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> it won’t make sense for people to own cars in the future because ride-sharing apps like Lyft and Uber will be our go-to when it comes to moving from point A t
by roadbeats 9y ago
> it won’t make sense for people to own cars in the future because ride-sharing apps like Lyft and Uber will be our go-to when it comes to moving from point A to point B.
Is there anyone left who hasn't heard this Silicon Valley cliche ?
Even outside the SF, most people own bicycle and cars to get around. I lived in Oakland for 5 years and rarely took Lyft (never used Uber for known reasons). I can count a lot of reasons to own a car, for example, you would never call Lyft to go to a waterfall or visiting Yosemite.
If the case is owning car only for navigating in the city, bicycle combined with good public transportation solves that problem already in a much better and healthier way.
- gumby 9y agoEconomics will drive this. The car is the most, or second most, expensive investment most people make, yet it has anutilizatio rate of only a few percent. And big corporation s can borrow at a much more preferential rate (prime, basically).
- syrrim 9y agoYou could say the say about renting vs buying houses, and yet many people still buy. The only reason a rental service is funded is because investors think they can make more money than by selling mortgages. This will continue to be true for cars.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago> You could say the say about renting vs buying houses, and yet many people still buy Cars and houses are excludable. And both are, within reasonable bounds, rival [1] when in use. But people customise their houses in ways that are difficult to transmit. That makes houses more rival when out of use than a car. That is to say, people are less comfortable staying in others' houses than being in others' cars. Similarly, people are generally more okay with others being in their car than in their house. A rough estimate of this delta can be gleaned from comparing ride-sharing and Airbnb adoption rates. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivalry_(economics) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivalry_(economics)
- tachyonbeam 9y agoThere is a big difference between cars and houses, which is that houses tend to gain value over time, whereas cars drastically decrease in value. Driving is also time consuming and stressful. Dealing with maintenance, licensing, refueling, etc. are also annoying burdens.
- nradov 9y agoLand tends to gain value over time. Houses depreciate just like cars.
- roadbeats 9y agoThat's funny to say. I had a Subaru Outback (2004) that I paid $2000, and it was clean and strong, worked perfectly until I left US. If you take Lyft or Uber to get around, you'll spend $2000 in max. 3 months. May be it'll get cheaper in the future, and may be some people will prefer within the city, but it's still not a better option than good quality public transportation.
- nradov 9y agoNew car loan rates are often subsidized by auto manufacturers so they're actually lower than prime rate.
- reustle 9y ago> you would never call Lyft to go to a waterfall or visiting Yosemite. This it's exactly the type of infrequent trip many of my friends in NYC use Zipcar for.
- roadbeats 9y agoZipcar is the worst choice for roadtrips. Have you ever tried in your own ? First, it charges per hour, second, it charges extra after 200 miles outside the city. For going to a long weekend trip, you'll end up paying about $500 for three days. This is only considerable choice in cities like San Francisco and NYC.
- eksemplar 9y agoIt'll still change things though. I mean, you won't have to park for instance, allowing for new city infrastructure.