Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 527 posts

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#311

Post by humanrebar »

jhuckestein wrote: post #272
deusex_ wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Europe, your bus fare would be half of the price and probably you would need one or two connections. The public transport is much more developed and to me seems like a much better mass transportation alternative. More ecological, cheaper, less cars overall.

The thing is, the user experience of Uber, Lyft et al is strictly better than public transport. Some would even say it is 10x better (in the From Zero to One sense). It picks you up whenever you want, wherever you want and drops you off exactly where you need to go. I agree that buses are more ecological, but doesn't this just mean that we should combine Uber and public transport? In the future I see a fleet of large…

> In the future I see a fleet of larger vehicles combined with a Uber Pool type app working really well.

This already exists. Or it existed anyway. NYC used to have "Chinatown buses" that ran underserved routes for a fraction of the price. NYC and the MTA prosecuted them and got rid of them. Furthermore, innovation and competition in busing is great in Latin America.

But we're waiting on regulations to change, not for innovation to happen.

I agree that a fleet of self driving mini buses sounds great for efficiency and even housing prices (the pool of commutable properties goes up and the price of rent goes down). Even a fleet of buses with drivers that are allowed to innovate on the business model (monthly subscriptions? scheduled pickup windows? flex pricing?) would be better than what the U.S. has now.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#312

Post by pseud0r »

vacri wrote: post #284
pseud0r wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn Uber is cheap where you live. For me to go to work it would be Uber: $1000 a month, 15 minute drive. Train: $75 a month, takes 5 minutes

Is the train door-to-door?

Almost. I have a five minute walk to the office from the train station. While uber might be door-to-door for now, the streets around my office will probably soon be closed for cars that doesn't deliver goods or workers doing construction or maintenance work, so then it wouldn't even be any different from the train.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#313

Post by [deleted] »

smileysteve wrote: post #22
techsupporter wrote: post #3

Forgive me if this is me being dense, but from an outsider's perspective I don't understand what makes Lyft any better than Uber. Neither company properly categorizes their drivers (as employees), both have a rather sizeable cut from fares, both depended on being basically illegal cabs--except for Uber Black, which uses licensed black car services--to get started, and neither has a financially viable business model.…

The key points are - CEO never blackmailed journalists - No major revelations of sexual harassment - ~~No major revelations of political support~~ Related to core business - Surge Limit has prevented complaints about emergency pricing vs Uber. - Lyft takes a lower commission capped at 20%/25% - Lyft has in app digital tipping (drivers keep 100% of tips). Uber's tip policy encourages cash, which is an often cited comp…

[deleted]

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#314

Post by aianus »

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #197
gydfi wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but that's a bus. Public transport is intrinsically a worse and less convenient experience than having a private driver.

Not at all. I can work or read on a train. I can't do that in a car. Nor does the car take me to London in 1hr15, at up to 125mph, like the public transport from our town[1] does. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_180

Why can't you work in a car? You're guaranteed to have a seat, for one, unlike public transport.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#315

Post by wcummings »

op00to wrote: post #297
deusex_ wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Europe, your bus fare would be half of the price and probably you would need one or two connections. The public transport is much more developed and to me seems like a much better mass transportation alternative. More ecological, cheaper, less cars overall.

"Yes, but poor people use public transportation to come from bad neighborhoods to good neighborhoods to rob us! We must ban all expansion of public transportation!" This exact sentiment is echoed by many in the US as a reason to not expand public transit. When asked about criminals driving cars to commit crimes, they were not open to bulldozing the roads over. It's gross.

>"Yes, but poor people use public transportation to come from bad neighborhoods to good neighborhoods to rob us! We must ban all expansion of public transportation!"

This is why the (Boston) red line doesn't extend to Arlington.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#316

Post by humanrebar »

paulddraper wrote: post #121
erispoe wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet it was sold as a Muslim ban by the administration, which is a major reason for San Francisco's federal appeal court to suspend it. The fact that it's not an effective Muslim ban is a different question.

> The fact that it's not an effective Muslim ban is a different question. It is precisely the question. What the ban is is much more important that what it purports to be. For example, if it purported to be a ban on terrorists but actually was as ban on Muslims (and I mean, a bonafide ban on all Muslims), would that not matter?

But the ACA mandate was supposed to be a mandate or a penalty, not a tax. The Supreme Court ruled that it looked like a tax and quacked like a tax, so it's legal as a tax.

Why can't the same principals be applied here? That the pitch and language of a rule aren't important, just the implementation.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#317

Post by aianus »

celticninja wrote: post #256
JoshuaRedmond wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe they meant that the driver gets paid less for each new passenger, but the old passengers are still at the slightly higher rate. A full car still gets the driver more money per mile, but each subsequent passenger is worth less to the driver. Presumably this is to make it so it's worth picking up the first rider, which might be the only rider you get for that journey.

But a single rider in uberpool pays less than a single rider for a standard uber, so it's probably not as worthwhile unless you are getting a second, maybe third, rider.

The single rider pays less but Uber will pay you the difference if no other passengers ever join. I drive for Uber part time.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#318

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

aianus wrote: post #314
Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all. I can work or read on a train. I can't do that in a car. Nor does the car take me to London in 1hr15, at up to 125mph, like the public transport from our town[1] does. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_180

Why can't you work in a car? You're guaranteed to have a seat, for one, unlike public transport.

Motion sickness. If I read in a car (whether paper or screen) then I feel like crap for the rest of the day, basically. It's not at all uncommon.

Plus the train has tables, 240V sockets, wifi (which selects the best from several different providers, so better coverage than my phone), all of that. There are seats available from our station on pretty much every train, and the journey time is more reliable than the car.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#319

Post by wcummings »

jhuckestein wrote: post #272
deusex_ wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Europe, your bus fare would be half of the price and probably you would need one or two connections. The public transport is much more developed and to me seems like a much better mass transportation alternative. More ecological, cheaper, less cars overall.

The thing is, the user experience of Uber, Lyft et al is strictly better than public transport. Some would even say it is 10x better (in the From Zero to One sense). It picks you up whenever you want, wherever you want and drops you off exactly where you need to go. I agree that buses are more ecological, but doesn't this just mean that we should combine Uber and public transport? In the future I see a fleet of large…

If you live in a congested city taking the train can be faster than Uber for some trips. I don't like paying $15-$20 for the privilege of sitting in traffic when the same trip would have cost me $2-$3 on public transit.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#320

Post by humanrebar »

booi wrote: post #184
songzme wrote: post #67

Anyone tried carpooling services like Waze pool? As an employee at google, I decided to give Waze pool a try. I live in San Jose and usually ride the google shuttle to work. During traffic, it takes about 1 hour to 1.5 hours (keep in mind Google shuttle has multiple stops). After using Waze Rider a few times, it has now become my main mode of transportation to work and back. It cost $5 (and possibly less) and you get…

Looks like we found the Google employee

> As an employee at google

It was disclaimed. Let's not be snarky.

Post reply on HN