8 ms·

Uber Bookings Now Down 80%

42 points by uptown 7y ago

adaisadais 7y ago
Uber driver in San Francisco here. Yeah, down 80% seems accurate. The last several weeks have been better than the initial start of Quarantine. There were entire days where I did not give a single ride. The airport lot used to have 250-300 cars waiting. Now there are around 10. The only place I have found any consistency is waiting at the local Safeway. I’ve gone from 12 hrs driving = $250 to 12 hours driving = $125. It will be better soon.
JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
This seems in line with the March 19th investor call: https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186865/uber-rides-decline-coronavirus-seattle-sf-la-nyc https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186865/uber-rides-decli...
- eindiran 7y ago
  From that article: > Khosrowshahi said the company modeled “an extreme edge case” in which trip volume plummeted 80 percent. We are now in "extreme edge case" territory.
bluetwo 7y ago
So how is this going to play out? Negative pricing like in oil?
- kgermino 7y ago
  No? The oil situation is happening because producers are contractually obligated to pump (significantly) more oil than there is market demand for and it is hard to store or ramp down production of oil. Uber rides have none of those qualities. If people stop riding Uber the producers (drivers) will just stop driving. The price may drop, but there's no prepayment and no driver will accept a negative fare.
  - battery_cowboy 7y ago
    Not just the contractual obligations, but it takes a long time to restart an oil supply chain so you just can't turn it off easily.
- anticensor 7y ago
  Negative pricing will not work in passenger transportation. Even zero pricing would result in overcrowding.
  - throwaway_USD 7y ago
    Funny, that was their strategy pre-IPO
  - jandrese 7y ago
    Are you saying that pricing drives demand? It seems to me that demand is driven by people who have places to go. Pricing can reduce demand, but it can't increase it beyond the base amount. Not unless people start just telling their uber driver to go around the city because they just like being inside of a car.
    - anticensor 7y ago
      It can, even to the point of inability to serve passengers demanding for an actual need. There are situations people taking public transport just because it is free and they have time. I mean, if there were a free taxi, I can hail it and pick my friends and acquittances randomly into it and drop them at random places.
- vikramkr 7y ago
  What would be the point of negative pricing?
dkdk8283 7y ago
I’ve spent $1700 on uber eats since this covid thing started. Restaurants need help and drivers do too. I would normally think this amount of money for 6 weeks of food is nuts but I’m glad I can help. Keeping the economy going as much as possible is really important, IMO.
- Baeocystin 7y ago
  Are you not concerned about kitchen staff acting as vectors? Honest question.
  - doktrin 7y ago
    Not the parent, but when I've had food delivered I reheat it in a new container. That + disposing of original packaging, afaik, mostly mitigates any risk of transmission which for this particular vector is low to begin with. I havent ordered many fresh salads or sushi.
  - untog 7y ago
    There's no evidence so that that it's transmitted via food.
    - brookside 7y ago
      Working together in the kitchen, I assume the comment above means.
  - ttul 7y ago
    There is no hard evidence that COVID-19 is transmitted on food. Furthermore, restaurants in developed countries have to follow rigorous health and safety practices when preparing and distributing food. Those practices, which include hand washing, reduce the risk of virus transmission even further. Keep in mind that the transmission of disease via food is something that health authorities have been tackling for decades.
    - Baeocystin 7y ago
kylecazar 7y ago
I just saw a TV ad from Uber thanking me for NOT riding with Uber during this time. You're... welcome?
soccernee 7y ago
Does this mean Uber will lose less money than it did in previous quarters?
- olliej 7y ago
  haha, you beat me to it! :D
yalogin 7y ago
That is to be expected. Uber makes what little it does on Uber Eats. Lyft probably doesn't even make that. Same with Airbnb, they are probably making 0 right now.
uptown 7y ago
@dang Any reason this post vanished from the front-page? Seemed to be relatively active and not all that stale at 21 minutes at the time of this comment.
- minimaxir 7y ago
  Likely due to the paywall.
- lawrenceyan 7y ago
  Does HN have an @ functionality? I wasn't aware that there was.
vwcx 7y ago
Non-paywall link: https://archive.vn/xj2db https://archive.vn/xj2db

42 points by uptown 7y ago

Uber driver in San Francisco here. Yeah, down 80% seems accurate. The last several weeks have been better than the initial start of Quarantine. There were entire days where I did not give a single ride. The airport lot used to have 250-300 cars waiting. Now there are around 10. The only place I have found any consistency is waiting at the local Safeway. I’ve gone from 12 hrs driving = $250 to 12 hours driving = $125. It will be better soon.

