ways to run a business into bankruptcy. Sometimes, taking one's time is the far sounder strategy, even if a hyper-growth competitor is "everywhere" and "dominating" in the eyes of the uninformed public.
  - resf 9y ago
    They clearly have different objectives. Uber wants to be a huge multinational company, whereas Lyft can only hope to win the US market. In other words, even Lyft's best case scenario would be a huge step down for Uber.
    - ubernostrum 9y ago
      No amount of "we were briefly a huge multinational" will compensate for a fundamentally unsound business. Sooner or later the free money is going to run out and Uber is going to have to stop hemorrhaging nearly a billion dollars every quarter. When that day comes they're not going to have a lot of options to stop the bleeding: raising prices and cutting back the markets they operate in are likely to be the first things they do, or are forced to do by investors. Meanwhile, the way you build a huge multinational is by first figuring out a way to make money and then scaling it to everywhere, not by figuring out how to be everywhere and then realizing "crap, we have to actually turn a profit now".
      - 9y ago
BinaryIdiot 9y ago
> Now, I only use Lyft - as do most of the people. Define most people. As far as I could tell Uber has a far bigger user base and market share. So I'm not sure how Lyft could suddenly be used the most. During the whole #DeleteUber protest it took longer to get an Uber at my house in the bay area. Lyft was quicker for about two weeks. Then it shifted back. Now I can't get a Lyft in under 20 minutes whereas Uber is usually 5-8 minutes away. My experience is anecdotal but I see no evidence to suggest yours was not as well. If there is something showing Lyft taking over a larger slice of the pie then please post it.
- wapz 9y ago
  > Lyft came to town Sounds like the parent is referring to his/her town. It's still anecdotal because surely the parent doesn't have that statistic but it very well may be the case in his/her town.
  - BinaryIdiot 9y ago
    Hmm. Fair enough, assumed new context from paragraph. Regardless some data would be interesting here as I experienced seemingly the exact opposite. Lyft is essentially useless in my part of the bay area.
skinnymuch 9y ago
I'm not buying that most people use Lyft in your area - passengers or drivers. I believe you think that and your circle of people may also be doing the same, but beyond that, I'm guessing there's a lot of bias. Especially if you're saying everywhere you go Lyft seems to be more popular among riders. It's just not true at all. For my own anecdote, I'd bet 75% of my FB friends with smartphones within my age range, 21-40, have Uber on their phone or have only ridden Uber. And a fraction of them will have Lyft. Among people I actually know, this is roughly the case, with Lyft being a bit more popular, but that's because of who I am/surround myself with.
- lelandbatey 9y ago
  As long as we're sharing anecdotes, most of the people I know, parents and young kids included, have made the switch to Lyft starting about 8 months ago. They seem to be the less evil company, so people enjoy working for and using them.
  - rtx 9y ago
    Most of my family and friends exclusively use Uber because of Travis and his values.
    - jacobsimon 9y ago
      lol
    - amaks 9y ago
      What values?
      - rtx 9y ago
        Libertarian
        AlexandrB 9y ago
        So money, gotcha.
nunez 9y ago
Uber has a solid worldwide presence. Lyft does not. You can go into nearly any state and most countries (I think all of the first world countries and a bunch of second world ones too) and book an Uber. As long as that stays true and Uber continues to grow outside of the US, Lyft doesn't stand a chance. If Lyft could light up worldwide scale right now, they absolutely would have. Something is holding them back. It's likely new rideshare laws that Uber spawned due to it having first mover advantage. Disclosure: I am a Lyft user and deleted my Uber account.
- jv22222 9y ago
  > As long as that stays true and Uber continues to grow outside of the US, Lyft doesn't stand a chance. Well, except they do because the local market is simply huge. There is room for multiple competitors. Just like we have ATT, Verizon, Etc.
  - dismantlethesun 9y ago
    Regional monopolies or there is some kind of differentiation between the plans. Additionally, they bribe customers into signing multi-year contracts. It is a totally different space from taxis, where the experience is mostly fungible.
- pfarnsworth 9y ago
  Everyone keeps forgetting that Lyft has first-mover advantage. Lyft basically created ride-sharing, Uber was a black-car company and had to play catch-up to Lyft.
  - kunaalarya 9y ago
    lyft somewhat had first mover advantage in SF. Uber had first mover advantage in every other city. Uber already existed in SF and was doing black car rides and a lot of people in NY/SF knew of it - which Uber used to leapfrog Lyft's first move advantage.
- otheotheothe 9y ago
pfarnsworth 9y ago
> Plus, most of the Uber drivers are shady here and the people think Ubers a snaky company. I bet you'll think that you're not a racist or a bigot, and yet you're making the exact same connection a racist or bigot would. Just because someone drives for Uber, they are shady? That's a terrible stereotype to be propagating, just like our esteemed president saying "Most illegal immigrants are rapists."

inverse_pi 9y ago

Uber is doing fine where I live. No one is using Lyft here. Also this https://xkcd.com/605/ https://xkcd.com/605/

chenster 9y ago

> Now, I only use Lyft - as do most of the people. Plus, most of the Uber drivers are shady here and the people think Ubers a snaky company. Why's that?

