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Because the taxi business is a commodity. The returns are ~2%. Uber doesn't have any geographic or other advantages. "Self driving" is a nonsense claim that do

by rswail 5y ago

Because the taxi business is a commodity. The returns are ~2%. Uber doesn't have any geographic or other advantages. "Self driving" is a nonsense claim that doesn't stack up because it's not going to be available for at least another 5+ years. Even when it does happen, Uber doesn't have the capital to establish the necessary fleets of vehicles and is currently "outsourcing" that to the owner/drivers. There have been any number of articles about Uber's lack of a sustainable business model. https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2020/09/09/the-emperor-has-no-clothes--ubers-business-model-is-broken/?sh=1a76fb56706a https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2020/09/09/th... https://marker.medium.com/end-of-the-line-for-uber-901e3077bbbc https://marker.medium.com/end-of-the-line-for-uber-901e3077b... And the original guy that showed that the emperor has no clothes: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/08/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-twenty-six-with-no-hope-of-real-profits-uber-and-lyft-double-down-on-fake-profit-metrics.html https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/08/hubert-horan-can-ube...

nicoburns 5y ago
Uber does have the advantage of operating globally and having a single app that will get you a taxi almost anywhere in the world. Given that traditional taxi companies often only operate in a single town or city that's quite an advantage. They would easily have a sustainable business if they dramatically cut their costs. Whether they can do that having taken the amount of VC money they have is another question.
- discreteevent 5y ago
  What percentage of taxi users are globetrotters?
  - nicoburns 5y ago
    I'm not sure, but you don't even need to a globetrotter. Even the town an hour away probably has different taxi companies to where you live.
  - tpxl 5y ago
    I'd assume a decent chunk. I don't generally use a taxi in my home country, but used Uber a few times when traveling. That being said, I have 0 issue downloading a local taxi app and deleting it afterwards.

by rswail 5y ago

nicoburns 5y ago

Uber does have the advantage of operating globally and having a single app that will get you a taxi almost anywhere in the world. Given that traditional taxi companies often only operate in a single town or city that's quite an advantage. They would easily have a sustainable business if they dramatically cut their costs. Whether they can do that having taken the amount of VC money they have is another question.

discreteevent 5y ago
What percentage of taxi users are globetrotters?
- nicoburns 5y ago
  I'm not sure, but you don't even need to a globetrotter. Even the town an hour away probably has different taxi companies to where you live.
- tpxl 5y ago
  I'd assume a decent chunk. I don't generally use a taxi in my home country, but used Uber a few times when traveling. That being said, I have 0 issue downloading a local taxi app and deleting it afterwards.