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Waze Carpool

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Re: Waze Carpool

#351

Post by djrogers »

cornholio wrote: post #47
dawhizkid wrote: post #12

The reason why I would not consider Google to legitimately compete with Uber/Lyft at scale in this arena is because it's not part of their nature to staff customer support at the level required to run operationally-intensive businesses. The rate in which something goes wrong in the real world (esp where money in exchanged) is much higher than in a pure software world, and Google is going to try to take the FAQ/chatbo…

Unlike Uber, they appear to talk about a real carsharing system, as opposed to a taxi service with a lower entry barrier. The prices will be much lower since we are talking about the marginal cost of adding another passenger to an already happening trip - and with full info on where people are going, Waze effectively has an endless supply of trips that are happening, it's just a matter of displaying a pop-up "Hey, Al…

> So the actual support required will be minimal to zero, it's just a software app

Sigh... Where can one start with this? It’s like trying to argue with flat-earthers, where logic and infinite ost experience don’t matter.

Re: Waze Carpool

#352

Post by halflings »

mjs7231 wrote: post #346
tytso wrote: post #318

The really big difference between Waze Carpool and Uber/Lyft is that the driver is paid at most 54 cents a mile (e.g., gas money), and Waze will only match the driver with passengers for two trips / day. So it is not designed to be something where the driver will make a living, but really just as a way for a driver to get some company, maybe take advantage of the HOV lanes, and it gets some cars off of the road to re…

I was interested in checking this out until you mentioned driver is paid at most $0.54 per mile. That really stinks for city travel where commute times are long and parking at the downtown destinations is expensive. There is no incentive for me to pick up a carpooler on my 30 minute 6 mile drive into the city where parking costs $26/day. In rush hour traffic, it'll easily add an extra 15-20 minutes to my commute each…

If picking up somebody adds 15-20 minutes to your 30 minutes commute, it's probably not worth carpooling in the first place... if you're ready to make that sacrifice for a financial incentive, you should use Lyft or Uber instead.

Re: Waze Carpool

#353

Post by djrogers »

nugi wrote: post #225
ethbro wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They just figured out that cost_to_resolve_complaints Once you make that leap, and commit (via support permissions / manuals / budget) to making that happen, it's a better experience overall. Not least because then it frees you as a business to what you should be focusing on. E.g. "We paid out $x million because of damaged packages. What can we do in the warehouse side to fix this?"

My issue is usually amazon sending the wrong item, or counterfits, dispite their occasionall asinine packaging of my items. That is, assuming the seller bothers to correctly list the item. But they seem to be doing little about any of it. For instance, I recieved 2 vacuum tubes last night. (I ordered 4), and they came jammed in a huge box with no padding on 2 sides. Already scheduled for return. My return rate must b…

> My return rate must be 1 in 10 these days. Is their warehouse overhead so low as to cover this long term?

The flip side of this is that my wife and I have returned 4-5 packages over the past year, out of 500+...

Re: Waze Carpool

#354

Post by djrogers »

freehunter wrote: post #28
eganist wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On the latter, I am mixed about my preference to converse with fellow well-paid, well-educated technologists. I don't know if this is resource-saving camaraderie or a furthering of the mutual isolation of white and blue collar Californians. I mean, if you're not talking to your uber/lyft driver as-is... I don't know. I'm convinced Facebook's done enough of that class segregation for us already. At least in the case…

>Facebook's done enough of that class segregation for us already I'm convinced the Bay Area itself has done enough of that segregation. Isn't that the entire reason people move there? Every time I ask why someone moved to SV, they say it's because that's where all of the tech talent is. Why is your startup headquartered in SV? Because that's where all the tech talent is. The only reason SV exists is because it's self…

> Every time I ask why someone moved to SV, they say it's because that's where all of the tech talent is.

That’s a pretty good sign that you’re only talking to a pretty narrow group of people..

Re: Waze Carpool

#355

Post by gesman »

rmrfrmrf wrote: post #337
gesman wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think GOOG is perfectly capable of upping their game to- and above UBER/Lyft levels. Even if it would require unthinkable religious sacrifice of actually providing live human support from GOOG side.

gasp! humans??!

