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Lyft Files for IPO

reuters.com

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Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#191

Post by reaperducer »

ksec wrote: post #180
reaperducer wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2) Lyft focuses on profitable higher income markets like the US and Canada so they can have a higher margin and not get into pricing wars This, I think, is more important than many people realize. When I was driving for Uber and Lyft (for about eight months, two years ago), Lyft had an entirely different clientele. Uber was for the poors, the frat boys, and the average Joe Lunchbucket. Lyft was a decidedly better cla…

How much more do Lyft changes as compared to Uber? ( Sorry Lyft was never in my region )

It's not really possible to make a direct comparison because Uber's rates (at least in my market) are a game.

Uber has all kinds of crazy promotions, like paying a flat $6 per ride for a whole month, or paying $25 up front for ten rides, no matter how long they are. Of course, there's also surge pricing that everyone knows about.

The worst is that Uber charges passengers more if they're traveling to or from "rich" ZIP Codes. In theory, Uber is doing this because we were supposedly carrying rich people around who could afford it. But more often than not, we were transporting low-wage maids and other service people from one job mucking out toilets to another. So Uber was actually hurting the people who could least afford to pay more.

I'm so glad to not be associated with Uber anymore.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#192

Post by partingshots »

Scramble scramble! Quick, before people realize ridesharing is completely unsustainable without self driving to take out the cost of human drivers, except that Lyft is so far behind in the self driving race that they basically have no way to ever catch up.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#193

Post by shoshino »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #27

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.

>they specifically don't allow you to hail a cab

Don't they? The app experience certainly feels like hailing. The app provides a virtual line of sight that shows me a map of my surroundings with nearby available vehicles, when I make a booking I can track the vehicle as it approaches my location.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#194

Post by ghaff »

foolfoolz wrote: post #93
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.

but their whole business is built off people owning cars. i understand people in dense cities may drive less and some not have a car at all, but a car is people important to anyone outside a city in ways ride share will not replace easily. this has nothing to do with lack of public infrastructure, it’s the benefits of being in control of your time

If/when mainstream self-driving eventually arrives, there's a good argument that it will provide the incentive for people to move out to more rural locations where there are many reasons to own your own vehicle.

If you live somewhere that parking's easy, there are a lot of reasons to own your own vehicle which mostly depreciates based on how many miles it's driven anyway. In addition to always having the vehicle available, you can customize it for your needs (sports, kids), use it as a sort of mobile storage locker, install a nice sound system if you're so inclined. If you don't need to drive, I'd expect more people to want a customized work/media entertainment space in their vehicle, not fewer.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#195

Post by pmart123 »

docker_up wrote: post #63

From a purely investment point of view, why would anyone invest in Lyft over Uber? Lyft has a smaller footprint and only operates in the US (except Toronto). They are more susceptible to economic conditions in a single country, the US, and every point of marketshare they get is a zero-sum game against Uber and presumably expensive because Uber won't give it up for free. Uber has a global operations, is in multiple st…

Southwest Airlines for a long time just focused on point-to-point flights, avoiding money-losing flight patterns that routed passengers through a Chicago to New York type connection. Additionally, SWA only maintained 737's, and free checked baggage allowed for faster onboarding and deplaning, and therefore, faster turnaround times. Eventually, this little airline became the largest airline after the major airlines botched their oil hedging, customer service, etc.

From an outsiders view, Lyft looks much more operationally focused. Instead of legally battling a bunch of different countries, it eyes only the biggest market, allowing it to slowly expand after it sees how Uber fares in each country. Instead of settling a lawsuit over allegedly stealing self-driving car technology, it is focusing on its core product. Instead of buying 19-month-old scooter company for $2B, it is spending money on its core value proposition.

At some point, investors might not hand over Uber any more cash. Meanwhile, Lyft could get to profitability more quickly while Uber deals with acquisition/project "hell" as Elon would say. As an outsider looking in, Lyft looks like it is playing the long game, drafting behind Uber until Uber catches another edge and slips.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#196

Post by RandallBrown »

Jommi wrote: post #117
RandallBrown wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would ridesharing be winner take all? There's almost no network effect (beyond splitting the cost, but Venmo has largely solved that) and the drivers all drive for all of them. In NYC I think there's at least 4 ridesharing companies and I usually choose which one based on which one has given me a promo.

You need to reread what a network effect is. It's exactly what goes on in a ridehailing platform.

I'm not really sure that's true at all.

If all of my friends are using Uber and I'm using Lyft, I get the same amount of value out of Lyft whether anyone else is using it or not.

Now, there is some network effect with new drivers signing up for a more dominant platform, making it harder to use others. Since drivers can (and usually do, in my experience) sign up for multiple platforms. That effect is greatly diminished.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#198

Post by rbreve »

docker_up wrote: post #63

From a purely investment point of view, why would anyone invest in Lyft over Uber? Lyft has a smaller footprint and only operates in the US (except Toronto). They are more susceptible to economic conditions in a single country, the US, and every point of marketshare they get is a zero-sum game against Uber and presumably expensive because Uber won't give it up for free. Uber has a global operations, is in multiple st…

The have still room to grow, diversification also.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#199

Post by ChuckMcM »

docker_up wrote: post #63

From a purely investment point of view, why would anyone invest in Lyft over Uber? Lyft has a smaller footprint and only operates in the US (except Toronto). They are more susceptible to economic conditions in a single country, the US, and every point of marketshare they get is a zero-sum game against Uber and presumably expensive because Uber won't give it up for free. Uber has a global operations, is in multiple st…

They have better focus

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#200

Post by the_reformation »

The most exciting implication here is that we can finally pour over the financials of a major ride-hailing company. Whether these companies have the unit economics to succeed is, remarkably, still an open question.
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