141–150 of 331 posts
This plus the news that Waymo is starting its autonomous ride-share service next month is a one-two punch for Uber this week. Might be one of the largest unicorns to die in our generation.
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Does this change when the two options are perfect substitutes? As a rider, there's no "cost" to having both apps, so I'll just check both. Similarly, as a driver, I'll just sit with both apps open and see which one I get a rider on.
Makes you wonder why no one has built an app that interfaces with all of them, and finds you the cheapest rate, while taking a kickback.
They did (well, it at least has multiple Uber and Lyft services, and I don't know that they get a kickback); the app is called “Google Maps”.
My "Uber sucks" story is that I left a jacket in the back seat of a car. I immediately tried to figure out how to call the driver but Uber decided they needed to make money off my misfortune. Not only did they charge me $15 to connect with the driver but they refused to let me message the driver directly, so what could have been a few minutes of time turned into a week long saga. Once I finally got a hold of the driv…
I was told, "we are all customers here."
I left, but found out later that they tried to do the same thing to the driver dropping it off. He left too.
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/…
I started using Uber because it was worth paying more to not deal with taxis. Now Uber is the cheap, bad option. I really wish there was a “middle of market” ridesharing service. Cheaper than a black car from whatever service, but still with good quality control. Uber used to be that but isn’t anymore. Lyft is kind of that but isn’t quite there.
Anyway, it feels like Uber is trading goodwill for volume. I only use it for free rides with Amex platinum or when I need a car ASAP and no taxis are available. Otherwise I use Lyft (and sometimes Lyft is cheaper anyway). It feels like Uber is shorting quality control and trading long-term profitablility for short-term volume with more, cheaper drivers.
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I had a yellow cab driver claim just last month that his credit card machine was broken, after a ride from the airport into Manhattan. I told him too bad, plastic is all I got, and wouldn't you know it miraculously the machine worked when he tried it (with a sour face). As a cherry on top he then tried to charge me more than the fixed rate set for the airport fares. So taking a yellow cab in NYC still absolutely suck…
I'm not defending yellow cabs here. There's a reason ride-share has taken so much of their market. I'm just pointing out how ridiculous Uber is by trying to charge me significantly more than a yellow cab to get somewhere when I can ballpark the cost pretty easily. It's just a very poor longterm business decision. Only now do I try other services because I am suspicious that Uber is trying to rip me off.
They charge more... for a better service.
It's not some kind of con or scheme or a rip-off.
Speaking as a infrequent user (1-3 times per month) in Lisbon, Portugal, I can't choose Uber anymore. There are so many other apps providing the same service with cheaper prices (some of them such as Taxify do not have surge pricing) and better drivers. The drivers' quality declined a lot: sometimes they don't speak portuguese or english and if they notice you're drunk they try to scam you (leave you in some random s…
Isn't that a good thing? At least you don't have to talk to them... The point of Uber (and similar apps) is that they abstract the human interaction through the app (although in London very annoyingly many drivers still ask me where I'm going, despite me having entered the destination into the app).
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/…
Converse to this, I get a lot of bad behavior when I try to book Uber, especially late at night or in odd areas. Drivers who cancel, intentionally drive in the wrong direction to force you to cancel, who don’t wait or drive to the wrong place to pick you up, who don’t know where to go, who are rude, who refuse to turn off music... I started using Uber because it was worth paying more to not deal with taxis. Now Uber…
Since my impression is a large population of drivers drive for both I don't think you would find different behavior in Uber or Lyft. A dickhead is doing to be a dickhead whether driving for Uber or Lyft right?
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.
That is not a happy balance sheet. They have raised over $24B, then they shifted around the cap table when Soft Bank came in[1] where they valued the company at $48B. I have never played poker where the lowest valued chips were a million dollars but it has to feel like that to senior management at the company right? And their investors, they have serious money in the pot too. It feels like they have managed to create…
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I have found that the drivers for Lyft are much happier than the drivers for Uber. This holds true even when a driver drives for both services. I asked several drivers why this is and the universal response was that Lyft treats them better, so they are happier to pick up Lyft customers. I switched over to only using Lyft, but like the OP states, if Waymo came out tomorrow I'd probably switch to that.
I've had a slightly different experience. My Lyft drivers have definitely been happier and nicer, but most of them say that there is no real difference between the two services from a driver's point of view. I'm not sure how that could be the case.
Thus the drivers won't care which app is running, since they will be making (more or less) the same $$$$$. All they need it to do is ensure they are driving people around/keeping busy, and if one company is bleeding customers, they will simple start 'the other app' and continue driving.
I may be oversimplifying the above, but it's the general idea/practice.