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> There is nothing Uber/Lyft do that any urban taxi company cannot do just as good if not better. This has been true for the decade that Uber has been in opera

> There is nothing Uber/Lyft do that any urban taxi company cannot do just as good if not better. This has been true for the decade that Uber has been in operation yet no urban taxi company has built anything even close to a comparable app or experience.

arcticbull 6y ago
There were a few, like Flywheel, but the whole Uber business model is propped up on big money providing utterly unsustainable subsidies to riders. Nobody wants to pay what it actually costs to provide the service as evidenced by the fact they've been unable to raise prices. Once they run out of money to set fire to, there won't be an Uber. Butts in seats is a strictly commodity business, whoever charges the least gets the ride. Just like airlines. The difference is airlines are roughly equivalently efficient, but Uber and Lyft are strictly less efficient than taxis.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- RandallBrown 6y ago
  I'm not convinced that ride shares are unsustainable. The average fare I've paid is certainly greater than the cost of paying the driver's wages and gas for the vehicle. The difference should more than make up for the cost of maintaining an app in the long term so I don't see any reason that some company can't eventually be profitable in this space. Flywheel was (still is?) a too little too late attempt by taxi companies to stay relevant and as far as I remember, it didn't even work very well.
  - arcticbull 6y ago
    > The average fare I've paid is certainly greater than the cost of paying the driver's wages and gas for the vehicle. If that's the case then why do they have a -81% GAAP margin? [1] [1] https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/08/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-twenty-three-ubers-already-hopelessly-unprofitable-economics-take-a-major-coronavirus-hit.html https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/08/hubert-horan-can-ube...
    - RandallBrown 6y ago
      I have to imagine it's because of marketing and R&D. If they dramatically reduced both of those things, I don't see why they couldn't run a more modest and profitable business.
      - arcticbull 6y ago
        Correct, however, as part of their marketing expenses, they include the discounts they offer riders to use their service, which reinforces my point.

arcticbull 6y ago

There were a few, like Flywheel, but the whole Uber business model is propped up on big money providing utterly unsustainable subsidies to riders. Nobody wants to pay what it actually costs to provide the service as evidenced by the fact they've been unable to raise prices. Once they run out of money to set fire to, there won't be an Uber. Butts in seats is a strictly commodity business, whoever charges the least gets the ride. Just like airlines. The difference is airlines are roughly equivalently efficient, but Uber and Lyft are strictly less efficient than taxis.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
RandallBrown 6y ago
I'm not convinced that ride shares are unsustainable. The average fare I've paid is certainly greater than the cost of paying the driver's wages and gas for the vehicle. The difference should more than make up for the cost of maintaining an app in the long term so I don't see any reason that some company can't eventually be profitable in this space. Flywheel was (still is?) a too little too late attempt by taxi companies to stay relevant and as far as I remember, it didn't even work very well.
- arcticbull 6y ago
  > The average fare I've paid is certainly greater than the cost of paying the driver's wages and gas for the vehicle. If that's the case then why do they have a -81% GAAP margin? [1] [1] https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/08/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-twenty-three-ubers-already-hopelessly-unprofitable-economics-take-a-major-coronavirus-hit.html https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/08/hubert-horan-can-ube...
  - RandallBrown 6y ago
    I have to imagine it's because of marketing and R&D. If they dramatically reduced both of those things, I don't see why they couldn't run a more modest and profitable business.
    - arcticbull 6y ago
      Correct, however, as part of their marketing expenses, they include the discounts they offer riders to use their service, which reinforces my point.