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Uber is really a heaven sent product for me and my family. We have to pick up and drop off our daughter at her day care on a daily basis and without Uber, I am

Uber is really a heaven sent product for me and my family. We have to pick up and drop off our daughter at her day care on a daily basis and without Uber, I am not sure how would we have done it. I hope we can expand studies like this with the quality of life improvement which services like Uber have been responsible. Also, there are other things which have improved too. Such as less drunk driving, improved safety especially when traveling at nights, predictability vs. taxis etc.

liotier 8y ago
> We have to pick up and drop off our daughter at her day care on a daily basis and without Uber I'm amazed that Uber is considered an affordable commute device. Is that a SV phenomenon ?
- almost_usual 8y ago
  It’s a phenomenon for people wanting to live in the suburbs not in the suburbs.
  - product50 8y ago
    Argue based on merits of your point vs. trying to fit families into stereotypes you believe. We are proud to live in the city and are happy with our lives.
    - almost_usual 8y ago
      Would you continue to live in San Francisco if ride sharing were banned?
      - product50 8y ago
        #inflammatory At this point, you have no argument but probably are just pissed that families are co-habiting your preferred non-family only city space. Get a life and do something with it.
        almost_usual 8y ago
        Not really, I’m friends with my neighbors who have kids and I have no problems with families in San Francisco. They take their kids on the MUNI and I see plenty of other families on there as well.
        product50 8y ago
        Well to each their own. I am not judging them and you should not judge us.
        dang 8y ago
        Personal attacks will get you banned on HN. Please post civilly and substantively, or not at all, regardless of how provocative another comment is or you feel it is. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        product50 8y ago
        The other person's comment was so provocative. Sorry that I lost it. I am working on reducing these type of comments.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
- superfrank 8y ago
  Eh, it depends on how you look at it. If you are comparing Lyft/Uber to public transit, yeah they lose out by a lot, but I don't think a lot of people are doing that. I think a lot of people are comparing Lyft/Uber against the cost of owning a semi-new car in a major city and that's much more comparable. Here's a super ball park monthly cost breakdown: - Car payment: $250 - Parking: $200 - Insurance: $85 (~$500 every 6 months) - Gas: $50 - Registration: $40 (~$500+ a year) - Saving for maintenance: $50 (assuming $600 a year, which is probably low) That's super super napkin math, but that's almost $700 a month for a car, which is basically the same as $30 each work day for a month. On top of that, you don't have to deal with the hassle of parking in a city, which has to be worth something.
  - dgoldstein0 8y ago
    Your parking number seems low. May depend on where in the city you are parking. But driving to work means parking in two places regularly which could be more like 500/month. Depends where you live and where you work.
    - user3359 8y ago
      Also, insurance. $200/month is a normal rate where I live (with a clean driving record).
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
  - product50 8y ago
    No - you are wrong. Dropping off kids has a lot of convenience if you take an Uber. You don't have to worry about parking and can actually spend time with your kid, like read them a story, when you drop off via Ubers vs. yourself. In my estimate, I save at least 15-20min per dropoff when I take Uber vs. when I do with my car. In the morning that 15-20min extra matter a lot.
    - 8y ago
- dgoldstein0 8y ago
