201–210 of 347 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So where's all this cash going? Is the driver side being subsidized to a ridiculous degree still (this is, actually, my guess)? I was in India recently. The driver said that when Uber started out, they'd give each driver Rs. 60K/mo (about $1000/mo) just to sign in for 10 hours/day, even if they did not give a single ride. Now, Uber pays by the number of rides and not a portion of the actual fares. So, for example,…
What does "Rs." mean?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So where's all this cash going? Is the driver side being subsidized to a ridiculous degree still (this is, actually, my guess)? I was in India recently. The driver said that when Uber started out, they'd give each driver Rs. 60K/mo (about $1000/mo) just to sign in for 10 hours/day, even if they did not give a single ride. Now, Uber pays by the number of rides and not a portion of the actual fares. So, for example,…
What does "Rs." mean?
I've always been a little confused about uber's capital needs. When I first heard about uber, the part I thought was super-clever was that you wouldn't _need_ lots of capital because all the drivers would have their own cars. Leveraging the latent capital of one side of the two-sided market was the genius of it. (Airbnb too) Same for the staffing -- hook up both sides of the market. No need to pay anyone out of your…
I can't imagine the incessant legal and legislative battles they are fighting are coming cheap. That means hiring legal and policy people, paying a ton of money to outside counsel, lobbying expenses, the hidden costs of building influence. And it's at a huge, because most of this isn't happening at the federal level (yet)—it's all state and city—which means they don't have the luxury of concentrating on the familiar,…
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For getting to/from the airport in my own city, I still use the old limo driver that I was using before Uber took off. Literally the same guy, not just the same service/company. When friends or family members fly down to visit I sometimes book him for them as well. It's about the same price as Uber (I voluntarily pay more because I tip him generously), but it's a 100% guaranteed fantastic experience. With Uber, you n…
Normal people don't take limos to the airport.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For getting to/from the airport in my own city, I still use the old limo driver that I was using before Uber took off. Literally the same guy, not just the same service/company. When friends or family members fly down to visit I sometimes book him for them as well. It's about the same price as Uber (I voluntarily pay more because I tip him generously), but it's a 100% guaranteed fantastic experience. With Uber, you n…
Normal people don't take limos to the airport.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, but that doesn't mean that the particular official given a board seat believes that they shouldn't be allowed to drive (or even that the monarch believes that that's the way things should be, generally; just because its not a democracy doesn't mean that Saudi government policy isn't shaped by a desire to appeal to particular constituencies.)
I agree with your statement completely. The thing I notice is he works for the government and I would think he would never be able to say that openly. A competitor could instantly draw that into question and make them defend the point and use it as a propaganda tool. If he says women should be able to drive he goes against the kingdoms laws and those constituents, if he says they shouldnt or stays mute the propaganda…
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>You can split an Uber 4 ways but you can't split a bus fare. Like a taxi? Uber will never come close to moving the sheer numbers that public transit does. You can't do it, not enough road to fit all those cars. Especially in downtown cores. So Uber competes with public transit as much as taxis compete with public transit.
Taxis are a kind of public transit. So call me skeptical if Uber manages to sink taxis and this is part of their long term strategy, because unless they have enough money to become the sovereign in their dominant markets, they're going to end up being regulated by the local government should they supplant taxis.
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I believe that your assumption of insane driver subsidies is indeed the reason they are sucking down so much money. That is a problem, because the moment that people have to pay the actual costs of an Uber ride, they may go back to taxis or driving their own cars. The only strategy I can see with the absurd amounts they are raising is that they are trying to get enough money to sustain the subsidies until they kill a…
But Standard Oil literally bought the refineries, railroad, long term contracts on crude. That would be like Uber buying every road and every manufacturer. I also don't think Uber's biggest competition is cars or taxis, I imagine it is public transport. The markets with the best scale (esp outside of US) have good public transit. People aren't going to go from paying a £10 uber to a £30 black taxi in London, they'll…