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Ride sharing’s empty promises can be chalked up to corporate PR… I don’t imagine most riders or investors consider those when calling a car or investing. Wrt t

• nuerow 5y ago
  > Ride sharing’s empty promises can be chalked up to corporate PR… I don’t imagine most riders or investors consider those when calling a car or investing. I disagree. Ridesharing promised sharing a car. That is the whole concept: anyone with a car could pick up passengers and be rewarded by it. See also carpooling. This is not what Uber or Lyft do, because that business was regulated out of existence by the taxicab lobby. We're talking about an established monopoly which fought any ride hailing service that was presenting any competition to their business. What Uber and Lyft ended up getting away with was ride hailing services. They got away with it by leveraging existing legislation on vehicle rentals with their own driver. Still, that business is only available to licensed companies, not the regular public. Getting back to ridesharing, the underlying thesis and the main value proposition of carsharing is that the service provided a way for everyone with a car to monetize their ride by picking up a passenger in exchange for a small fee. Instead of going through your commute with your car empty, you could pick a passenger willing to pay you for your trouble. That would take cars from the street, lessen traffic congestions, and change the way public transportation was used.