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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

#351

Post by hnonlyforu »

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 agree it varies by place. I live in Charlottesville, and it is not very plausible if none of your friends have a car. The public transit is only convenient in downtown and in UVA, but none of the supermarkets are inside the city.

Supermarkets, many restaurants, and malls are all along the state high way. It is ridiculous for a walker, because sometimes you cannot walk across the street to get to the McDonald's right in your eye sight. No crosswalk for a few miles.

Walmart is 15 minutes drive away from the city. But to take busses, you will need about 45 minutes to an hour to get there,depending on your timing.

There are closer grocery stores, but the busses still take much much longer than a car.

I will be willing to ditch my car anytime, if either there is a grocery store in city, or a faster public transportation method is available.

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

#352

Post by gaius »

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 or any hobby that requires you haul around a lot of gear

Indeed, this is something that gets totally missed by advocates of on-demand self-driving yadda yadda, because they live in densely populated cities and socialise and get entertainment almost exclusively online. That demographic is overrepresented on HN. Most people who own cars who might use them to commute during the week use them for fun stuff at the weekends too, for which glorified taxis are just not suitable.

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

#353

Post by gaius »

milesokeefe wrote: post #228
semi-extrinsic wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your car, they said it's a beater. Of course an insurance company will give you significant price reduction if you have, say, a late 90s Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic with a 80 hp engine, as compared to something more modern and fun with twice the power.

I know that the sportiness and novelty of a car drives up the insurance price but it doesn't seem to as much as I thought, my friend recently got a new WRX and pays very very little in insurance for it considering he's a 22 year old male. But yeah it being a beater makes sense, I just got quotes for a 1981 Honda Civic in Seattle and some are even less than $700/year.

pays very very little in insurance for it considering he's a 22 year old male

As an aside, in the UK it is illegal for an insurance company to consider gender when calculating the premium.

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

#355

Post by fyfy18 »

bob_theslob646 wrote: post #142
fyfy18 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it’s only a kilometre why not walk? That’s 15 minutes for the average person.

Would you want to walk in below freezing weather?

Yes, I do most days, here it's usually below freezing for most of December - February. Yesterday it was -20C (-4F) with windchill. Just get a good coat, pair of boots, hat and gloves and it's fine.

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

#356

Post by Eric_WVGG »

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…

"That said, I live in Seattle, where there is good public transportation." boy are you in for a treat when you move to a city with good public transportation!

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

#357

Post by ttul »

jimmaswell wrote: post #297
ttul wrote: post #256

Counter example: I did NOT own a car until after April of this year, which is when Car2Go discontinued service in my area. We don’t have Uber or Lyft, so those were never an option. Now, out of sheer necessity, I do own a car. And it costs me $550 a month for insurance, financing, and fuel. $550 would have bought a hell of a lot of Uber rides. More than enough for my needs.

You could've gotten a cheaper car, maybe even one you could pay for entirely upfront.

But it would suck compared to the old option. So not comparable.

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

#358

Post by ttul »

Texasian wrote: post #278
ttul wrote: post #256

Counter example: I did NOT own a car until after April of this year, which is when Car2Go discontinued service in my area. We don’t have Uber or Lyft, so those were never an option. Now, out of sheer necessity, I do own a car. And it costs me $550 a month for insurance, financing, and fuel. $550 would have bought a hell of a lot of Uber rides. More than enough for my needs.

Whoa, what kinda market had Car2Go but no Uber or Lyft? Is Zipcar not an option?

Welcome to Vancouver.

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

#359

Post by lhorie »

NKZZ wrote: post #346
lhorie wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Getting things delivered to your home is far less exhausting Fair. But on the other hand, having ice cream and meatballs at Ikea is a thing. You also need to account for cost of delivery and for returning things. And that's just ikea-related things we do. > 5 bakeries that I can get to in 5 minutes of bicycling and more restaurants than I could care for That describes downtown of any half decent metropolitan city a…

> you can't do "5 minutes of bycicling" when you have 2 toddlers With two, that would be complicated. It's really not that uncommon to see parents ride with one though, with that sort of equipment : https://www.twowheelingtots.com/childbabybikeseatbuyingguide... > Nor are your family going to have easy access to the multitude of other things I didn't mention: fishing, strawberry picking, corn mazes, safari, skiing, t…

> That really depends on location

True. Where I grew up, the closest beach was an hour and a half drive away. Closest ski station was in a different country. Wasn't exactly safe to step out of the house to begin with though, being close to slums and all. I consider myself lucky to be able to share different kinds of experiences with my kids now even though the public transport system in north america doesn't help me.

> the sort of attitude your grand-children will rightly judge you for considering the horrible impact your vacuous consumerism you're calling 'breadth' of experiences is having on this world

You're right, I should just throw my car in the sea. If I also throw out my computer, my grandchildren will be proud that I tried to help bankrupt the ecology-destroying companies that mine rare metals for these gadgets you and I use to waste time online. OR I could just be honest with myself and acknowledge that I'm selfish despite knowing that merely existing is a huge burden on the planet.

> So, if we're not proudly rolling coal we are instagramming metrosexuals

I dunno what you do or didn't do with your life, or why you're acting defensive, and frankly I don't care. I literally said I could do that lifestyle, stereotypical as it may be, but that it would eventually feel somewhat monotonous to me now that I've had different experiences.

I say this as someone who was extremely anti-car-ownership and changed minds once I had kids. Maybe you had it easy with safe ubiquitous public transportation and you're just trying to pull the tired europe-is-superior thing on me, but I've no allegiances in that game and I'm just talking about my experience with what I can pragmatically do for my kids with a car vs without. You do you.

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

#360

Post by funwithjustin »

gaius wrote: post #352
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.

Outdoor activities or any hobby that requires you haul around a lot of gear Indeed, this is something that gets totally missed by advocates of on-demand self-driving yadda yadda, because they live in densely populated cities and socialise and get entertainment almost exclusively online. That demographic is overrepresented on HN. Most people who own cars who might use them to commute during the week use them for fun s…

That's what Zipcar (or its competitors) is for. In most cases us city-dwellers still save money on short-term rentals over the cost of car ownership.
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