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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

#121

Post by d4mi3n »

panda888888 wrote: post #103

It's part of the reason I haven't bought a car. I'm in my mid 20s and didn't get my license in high school because insurance would have been too expensive (my parents wanted me to pay for it). I think driving is a good life skill so I got my license in my early 20s, but I still have zero desire to own a car. That said, I live in Seattle, where there is good public transportation. Here are my numbers: Parking (I work…

I'm in a similar situation, but from what I gather lifestyle factors heavily into the "do I need/want a car" equation. Kids, for example, usually mandate a car.

Outdoor activities or any hobby that requires you haul around a lot of gear can also make having your own transportation a lot more appealing.

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

#122

Post by stcredzero »

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.

Can parents track the movements of their child through Lyft and Uber billing? If I were a caricature of Uber, I might be tempted to create an add-on subscription product that would let parents of minors track the movements of their children.

The societal effect of something like this? Possibly awful. Many of today's social problems might stem from children being deprived of time being independent/autonomous. Society doesn't need free range chickens nearly as badly as it needs free range children.

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

#123

Post by bsurmanski »

nemothekid wrote: post #108
ghaff wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

25, and live in SF. No drivers license. Well I had one, but it had expired and I never bothered renewing. I've only personally had to drive a car once in the last 4 years. I recently took a job in the Peninsula, where my commute is now Lyft -> Caltrain -> Lyft, which given the cost of parking in my building turns out to still be cheaper than owning a car - this might be an equation unique to SF. The only downside of…

FYI, you can get a California ID card; identical to a driver license without the permission to drive.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/idinfo/idcard

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

#124

Post by ghaff »

nemothekid wrote: post #117
ghaff wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing for me is that, if I were living in that area, I'd be driving into the Santa Cruz mountains, Big Sur, the Sierras, etc. all the time. Which you really can't do unless you drive or someone else drives you.

Sure, and if I shared your hobbies, I'd probably have trouble wrapping my head around how people could live without a license too.

For me, the natural areas would be pretty much the only reason I could possibly think of that would make me even consider living in the Bay Area.

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

#125

Post by vidarh »

robrenaud wrote: post #91

> Lyft wants to make a point: Its services help lessen traffic How can this be true? They'd need a very significant fraction of riders using lyft line (the multi-passenger service) to make up for the the overhead in the driver having to travel extra distance to pick someone up.

Or people opting for public transport part of the distance. One thing these services make convenient is to use them to get to/from train stations and the like without worrying about parking etc., or being stuck without a ride on the other end.

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

#126

Post by Jemmeh »

bpicolo wrote: post #22
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).

I'm sure people in the US would love to walk to work, but the layout of US cities doesn't lend itself to that. People tend to live pretty dang far from where they work in the US.

And even when you live close it's not always safe to walk. There is no sidewalk near my house for a few miles. I live in a fairly nice area and so I do still see some people attempting to bike but I also constantly see them almost get ran over. It's a curvy road with ditches on each side so it's hard to get out of the way.

And then when I -did- live close to work (about 2 blocks) I had to cross the town's main street, where I was catcalled about every day and on multiple occasions had a man follow me home even after telling them politely each time that I was not interested. Horray. People here don't walk. So you stand out. When I was in the city I could wear a big heavy coat and most people will ignore you because you look poor/ugly, here even in my most ratty coat people still followed me...ugh.

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

#127

Post by [deleted] »

bllguo wrote: post #75
ajb wrote: post #37

Correlation != Causation. I moved to a city and sold my car, and shortly after used ride sharing for the first time. But I don't use it much and it certainly didn't cause me to sell it. I wouldn't be surprised of that's just how many of their customers recently moved to a city.

What a tiresome rebuttal, I'm sure Lyft's army of statisticians and data scientists managed to somehow overlook STAT 101.

[deleted]

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

#128

Post by ghaff »

stcredzero wrote: post #122
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.

Can parents track the movements of their child through Lyft and Uber billing? If I were a caricature of Uber, I might be tempted to create an add-on subscription product that would let parents of minors track the movements of their children. The societal effect of something like this? Possibly awful. Many of today's social problems might stem from children being deprived of time being independent/autonomous. Society…

The Lyft receipt shows the route taken.

Of course, parents could turn on the contact tracking in an iPhone.

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

#129

Post by cozzyd »

d4mi3n wrote: post #121
panda888888 wrote: post #103

It's part of the reason I haven't bought a car. I'm in my mid 20s and didn't get my license in high school because insurance would have been too expensive (my parents wanted me to pay for it). I think driving is a good life skill so I got my license in my early 20s, but I still have zero desire to own a car. That said, I live in Seattle, where there is good public transportation. Here are my numbers: Parking (I work…

I'm in a similar situation, but from what I gather lifestyle factors heavily into the "do I need/want a car" equation. Kids, for example, usually mandate a car. Outdoor activities or any hobby that requires you haul around a lot of gear can also make having your own transportation a lot more appealing.

I see people taking strollers on the bus all the time...

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

#130

Post by jorblumesea »

panda888888 wrote: post #103

It's part of the reason I haven't bought a car. I'm in my mid 20s and didn't get my license in high school because insurance would have been too expensive (my parents wanted me to pay for it). I think driving is a good life skill so I got my license in my early 20s, but I still have zero desire to own a car. That said, I live in Seattle, where there is good public transportation. Here are my numbers: Parking (I work…

I think it really depends on your lifestyle. I love to hike, snowshoe and ski. Public transit to Snoqualmie doesn't exist and lyfts would be incredibly expensive, if they would even take you there. Not even factoring in lugging heavy equipment around.

If you stay in the city almost all the time it's probably great. The minute you want to do something outside of the city it's impossible without a car.

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