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Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

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Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#81

Post by test6554 »

vlozko wrote: post #39
brndnmtthws wrote: post #20

Automobile ownership is dumb, but ridesharing isn't the answer either. Cities need to invest in public infrastructure, especially fast efficient public transit. People should also rediscover the joy of human power (walk, bike, run).

That's the bubble mentality of someone who lives in the city and/or doesn't have a family. How about you try hauling a baby in a stroller, diaper bag, and two other kids to a metro train (if you're so lucky to have one close) and then onto a bus. Ride sharing doesn't solve those problems, either, especially since you'd be in need of carseats. So no, automobile ownership is not dumb. There's plenty of use cases where…

If you get back home with 50+ % of your kids, you get a medal.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#82

Post by rlabrecque »

2sk21 wrote: post #40
starik36 wrote: post #11

I think the biggest impact is going to be felt with current generations of 18 year olds. My kid (about to be 18) has no interest in getting a driver's license and neither are any of his friends. He's happy to be taking Uber and Lyft anywhere he goes. And between the cost of the vehicle and insurance, it's cheaper for me as well. When I was 16, I couldn't wait to get a car.

Exactly the same for my 20 year old daughter. This is really going to restrict where she can live in the US. I wonder if this may have the effect of making cities compete with each other for improving public transit.

I'm in my 20s and have no desire to have a car, I need one where I live right now, but I'm about to make a move to one of the biggest cities in NA, and going carless. I wouldn't even want to live in a city where a car is a requirement.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#83

Post by lazzlazzlazz »

birdman3131 wrote: post #43

I don't get how using lyft/uber as your only form of transportation can be at all cheaper. Let me run some basic math. Uber wants $11.50 to take me home right now. Lyft wants $13.40 $11.50 * 2 = $23/day 23 * 5 = $115/week $115 * 52 weeks = $5980/year (I am ignoring vacation weeks for now.) My yearly cost for car ownership are roughly as follows. (Assuming only work and back.) Insurance(1): $886/year Fuel(2): $292.50…

I'm stunned you believe driving an underinsured $1,000 junker and spending time and energy to maintain it is comparable to Lyfting full time.

Surely you recognize your tolerances here are an edge case.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#84

Post by cozzyd »

ghaff wrote: post #21
starik36 wrote: post #11

I think the biggest impact is going to be felt with current generations of 18 year olds. My kid (about to be 18) has no interest in getting a driver's license and neither are any of his friends. He's happy to be taking Uber and Lyft anywhere he goes. And between the cost of the vehicle and insurance, it's cheaper for me as well. When I was 16, I couldn't wait to get a car.

I didn't drive a lot (or own a car) until I graduated from school. But I do have trouble wrapping my head around not getting a driver's license past a certain point--whether they get one while in school or not. Even had Uber/Lyft existed at the time, I literally couldn't have done my first job (I regularly had to drive hours to a job site) and I would have been at least reliant on other people at other jobs. Vacation…

Some people are very bad drivers for various reasons (e.g. lack of depth perception, poor spatial awareness, whatever). While very little skill is required to get a license in most parts of the country, I fully support people not getting a license if they're bad at it.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#85

Post by lkbm »

birdman3131 wrote: post #43

I don't get how using lyft/uber as your only form of transportation can be at all cheaper. Let me run some basic math. Uber wants $11.50 to take me home right now. Lyft wants $13.40 $11.50 * 2 = $23/day 23 * 5 = $115/week $115 * 52 weeks = $5980/year (I am ignoring vacation weeks for now.) My yearly cost for car ownership are roughly as follows. (Assuming only work and back.) Insurance(1): $886/year Fuel(2): $292.50…

It might not be "I went from driving everywhere to Lyfting everywhere". It could be "I went from driving everywhere to mixing Lyft+bus". Or "I went from driving+bus everywhere" to Lyft+bus everywhere".

There are probably plenty of people who would be down to take the bus (or bike) to/from work, but keep a car around for a couple longer trips a week, or for inclement weather.

AAA found average car ownership cost was over $8000/year[0]. This is pushed up by people who buy cars new, so you can certainly be lower, but that's apparently the average.

