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But... I was stuck out in the cold in the boonies of long island recently, and Uber kept bugging out and not finding rides since I was fairly rural. I downloaded Lyft for the first time and it found me a ride instantly. I'm going to have to use them more often.
Just my random anecdote.
Uber doesn't have much of a moat or lock-in effect. I just switched one day from being a frequent Uber rider to 100% using Lyft, simply because I don't like Uber's behavior as a company. The prices are so close it doesn't make any practical difference to me. Anecdotally, among my friends I also see Lyft becoming the default, and sometimes price-checking with Uber. If Waymo or whoever came out tomorrow with a cheaper/…
No different than, say, consumer rental companies like Airbnb.
I suspect, like Amazon, Uber could be profitable any time it wants. Their burn just reflects a continued, aggressive customer acquisition strategy.
If they were sincerely trying to acquire new customers, why wouldn't they do anything to combat their shit reputation?
Look at lyft, stuck in markets where uber is already there. Meanwhile, Uber fought legal battles and city governments all around the world: their staff often jailed and persecuted. What brand do you want to have when governments send your employees to jail? Quirky funny, or ruthless?
Uber’s sales are dramatically slowing even as the ride-hailing company is spending more to fuel global growth, particularly in its food delivery business. Revenue growth of 38 percent in the third quarter was almost half of what the growth rate was six months earlier, when the company was negotiating a $9.3 billion investment led by SoftBank Group Corp. Brutal opening paragraph
It's a strange world we live in when people speak poorly of 38% revenue growth. To me, that seems like a staggeringly huge growth rate. I looked up the numbers independently to double check, and yep. 63% revenue growth between Q2'17/Q2'18, 38% between Q3'17/Q3'18. If my own 9 year old company was growing 38% YOY I think I'd be very very happy.
Also, that revenue growth is half of what it was 6 months ago, which is the dramatic slowing referenced.
Side note, I'm getting fed up with Uber... I'm a decent user, I use it 1-2 a week. Drivers have become worse. They used to have clean cars and were of all ethnicity. There also used to be a lot of women drivers. Now it's basically taxi drivers with their mate's cars. Cars are now often dirty, greasy interiors, dirty outside and bad smell. And as soon as you have a 'usual' route, or you use the app a lot, you get char…
I hate to say I called it but... I called this years ago. Earlier in the decade, even on HN, people were raving about how much better Uber was than taxis because “the cars are so clean!”, and I kept saying, “You know this is temporary, right? And that Uber is only better in this regard because the drivers and cars are new?” Ride-hailing takes an incredible toll on cars, and with Uber pushing more costs into drivers t…
Their prices are often worse than yellow cabs in NYC. They act like locals won't be able to tell but it's pretty obvious when it's a $10 more ask at a time that isn't even busy and there are yellow cabs everywhere.
Their prices are often worse than yellow cabs in NYC. They act like locals won't be able to tell but it's pretty obvious when it's a $10 more ask at a time that isn't even busy and there are yellow cabs everywhere.
Every time I think I've seen the most amazingly challenging business situation I'll ever see, something comes along to top it. Win or lose, the book about Uber is going to be really amazing.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-28/uber-inve...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The reason I'm reluctant to use Lyft is that they do not say beforehand how much my ride is going to be. Edit: I stand corrected. Their UI mislead me because for airport rides the price is only shown after you hit a Confirm button, but that does not order the car as I thought, only takes you to the next screen.
Yes, they do
Their prices are often worse than yellow cabs in NYC. They act like locals won't be able to tell but it's pretty obvious when it's a $10 more ask at a time that isn't even busy and there are yellow cabs everywhere.
Yeah, in SF I've gone back to hailing cabs when uber/lyft are surging significantly.