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Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

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Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#141

Post by rahimnathwani »

masonic wrote: post #138
rahimnathwani wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a reasonable stance, but consider: 1. If the rider isn't sensitive about when they leave home, then they can happily wait until a driver who happens to have dropped someone off nearby is willing to take them for $7, because they don't need to drive more than 1 minute for the pickup. 2. Lease/finance, insurance, rent and food don't go up with the number of rides or distance. If a driver has the option to take s…

they can happily wait until a driver who happens to have dropped someone off nearby is willing to take them for $7 ... But you can't know whether that will mean a 4-minute wait, or 40 minutes ... or forever .

Right, but in the situation described (going to the mall on the weekend), OP is willing to wait, and willing to walk if nothing available.

(Of course if Uber were to introduce some 'limit price' feature, there would have to be some time-out/expiry (set by the system or by the rider). It doesn't make sense for a driver to pick up a rider days, weeks or months after the request was made.)

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#142

Post by masonic »

dannyw wrote: post #111

IMO, the worst thing about Uber's pricing 'experiments' are silently gouging frequent riders with higher upfront fares, hiking up return fares (since it knows you didn't drive to the location) as well as hidden surges (that aren't passed on to the driver) during night. https://therideshareguy.com/uber-is-ripping-off-frequent-rid...

  hiking up return fares
... which is why one should have separate accounts on separate devices. For each trip, compare prices. Or, split Uber/Lyft.

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#144

Post by biztos »

scrollaway wrote: post #50
chrisabrams wrote: post #7

Based on my rides recently I have seen the quality of drivers plummet on both Uber and Lyft. I'd be much more willing to wait (and maybe even pay) for a higher quality driver. Having a driver who cannot follow a GPS and takes you in a circle 3-4 times around the airport or does not speak English well enough to understand your request to stop on the right instead of the left like the GPS shows can be quite frustrating…

Here in Greece, we recently lost Uber. We're back to taxis. It's incredible how bad an experience those are after going back to them. Cars that smell like cigarette (that's if the driver isn't outright smoking in your face), don't have AC, are old, dirty and with uncomfortable ripped-up seats. Send your lower-quality drivers my way. I miss not wanting to vomit whenever I take a cab.

I was just in Thessaloniki and got to the airport in the middle of the taxi strike -- leaving lots of us with no other option but the public bus, which was actually not so bad, but next time I'll book a private car in advance.

On my way back I used the Beat app. It's got a slightly wonky UI and the street names are in Greek, which I'm too ignorant to read, but for getting from the apartment to the airport it was great. Taxi was clean, driver was polite, fare was reasonable.

I don't doubt there are bad taxis, just want to point out there are good ones too.

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#145

Post by tomp »

scrollaway wrote: post #50
chrisabrams wrote: post #7

Based on my rides recently I have seen the quality of drivers plummet on both Uber and Lyft. I'd be much more willing to wait (and maybe even pay) for a higher quality driver. Having a driver who cannot follow a GPS and takes you in a circle 3-4 times around the airport or does not speak English well enough to understand your request to stop on the right instead of the left like the GPS shows can be quite frustrating…

Here in Greece, we recently lost Uber. We're back to taxis. It's incredible how bad an experience those are after going back to them. Cars that smell like cigarette (that's if the driver isn't outright smoking in your face), don't have AC, are old, dirty and with uncomfortable ripped-up seats. Send your lower-quality drivers my way. I miss not wanting to vomit whenever I take a cab.

What about Beat? I heard it works different than Uber, you can actually choose your driver based on your desired characteristics (e.g. speaks English, has A/C, ...).

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#147

Post by gambiting »

chrisabrams wrote: post #7

Based on my rides recently I have seen the quality of drivers plummet on both Uber and Lyft. I'd be much more willing to wait (and maybe even pay) for a higher quality driver. Having a driver who cannot follow a GPS and takes you in a circle 3-4 times around the airport or does not speak English well enough to understand your request to stop on the right instead of the left like the GPS shows can be quite frustrating…

This has always been the Uber experience for me in the UK - drivers who cannot speak English, and when the road is closed for repairs(which google maps doesn't know about, because it seems incredibly poor in this country) they have no idea where to go and now suddenly it's up to you to tell them where to go. I've had maybe 1-2 good competent and friendly Uber drivers, but whenever possible I go with any local taxi company instead.

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#148

Post by sokoloff »

so33 wrote: post #124
stephencoyner wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less stops yes, but in Uber pools the stops can be incredibly inconvenient and made worse with poor drivers or riders, resulting in long rides. At least with a bus I get a well trained professional who is prepared for almost all scenarios. I also can estimate how long s bus will take, pools can be unpredictability long.

The idea of Uber Express Pool is set up so that you walk to a designated pickup point, wait, and walk from a designated drop-off point. So, essentially, it's a tiny bus that makes stops along a route. But with less capacity than a bus and less consistent scheduling and routing. (To be clear - I am pretty skeptical of the idea of demand-responsive "microtransit" such as Uber Express Pool).

In this case, semi-customized routing and scheduling soundly beats consisting routing and scheduling.

Even when my ride is paid by someone else (business travel), I will often use Pool and now Express Pool as I find it efficient.

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#149

Post by gambiting »

cm2012 wrote: post #105
elvirs wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well, as a weekend uber driver that drives only when prices go up I have to tell you that those 7-8 dollar trips pay us only 3 dollars and some change. Driving 7-10 minutes to pick you up and then drive for 7-10 minutes to your destination is not worth it because that comes to $10 per hour minus gas and maintenance and depreciation. Drivers have to pay for lease/finance, maintenance, insurance and still pay rent on t…

That's why I always tip $5 on short trips.

Stop with this already. You are basically sending a letter to Uber, saying "hey, I think it's ok for you to pay drivers like crap, because I'm absolutely willing to subsidize them instead! Thanks!"

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#150

Post by frobozz »

askafriend wrote: post #78
selectodude wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please. They drive around on roads that they don't pay for, in cars that they don't own, using drivers that they don't pay. The routing engine is Google's (they all use Maps). The rest of the stuff is impressive, and not something that you can put together in a day, or even a year. But I don't think it should be as difficult as it is for them to make a profit. I genuinely don't know what their expenses are other than…

You know Uber builds it's own mapping services right? And in fact, the guy who helped lead those efforts is the guy responsible for creating Google Earth which later formed the basis for Google's entire mapping efforts (which he led). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_McClendon He's a great guy by the way, in addition to being super smart. Your others points are not well thought through at all - I urge you to spend…

> But this isn't just about Uber. This is about ride-sharing in general, which completely changed what transportation in cities means. It is absolutely innovative in every sense of the word.

I think you are overstating it somewhat. Ride Sharing is just a doublespeak name for owner-driver minicabs, which have been around for ages.

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