  In SF, Uber pool rides are cheap ($20 can usually get you anywhere in the City, and shorter distances at off peak times are often under 10). Compared with just cost of parking which is easily 300+ a month at many apartment buildings and only a piece of the cost of car ownership, commuting via Uber/Lyft actually makes economic sense.
  - jaclaz 8y ago
    If the average is actually $20, two rides a day (working day) are $800 i.e. more of the $700 calculated above. If both rides are around $15 on average, than you get an afvantage.
    - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
      >If the average is actually $20, two rides a day (working day) are $800 i.e. more of the $700 calculated above In which case owning the car is a no brainier because of the personal freedom and massive amount of inconvenience it affords. If you want to go on a road trip or eat taco bell at 1AM you can do that for just the price of gas (though you probably shouldn't do the latter because odds are if you want Taco bell at 1AM you're also stoned out of your mind and unfit to drive).
- newnewpdro 8y ago
  Ever heard the phrase "has more money than sense"?
  - product50 8y ago
    Do you have kids? Do you know how expensive it is to raise them? The preschool costs around $3k/mo at least. Compared to that $300/mo is pretty minor and the convenience it offers is totally worth it.
    - nasalgoat 8y ago
      Pretty sure most people aren't spending $3,000/month on private school. My kid goes to public Kindergarten which is free. Even in Toronto, which has some of the highest daycare costs in Canada, it was only $1,500/month. Aftercare at the school is $800/month. I'm very fortunate to make a good living so I can afford such things but even I balk at the idea of taking a daily Uber to drop my kid off. You should really read your post from the perspective of the working poor and think about what you're saying from a position of privilege.
      - product50 8y ago
        I am talking about SF here which doesn't have a great public school system. Also, I was replying to a comment where someone is making a snarky remark about what one should or should not do with their money - and was attempting to provide context. And this is hacker news. I am reasonably sure that we aren't representing working poor here but mostly well paid and skilled professionals.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - ulfw 8y ago
      Yea. Not every parent sees it as essential to spend three THOUSAND dollars on a pre-school. Please don't generalise.
      - 8y ago
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  >I'm amazed that Uber is considered an affordable commute device. Is that a SV phenomenon ? Just the cost of registering a car in CA buys you a lot of Uber rides. Then there's parking and maintenance (the HN demographic is taking their cars to the dealer, not down the street to the neighbor who fixes cars as a side gig) and the fact most people rich enough to afford to use Uber every day are comparing to the payments on a Tesla, not a one time purchase of an old Civic. It's an upper-class phenomenon that's exacerbated by some SV and CA specific economic circumstances.
  - product50 8y ago
    It is both cost+convenience. As I mentioned in one of my other comments, parking near the day care is a major issue, even for a few minutes - so an old Civic wouldn't have helped. With my own car, I would have to at least spend 15min every day trying to look for parking and I would rather spend that time making our kid comfortable in school.
faitswulff 8y ago
Do Ubers have carseats?
- product50 8y ago
  We carry a small makeshift ones always. But almost all our travel is exclusively on city streets with speed limit of 25mph..
- lathiat 8y ago
  I think this exists in some markets but not all (and perhaps not most).
jeffrallen 8y ago
How does the logistics of Uber and child seats work? The fact that child restraints are not required on public transport (which is itself mysterious) makes it preferable to car transit, for our family.

