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Lyft Files for IPO

reuters.com

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Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#21

Post by maxxxxx »

kerng wrote: post #10
ghaff wrote: post #4

Question that's somewhere between rhetorical and semi-serious. At what point do one of these companies increase their pricing to the point where they can operate profitably and just let volumes end up wherever they end up (making whatever cost cuts they need to on the way down)? Presumably there's some point where you can make money--but maybe not if you have a basically equivalent competitor who is willing to lose m…

It seems like Lyft makes about the same loss as Uber overall percentage wise. So, if both IPO they will have to increase prices accordingly. At this point it might be better for one to back off from IPO, that would allow to further diversify business and find other more profitable ventures long term.

They want to cash out. They know that they have no real long term plan.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#22

Post by lallysingh »

wbl wrote: post #15
_hardwaregeek wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, what's Uber/Lyft's long term goal? If I had to guess, destroy all local taxi services, then fix prices with their competitors and worry about anti-competitive lawsuits later. Waiting for self driving cars feels like a fool's errand.

Too easy to enter the market, at least in a small area for price fixing to work.

This exactly. I think eventually we could see a Kayak-like service that just compares rates for your trip against a set and books accordingly. Containing Uber/Lyft/local taxi service/etc. It's very easy to enter the market. You just need a map in a UI (mapbox) and a way to charge people (stripe/square). There's probably a decent market for transportation-service-as-a-service. $1000 gets you all setup with a custom app (configured instance of a general app).

Drivers could have something similar where they see all the opportunities and potential fares across platforms in one app. What do they need? A list box to select the fare, then a map with reasonable routing, and a pay processor.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#24

Post by notyourday »

_hardwaregeek wrote: post #11
ghaff wrote: post #4

Question that's somewhere between rhetorical and semi-serious. At what point do one of these companies increase their pricing to the point where they can operate profitably and just let volumes end up wherever they end up (making whatever cost cuts they need to on the way down)? Presumably there's some point where you can make money--but maybe not if you have a basically equivalent competitor who is willing to lose m…

Seriously, what's Uber/Lyft's long term goal? If I had to guess, destroy all local taxi services, then fix prices with their competitors and worry about anti-competitive lawsuits later. Waiting for self driving cars feels like a fool's errand.

Local on demand delivery service. Optimized and cheap. Packages. People. Files. Food. Drinks. Etc

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#25

Post by ghaff »

davio wrote: post #16
_hardwaregeek wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, what's Uber/Lyft's long term goal? If I had to guess, destroy all local taxi services, then fix prices with their competitors and worry about anti-competitive lawsuits later. Waiting for self driving cars feels like a fool's errand.

Taxis are really a short term play. Long term is really transport as a service - who owns the market when people no longer own cars.

Stipulating that self-driving cars that can operate in dense urban areas in a wide range of weather conditions will exist some day...

Lots of people are still going to own cars, especially as you get to less dense areas where parking isn't difficult or expensive and cars are needed on a daily basis to go places, store things, etc.

What possible advantage, other than fleeting brand recognition, does Lyft or Uber have in a world where self-driving is a standard car feature? Why wouldn't Avis, Hertz, National, operate those short-term rentals? Or even the car manufacturers--although based on past behavior--they probably are primarily interested in building cars.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#27

Post by PhasmaFelis »

Funny that Uber/Lyft get categorized as "ride-hailing" when they specifically don't allow you to hail a cab, only request one in advance.

But the alternative seems to be "ride-sharing", which is utter feel-good bullshit outside of the small percentage who use Uber Pool or Lyft Line, so I suppose it's the best we've got.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#28

Post by saalweachter »

ryanmercer wrote: post #18
_hardwaregeek wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, what's Uber/Lyft's long term goal? If I had to guess, destroy all local taxi services, then fix prices with their competitors and worry about anti-competitive lawsuits later. Waiting for self driving cars feels like a fool's errand.

>Seriously, what's Uber/Lyft's long term goal? Massive fleets of autonomous vehicles transporting people. People often fall into the trap of seeing Uber and Lyft as a taxi service, they are absolutely autonomous vehicle companies. The human drivers are simply there to collect massive amounts of data, and build brand recognition, while the autonomous vehicle technology comes to maturity.

That's because they've done a shit job of building out a business that could act as the autotaxi. They are terribly placed to take advantage of self-driving vehicles, even if they perfect one, and they are spending in ways that are completely useless towards that long-term goal.

A self-driving taxi company is going to look a lot like a car dealership that doesn't sell cars, or a lot like a taxi company that doesn't have any drivers. They're going to have a huge number of cars, parking lots to store cars that aren't in use, and technicians to service, clean and fuel vehicles periodically.

Uber has none of these.

Meanwhile, they're blowing through most of their venture capital selling rides below cost.

This does nothing for their self-driving goals, because they aren't acquiring a "market", because there is no stickiness in taxi customers. It just wastes capital they will one day need to buy a huge number of self-driving vehicles and their maintenance facilities throughout the world.

They would be better off sitting on that giant pile of money, or operate as a cash-losing taxi company so they can build out their maintenance facilities with venture capital while having regular drivers drive regular cars (which could also be serving as platforms for data gathering and training machine learning models).

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#29

Post by kirykl »

davio wrote: post #16
_hardwaregeek wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, what's Uber/Lyft's long term goal? If I had to guess, destroy all local taxi services, then fix prices with their competitors and worry about anti-competitive lawsuits later. Waiting for self driving cars feels like a fool's errand.

Taxis are really a short term play. Long term is really transport as a service - who owns the market when people no longer own cars.

The car manufacturers. Maybe the best long term play is targeted aquisition.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#30

Post by maxxxxx »

ghaff wrote: post #25
davio wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxis are really a short term play. Long term is really transport as a service - who owns the market when people no longer own cars.

Stipulating that self-driving cars that can operate in dense urban areas in a wide range of weather conditions will exist some day... Lots of people are still going to own cars, especially as you get to less dense areas where parking isn't difficult or expensive and cars are needed on a daily basis to go places, store things, etc. What possible advantage, other than fleeting brand recognition, does Lyft or Uber have…

Exactly. Once self driving cars are there , Uber and Lyft have no advantage other other companies. Rental car companies actually have experience managing large fleets which is something Uber and Lyft don't have.
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