Taylor_OD 9y ago

It's really hard to look at ride sharing apps without being clouded by your own experience. There are likely other people in your town/city who would say most people use uber and 80% of the drivers only drive for uber. It's a weirdly personal experience so its hard to see other peoples point of view which is why we have to rely on statistics like this one that show what's going on without personal experience getting in the way.

cocktailpeanuts 9y ago

> Now, I only use Lyft - as do most of the people. Nope.

threeseed 9y ago

> Lyft came to town and probably 80% of the drivers solely use them now, driving up the Uber prices. Where is this and what facts is this number based on ? In Australia for example Lyft is simply non existent. And sure it's a smaller market but it demonstrates that Uber's aggressive international expansion strategy is the right one. > Plus, most of the Uber drivers are shady Pretty libellous, ridiculous and unfair thing to say.

ubernostrum 9y ago
it demonstrates that Uber's aggressive international expansion strategy is the right one. Does it? "We lose money on every customer, but we'll make it up in volume" is one of the classic ways to run a business into bankruptcy. Sometimes, taking one's time is the far sounder strategy, even if a hyper-growth competitor is "everywhere" and "dominating" in the eyes of the uninformed public.
- resf 9y ago
  They clearly have different objectives. Uber wants to be a huge multinational company, whereas Lyft can only hope to win the US market. In other words, even Lyft's best case scenario would be a huge step down for Uber.
  - ubernostrum 9y ago
    No amount of "we were briefly a huge multinational" will compensate for a fundamentally unsound business. Sooner or later the free money is going to run out and Uber is going to have to stop hemorrhaging nearly a billion dollars every quarter. When that day comes they're not going to have a lot of options to stop the bleeding: raising prices and cutting back the markets they operate in are likely to be the first things they do, or are forced to do by investors. Meanwhile, the way you build a huge multinational is by first figuring out a way to make money and then scaling it to everywhere, not by figuring out how to be everywhere and then realizing "crap, we have to actually turn a profit now".
    - 9y ago

BinaryIdiot 9y ago

> Now, I only use Lyft - as do most of the people. Define most people. As far as I could tell Uber has a far bigger user base and market share. So I'm not sure how Lyft could suddenly be used the most. During the whole #DeleteUber protest it took longer to get an Uber at my house in the bay area. Lyft was quicker for about two weeks. Then it shifted back. Now I can't get a Lyft in under 20 minutes whereas Uber is usually 5-8 minutes away. My experience is anecdotal but I see no evidence to suggest yours was not as well. If there is something showing Lyft taking over a larger slice of the pie then please post it.

wapz 9y ago
> Lyft came to town Sounds like the parent is referring to his/her town. It's still anecdotal because surely the parent doesn't have that statistic but it very well may be the case in his/her town.
- BinaryIdiot 9y ago
  Hmm. Fair enough, assumed new context from paragraph. Regardless some data would be interesting here as I experienced seemingly the exact opposite. Lyft is essentially useless in my part of the bay area.

skinnymuch 9y ago

I'm not buying that most people use Lyft in your area - passengers or drivers. I believe you think that and your circle of people may also be doing the same, but beyond that, I'm guessing there's a lot of bias. Especially if you're saying everywhere you go Lyft seems to be more popular among riders. It's just not true at all. For my own anecdote, I'd bet 75% of my FB friends with smartphones within my age range, 21-40, have Uber on their phone or have only ridden Uber. And a fraction of them will have Lyft. Among people I actually know, this is roughly the case, with Lyft being a bit more popular, but that's because of who I am/surround myself with.

lelandbatey 9y ago
As long as we're sharing anecdotes, most of the people I know, parents and young kids included, have made the switch to Lyft starting about 8 months ago. They seem to be the less evil company, so people enjoy working for and using them.
- rtx 9y ago
  Most of my family and friends exclusively use Uber because of Travis and his values.
  - jacobsimon 9y ago
    lol
  - amaks 9y ago
    What values?
    - rtx 9y ago
      Libertarian
      - AlexandrB 9y ago
        So money, gotcha.

nunez 9y ago

Uber has a solid worldwide presence. Lyft does not. You can go into nearly any state and most countries (I think all of the first world countries and a bunch of second world ones too) and book an Uber. As long as that stays true and Uber continues to grow outside of the US, Lyft doesn't stand a chance. If Lyft could light up worldwide scale right now, they absolutely would have. Something is holding them back. It's likely new rideshare laws that Uber spawned due to it having first mover advantage. Disclosure: I am a Lyft user and deleted my Uber account.

jv22222 9y ago
> As long as that stays true and Uber continues to grow outside of the US, Lyft doesn't stand a chance. Well, except they do because the local market is simply huge. There is room for multiple competitors. Just like we have ATT, Verizon, Etc.
- dismantlethesun 9y ago
  Regional monopolies or there is some kind of differentiation between the plans. Additionally, they bribe customers into signing multi-year contracts. It is a totally different space from taxis, where the experience is mostly fungible.
pfarnsworth 9y ago
Everyone keeps forgetting that Lyft has first-mover advantage. Lyft basically created ride-sharing, Uber was a black-car company and had to play catch-up to Lyft.
- kunaalarya 9y ago
  lyft somewhat had first mover advantage in SF. Uber had first mover advantage in every other city. Uber already existed in SF and was doing black car rides and a lot of people in NY/SF knew of it - which Uber used to leapfrog Lyft's first move advantage.
otheotheothe 9y ago

pfarnsworth 9y ago

> Plus, most of the Uber drivers are shady here and the people think Ubers a snaky company. I bet you'll think that you're not a racist or a bigot, and yet you're making the exact same connection a racist or bigot would. Just because someone drives for Uber, they are shady? That's a terrible stereotype to be propagating, just like our esteemed president saying "Most illegal immigrants are rapists."