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Lyft Plus
- mikeryan 12y agoIs this just a straight livery service?
- nairteashop 12y agoLooks like they're staying out of that. The plan seems to be sell these cars to their top Lyft drivers, with the promise of more ride money. From: http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/8/5694720/lyft-goes-after-ubers-black-cars-with-new-high-end-rides http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/8/5694720/lyft-goes-after-ube... "[Lyft is] purchasing the vehicles and having them outfitted, but then drivers have the opportunity to buy them and drive in them. The first crop of drivers given the chance to buy into that are some of the oldest and most active, Lyft says; how much they'll pay for that privilege, the company won't say."
- vinceguidry 12y agoWho in their right mind would invest in one of these? You're taking a serious risk that one day you might not be able to make a living with your swank, expensive luxury SUV. Or is there so much earning potential there over the top of regular Lyft rates that it's worth rolling the dice?
- nairteashop 12y agoI was wondering the same thing, but I'm sure they ran the numbers and gauged driver interest before launch. Quite curious to see how it turns out.
- aetherson 12y agoWe threw around some wild-ass guesses as to the numbers in the office, and came up with the idea that it's probably a bit better to be a Lyft+ driver than a Lyft driver, assuming (and this is a big if) that Lyft can deliver you a similar volume of rides. The big thing is that this Ford Explorer is probably not a lot more expensive than a Prius is. Priuses tend to cost about $30,000 all in. Ford Explorers start at $30,000. Assume $10,000 in after-market add-ons, but then assume that Lyft negotiates your base price down to $25,000 because they're buying a bunch of them, you're only an additional $5,000 in the hole compared to a Prius. Gas is twice what a Prius owner pays. And they're charging twice what Lyft ordinarily costs. So, basically, if they can deliver the same number of rides, your gross is twice as high, your costs are something on the order of twice as high or actually a bit less than that, means that your take-home pay is probably about 150% what a normal Lyft driver makes. Again, the big if here is whether you are in fact getting the same volume of rides that the downmarket offering is. And the question there is how much supply Lyft wants to put on the road. Are they willing to have more failed rides in order to support their drivers' incomes? Is the demand for a Lyft premium option there at all? Alternately, is the demand really high and you're going to be surging (yeah, yeah: "prime time tipping") more often and making a higher gross? Nobody knows right now. Disclaimer: I work for Flywheel, a Lyft competitor.
- jamesaguilar 12y agoAgreed. It seems like the "right" thing to do if you're running a personal taxi service is to buy a reliable used car in the high tens of thousands of miles, and then drive it until it dies. Buying a new car -- you'd have to make thousands of dollars more per year to justify the depreciation.
- dchuk 12y ago"We started by reimagining ridesharing." I've always viewed Lyft as Uber X with a pink furry mustache. What exactly have they "reinvented" before this announcement that wasn't already "reinvented" by Uber before them?
- toomuchtodo 12y agoUber went into Lyft's space with Uber X. Lyft is going into Uber's space with Lyft premium. For Lyft users who prefer not using Uber is who its for.
- tibbon 12y agoAs someone who has used both services (and others like Sidecar) they are all about the same to me. Generally, Lyft seems a little friendlier than Uber. However honestly all are light years ahead of a yellow cab- in which the drivers rarely accept cards (machine broken), refuse to use GPS, and talk on the phone nonstop (despite the laws on that).
- mrbrowning 12y agoWhat I wonder about Lyft is the extent to which friendliness scales. That it has scaled so far is obviously due to the fact that they can simply project that sense of friendliness and then rely on individual drivers to actually do the work of giving that impression to customers, but what if they want to expand their business into domains where friendliness is unimportant or even a downside (an example might be something like the bike messaging that Uber is getting into in NYC, where prompt service basically requires the service provider to be brusque)? In such a market, the company wouldn't be able to trade on their reputation as the friendly alternative and in fact might be even harmed by the expectation that they would be that. Is friendliness a straightjacket in the making?
- iambateman 12y ago1. Friendliness is always important in customer interaction. 2. Chick-fil-A is an example of "friendliness" scaling up to x0,000 employees. 3. No, being nice is not a straightjacket in the making.
- moonka 12y agoInteresting. Guess it was only a matter of time with the proliferation of ride share platforms. I wonder if drivers are employees or contractors? Seems as though the cars will be more uniform than Uber Black/SUV.
- joosters 12y agoHow can companies get away with saying things like 'the most affordable premium option' without providing any pricing information whatsoever? Why do they even think that it is acceptable to do so?
- sssbc 12y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery its real, deal.
- BorisMelnik 12y agooh so there is a legal term for "peacockin'"
- Dylan16807 12y agoIt's not the puffery that's being objected to, it's the way they are actively avoiding providing basic information needed to understand the puffery. Don't woo me with "the orangest chairs in America" and film it in black and white.
