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But if I can avoid buying a car because Uber, then number of washes goes down or is at least balanced.

by elwell 3y ago

williamdclt 3y ago
In London at least, Uber is an alternative to public transport (and taxis obv), not to car ownership
- cassianoleal 3y ago
  Both public transport and taxi/cab/uber are alternatives to car ownership.
  - bluGill 3y ago
    Unless you are rich taxi/uber is not an alternative to car ownership. (rich call it a limo). Those are alternatives for when something else covers most of your needs but once in a while it is lacking. If you own a car you need a 'i'm drunk' option. If you take transit you need a 'i'm going where transit doesn't or is too slow' option.
    - cassianoleal 3y ago
      You're not wrong but my point stands. I'm not saying taking an uber everywhere is an alternative to having a car. It's part of the system. There's public transport (tube, DLR, overground, trams, busses), there's rental bikes, rental scooters, there's uber/taxi, there's walking. You use the "car ownership alternative" (or a combination of them) that works for each given situation.
  - afavour 3y ago
    I think the point the OP is making is that the burden of car ownership in somewhere like London is already very high. So those who can do without by and large do. The remaining folks who do still have a car do so for a reason (job, primarily) and are unlikely to get rid of it just because Uber exists.
usrusr 3y ago
When people use an Uber instead of owning a car, they will never ever sit in a car that hasn't been recently washed. When they drive their own car, the threshold for good enough is so much lower for all but the most fanatic washers. Chances are their own car, on average, will not only have seen more time pass since the last wash, but also more miles (more miles will certainly be much closer to a tie though)
- mr_toad 3y ago
  Maybe that’s the real reason there are lots of new car washes?
closewith 3y ago
That seems unlikely, given professional rideshare drivers will have to wash their cars probably two orders of magnitude more than the average driver.
nytesky 3y ago
If you can get by without a car where Uber makes sense, you likely didn’t need a car anyways nor drive it often enough to wash more than seasonally. You aren’t commuting daily in an Uber, nor driving kids to school and activities with all their gear and car seats. Those are the activities which might have moved the needle on needing Uber level frequency of car washes (but even then, I assume an Uber is washed every other day or so, or perhaps I just have a cynical view of humanity keeping the inside of taxis clean).

But if I can avoid buying a car because Uber, then number of washes goes down or is at least balanced.

by elwell 3y ago

But if I can avoid buying a car because Uber, then number of washes goes down or is at least balanced.

williamdclt 3y ago

In London at least, Uber is an alternative to public transport (and taxis obv), not to car ownership

cassianoleal 3y ago
Both public transport and taxi/cab/uber are alternatives to car ownership.
- bluGill 3y ago
  Unless you are rich taxi/uber is not an alternative to car ownership. (rich call it a limo). Those are alternatives for when something else covers most of your needs but once in a while it is lacking. If you own a car you need a 'i'm drunk' option. If you take transit you need a 'i'm going where transit doesn't or is too slow' option.
  - cassianoleal 3y ago
    You're not wrong but my point stands. I'm not saying taking an uber everywhere is an alternative to having a car. It's part of the system. There's public transport (tube, DLR, overground, trams, busses), there's rental bikes, rental scooters, there's uber/taxi, there's walking. You use the "car ownership alternative" (or a combination of them) that works for each given situation.
- afavour 3y ago
  I think the point the OP is making is that the burden of car ownership in somewhere like London is already very high. So those who can do without by and large do. The remaining folks who do still have a car do so for a reason (job, primarily) and are unlikely to get rid of it just because Uber exists.

usrusr 3y ago

When people use an Uber instead of owning a car, they will never ever sit in a car that hasn't been recently washed. When they drive their own car, the threshold for good enough is so much lower for all but the most fanatic washers. Chances are their own car, on average, will not only have seen more time pass since the last wash, but also more miles (more miles will certainly be much closer to a tie though)

mr_toad 3y ago
Maybe that’s the real reason there are lots of new car washes?

closewith 3y ago

That seems unlikely, given professional rideshare drivers will have to wash their cars probably two orders of magnitude more than the average driver.

nytesky 3y ago

If you can get by without a car where Uber makes sense, you likely didn’t need a car anyways nor drive it often enough to wash more than seasonally. You aren’t commuting daily in an Uber, nor driving kids to school and activities with all their gear and car seats. Those are the activities which might have moved the needle on needing Uber level frequency of car washes (but even then, I assume an Uber is washed every other day or so, or perhaps I just have a cynical view of humanity keeping the inside of taxis clean).