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Uber used to work so well for me but ever since Travis left the service has rapidly degraded to the point where I try not to use it if I don’t have to. This goe

Uber used to work so well for me but ever since Travis left the service has rapidly degraded to the point where I try not to use it if I don’t have to. This goes double for Uber Eats. I don’t know if the original leadership change caused to problems but it’s very noticeable. The software used to be very tight (for lack of a better word). Responsive, always did what I wanted. Always a satisfying experience. Now it’s slow, laggy, more prone to drivers flaking, has arbitrary UI changes... Sadly none of the competitors offer a UX on par with early Uber.

jonathanjaeger 7y ago
Did you ever think that maybe drivers are flaking more now because Uber realizes as a company they eventually need to to make money, and therefore they need to cut how much drivers get, and now drivers are picky over what rides they take, and it has nothing to do with Travis?
- malvosenior 7y ago
  The software has also degraded significantly. It’s an all around lowering of quality.
  - Nextgrid 7y ago
    Their latest rebrand is also a disaster in my opinion. They went from a distinctive visual identity to a logo equivalent of someone pasting an Arial textbox in Paint on a black background.
- mdorazio 7y ago
  I'm not sure if Uber is actually paying drivers significantly less or if drivers have simply wised up to the full costs of driving for a ride sharing company + the jobs market is better than it was a few years ago so there are fewer people who need to drive just to make ends meet. I have personally noticed that overall average cost of Uber/Lyft for me has gone up over the last year or so unless there's a promo going on. It's now to the point where I think twice before hailing a ride instead of driving myself or looking for another option.
  - kryogen1c 7y ago
    > I have personally noticed that overall average cost of Uber/Lyft for me has gone up I took a taxi last month for the first time in something like 6 years because uber was 15 minutes away and surging. The taxi was already there and cleaner than almost any uber ive ever taken - and cheaper than the surge.
    - addicted 7y ago
      I find that metered taxis are cheaper for about 80% of the trips I make. The exceptions are during periods of extremely high traffic where your Uber/Lyft Price is fixed, but the metered taxi price could really shoot up if you’re sitting in traffic too long. Essentially, unless I’m traveling in rush hour, I’m always better off taking a metered cab, and it’s usually faster to boot.
- rhizome 7y ago
  >need to to make money, and therefore they need to cut how much drivers get, and now drivers are picky over what rides they take, Which is the same damn taxi dispatch problem that Uber was originally created to solve, so I guess now they can't use "we're different because internet!" to argue against regulations anymore.
  - alejohausner 7y ago
    Over on nakedcapitalism[1] there's an ongoing debunking of Uber's absurd claim that their technology can somehow improve on a commodity service like taking a taxi. 1. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/05/hubert-horan-will-the-train-wreck-uber-lyft-ipos-finally-change-the-public-narrative-about-ridesharing.html https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/05/hubert-horan-will-th...
    - CamperBob2 7y ago
      And yet customers abandoned the taxi industry like it was radioactive, about five nanoseconds after the first flawed, dubiously-legal alternatives started to appear. Only an industry that is doing almost everything wrong could have suffered the fate of the taxi industry.
      - rhizome 7y ago
        Customers abandoned the taxi industry because their dispatchers sucked, and drivers would refuse fares that begine or end in a location they personally preferred not to serve. This is "the dispatcher problem" I mentioned above.
      - dingo_bat 7y ago
        A big factor in high adoption for Uber was the fact that each ride was highly subsidised by investor monies.
        grogenaut 7y ago
        Price was rarely a concern. Uber always felt fair in pricing to competitive markets like Chicago where cabs are better than St Louis or Seattle. Seattle was the worst. Cabs were super late and never knew the city and gouged you. Took a cab 12 miles at 3am in Seattle once and it was 97$ another time (like 2012) the guy couldn't find the place 3 times and was 2 hours late. Finally showed up when I talked him there and fucker had a gps but claimed he didn't need it. Uber and lift show up on time have good dispatch and reasonable fares. However in Portland I always used radio can cause it was clean and had good dispatch and fair prices. I use cabs in SF all the time from the airport cause company pays and I don't have to deal with the cf that is getting a rideshare there. Just walk out and pay $50 to downtown. It's $15-20 over rideshare but no wait. And yay moral hazard. Anyway I love flywheel and radio can (I think related companies) cause they do it as well as Lyft and have fair prices. Cabs shouldn't be like healthcare for pricing.
bdcravens 7y ago
Perhaps usage went up since Travis left do to less ethical dilemma in supporting the company, and they couldn’t keep up?
- malvosenior 7y ago
  I think that’s a pretty out there explanation that would require some data to back up. They’ve been doing a ton of work on the app, it just isn’t at the same quality as before.
- addicted 7y ago
  I think it was the other way round. Investor scrutiny on Uber increased after it became clear they were gonna IPO. When it became evident that Uber couldn’t make money to justify their valuation (and potentially not make money at all), the justification became self driving cars. When it became clear Uber’s self driving cars weren’t happening, and Travis personally had greatly compromised the possibility of it working out, Travis was forced to leave. IOW, Travis’s leaving was driven by the increased scrutiny when it became clear Uber needed to IPO, and needing to IPO meant Uber couldn’t continue losing money like they did which led to them having to make changes which meant customers weren’t as happy with them anymore.
aetherson 7y ago
My experience with Uber was entirely before the CEO change and it was always slow, the UI on Android used iOS idioms, and drivers flaking on me over and over and over again is what drove me to Lyft. I doubt very much that Travis was making the UI good.
mft_ 7y ago
Interesting, UI/UX is fine on iOS (iPhone XR). What's your bad experience?

