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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

#321

Post by smelendez »

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…

> 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).

Definitely a useful skill but I disagree there's a low barrier to entry if you are in a dense city. Driving school is expensive (I got my license about a decade ago in Boston, and it was probably over $1,000 in classes) and time consuming. Most people you know don't have cars, and even your friends who do are justifiably wary of letting you practice your new skill in their most valuable profession, something they own because they need it to get to work.

I have seen many of my friends get their permits in cities like SF, NY and Boston and never get their licenses, or get their licenses and never feel comfortable driving solo, and these are not people who shy away from learning new skills in general.

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

#322

Post by megy »

usaphp wrote: post #311
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…

> With a 5 mile commute, public transit 3 days a week plus Uber/Lyft 4 days a week is cheaper, hands down. Uber/Lyft 7 days a week cuts it closer but is still cheaper. But you also have to go to grocery store, go out with friends, do errands which most of the time are scattered across the city, it can take multiple rides per day as well. Also if you have kids you should add dropping them to school and other stuff. So…

I do all of that on a bike (well, not the kid stuff). It is not like it is impossible to live without a car.

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

#323

Post by megy »

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.

Or do a tour. Or cycle. It feels good enjoying those areas and not polluting them.

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

#324

Post by nostrademons »

revelation wrote: post #198
nostrademons wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really shows how much subsidized parking can affect the equation. I've never had to pay for parking at my residence, and the only time I had to pay for parking was a 20-month stint working in downtown Boston. Cut those out and costs go down by $4500/year, over half. I spent about $25/month on gas (for most of my career, I've worked either 2 miles away from home or 20 feet away). Insurance has consistently been about…

You're still paying >$5k? for something you apparently barely use at $25 gas per month. That is a lot of dollars to soothe anxiety.

Probably about $2.5K/year all-in, once depreciation and maintenance are included. Maybe $25K total. I don't consider that to be all that bad. My car has about 30K miles on it, which is ridiculously low for a 9-year-old car, but that's the virtue of living 2 miles away from work, biking in the summer, and walking to the grocery store.

Lyft prices in the SF/BayArea are $1.21/mile, so just on mileage, I would've paid $36K. Add in the $2/trip base fair, $5 minimum, and any surge pricing or time waiting, and it could add up to $50K very easily, double what I've spent on my car.

People look at $16K for a car or $3k/year and think "those are big numbers", but it turns out that spending $10/day on individual transportation rides adds up very quickly, such that you end up paying way over what the large capital expense would've cost. When I was working in downtown Boston, I did a hybrid car/train commute, and it easily added up to that ($5 parking at Alewife + $2.50 for the train each way) - it was still cheaper than driving, but only because parking in downtown Boston is ridiculous.

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

#325

Post by megy »

bluedino wrote: post #151
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.

>> 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?

Cycle. It is free once you have a bike, and they can be had very cheap.

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

#326

Post by megy »

ryanianian wrote: post #67
paulcole wrote: post #16

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.

Why would this person hire a car on a holiday? What a ridiculous proposition.

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

#327

Post by megy »

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…

> There is so much in the United States that a car gives you access to (most National Parks or wilderness in general are not accessible by public transport).

They are accessible by tours, and friends, and cycling, and many other ways. You car people really seem to have a limited understanding of the real world, everything revolves around cars. You can't imagine doing something without a car.

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

#328

Post by megy »

ghaff wrote: post #169
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.

So instead buy a car and add to pollution, thus helping to destroy the nature you covet so much? And that makes sense to you?

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

#329

Post by megy »

rootusrootus wrote: post #262
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…

I have noticed this very strongly just in the last few weeks alone. Anytime a conversation begins that has to do with cars, a whole bunch of people immediately jump in to point how owning a car is immoral, how it destroys the environment, how it kills innocent children, how you should feel ashamed for owning one, etc. Maybe I've missed it before but with the recent spate of self-driving car stories it has become real…

How are those narrow viewpoints? It seems the narrow viewpoint is the one where we all have to own cars, and people can't understand how anyone could live without a car.

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

#330

Post by RandallBrown »

jorblumesea wrote: post #130
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.

A Lyft to Snoqualmie would be expensive, but a Zipcar, ReachNow, or Car2Go wouldn't be. Especially since you don't need car insurance or have to pay for gas.

Zipcars with ski racks might be a little hard to find in Seattle during the winter, but they do exist.

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