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Austin got a non-profit ridesharing app after Lyft and Uber left a few years ago. It was pretty solid, although the mobile UX wasn't quite as good (which was to
by save_ferris 7y ago
Austin got a non-profit ridesharing app after Lyft and Uber left a few years ago. It was pretty solid, although the mobile UX wasn't quite as good (which was to be expected).
When Uber and Lyft came back, they artificially lowered prices by subsidizing rides to claw business back from RideAustin, and it worked. Within a few months, RideAustin was pretty much defunct and hard to use since drivers were using the other apps.
Word of mouth only works when the local option is also the most lucrative. The problem with gig apps is the company can take their VC cash and underbid the market to weed out competition.
- wffurr 7y agoPredatory pricing like that ought to be illegal.
- TheMagicHorsey 7y agoI'm not worried. People will go back to RideAustin if the paid apps raise prices. Meanwhile, I like my VC subsidized rides.
- save_ferris 7y ago> People will go back to RideAustin if the paid apps raise prices. ...not if RideAustin ceases to operate. It’s a strange day for capitalism when you’re being directly incentivized by the ultra wealthy to make decisions that benefit them instead of the local community. Handouts are cool as long it’s a private payer and not the government I guess.
- jtuente 7y agoThat's ignoring the problem that outside of the greater Austin area, population 2.2 million, RideAustin is useless and suffers a bit from an advertising/discovery perspective for visitors. Both of those problems could have been solved by creating some kind of greater cooperative with other locale-driven rideshares, like say a RideHouston or RideDallas.