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Consider pool rides -- which were never part of the traditional offerings. Pool rides from Uber/Lyft lowered cost while expanding the market. Consider all the

Consider pool rides -- which were never part of the traditional offerings. Pool rides from Uber/Lyft lowered cost while expanding the market. Consider all the places where you needed a taxi but wouldnt know how to hail one -- Uber/Lyft expanded the market here. I was recently in Taiwan and needed a ride, but could not describe the address to a driver who did not speak English. Uber to the rescue -- again the market got expanded. It isnt all about cost.

Scoundreller 7y ago
Uber/Lyft are also great when you can expense your trips. Not having to deal with (local) cash or a constantly “broken” credit card machine are also pluses.
- nradov 7y ago
  Uber and Lyft can now feed receipts directly into corporate expense reporting systems which is a major time saver for frequent business travelers.
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    There are some hospital EHRs that integrate too, so you can book your patients a ride to/from. If they get there late or don’t arrive, it’s a big cost.
  - inferiorhuman 7y ago
    I found that if I used my corp card, transit stuff was automatically categorized just fine.
    - Scoundreller 7y ago
      It’s getting your taxi driver to take your card in the first place that can be an issue. I guess they’re high risk merchants and pay high rates? Then you may require the actual receipt for your expense. Sometimes the Corp wants more than a credit card invoice for their accounting.
      - inferiorhuman 7y ago
        It’s getting your taxi driver to take your card in the first place that can be an issue. I guess they’re high risk merchants and pay high rates? The only place I've seen acceptance be a problem is San Francisco (although I've certainly heard it's a problem in other American cities). I can't speak to other cities but in San Francisco the cabbies are required to pay pretty hefty fees for credit card usage. But Uber and Lyft take a big chunk of the pie and leave no cash option so there's that. I've been to a couple cities where credit cards were not accepted as a general rule (cabbies didn't even have the equipment). But in cities where I've used a card I've asked and generally been told they'd never do anything that ridiculous. Of course I typically have a strong preference for public transit so cab rides are the exception rather than the rule for me. As for accounting, merchants already get a category assigned to them by their credit card processor. Generally there's enough specificity that something like a few cab rides shouldn't need much more clarification (although receipts may be required if you cross a threshold or exhibit some suspicious pattern).
- o-__-o 7y ago
  Taxis would give me blank receipts and tell me to fill in the amount. Free money! Now Uber and Lyft has made it harder to embezzle from my job :(
WoopDaddy 7y ago
Yes, I loved sharing the car with teenage drug addict mothers holding a baby and getting dropped off at a gas station in the hood. Wonderful experience. Gig economy needs to die in a fire.
hn_throwaway_99 7y ago
I don't really disagree with what you're saying. My point is that Uber's market cap of nearly 75 billion dollars implies they will be taking a lot more of the world's overall transportation budget than, say, pool rides will account for.
inferiorhuman 7y ago
I was recently in Taiwan and needed a ride, but could not describe the address to a driver who did not speak English. Uber to the rescue -- again the market got expanded. The only time I've been in a situation where I needed to take a taxi but didn't speak a common language was in Paris. I simply showed the driver the address as written and he got us there with no problems whatsoever. Granted Paris is pretty easy that way as rides (both taxi and Uber) from the airport are fixed price. Alternatively I bet just pulling up the location on a mapping app would be enough. Of course in most countries I've been to, the public transit infrastructure was good enough that I never wanted to bother with a taxi of any sort.

Scoundreller 7y ago

Uber/Lyft are also great when you can expense your trips. Not having to deal with (local) cash or a constantly “broken” credit card machine are also pluses.

nradov 7y ago
Uber and Lyft can now feed receipts directly into corporate expense reporting systems which is a major time saver for frequent business travelers.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  There are some hospital EHRs that integrate too, so you can book your patients a ride to/from. If they get there late or don’t arrive, it’s a big cost.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  I found that if I used my corp card, transit stuff was automatically categorized just fine.
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    It’s getting your taxi driver to take your card in the first place that can be an issue. I guess they’re high risk merchants and pay high rates? Then you may require the actual receipt for your expense. Sometimes the Corp wants more than a credit card invoice for their accounting.
    - inferiorhuman 7y ago
      It’s getting your taxi driver to take your card in the first place that can be an issue. I guess they’re high risk merchants and pay high rates? The only place I've seen acceptance be a problem is San Francisco (although I've certainly heard it's a problem in other American cities). I can't speak to other cities but in San Francisco the cabbies are required to pay pretty hefty fees for credit card usage. But Uber and Lyft take a big chunk of the pie and leave no cash option so there's that. I've been to a couple cities where credit cards were not accepted as a general rule (cabbies didn't even have the equipment). But in cities where I've used a card I've asked and generally been told they'd never do anything that ridiculous. Of course I typically have a strong preference for public transit so cab rides are the exception rather than the rule for me. As for accounting, merchants already get a category assigned to them by their credit card processor. Generally there's enough specificity that something like a few cab rides shouldn't need much more clarification (although receipts may be required if you cross a threshold or exhibit some suspicious pattern).
o-__-o 7y ago
Taxis would give me blank receipts and tell me to fill in the amount. Free money! Now Uber and Lyft has made it harder to embezzle from my job :(

WoopDaddy 7y ago

Yes, I loved sharing the car with teenage drug addict mothers holding a baby and getting dropped off at a gas station in the hood. Wonderful experience. Gig economy needs to die in a fire.

hn_throwaway_99 7y ago

I don't really disagree with what you're saying. My point is that Uber's market cap of nearly 75 billion dollars implies they will be taking a lot more of the world's overall transportation budget than, say, pool rides will account for.

inferiorhuman 7y ago

I was recently in Taiwan and needed a ride, but could not describe the address to a driver who did not speak English. Uber to the rescue -- again the market got expanded. The only time I've been in a situation where I needed to take a taxi but didn't speak a common language was in Paris. I simply showed the driver the address as written and he got us there with no problems whatsoever. Granted Paris is pretty easy that way as rides (both taxi and Uber) from the airport are fixed price. Alternatively I bet just pulling up the location on a mapping app would be enough. Of course in most countries I've been to, the public transit infrastructure was good enough that I never wanted to bother with a taxi of any sort.