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Lyft Files for IPO

reuters.com

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Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#291

Post by gaius »

francisofascii wrote: post #284
gaius wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ownership as we know it will become meaningless. Sure, you could buy a self-driving car, but do you need to? I wonder if people who say things like this are actually drivers, because every driver I know has a car full of random stuff that lives permanently in it incase it’s needed. No one is going to carry all that with them; if they did it wouldn’t live in the car in the first place! Ownership isn’t going anywhere,…

Having a hard time thinking of stuff that needs to stay in the car. A child car seat is certainly a big one, but that could be equipped in a shared car. What other stuff do these people need?

Off the top of my head I have chargers, sunglasses, brufen, snacks/water/hand gel, a giant umbrella, assorted maps and a compass, a change of clothes or two, boots, IFAK, shovel, a couple of flashlights and some tools. Most of these things are used frequently enough that it would be massively annoying not to have them, and some if you need them then it’s too late to get them from somewhere else.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#292

Post by pmart123 »

metildaa wrote: post #265
pmart123 wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. 2.5x revenue though and has exclusive city contracts. I still view this differently than paying $680M pre-revenue for Otto. On the scooter side, at $300/scooter, Uber could buy 100k scooters and stick an UberScoot button on their app and probably can more ridership than any of the year old startups.

This assumes those scooters aren't impounded, damaged or left with dead batteries. There are no human drivers constantly maintaining these scooters, at best a random person may come by and charge them (for a fee OFC), but no quality assurance or maintenance is happening in a timely manner. This is why scooter companies are seeing their average scooter break after 4 months, there is no maintenance plan and they aren't…

If Uber wanted to operate a scooter division, I still think it makes way more sense to do it themselves at this point given Uber has no barriers to enter this market. Millions of people already have Uber on their phone and a number of drivers are probably willing to pick up scooters to charge them or transport them for maintenance if needed. I'm just saying it seems way cheaper to roll out a pilot program with 10,000 scooters than investing hundreds of millions to a couple billion dollars in another company that effectively is letting you white label its scooters (that are manufactured by another company). Is a scooter maintenance company worth $2B?

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#293

Post by nradov »

gaius wrote: post #279
0x8BADF00D wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unit economics don’t really matter in this case. Lyft and Uber could be hemorrhaging money but the paradigm has fundamentally shifted. Ownership as we know it will become meaningless. Sure, you could buy a self-driving car, but do you need to? Waymo One’s launch will determine the future of ridesharing companies, not unit economics.

Ownership as we know it will become meaningless. Sure, you could buy a self-driving car, but do you need to? I wonder if people who say things like this are actually drivers, because every driver I know has a car full of random stuff that lives permanently in it incase it’s needed. No one is going to carry all that with them; if they did it wouldn’t live in the car in the first place! Ownership isn’t going anywhere,…

My car also serves as a convenient mobile storage locker whenever I go somewhere. I can park it and leave my jacket, sports equipment, lunch, umbrella, etc without having to carry that stuff around with me. But it's easily accessible if I need it. That convenience and security is worth a lot.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#294

Post by nradov »

calvinbhai wrote: post #290
degenerate wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you are wrong. I have both apps, and my last 10 rides have been in Lyft, because it's consistently cheaper. If uber wants me back all they need to do is compete on price, but I think their operating costs are too high to do that, so they will eventually lose out from being too big and have to either scale back or implode.

Same here. Any rides I have taken where Lyft is available, I ride with Lyft. Else, Uber. (mostly NYC/NJ/Toronto areas Lyft has been consistently cheaper for me). Cheapest rideshare wins. race to bottom. Only way Uber / Lyft can avoid death, is with business rides and lockin. There no one is price sensitive, and they can make money off of business rides (Lyft is doing this really well, in nudging users to have more bu…

My employer has a business account with Lyft and I use it on all business trips. It's convenient because everything goes to our expense reporting system automatically. But businesses have no loyalty and would quickly shift to Uber for lower prices.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#295

Post by PhasmaFelis »

parthdesai wrote: post #163
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tbh i preferred Uber exactly because of no option to tip Why? If you're not concerned about the driver's pay, you shouldn't be concerned that they might feel stiffed.

Because the tipping culture to me doesn't make sense? Not everyone is from NA, where it is mandatory to tip. I would rather pay more to Uber upfront and have them pay more to drivers than me paying extra on top. Also, who says Uber drivers are getting stiffed? One of my really good friend does Uber full time in Toronto right now and takes home around $4.5k/month (before tax). He drives around 6 hours a day, 5 days a…

> I would rather pay more to Uber upfront and have them pay more to drivers than me paying extra on top.

Pretty optimistic of you to assume that "no option to tip" means "drivers are paid better up front."

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#296

Post by paulddraper »

0x8BADF00D wrote: post #268
the_reformation wrote: post #200

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.

Unit economics don’t really matter in this case. Lyft and Uber could be hemorrhaging money but the paradigm has fundamentally shifted. Ownership as we know it will become meaningless. Sure, you could buy a self-driving car, but do you need to? Waymo One’s launch will determine the future of ridesharing companies, not unit economics.

> Unit economics don’t really matter in this case.

Unit economics always matter, at least after a certain point (and an IPO would definitely be that point).

> Ownership as we know it will become meaningless.

Do you really want to rent everything instead of owning it and pay everyone for their work rather than doing it yourself?

Certainly there are many people that prefer to own condos/cars/phones/books.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#297

Post by paulddraper »

gaius wrote: post #291
francisofascii wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a hard time thinking of stuff that needs to stay in the car. A child car seat is certainly a big one, but that could be equipped in a shared car. What other stuff do these people need?

Off the top of my head I have chargers, sunglasses, brufen, snacks/water/hand gel, a giant umbrella, assorted maps and a compass, a change of clothes or two, boots, IFAK, shovel, a couple of flashlights and some tools. Most of these things are used frequently enough that it would be massively annoying not to have them, and some if you need them then it’s too late to get them from somewhere else.

+ coat, toys, diapers, paper towels, mirror, first aid kit.

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#298

Post by gaius »

paulddraper wrote: post #297
gaius wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off the top of my head I have chargers, sunglasses, brufen, snacks/water/hand gel, a giant umbrella, assorted maps and a compass, a change of clothes or two, boots, IFAK, shovel, a couple of flashlights and some tools. Most of these things are used frequently enough that it would be massively annoying not to have them, and some if you need them then it’s too late to get them from somewhere else.

+ coat, toys, diapers, paper towels, mirror, first aid kit.

And a saw, needed that more than once. How is a passenger in a self-driving car going to deal with a tree fallen across the road?

Re: Lyft Files for IPO

#300

Post by joshuaali »

baddox wrote: post #274
speby wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I think the reality is that it will turn out to be much more like the airline business - basically a commodity business where raising prices is extremely difficult. I believe you are onto something there. What did people do before Lyft/Uber? They walked more. They biked. They took public transportation. Maybe they drove themselves. Maybe they drove/carpooled with a friend. Maybe they took a good old fashioned t…

Sounds like you’re talking about the price elasticity of demand. You describe airline travel (at least for personal economy class flights) to be fairly inelastic, meaning that if the price rises even a little bit, a lot of people will just drive or not take the trip. That certainly rings true to me. I recently bought US domestic flights home for Christmas, and I certainly chose the absolute cheapest flight that fit t…

It's actually the other way around: demand is said to be inelastic if changes in price have little impact on it.
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