Live data from Hacker News

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

techcrunch.com

151–160 of 438 posts

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

#151

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.

>> He's happy to be taking Uber and Lyft anywhere he goes.

What do kids who don't have any money do for a ride?

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

#152

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…

Well, if you had a car, you might live further out, which lowers your cost on parking (near your house) and some of your other costs of living.

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

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the few cases where I was ahead of my time. I turned 16 about 20 years ago and had 0 interest in a driver's license. I lived in an extremely rural area. My parents (rightly) said that I'd need to get a job to pay for a car. I figured why bother since I'd be paying for a car to drive to the job where I'd make money to pay for the car. Seemed like a complete waste of time and effort. 20 years later, I st…

So you're relying on friends/family to do the driving if you're outside of lyft/public-transit areas e.g. on vacation in a rental car? Not having a car is a great idea if you can get away with it - not having a license basically means you can't help out when necessary.

>So you're relying on friends/family to do the driving if you're outside of lyft/public-transit areas e.g. on vacation in a rental car

I actually have moral objections to both Lyft and Uber. Other than that I only take vacations in places where public transit is an option. For more rural vacations, I usually just ride my bike there. Plenty of fun places to bike to from where I live (Portland, OR).

Otherwise, yes, someone else does the driving. My partner and I go out of town by car once or twice a year and she drives.

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

#154

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 those numbers are describing a lifestyle and not what it means to own a car. many people who own a car will not pay that much for parking. especially if you live 5 miles away from work. assuming you don’t drive to work and park on the street at home your numbers are down to $4100/yr. but your insurance number looks 2x too big, and maintenance i would drop by half, i think more realistic is a about $3,000/yr

Agreed my company is currently moving close to the center of Atlanta. It’s going to cost $15 a week to commute by train for the minimum 3 days to the office. Employee will match half so it only costs $7.50 a week out of pocket.

I own a car bet it much more feasible to ride the train and walk briefly. Parking is free and only a mile to the closest train stop.

My employers building has a free parking deck. Does Seattle not have free parking decks is some larger buildings?

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

#155
post #66
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.

But then you wouldn't answer the question with "Yes" in their survey, would you?

That depends what the question was. If they'd asked outright whether I specifically sold the car for that reason, they no, I wouldn't. But to be honest, I suspect the survey of being designed by their PR dept to generate this result, and I can imagine questions I might have answered 'yes' to that could then be interpreted in this way.

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

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using my Passport (card) and that was convenient, however I lost my wallet recently - I've been using my Passport, but if I were to lose that, then I'd be a bit more worried. As far as carding goes, it depends on the establishment. Most bars I go to, don't card, but when they do it's a situation that can mess up your night.

You could get a passport card too, it's only $55.

I was told by a bouncer that this is not technically a valid ID for bars in WA, though was let in.

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

#157
post #75
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.

That... doesn't deserve a response. I hope you have a better day tomorrow.

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

#158

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…

Tried becoming a car person once, ignoring all that math, just as a luxury. The cheapest old banger is more of a "luxury car" then a Lexus if you don't have much use for a car. Turns out it's impossible for me, cars just don't stay operational through sufficiently longs stretches of disuse.

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

#159

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…

Do you ever leave the city or go on vacation? Exploring the outdoors in the Pacific Northwest would be priority number 1 if I lived in Seattle.

You also need to factor in the freedom a car gives you. Time is the limiting factor.

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

#160
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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.

Heh. My wife & in-laws went with me to watch the Perseids in the Santa Cruz mountains. While we were there, we met a couple young women who had Ubered in from San Francisco. They got there fine, but there was no cell reception where we were, so their apps didn't work, so they were trying to find someone to hitchhike home with. We had a full car (and were going the other way) so we couldn't take them, but I hope they managed to get home safely.
Post reply on HN