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> which will never scale past the size of a single US state People live in a city and take cabs in that city. Build a city-scale app. For extra credit, add fed

> which will never scale past the size of a single US state People live in a city and take cabs in that city. Build a city-scale app. For extra credit, add federation APIs to interoperate with other city-scale worker-owned co-op apps. Only a tiny 0.1% of people (including Uber's dumb investors) think that being able to use the same app in every city on earth is a killer feature.

endisneigh 4y ago
You don't even need multiple apps. Even if a Postgres DB only scaled to a single city, which is wrong to begin with, you could shard it per city/state/country pretty easily.
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noirbot 4y ago
It kinda is a big feature though. I'd imagine people who need a rideshare service are over-represented in people who travel a lot for either business or pleasure, and likely do so to multiple random cities. I remember traveling to a city in Canada 4-5 years ago when they didn't have Uber or Lyft, and there was a local app that was vexing to try to use if you didn't already live there, and assumed you had a local address. There were a lot of places I just didn't end up going to because I couldn't work out the app, and couldn't find a normal taxi on the street that didn't require cash that I didn't have. For a lot of people, the times you're calling a cab are a stressful experience already - you're in a new place, maybe with a new language, often under time pressure to get somewhere. There's definite advantage to using a familiar app in that use case.
- ForHackernews 4y ago
  I guess you're right that having Uber is a big help for all the people who fit the center of the Venn diagram for: - Unwilling to use public transport - Unfamiliar with the city - Don't carry any cash - Don't speak the local language - Unable to install/set up a new app - Travelling alone, without a local who can help them Are there enough of those people to justify Uber as a $100B business? I am very sceptical.
  - noirbot 4y ago
    What you've described is most business travelers, which is essentially what keeps most of the airline and hotel industry alive, as I understand it.

endisneigh 4y ago

You don't even need multiple apps. Even if a Postgres DB only scaled to a single city, which is wrong to begin with, you could shard it per city/state/country pretty easily.

deleted 4y ago

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noirbot 4y ago

It kinda is a big feature though. I'd imagine people who need a rideshare service are over-represented in people who travel a lot for either business or pleasure, and likely do so to multiple random cities. I remember traveling to a city in Canada 4-5 years ago when they didn't have Uber or Lyft, and there was a local app that was vexing to try to use if you didn't already live there, and assumed you had a local address. There were a lot of places I just didn't end up going to because I couldn't work out the app, and couldn't find a normal taxi on the street that didn't require cash that I didn't have. For a lot of people, the times you're calling a cab are a stressful experience already - you're in a new place, maybe with a new language, often under time pressure to get somewhere. There's definite advantage to using a familiar app in that use case.

ForHackernews 4y ago
I guess you're right that having Uber is a big help for all the people who fit the center of the Venn diagram for: - Unwilling to use public transport - Unfamiliar with the city - Don't carry any cash - Don't speak the local language - Unable to install/set up a new app - Travelling alone, without a local who can help them Are there enough of those people to justify Uber as a $100B business? I am very sceptical.
- noirbot 4y ago
  What you've described is most business travelers, which is essentially what keeps most of the airline and hotel industry alive, as I understand it.