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i am not siding with Uber but to claim that they are going to fail is a bit of hyperbole . the value proposition is quite simple for both drivers and passengers
by elisharobinson 4y ago
i am not siding with Uber but to claim that they are going to fail is a bit of hyperbole . the value proposition is quite simple for both drivers and passengers . for drivers you would make more income by driving more consistently , for passengers you get a cab instead of shouting like a cave-person on the street. It is true that there is an element of bezzle with money pumping and dumping over the last few years . They can be profitable as a much smaller company.
- hatenberg 4y agoMany cities in the world have cabs on equally capable apps now so that competitive advantage is gone. Nobody screams like a cave person on the street anymore
- rciorba 4y agoAnd even before apps became common-place, in Europe it was common to call a dispatch and ask for a cab at an address.
- sneak 4y agoUber was founded because the same was true in SF; however then oftentimes the cab only arrived after an hour, if at all.
- mudrockbestgirl 4y agoIt's a fair value prop in SF, where you have to scream like a cave-person while wading through poop-filled streets with gun-wielding semi-homeless trying to mug you at each corner. Unfortunately for Uber the rest of the world doesn't look quite like that and normal taxis work just fine...
- thaumasiotes 4y ago> Unfortunately for Uber the rest of the world doesn't look quite like that and normal taxis work just fine... Not in the slightest. One of the biggest problems with normal taxis in Shanghai is that they won't stop if it's raining. And it rains all the time. I don't suddenly need a taxi less if it starts to rain; if anything, I need one more.
- waspight 4y agoWhat is the reason behind that?
- thaumasiotes 4y agoWalking is less attractive while it's raining.
- elisharobinson 4y agoyou make the car wet with wet clothes and shoes , smell wont go unless you dry it in the sun ... and if you dont dry it out it will smell like wet socks ...
- virgildotcodes 4y agoYeah, and god help you if you were somewhere other than a major city. I remember calling cabs multiple times in Southern California suburbs and waiting for hours only for them never to show up. Taxis essentially didn’t exist outside of downtown/airports. Ridesharing apps were a revolution, not that I’m defending their practices here.
- seanhandley 4y agoI live in rural UK. We have several local taxi companies that reliably turn up within minutes. It's been that way for decades. The only really interesting value add to Uber was app-centric interactions (as opposed to a phone call), giving the ability to pay by card (instead of cash), and to track the taxi in the app. Many local taxi firms are using apps too, so those advantages are gone. If this plays out the same in all geographies then Uber has already lost the taxi game.
- matsemann 4y agoSame in rural area I grew up. If anything, the monopoly on being a taxi drivers is what made it possible to get a taxi year round, not just during tourist season. So we could call a cab at a random weekday and probably be the driver's only ride that day. Then they would make most of their money during high season. Now, lots of randoms dip into the high season using these apps. No longer profitable for the taxi to operate year around. So for the locals there is no longer a reliable taxi service most of the year...
- andrewinardeer 4y agoI requested a cab through the local cab app here and four turned up. I mean, I guess it worked for me.
- ginko 4y ago>for passengers you get a cab instead of shouting like a cave-person on the street. Maybe I'm a cave person but to me just waving to hail a cab or just entering the first car in line at a taxi stand seems much more convenient than having to fiddle around with a mobile app and wait until it arrives.
- wegwerfbenutzer 4y agoNot if these taxi drivers do their best to scam you.
- golergka 4y agoIt's convenient to you to wait for a cab to appear for 20 minutes in rain and snow instead of opening an app inside?
- jon_adler 4y agoIn addition to taxi ranks in popular areas, my local area (U.K.) has local taxi companies with their own apps. You can even still call them on the phone (quaint as it is) to make a booking.
- mst 4y agoSame in my bit of .uk. Now, admittedly, the app I use most often is stunningly ugly and has almost zero features, but it -does- have the feature of 'reliably producing a taxi when I type my name and location into it' and so long as that part works I don't really care much about anything else. (in several areas of .us I've found that the taxi experience is "call them, one might turn up at some point" so I can see uber's tracking of the car as it approaches to be a welcome security blankie for people who've been traumatised by the local taxis)
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bergenty 4y agoMaybe if you live in the very heart of big cities. Otherwise there’s no way most of the US can flag a taxis. Uber replaced limo service which costs atleast three times as much.
- imron 4y ago> but to claim that they are going to fail is a bit of hyperbole They make a loss on every ride, but don’t worry they’ll make up for it in volume!
- jmeister 4y agoThey could raise prices, reduce volume and turn profitable.
- elisharobinson 4y agoOP post mentions that they were profitable in Q2 2022 by raising rates . did you not read the article .