- state 12y agoConsidering how few players there are in this market, shouldn't it be pretty easy to guess? Usually I'd agree with you, but in this case I'm not sure if it's really that vague. Just assume somewhere around an Uber black car.
- GFK_of_xmaspast 12y agoSurely you aren't proposing any limit on free corporate speech.
- troymc 12y agoSome businesses say, "If you find a competitor with a lower price for the same item, we'll sell it to you for N% less." I suppose that's one way to get away with such language. Also, "affordable" is a weasel word. "Most affordable" may not mean "lowest price."
- brk 12y ago
- massysett 12y agoThe thing seats six, which is overkill for a typical ride of one to three people. I guess they are going for a Super Shuttle kind of market of carting around assorted distinct customers. A souped up Explorer does beat a Ford van. But as anyone who has ridden in a Super Shuttle can tell you, it takes too long and doesn't save you much money over a cab anyway.
- vrnayini 12y agoI'm sure the ride is private and not shared as in a Super Shuttle. The service seems to be more in position to compete with Uber SUV than Uber Black Car, where the best value is really in using it for larger groups of 5 or 6 people.
- rdl 12y agoIt really seats 3 passengers plus the driver. A Town Car is an easier option for 4 adult passengers. I don't think adults are going to want to be in the middle seat in the middle row, or in the third row. I guess drunk people would, or children.
- calbear81 12y agoI think the market is for groups of people out partying (which in my group averages 4-6) who don't want to split up. Fitting 4 people into a Civic + driver is already uncomfortable so paying a small premium to keep the group moving together makes a lot of sense in urban markets.
- lawncheer 12y agoI am from St. Louis where there is currently a restraining order due to conflicts with the local taxi union. My understanding was that Lyft had the argument of "we arent a real taxi service since the amount paid is optional, and its peer to peer", which is why they felt they could launch in markets that let taxi commissions monopolize a market. Doesn't this just turn that gray area into black and white?
- tptacek 12y agoIn many cities, the black-car market is regulated differently from taxis, and if Lyft Plus fits the definition of a black-car service that might sidestep the regulatory concerns.
- lawncheer 12y agoStolen from another comment http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/8/5694720/lyft-goes-after-ubers-black-cars-with-new-high-end-rides http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/8/5694720/lyft-goes-after-ube... Looks like they are selling the cars to the drivers. It's like NYC's medallion program, but weirder.
- bluthru 12y agoFor some reason the "watch the video" button isn't displaying in Chrome but it is in Safari.
- saym 12y agoYou didn't miss much, the webpage is more informative than the video. Youtube link if you feel so inclined: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVPy-2tqIn4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVPy-2tqIn4
- ajaymehta 12y agoFascinating that Lyft seems to be owning and administering the actual vehicles with Plus (custom Ford Explorers). To my knowledge, none of these services do that yet.
- izzydata 12y agoWhy do so many new sites use this exact style of website? It's like it is so supposed to be new, modern and minimalist, but it is getting old already.
- nemothekid 12y agoI'm not sure its supposed to be "new, modern and minimalist", just responsive. Almost all of Lyfts customers have only ever interacted with Lyft via mobile.
- ereckers 12y agoDo you have any thoughts as to why this style has taken off? It's a one-off single page website. I would expect anyone designing it to use the common contemporary design to quickly and cheaply get something out the door. Not sure if a 1 page announcement needs a lot of original creative thought put into it.
- ben010783 12y agoIt's kind of annoying. If you click the link to request an invite or become a driver and then close the popup, you can't use the back button to go to the previous page.
- sd8f9iu 12y agoI think Apple started the trend of large graphics alongside big marketing text. The pages look similar to this: http://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/ http://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/
- w0ts0n 12y agoDo they still require Facebook? I don't have a Facebook account. I wanted to try/use this service in SF but was disappointed when it required me to sign into Facebook.
- hackerpolicy 12y agoGot so tired of this that I have reactivated mine, but I don't use it except for these logins.
- kaiku 12y agoThey recently rolled out a "log in with phone number" feature, so there's no need to have a Facebook account anymore as far as I can tell.
- frankyoo 12y agoFacebook is no longer a requirement to use Lyft. Just a valid mobile phone number.
- caffinatedmonk 12y agoIf this drove itself that would be amazing.
- rsync 12y agoI always thought the mustache cars were Uber. I barely even knew about lyft ... but there's the mustache and ... Hopefully this is useful to marketing/awareness people at either Uber or Lyft ... I can't be the only one that has this completely wrong in their head.