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago

This seems in line with the March 19th investor call: https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186865/uber-rides-decline-coronavirus-seattle-sf-la-nyc https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186865/uber-rides-decli...

eindiran 7y ago
From that article: > Khosrowshahi said the company modeled “an extreme edge case” in which trip volume plummeted 80 percent. We are now in "extreme edge case" territory.

bluetwo 7y ago

So how is this going to play out? Negative pricing like in oil?

kgermino 7y ago
No? The oil situation is happening because producers are contractually obligated to pump (significantly) more oil than there is market demand for and it is hard to store or ramp down production of oil. Uber rides have none of those qualities. If people stop riding Uber the producers (drivers) will just stop driving. The price may drop, but there's no prepayment and no driver will accept a negative fare.
- battery_cowboy 7y ago
  Not just the contractual obligations, but it takes a long time to restart an oil supply chain so you just can't turn it off easily.
anticensor 7y ago
Negative pricing will not work in passenger transportation. Even zero pricing would result in overcrowding.
- throwaway_USD 7y ago
  Funny, that was their strategy pre-IPO
- jandrese 7y ago
  Are you saying that pricing drives demand? It seems to me that demand is driven by people who have places to go. Pricing can reduce demand, but it can't increase it beyond the base amount. Not unless people start just telling their uber driver to go around the city because they just like being inside of a car.
  - anticensor 7y ago
    It can, even to the point of inability to serve passengers demanding for an actual need. There are situations people taking public transport just because it is free and they have time. I mean, if there were a free taxi, I can hail it and pick my friends and acquittances randomly into it and drop them at random places.
vikramkr 7y ago
What would be the point of negative pricing?

dkdk8283 7y ago

I’ve spent $1700 on uber eats since this covid thing started. Restaurants need help and drivers do too. I would normally think this amount of money for 6 weeks of food is nuts but I’m glad I can help. Keeping the economy going as much as possible is really important, IMO.

Baeocystin 7y ago
Are you not concerned about kitchen staff acting as vectors? Honest question.
- doktrin 7y ago
  Not the parent, but when I've had food delivered I reheat it in a new container. That + disposing of original packaging, afaik, mostly mitigates any risk of transmission which for this particular vector is low to begin with. I havent ordered many fresh salads or sushi.
- untog 7y ago
  There's no evidence so that that it's transmitted via food.
  - brookside 7y ago
    Working together in the kitchen, I assume the comment above means.
- ttul 7y ago
  There is no hard evidence that COVID-19 is transmitted on food. Furthermore, restaurants in developed countries have to follow rigorous health and safety practices when preparing and distributing food. Those practices, which include hand washing, reduce the risk of virus transmission even further. Keep in mind that the transmission of disease via food is something that health authorities have been tackling for decades.
  - Baeocystin 7y ago

kylecazar 7y ago

I just saw a TV ad from Uber thanking me for NOT riding with Uber during this time. You're... welcome?

soccernee 7y ago

Does this mean Uber will lose less money than it did in previous quarters?

olliej 7y ago
haha, you beat me to it! :D

yalogin 7y ago

That is to be expected. Uber makes what little it does on Uber Eats. Lyft probably doesn't even make that. Same with Airbnb, they are probably making 0 right now.

uptown 7y ago

@dang Any reason this post vanished from the front-page? Seemed to be relatively active and not all that stale at 21 minutes at the time of this comment.

minimaxir 7y ago
Likely due to the paywall.
lawrenceyan 7y ago
Does HN have an @ functionality? I wasn't aware that there was.

vwcx 7y ago

Non-paywall link: https://archive.vn/xj2db https://archive.vn/xj2db