We've been talking about this a fair bit at my mostly-college student house lately. I think a number people in the house would get rid of their car if they had to pay just for their own insurance--it would certainly be cheaper for a good number of them based on their current usage. But their parents pay, so we end up with an overflowing driveway.

[0] http://newsroom.aaa.com/auto/your-driving-costs/

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#86

Post by dpiers »

gorpomon wrote: post #50
coldcode wrote: post #4

In SF I can believe it. In a large area like DFW the wait times for a ride are too long to be practical. Also the question of cost is relevant, I drive a car I have paid for in a city with reasonable insurance rates and no issues with parking. Lyft or Uber would be impracticable here.

I have a family member in DFW who has really embraced Uber, and wait times for the area are minimal, and they are around 20 miles from the Downtown area of Dallas (very mid-cities). I never thought that Uber would catch in DFW, and I'm really surprised to see how it's changed life for a few people I know there. Maybe it's been some time since you've tried Uber there, but I'd recommend trying it again. Also my family…

I have worked at Uber for 4 years, but I spent the first 22 years of my life as a resident of Lewisville. It’s been amazing watching the transformation from when I first started (No cars available) to now (ETA ~5 min) around my parents’ house. The last time we were there, my wife dropped me off at a coffee shop to get some work done while she did some errands, and when I was done I got an Uber back home.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#87

Post by sidlls »

I stopped using a personal auto last year in favor of biking everywhere. When I'm injured or expecting to have to coordinate using the family car after work I'll catch a Lyft, but the availability of ride sharing had zero impact on my decision to give up a personal auto. I wonder if their metrics are counting folks like me in that quarter million (inadvertently or not).

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#88

Post by luhn »

hueving wrote: post #71
clairity wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you've thrown suspicion on the study without any reasoning behind it. unless your population size is small, all studies extrapolate results. why do you think it's incorrect? for example, maybe the 52 cities they surveyed aren't representative of the whole population (this can be true if they chose the 52 largest cities rather than a random sampling of cities). give your comment some meat to chew on.

Are you serious? Sampling Lyft riders for an life choice that makes them a Lyft rider absolutely would not extrapolate to the US population. It's like sampling people in an airport to get stats on how often everyone flies.

They aren't extrapolating to the US population, they're extrapolating to the Lyft userbase.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#89

Post by ctdonath »

birdman3131 wrote: post #43

I don't get how using lyft/uber as your only form of transportation can be at all cheaper. Let me run some basic math. Uber wants $11.50 to take me home right now. Lyft wants $13.40 $11.50 * 2 = $23/day 23 * 5 = $115/week $115 * 52 weeks = $5980/year (I am ignoring vacation weeks for now.) My yearly cost for car ownership are roughly as follows. (Assuming only work and back.) Insurance(1): $886/year Fuel(2): $292.50…

You're taking an upper-end Lyft case vs a remarkably low-end ownership case ... and ending up with actually fairly close numbers. Replace some of the chauffeured trips with cheaper paths (bike, hoverboard, bus, telecommute), and use more normal/realistic car costs (purchase around $20,000 over less than 10 years). Result will be much closer numbers; throw in issues like urban parking (very expensive) or higher fuel costs, and suddenly Lyft/Uber become much preferable.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#90

Post by clairity »

hueving wrote: post #71
clairity wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you've thrown suspicion on the study without any reasoning behind it. unless your population size is small, all studies extrapolate results. why do you think it's incorrect? for example, maybe the 52 cities they surveyed aren't representative of the whole population (this can be true if they chose the 52 largest cities rather than a random sampling of cities). give your comment some meat to chew on.

Are you serious? Sampling Lyft riders for an life choice that makes them a Lyft rider absolutely would not extrapolate to the US population. It's like sampling people in an airport to get stats on how often everyone flies.

yes. note that the article doesn't extrapolate anything to the US population, that's something that @awwstn added in.

lyft, in the article, says 250K people on its platform have dropped car ownership according to its survey. they extrapolate that total number from a survey of a sample of it riders and drivers in 52 cities.

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