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The problem though is that they led the way by breaking down all the regulatory barrier to entries. Whats to stop anyone from starting a ridesharing company tom
by jsonne 9y ago
The problem though is that they led the way by breaking down all the regulatory barrier to entries. Whats to stop anyone from starting a ridesharing company tomorrow?
- lev99 9y agoThe network effect. You have the give your drivers a reason to use your app instead of uber. You have to give riders a reason to use your app instead of uber. The two reasons have to be good enough to build a large enough network for the rideshare system to work.
- throwaway2048 9y agothose reasons have largely boiled down to "lose money on each ride", that's not going to last.
- lenley 9y agoI would argue there isn't really a network effect for lyft or uber or any ride-sharing company for that matter. There might be brand and price effects for the companies to battle over amidst both riders and drivers. I'd say there is a network effect for ride-sharing in aggregate, neither Lyft nor Ueber has been good at locking drivers and riders in with loyalty programs to try to keep people solely on their platform.
- xbzbanna 9y agoMore drivers means faster pickups for riders, and more riders means less downtime for drivers. Drivers doing more rides per hour means they can be paid less per ride, lowering the price of a ride and further increasing demand. Sounds like a network effect to me. Offerings like Lyft Line and Uber Pool multiply both of these effects.
- Marazan 9y agoThere is no cost for a driver to use multiple apps. There is no cost for a user to use multiple apps.
- malandrew 9y agoPlease name one comparatively successful ridesharing company founded in 2013 or later in any global market. I'll wait.
- jsonne 9y agoHere's a list of them in fact. Literally the top result on my Google SERP for "local uber competitors" http://mashable.com/2017/08/16/uber-global-rivals-didi/#vCa1FWzrOgq4 http://mashable.com/2017/08/16/uber-global-rivals-didi/#vCa1...
- malandrew 9y agoYes, and which were started after 2013 or even as early as 2013? The truth is that all the viable competitors are likely already out there and it's going to be very very difficult to replicate what these incumbents have without burning ridiculous amounts of capital. If the Softbank deal closes, we'll likely see a wave of consolidation with Softbank orchestrating acquisitions by Uber. It's very common for relatively young markets to consolidate over time. No one in their right mind would start a new company to compete with the existing TNCs in 2017.
- wpietri 9y agoJust looking at the ones active in Austin, Fasten, Chariot, and InstaRyde were started in 2014; Fare in 2015; Ride Austin in 2016. Ride sharing is essentially a local business with very low barriers to entry. You don't need to replicate what the incumbents have right away. You just need a modest number of drivers (who can also be driving for the incumbents) and a modest number of customers.
- malandrew 9y agoDo you have any data to support the position that any of those three are not irrelevant from a market share by rides given or by industry profits?