jonathanjaeger 7y ago

Did you ever think that maybe drivers are flaking more now because Uber realizes as a company they eventually need to to make money, and therefore they need to cut how much drivers get, and now drivers are picky over what rides they take, and it has nothing to do with Travis?

malvosenior 7y ago
The software has also degraded significantly. It’s an all around lowering of quality.
- Nextgrid 7y ago
  Their latest rebrand is also a disaster in my opinion. They went from a distinctive visual identity to a logo equivalent of someone pasting an Arial textbox in Paint on a black background.
mdorazio 7y ago
I'm not sure if Uber is actually paying drivers significantly less or if drivers have simply wised up to the full costs of driving for a ride sharing company + the jobs market is better than it was a few years ago so there are fewer people who need to drive just to make ends meet. I have personally noticed that overall average cost of Uber/Lyft for me has gone up over the last year or so unless there's a promo going on. It's now to the point where I think twice before hailing a ride instead of driving myself or looking for another option.
- kryogen1c 7y ago
  > I have personally noticed that overall average cost of Uber/Lyft for me has gone up I took a taxi last month for the first time in something like 6 years because uber was 15 minutes away and surging. The taxi was already there and cleaner than almost any uber ive ever taken - and cheaper than the surge.
  - addicted 7y ago
    I find that metered taxis are cheaper for about 80% of the trips I make. The exceptions are during periods of extremely high traffic where your Uber/Lyft Price is fixed, but the metered taxi price could really shoot up if you’re sitting in traffic too long. Essentially, unless I’m traveling in rush hour, I’m always better off taking a metered cab, and it’s usually faster to boot.
rhizome 7y ago
>need to to make money, and therefore they need to cut how much drivers get, and now drivers are picky over what rides they take, Which is the same damn taxi dispatch problem that Uber was originally created to solve, so I guess now they can't use "we're different because internet!" to argue against regulations anymore.
- alejohausner 7y ago
  Over on nakedcapitalism[1] there's an ongoing debunking of Uber's absurd claim that their technology can somehow improve on a commodity service like taking a taxi. 1. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/05/hubert-horan-will-the-train-wreck-uber-lyft-ipos-finally-change-the-public-narrative-about-ridesharing.html https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/05/hubert-horan-will-th...
  - CamperBob2 7y ago
    And yet customers abandoned the taxi industry like it was radioactive, about five nanoseconds after the first flawed, dubiously-legal alternatives started to appear. Only an industry that is doing almost everything wrong could have suffered the fate of the taxi industry.
    - rhizome 7y ago
      Customers abandoned the taxi industry because their dispatchers sucked, and drivers would refuse fares that begine or end in a location they personally preferred not to serve. This is "the dispatcher problem" I mentioned above.
    - dingo_bat 7y ago
      A big factor in high adoption for Uber was the fact that each ride was highly subsidised by investor monies.
      - grogenaut 7y ago
        Price was rarely a concern. Uber always felt fair in pricing to competitive markets like Chicago where cabs are better than St Louis or Seattle. Seattle was the worst. Cabs were super late and never knew the city and gouged you. Took a cab 12 miles at 3am in Seattle once and it was 97$ another time (like 2012) the guy couldn't find the place 3 times and was 2 hours late. Finally showed up when I talked him there and fucker had a gps but claimed he didn't need it. Uber and lift show up on time have good dispatch and reasonable fares. However in Portland I always used radio can cause it was clean and had good dispatch and fair prices. I use cabs in SF all the time from the airport cause company pays and I don't have to deal with the cf that is getting a rideshare there. Just walk out and pay $50 to downtown. It's $15-20 over rideshare but no wait. And yay moral hazard. Anyway I love flywheel and radio can (I think related companies) cause they do it as well as Lyft and have fair prices. Cabs shouldn't be like healthcare for pricing.

bdcravens 7y ago

Perhaps usage went up since Travis left do to less ethical dilemma in supporting the company, and they couldn’t keep up?

malvosenior 7y ago
I think that’s a pretty out there explanation that would require some data to back up. They’ve been doing a ton of work on the app, it just isn’t at the same quality as before.
addicted 7y ago
I think it was the other way round. Investor scrutiny on Uber increased after it became clear they were gonna IPO. When it became evident that Uber couldn’t make money to justify their valuation (and potentially not make money at all), the justification became self driving cars. When it became clear Uber’s self driving cars weren’t happening, and Travis personally had greatly compromised the possibility of it working out, Travis was forced to leave. IOW, Travis’s leaving was driven by the increased scrutiny when it became clear Uber needed to IPO, and needing to IPO meant Uber couldn’t continue losing money like they did which led to them having to make changes which meant customers weren’t as happy with them anymore.

aetherson 7y ago

My experience with Uber was entirely before the CEO change and it was always slow, the UI on Android used iOS idioms, and drivers flaking on me over and over and over again is what drove me to Lyft. I doubt very much that Travis was making the UI good.

mft_ 7y ago

Interesting, UI/UX is fine on iOS (iPhone XR). What's your bad experience?