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If there was any time to be skeptical of Uber's longevity, it is now (at least for me). My experience is anecdotal but I visit my home country every year for a

If there was any time to be skeptical of Uber's longevity, it is now (at least for me). My experience is anecdotal but I visit my home country every year for a few months and I can clearly notice the declining quality of Uber's services: 1. Vehicles, on average, take at least 10-15 mins longer to get 2. Even if you find a vehicle, 60% of these rides are canceled (either by the driver because they call me and find out they don't want to go that way or they just don't move at all and I'm forced to cancel) 3. After all this, if I am lucky to get into a commute, every driver has complaints about Uber (complaints include intransparent pricing, delays in payments). Most of these drivers are completely dependent on Uber or similar services and have heavy debts that they are now unable to service. 4. Uber's app itself appears to get bloated by the day and while they do appear to make an effort collect my feedback when rides get canceled, not once have I got an impression that the feedback matters at all. Additionally, payment options are numerous but they require me to complete multiple steps to finish which puts me off using it (not Uber's fault I suppose but is part of the riding experience). Given that they are competing against flag-down autos and rides, not to mention public transport and private vehicles (as electric bikes and cars get more popular), I think their model is not sustainable anymore and I expect them to struggle further as riders withdraw and once the demand-supply gap grows further, it's a downward spiral.

sofixa 5y ago
I've been seeing the same thing in Paris. It's gotten very unreliable, often requiring 15+ minutes to get a driver at the very least, and pricing is worse and worse.
bennysomething 5y ago
There's a shortage of drivers (in the UK at least) https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59158230 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59158230 It's actually getting really noticeable. It used to be easy for me to hail a taxi or get an Uber from a pub, it's next to impossible now
- arcturus17 5y ago
  I haven't read anything like that in Madrid, but I've been noticing it for a couple months now. Rides in central neighborhoods such as Chamberí used to take 2-3min at most, now it's very common to see waits of 7-8min.
bostonsre 5y ago
Do they still lose money on every ride they give? I've been skeptical for a while now, it's a ponzi scheme.
- savanaly 5y ago
  For the last time, not everything that's not everything that's a bad financial proposition == ponzi scheme. At what point have new drivers ever paid the wages of old drivers? Uber drivers have always done ok in the short term, new or old, it's Uber that loses money on every ride. And if the drivers are not coming out ahead long term due to maintenance costs, that's not affecting newer drivers any more than older drivers.
  - bostonsre 5y ago
    I don't understand why you are going into driver wages. I'm completely fine with their drivers making good money, but if they lose money on every ride, it doesn't sound like a good business. What makes it a ponzi scheme is that the initial investors and the people that run it knew they couldn't possibly make money and yet they were able to get tons of investors to pour capital into a business that couldn't make money. New investors aka public markets paid out the old investors aka venture capitalists.
- bogota 5y ago
  Please explain what you think a ponzi scheme is. Because losing money on something isn’t close to the definition
  - dktoao 5y ago
    I think they mean it is sort of a ponzi scheme for those invested. It requires more and more investor money to operate and will eventually collapse leaving the last round of investors holding the bag while those that got in early may get out fine. I think the ponzi scheme is more an apt metaphor than the actual structure of the company?
    - 5y ago
nixpulvis 5y ago
Not to be overly cynical, but I've noticed the same degraded quality and service across the board. I wouldn't think this is unique to Uber. We've simply built systems we cannot maintain as well anymore, under new resource constraints.
cryptoz 5y ago
It's like this in Tacoma, WA right now. An Uber or Lyft may never arrive. 5-10 cancelled drivers before the car arrives is normal. A notice saying "No cars available" is shown 70-80% of the time for XL size cars. Often it takes 1h or so to get a ride. Sometimes it will come in 4 minutes, sometimes it will say 4 minutes but then 5+ drivers cancel and it takes an hour of real time, while the app just says 4 minutes. I have come to depend on Lyft and Uber and they are failing me and have been for a long time now. So long that I now plan to get a driver's license and a car. I don't know how else to make it in this world. If you're at a business and it's closing soon, and raining outside, you are likely to be outside in the cold and rain for 30 minutes waiting for a car. It's ridiculous. I'm giving up and have already booked my written drivers test for WA.
- roystonvassey 5y ago
  Yep - I am now seriously considering buying an electric scooter because Uber is plain unreliable now.
- titanomachy 5y ago
  > I don’t know how else to make it in this world There are places in the world with substantially better transit than Tacoma. It’s always been a pretty difficult place to live without a car, except maybe for a brief period between 2013 and 2021 when Uber was heavily subsidized by VC.
  - lostmsu 5y ago
    You are forgetting the epidemic is still here, peak deaths in WA was just 1 month ago.

