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On the other hand, here in Atlanta, it was horrible before these rideshare services came along. I remember as a poor student in the last decade, I had to spend

On the other hand, here in Atlanta, it was horrible before these rideshare services came along. I remember as a poor student in the last decade, I had to spend 4 hours each day to travel 24 miles (12 miles each way) for my internship. While for you uber might be redundant, it certainly provides a valuable service for cities with worse public transit options.

ghaff 8y ago
Would it be as useful if it weren't being subsidized? Say 2x the current costs? It varies by city of course but there were at least two largely orthogonal issues with cabs in a lot of places. General crapiness (unreliable, hard to get dispatched, won't go some places, credit card readers broken, etc.) and high cost. e.g. I get a car to and from the airport were I live. It's comfortable and reliable but not cheap.
- jonknee 8y ago
  > Would it be as useful if it weren't being subsidized? Say 2x the current costs? Yes. Outside of a few markets in the US it was a gamble to get a cab at any price. You'd call and it would be something like "30-45 minutes" and then an hour later you'd call again and hear the same thing. And this just on a regular night, forget about it if there's an event going on.
  - ghaff 8y ago
    Fair enough. I admit to rarely taking cabs (especially outside of standard traveler routes, e.g. airport to hotel) even when I'm traveling, as I do frequently, so I don't have a lot of experience.
- 0xcafecafe 8y ago
  Definitely yes. I can see the student me taking advantage of the uberpool even if it was 2x the cost (since it would have saved me 2-3 hours each day).
  - ghaff 8y ago
    Uberpool in particular seems to start to look like an almost slightly premium alternative to public transit. Depends on the real cost of course but minivan buses are pretty common in some countries. Not sure why they're not more so in the US even with higher labor costs.
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ghaff 8y ago

Would it be as useful if it weren't being subsidized? Say 2x the current costs? It varies by city of course but there were at least two largely orthogonal issues with cabs in a lot of places. General crapiness (unreliable, hard to get dispatched, won't go some places, credit card readers broken, etc.) and high cost. e.g. I get a car to and from the airport were I live. It's comfortable and reliable but not cheap.

jonknee 8y ago
> Would it be as useful if it weren't being subsidized? Say 2x the current costs? Yes. Outside of a few markets in the US it was a gamble to get a cab at any price. You'd call and it would be something like "30-45 minutes" and then an hour later you'd call again and hear the same thing. And this just on a regular night, forget about it if there's an event going on.
- ghaff 8y ago
  Fair enough. I admit to rarely taking cabs (especially outside of standard traveler routes, e.g. airport to hotel) even when I'm traveling, as I do frequently, so I don't have a lot of experience.
0xcafecafe 8y ago
Definitely yes. I can see the student me taking advantage of the uberpool even if it was 2x the cost (since it would have saved me 2-3 hours each day).
- ghaff 8y ago
  Uberpool in particular seems to start to look like an almost slightly premium alternative to public transit. Depends on the real cost of course but minivan buses are pretty common in some countries. Not sure why they're not more so in the US even with higher labor costs.

deleted 8y ago

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