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If you’ve ever not owned a car and lived somewhere with poor public transport, Uber makes a lot of sense. It sucked having to rely on friends, family, and espe

by reidjs 5y ago

If you’ve ever not owned a car and lived somewhere with poor public transport, Uber makes a lot of sense. It sucked having to rely on friends, family, and especially yellow cabs. I’m not saying Uber is the best company or business model, but ride sharing makes total business sense to me.

nyghtly 5y ago
Uber makes sense to riders at subsidized prices, but it stops making sense once they start charging what it actually costs to provide that service. The reason we don't take taxis everywhere is because they're expensive and infrequent. Creating an app to handle dispatch didn't magically change this reality. The hardest parts of operating a taxi service (maintaining a fleet of vehicles, hiring and retaining drivers) have not gotten any easier, except in the case of Prop 22, which is an unfair advantage for Uber compared to other transportation providers.
- reidjs 5y ago
  Even if the prices doubled overnight it would still make sense for my main uses: an on-demand designated driver or rides to/from the airport. That said, I realize I'm financially better off than many people and would prefer to have safe, affordable, and widespread public transit.
  - MichaelZuo 5y ago
    I agree the premium Uber services will always be in demand in every big city. UberX is their loss leader to entice customers, and generate nice growth numbers.
Ntrails 5y ago
I lived in all sorts of properly rural places with no public transport of any meaningful kind. If you needed a cab you phoned a minicab office and an operator would give you a time slot. The only thing changed by uber is that the minicab operator is now an app, and pricing is less predictable
- stvswn 5y ago
  That experience isn't true in my experience. I was in college pre-Uber in an area unserved by public transportation and it was common knowledge that you cannot schedule a cab and expect them to actually come, and when they did you could expect a very tense price negotiation accompanied by indignation about where you wanted to go. To push back on taxi apologia elsewhere -- Years later I lived in Philadelphia during the cab era and the city passed a law that the cabs needed to accept credit cards, but the cabs wouldn't unlock their doors unless you promised to pay cash. Even still, they'd often ask where you wanted to go and speed away if you said the wrong thing. Around the same time, in D.C., there was a "zone system" where cab fares were set around how many zones the cab traveled through, and so every rider got used to knowing the tricks cabs would play to go out of their ways to enter and exit unnecessary zones and surprise you with a high bill. They also had the right to pick up additional passengers whether you liked it or not. In NYC it was common knowledge that you just can't expect a cab to take you to the outer boroughs.

by reidjs 5y ago

nyghtly 5y ago

Uber makes sense to riders at subsidized prices, but it stops making sense once they start charging what it actually costs to provide that service. The reason we don't take taxis everywhere is because they're expensive and infrequent. Creating an app to handle dispatch didn't magically change this reality. The hardest parts of operating a taxi service (maintaining a fleet of vehicles, hiring and retaining drivers) have not gotten any easier, except in the case of Prop 22, which is an unfair advantage for Uber compared to other transportation providers.

reidjs 5y ago
Even if the prices doubled overnight it would still make sense for my main uses: an on-demand designated driver or rides to/from the airport. That said, I realize I'm financially better off than many people and would prefer to have safe, affordable, and widespread public transit.
- MichaelZuo 5y ago
  I agree the premium Uber services will always be in demand in every big city. UberX is their loss leader to entice customers, and generate nice growth numbers.

Ntrails 5y ago

I lived in all sorts of properly rural places with no public transport of any meaningful kind. If you needed a cab you phoned a minicab office and an operator would give you a time slot. The only thing changed by uber is that the minicab operator is now an app, and pricing is less predictable

stvswn 5y ago
That experience isn't true in my experience. I was in college pre-Uber in an area unserved by public transportation and it was common knowledge that you cannot schedule a cab and expect them to actually come, and when they did you could expect a very tense price negotiation accompanied by indignation about where you wanted to go. To push back on taxi apologia elsewhere -- Years later I lived in Philadelphia during the cab era and the city passed a law that the cabs needed to accept credit cards, but the cabs wouldn't unlock their doors unless you promised to pay cash. Even still, they'd often ask where you wanted to go and speed away if you said the wrong thing. Around the same time, in D.C., there was a "zone system" where cab fares were set around how many zones the cab traveled through, and so every rider got used to knowing the tricks cabs would play to go out of their ways to enter and exit unnecessary zones and surprise you with a high bill. They also had the right to pick up additional passengers whether you liked it or not. In NYC it was common knowledge that you just can't expect a cab to take you to the outer boroughs.