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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

#161

Post by icebraining »

cozzyd wrote: post #129
d4mi3n wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Same here. Also bicycles with extra seats, if you happen to live in a city with some minimal infrastructure for it.

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

#162

Post by sebleon »

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.

> Outdoor Activities

Renting a car (via Getaround, Zipar) on weekends can be cost effective

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

#163

Post by nradov »

burlesona wrote: post #96
gonehome wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't necessarily need to buy a junker to have an inexpensive car. You can lease a Fiat 500e for $90/month in California (which is what I do). That has the added benefit of removing fuel costs too.

Uh... how? That seems improbably cheap.

FCA and other manufacturers sell or lease such vehicles at a loss purely to comply with arbitrary government requirements for zero emissions vehicles. So it isn't a sustainable situation, but in the short term there are great deals available to buyers in a few states.

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

#164

Post by viral007 »

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…

+ Cost of car, a depreciating asset.

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

#165

Post by carb »

ghaff wrote: post #116
nemothekid wrote: post #108

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.

Renting a car is actually very cheap once you turn 25. Renting a car on the weekends, every weekend is also cheaper than owning a car.

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

#166

Post by shafyy »

jorblumesea wrote: post #145
fpgaminer wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rent a car for the weekend? It's like $50/day, so only $3k/yr to do it once a day per week. (Not factoring in the added cost of gas, or the discounts you can get by regularly renting a car and getting your own non-owner insurance)

I would never want to bring a rental car into a snow covered pass or an icy parking lot. Too much liability. Good suggestion, probably good for a day hike or otherwise.

Why not just get the insurance on top when renting to cap your liability?

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

#167

Post by astura »

gonehome wrote: post #100
prklmn wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just out of curiosity, what's the yearly milage limit on that lease?

10,000 miles - it was also $4000 down, but you get $2500 back from the California EV incentive program so it comes to $1500 down and $90/month for a three year lease. You can get lucky and find deals where the money down is even lower. I missed one where it was $1500 down so CA was basically paying you $1000 to take the car (or if you factor in the monthly fee cost around $60 a month). Part of the reason for this is…

That won't be enough for most people - the average mileage driven per year for a male between 20 and 34 is almost $18,000.

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm

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

#168

Post by icebraining »

ghaff wrote: post #99
cozzyd wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I absolutely understand that some people shouldn't/can't get a license. That will probably restrict what sort of activities they can do, etc. I don't really understand doing that by choice though. (And I'd hope employers would be understanding and supportive of an employee in that position. They're less likely to be as supportive of an employee who just doesn't want to do something even if it affects their ability to…

I don't get why the employer would have to be "understanding and supportive". Either the job requires a driving license, in which case they should have asked at hiring time, or it doesn't. If they bait-and-switch the employee into driving despite not having asked for it, it's their own fault.

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

#169

Post by ghaff »

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #150

Not sure why so many people here are almost virtue signaling the act of not owning a drivers license. I agree—It's perfectly okay to not own a car if it doesn't make sense to your life situation. That being said, the ability to drive is nevertheless a useful skill and asset and at least in the United States, does not have a very high barrier to entry (for better or worse). There is so much in the United States that a…

It sort of blows my mind. I get that people have different interests and hobbies but the idea that people would live in San Francisco or Seattle and be "I'm fine with mostly just hanging around the city and looking at the mountains from here" is a bit hard for me to digest.

And, as I said in another comment, renting a car has frequently been the obvious approach to get to places I need to get to on business trips.

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

#170

Post by stephendedalus »

In 2017 I returned to America from living overseas. My mom passed away early in the year and I wanted nothing to do with shopping for a car, much less driving a car. So I just took Lyft to my new job until I had my feet under me and felt up to driving again.

In the end I never felt up to driving full time. I now share my wife's car (we did get her a car eventually), but we only purchased the 1 car. We either ride in together, take mass transit, or one of us takes a Lyft. Sometimes we use Lyft to bridge to mass transit.

Either way, "ride sharing" has definitely taken one more full time car off the road. I know it's not that simple and I know it's an economically dubious arrangement in the first place, but I think there's something to this idea if we could figure out the economics of it (how much drivers should be paid, etc.).

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