- bpicolo 12y agoUber has always been the black car, and now they have glowy stickers. Pink mustaches have always been Lyft's gig. Don't think your mix-up is too common. =P
- kirbyk 12y agoWow, that video told me nothing.
- jjcm 12y agoThe phone chargers are a small, but very big improvement. Snacks I could be whatever about, but getting 10% extra juice in my phone during a taxi ride could make the difference for me between requesting an uber ride or this.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- jackowayed 12y agoIt's worth pointing out that the chocolate pictured is $8+ for a 2oz bar. It's small-batch, handmade in the nice part of the Mission with carefully-sourced beans. Basically as San Francisco as it gets. Seems like the cost would add up, but I guess they hope most riders won't partake. http://www.dandelionchocolate.com/ http://www.dandelionchocolate.com/
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- ry0ohki 12y agoIt explicitly says: "100% customized for comfort Settle into complete comfort with our fully customized 2014 Ford Explorers." So unless they are only accepting applicants who have 2014 Ford Explorers, it seems like they are providing the car here which seems like a substantial change...
- brk 12y agoModified by WCC? No thanks, don't want a ride in a gaudy death trap.
- abalone 12y agoNotice they didn't exactly say the amenities would be free. Actually, charging for concessions (conveniently via the app) might be a very interesting business model. At the very least it might allow them to subsidize their base price, which is super-important given the price war with Uber that's going on right now.
- ansible 12y agoSo, other than the mobile phone app, is there any difference between this and the other limo services out there?
- obilgic 12y agoThat video was 15 seconds ...
- badusername 12y agolol yea it was pretty pointless. I definitely regretted clicking on it.
- anmol 12y agoFor anyone from Lyft-- you need a loyalty program for all of us that spend hundreds of $s a month :)
- theutan 12y agoIt would seem that you are being pretty loyal without one ;).
- theon144 12y agoOkay, I have no idea whatsoever what the site is trying to tell me or sell me, what do they offer, and if this is a joke or not. Anybody care to enlighten me?
- acchow 12y agoAre they really giving out $8 bars of chocolate with the ride? http://www.dandelionchocolate.com/store/products/mantuano-venezuela-70/#anchor http://www.dandelionchocolate.com/store/products/mantuano-ve...
- dabeeeenster 12y agoThey probably cost $3 for trade...
- nostromo 12y agoI'm curious about the economics. I presume they're buying the SUVs? By getting into the game of managing a fleet of vehicles, I imagine their margins will look more like a cab company's and less like a software company's. It's as curious as if Airbnb started buying up hotels and their associated inventory risk.
- ed 12y agoLyft won't actually own the new luxury rides, which were designed specifically for the company by West Coast Customs. Instead, individual Lyft drivers are buying the vehicles with some financial assistance from the company, according to a spokesperson. The move means Lyft won't have to deal with issues like car maintenance or storage, and also maintains the peer- to-peer element that has propelled the company. The costs of the cars, and the total assistance offered by Lyft, isn't being disclosed. From http://mashable.com/2014/05/08/lyft-premium-service/ http://mashable.com/2014/05/08/lyft-premium-service/
- brianbreslin 12y agoLyft becomes the bank...
- lotp 12y agoLyft becomes the taxi brokerage that monopolizes the kinda of car you can use.
- mhaumann 12y agoLyft doesn't own these vehicles, the drivers own them (and therefore they can use them as their primary cars all the time). Lyft is just helping drivers upgrade (they've negotiated special pricing).
- jedrek 12y agoInteresting, this is what a lot of taxi cab companies here in Warsaw for the past 10 years. Škoda, Toyota and Fiat have all given them great deals on various models as a means to promote their car brands.
- asanwal 12y agoI used to work at Kozmo.com during the dot com gold rush. And I remember our escalating battle with UrbanFetch. Economics went out the window as it was all about customer acquisition and beating and coming up with better deals for customers. Ultimately, the only person who made money from our ridiculousness were bike messengers and other service providers (real estate brokers) A lot of what I'm seeing with Uber & Lyft reminds me of that time. Some of my observations on it here - http://4044walnut.com/uber-verus-lyft-kozmo-urbanfetch/ http://4044walnut.com/uber-verus-lyft-kozmo-urbanfetch/
- sulliwan 12y agoIs this satire or is this an actual company? I honestly can't tell. This could very well be viral marketing for Silicon Valley.
- taternuts 12y agoI was 100% sure this was a joke until clicking into the comments
- nodata 12y agoWhy are all the comments here treating this as a serious product? It's satire! The car has a moustache! They used the words "ford" and "luxury" in the same sentence! They have a photo of dandelion chocolate!
- lotp 12y agoThis looks desperate, Lyft is just grabbing for ways to stay relevant. I don't see how they ever raise enough to actually compete after giving away nearly 40% of their company on that last round.