sofixa 5y ago

I've been seeing the same thing in Paris. It's gotten very unreliable, often requiring 15+ minutes to get a driver at the very least, and pricing is worse and worse.

bennysomething 5y ago

There's a shortage of drivers (in the UK at least) https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59158230 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59158230 It's actually getting really noticeable. It used to be easy for me to hail a taxi or get an Uber from a pub, it's next to impossible now

arcturus17 5y ago
I haven't read anything like that in Madrid, but I've been noticing it for a couple months now. Rides in central neighborhoods such as Chamberí used to take 2-3min at most, now it's very common to see waits of 7-8min.

bostonsre 5y ago

Do they still lose money on every ride they give? I've been skeptical for a while now, it's a ponzi scheme.

savanaly 5y ago
For the last time, not everything that's not everything that's a bad financial proposition == ponzi scheme. At what point have new drivers ever paid the wages of old drivers? Uber drivers have always done ok in the short term, new or old, it's Uber that loses money on every ride. And if the drivers are not coming out ahead long term due to maintenance costs, that's not affecting newer drivers any more than older drivers.
- bostonsre 5y ago
  I don't understand why you are going into driver wages. I'm completely fine with their drivers making good money, but if they lose money on every ride, it doesn't sound like a good business. What makes it a ponzi scheme is that the initial investors and the people that run it knew they couldn't possibly make money and yet they were able to get tons of investors to pour capital into a business that couldn't make money. New investors aka public markets paid out the old investors aka venture capitalists.
bogota 5y ago
Please explain what you think a ponzi scheme is. Because losing money on something isn’t close to the definition
- dktoao 5y ago
  I think they mean it is sort of a ponzi scheme for those invested. It requires more and more investor money to operate and will eventually collapse leaving the last round of investors holding the bag while those that got in early may get out fine. I think the ponzi scheme is more an apt metaphor than the actual structure of the company?
  - 5y ago

nixpulvis 5y ago

Not to be overly cynical, but I've noticed the same degraded quality and service across the board. I wouldn't think this is unique to Uber. We've simply built systems we cannot maintain as well anymore, under new resource constraints.

cryptoz 5y ago

It's like this in Tacoma, WA right now. An Uber or Lyft may never arrive. 5-10 cancelled drivers before the car arrives is normal. A notice saying "No cars available" is shown 70-80% of the time for XL size cars. Often it takes 1h or so to get a ride. Sometimes it will come in 4 minutes, sometimes it will say 4 minutes but then 5+ drivers cancel and it takes an hour of real time, while the app just says 4 minutes. I have come to depend on Lyft and Uber and they are failing me and have been for a long time now. So long that I now plan to get a driver's license and a car. I don't know how else to make it in this world. If you're at a business and it's closing soon, and raining outside, you are likely to be outside in the cold and rain for 30 minutes waiting for a car. It's ridiculous. I'm giving up and have already booked my written drivers test for WA.

roystonvassey 5y ago
Yep - I am now seriously considering buying an electric scooter because Uber is plain unreliable now.
titanomachy 5y ago
> I don’t know how else to make it in this world There are places in the world with substantially better transit than Tacoma. It’s always been a pretty difficult place to live without a car, except maybe for a brief period between 2013 and 2021 when Uber was heavily subsidized by VC.
- lostmsu 5y ago
  You are forgetting the epidemic is still here, peak deaths in WA was just 1 month ago.