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Because the rides are legitimately becoming too expensive to attract a large volume of riders. As volume disappears, drivers start leaving the app - no fun bei
by spaceman_2020 4y ago
Because the rides are legitimately becoming too expensive to attract a large volume of riders.
As volume disappears, drivers start leaving the app - no fun being logged in all day and getting no rides.
If drivers start leaving the app, Uber has to incentivize them, eating into the company’s margin.
Essentially, the real, unsubsidized market for on-demand chauffeured rides is much smaller than anyone anticipated.
- ghaff 4y ago>Essentially, the real, unsubsidized market for on-demand chauffeured rides is much smaller than anyone anticipated. It seemed probable that Uber pricing would approach taxi pricing. Which seems to have largely happened. And while Uber was arguably a better experience than cabs in many cities, it's not clear that just a better experience would cause a lot more usage at the same price.
- spaceman_2020 4y agoThe "better experience" argument rests on a false premise - that everyone has the money; they never spent it on cabs earlier because it wasn't easily accessible. This kind of thinking is pervasive among tech startups now, and much of it is deeply embedded among startups founded by financially well-off, living-in-SF folks. The idea that the vast majority of people don't really have enough money to afford fair price cabs (or food delivery or consumer good) seems to be lost on them.
- HWR_14 4y agoI do find a lot of physical goods startups seem wildly overpriced as consumer items. I mean, that's fine if you're planning on selling to SF tech folk, but then they talk about going national in major chains.