liotier 8y ago

> We have to pick up and drop off our daughter at her day care on a daily basis and without Uber I'm amazed that Uber is considered an affordable commute device. Is that a SV phenomenon ?

almost_usual 8y ago
It’s a phenomenon for people wanting to live in the suburbs not in the suburbs.
- product50 8y ago
  Argue based on merits of your point vs. trying to fit families into stereotypes you believe. We are proud to live in the city and are happy with our lives.
  - almost_usual 8y ago
    Would you continue to live in San Francisco if ride sharing were banned?
    - product50 8y ago
      #inflammatory At this point, you have no argument but probably are just pissed that families are co-habiting your preferred non-family only city space. Get a life and do something with it.
      - almost_usual 8y ago
        Not really, I’m friends with my neighbors who have kids and I have no problems with families in San Francisco. They take their kids on the MUNI and I see plenty of other families on there as well.
        product50 8y ago
        Well to each their own. I am not judging them and you should not judge us.
      - dang 8y ago
        Personal attacks will get you banned on HN. Please post civilly and substantively, or not at all, regardless of how provocative another comment is or you feel it is. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        product50 8y ago
        The other person's comment was so provocative. Sorry that I lost it. I am working on reducing these type of comments.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
superfrank 8y ago
Eh, it depends on how you look at it. If you are comparing Lyft/Uber to public transit, yeah they lose out by a lot, but I don't think a lot of people are doing that. I think a lot of people are comparing Lyft/Uber against the cost of owning a semi-new car in a major city and that's much more comparable. Here's a super ball park monthly cost breakdown: - Car payment: $250 - Parking: $200 - Insurance: $85 (~$500 every 6 months) - Gas: $50 - Registration: $40 (~$500+ a year) - Saving for maintenance: $50 (assuming $600 a year, which is probably low) That's super super napkin math, but that's almost $700 a month for a car, which is basically the same as $30 each work day for a month. On top of that, you don't have to deal with the hassle of parking in a city, which has to be worth something.
- dgoldstein0 8y ago
  Your parking number seems low. May depend on where in the city you are parking. But driving to work means parking in two places regularly which could be more like 500/month. Depends where you live and where you work.
  - user3359 8y ago
    Also, insurance. $200/month is a normal rate where I live (with a clean driving record).
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
- product50 8y ago
  No - you are wrong. Dropping off kids has a lot of convenience if you take an Uber. You don't have to worry about parking and can actually spend time with your kid, like read them a story, when you drop off via Ubers vs. yourself. In my estimate, I save at least 15-20min per dropoff when I take Uber vs. when I do with my car. In the morning that 15-20min extra matter a lot.
  - 8y ago
dgoldstein0 8y ago
In SF, Uber pool rides are cheap ($20 can usually get you anywhere in the City, and shorter distances at off peak times are often under 10). Compared with just cost of parking which is easily 300+ a month at many apartment buildings and only a piece of the cost of car ownership, commuting via Uber/Lyft actually makes economic sense.
- jaclaz 8y ago
  If the average is actually $20, two rides a day (working day) are $800 i.e. more of the $700 calculated above. If both rides are around $15 on average, than you get an afvantage.
  - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
    >If the average is actually $20, two rides a day (working day) are $800 i.e. more of the $700 calculated above In which case owning the car is a no brainier because of the personal freedom and massive amount of inconvenience it affords. If you want to go on a road trip or eat taco bell at 1AM you can do that for just the price of gas (though you probably shouldn't do the latter because odds are if you want Taco bell at 1AM you're also stoned out of your mind and unfit to drive).
newnewpdro 8y ago
Ever heard the phrase "has more money than sense"?
- product50 8y ago
  Do you have kids? Do you know how expensive it is to raise them? The preschool costs around $3k/mo at least. Compared to that $300/mo is pretty minor and the convenience it offers is totally worth it.
  - nasalgoat 8y ago
    Pretty sure most people aren't spending $3,000/month on private school. My kid goes to public Kindergarten which is free. Even in Toronto, which has some of the highest daycare costs in Canada, it was only $1,500/month. Aftercare at the school is $800/month. I'm very fortunate to make a good living so I can afford such things but even I balk at the idea of taking a daily Uber to drop my kid off. You should really read your post from the perspective of the working poor and think about what you're saying from a position of privilege.
    - product50 8y ago
      I am talking about SF here which doesn't have a great public school system. Also, I was replying to a comment where someone is making a snarky remark about what one should or should not do with their money - and was attempting to provide context. And this is hacker news. I am reasonably sure that we aren't representing working poor here but mostly well paid and skilled professionals.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - ulfw 8y ago
    Yea. Not every parent sees it as essential to spend three THOUSAND dollars on a pre-school. Please don't generalise.
    - 8y ago
dsfyu404ed 8y ago
>I'm amazed that Uber is considered an affordable commute device. Is that a SV phenomenon ? Just the cost of registering a car in CA buys you a lot of Uber rides. Then there's parking and maintenance (the HN demographic is taking their cars to the dealer, not down the street to the neighbor who fixes cars as a side gig) and the fact most people rich enough to afford to use Uber every day are comparing to the payments on a Tesla, not a one time purchase of an old Civic. It's an upper-class phenomenon that's exacerbated by some SV and CA specific economic circumstances.
- product50 8y ago
  It is both cost+convenience. As I mentioned in one of my other comments, parking near the day care is a major issue, even for a few minutes - so an old Civic wouldn't have helped. With my own car, I would have to at least spend 15min every day trying to look for parking and I would rather spend that time making our kid comfortable in school.

faitswulff 8y ago

Do Ubers have carseats?

product50 8y ago
We carry a small makeshift ones always. But almost all our travel is exclusively on city streets with speed limit of 25mph..
lathiat 8y ago
I think this exists in some markets but not all (and perhaps not most).

jeffrallen 8y ago

How does the logistics of Uber and child seats work? The fact that child restraints are not required on public transport (which is itself mysterious) makes it preferable to car transit, for our family.