"To help us serve you better, please say the reason for your call..." - this provokes violence

Re: Waze Carpool

#356

Post by tytso »

peterjlee wrote: post #324
tytso wrote: post #318

The really big difference between Waze Carpool and Uber/Lyft is that the driver is paid at most 54 cents a mile (e.g., gas money), and Waze will only match the driver with passengers for two trips / day. So it is not designed to be something where the driver will make a living, but really just as a way for a driver to get some company, maybe take advantage of the HOV lanes, and it gets some cars off of the road to re…

This isn't something new. Scoop is already doing this and Lyft had carpool for a while before they shut it down.

The service certainly isn't new. But Scoop, Lyft, and Waze all have different monetization models. Waze is ad-funded, plus its traffic data provides value to Google Maps. Lyft takes a cut of the money paid to the drivers. Scoop is apparently getting funded by the employers and office parks where they are providing service. These are all different models, and the fact that Lyft shut down their carpool service indicates that it's not a good fit for their business model.

Re: Waze Carpool

#357

Post by tytso »

mjs7231 wrote: post #346
tytso wrote: post #318

The really big difference between Waze Carpool and Uber/Lyft is that the driver is paid at most 54 cents a mile (e.g., gas money), and Waze will only match the driver with passengers for two trips / day. So it is not designed to be something where the driver will make a living, but really just as a way for a driver to get some company, maybe take advantage of the HOV lanes, and it gets some cars off of the road to re…

I was interested in checking this out until you mentioned driver is paid at most $0.54 per mile. That really stinks for city travel where commute times are long and parking at the downtown destinations is expensive. There is no incentive for me to pick up a carpooler on my 30 minute 6 mile drive into the city where parking costs $26/day. In rush hour traffic, it'll easily add an extra 15-20 minutes to my commute each…

If you are going into the city anyway for work, you can drop off your passenger near a subway stop, and continue into work. The assumption is that you were driving anyway, and so the cost of adding a carpooler and dropping him or her maybe 3-5 minutes out of your normal drive.

You're right that if you need to go out of your way at pickup or dropoff, or if you weren't going to drive into the city anyway because parking is $$$, this isn't going to work for you. But then that wasn't the intended target audience. If the goal is to get cars off the road, and you weren't going to drive, but take light rail as the saner way to commute into the city --- then by all means, continue using rail or light rail for your commute!

Re: Waze Carpool

#358

Post by drusepth »

loorinm wrote: post #193
cornholio wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unlike Uber, they appear to talk about a real carsharing system, as opposed to a taxi service with a lower entry barrier. The prices will be much lower since we are talking about the marginal cost of adding another passenger to an already happening trip - and with full info on where people are going, Waze effectively has an endless supply of trips that are happening, it's just a matter of displaying a pop-up "Hey, Al…

If this is the logic behind Waze Carpool, they are SERIOUSLY misguided. If I own a car and and I’m driving to work, my privacy and security during my commute is worth a lot more than $5. No way I’m picking up randos and sitting in silence with them for an hour for a measly coffee.

I would have used this every weekend I drove home from college (~3 hours), back when I was in college. Especially if I could just get paired with someone on campus going to some city along the way, but I'd also be down to pick people up on cities along the way as well.

1+ hour trips sound like a perfect opportunity for this. I'm a kind of get-in-at-the-last-minute guy at work, but I'd probably also pick up a person or two per week on the drive home, when I don't mind a little delay.

Re: Waze Carpool

#359

Post by miko1293949 »

dawhizkid wrote: post #12

The reason why I would not consider Google to legitimately compete with Uber/Lyft at scale in this arena is because it's not part of their nature to staff customer support at the level required to run operationally-intensive businesses. The rate in which something goes wrong in the real world (esp where money in exchanged) is much higher than in a pure software world, and Google is going to try to take the FAQ/chatbo…

What? This comment is ridiculous. Google has customer service on the scale of Amazon.

Re: Waze Carpool

#360

Post by mindfulplay »

miko1293949 wrote: post #359
dawhizkid wrote: post #12

The reason why I would not consider Google to legitimately compete with Uber/Lyft at scale in this arena is because it's not part of their nature to staff customer support at the level required to run operationally-intensive businesses. The rate in which something goes wrong in the real world (esp where money in exchanged) is much higher than in a pure software world, and Google is going to try to take the FAQ/chatbo…

What? This comment is ridiculous. Google has customer service on the scale of Amazon.

You are joking. That's like saying Amazon has AI service on the scale of google. No google customer service has unfortunately a very long way to go. Give google a million machines and it can train it to the nth degree. But solving silly human problems was never its strength.
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