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The 499 euro price tag for the "all access" seems quite expensive from an American point of view. I can get a decent car with good gas mileage for about half th

The 499 euro price tag for the "all access" seems quite expensive from an American point of view. I can get a decent car with good gas mileage for about half that and outright buying a used car will save me a lot more in less than a year. Most people who would be tempted to go without owning a car in the US don't do much driving anyway, so they don't spend a lot on gas as is. While I think this could work in NYC, Seattle, or San Francisco, most other American cities have plenty of infrastructure and affordable parking to support a high percentage of car ownership amongst citizens. Heck, there was even a HN article a day or two ago about how parking spaces in America outnumber actual cars by a huge margin in most American cities and towns. I think in one city it was 80 to 1. Unfortunately, the US is still too spread out for these types of services to be useful in all but a few cities.

Sharlin 8y ago
Trust me, 499e per month is really steep from Finnish perspective too. Not really sure what's the target customer demographic here. Maybe companies, as an alternative to leasing a car.
- deanclatworthy 8y ago
  You can get a very good lease for 500e in Finland (I have many friends who do this)
  - dharma1 8y ago
    I think the nice thing about this is you can adjust usage/payments - like if you travel a lot, just stop paying for a month or two. Not sure you can do that with regular leased cars? I also like the free <5km taxi and free public transport rides with this
    - Sharlin 8y ago
      Plus you don't have to worry about parking. Or gasoline.
    - deanclatworthy 8y ago
      It's not free for less than 5km. If it was I'd sign up tomorrow. It's a 10e flat fee for < 5km.
      - nordify 8y ago
        "Free" if you pay for the 499€ service tier.
lambdadmitry 8y ago
> I can get a decent car with good gas mileage for about half that That implies public transport inferiority compared to owning a car. It's not the case for a lot of European cities.
alistairSH 8y ago
That's about $580 US. The average monthly payment on a NEW car in the US is around $500 [0][1]. Add in parking (even "free" parking isn't), depreciation, gasoline, insurance, and registration fees and that's pretty darn close to $580. From my perspective, living the DC suburbs, I would love to have an all-access app for multi-mode transport. I own two cars (one for me, one for wife). I walk to work, so my car only gets driven on the weekends, and only if my wife and I are doing different things. It's a VERY expensive way to maintain my weekend "freedom". Lyft/Uber would fill much of the gap, except I frequently go camping 2-4 hours away. If Lyft had a "long term borrow" plan, I could get rid of my $400/month car payment and all associated costs. [0]https://www.thebalance.com/average-monthly-car-payment-4137650 https://www.thebalance.com/average-monthly-car-payment-41376... [1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2016/06/18/pete-planner-503-avg-car-payment-too-rich-most-us/85493088/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2016/06...
- ghaff 8y ago
  Rent a car for the weekend? Though there's obviously some transaction overhead associated with doing that.
  - alistairSH 8y ago
    I've considered it. But, the transaction overhead isn't small. I'd need to reserve the car in advance, Lyft to the rental agency, etc. Currently, I can decide to go to the mountains on a whim Friday afternoon.
    - ghaff 8y ago
      That makes perfect sense. It also highlights some of the reasons why, a lot of the time, people own items that they don't use frequently. e.g. you may only use a lawnmower 15 times a year but most people aren't going to rent one each time.
      - alistairSH 8y ago
alkonaut 8y ago
The value of not worrying about buying/selling/maintaining a car is different to different people but I’m definitely ready to pay $100-200/mo for that convenience. Next up is parking. If some car sharing service also includes parking near me, and that would otherwise be $200/mo then it’s suddenly very interesting.

Sharlin 8y ago

Trust me, 499e per month is really steep from Finnish perspective too. Not really sure what's the target customer demographic here. Maybe companies, as an alternative to leasing a car.

deanclatworthy 8y ago
You can get a very good lease for 500e in Finland (I have many friends who do this)
- dharma1 8y ago
  I think the nice thing about this is you can adjust usage/payments - like if you travel a lot, just stop paying for a month or two. Not sure you can do that with regular leased cars? I also like the free <5km taxi and free public transport rides with this
  - Sharlin 8y ago
    Plus you don't have to worry about parking. Or gasoline.
  - deanclatworthy 8y ago
    It's not free for less than 5km. If it was I'd sign up tomorrow. It's a 10e flat fee for < 5km.
    - nordify 8y ago
      "Free" if you pay for the 499€ service tier.

lambdadmitry 8y ago

> I can get a decent car with good gas mileage for about half that That implies public transport inferiority compared to owning a car. It's not the case for a lot of European cities.

alistairSH 8y ago

That's about $580 US. The average monthly payment on a NEW car in the US is around $500 [0][1]. Add in parking (even "free" parking isn't), depreciation, gasoline, insurance, and registration fees and that's pretty darn close to $580. From my perspective, living the DC suburbs, I would love to have an all-access app for multi-mode transport. I own two cars (one for me, one for wife). I walk to work, so my car only gets driven on the weekends, and only if my wife and I are doing different things. It's a VERY expensive way to maintain my weekend "freedom". Lyft/Uber would fill much of the gap, except I frequently go camping 2-4 hours away. If Lyft had a "long term borrow" plan, I could get rid of my $400/month car payment and all associated costs. [0]https://www.thebalance.com/average-monthly-car-payment-4137650 https://www.thebalance.com/average-monthly-car-payment-41376... [1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2016/06/18/pete-planner-503-avg-car-payment-too-rich-most-us/85493088/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2016/06...

ghaff 8y ago
Rent a car for the weekend? Though there's obviously some transaction overhead associated with doing that.
- alistairSH 8y ago
  I've considered it. But, the transaction overhead isn't small. I'd need to reserve the car in advance, Lyft to the rental agency, etc. Currently, I can decide to go to the mountains on a whim Friday afternoon.
  - ghaff 8y ago
    That makes perfect sense. It also highlights some of the reasons why, a lot of the time, people own items that they don't use frequently. e.g. you may only use a lawnmower 15 times a year but most people aren't going to rent one each time.
    - alistairSH 8y ago

alkonaut 8y ago

The value of not worrying about buying/selling/maintaining a car is different to different people but I’m definitely ready to pay $100-200/mo for that convenience. Next up is parking. If some car sharing service also includes parking near me, and that would otherwise be $200/mo then it’s suddenly very interesting.