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SuperShuttle is going out of business

latimes.com

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Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#111

Post by bombledmonk »

gniv wrote: post #95
sl1ck731 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had just started using the local Coach airport shuttle because it was so convenient and have begun to travel more. It announced it was shutting down a week or so ago for the same reasons. Ridesharing will cost me double each way or risk leaving my car at the airport. I'm beginning to dislike Lyft and Uber. When I was in Vegas it wasn't even worth using them. The lined up procession of cabs is more convenient than t…

> The lined up procession of cabs is more convenient than trying to find the one car you're supposed to get into, Lyft has a new feature (I forget what it's called) where instead of directly matching with a specific driver, you get a four-digit number and then stay in line and get in the car when your turn comes. At that point you match with the driver using the number you got.

I just used this at LAX, it was slick. Much better than my last trip through.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#112

Post by jcranmer »

UncleEntity wrote: post #104
xzcat wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like civilian GPS accuracy is 4m or so. I could imagine that dropping someone's dot in the middle of a street, and then a driving having to guess which side of the street the error is coming from.

...or know that even numbers are on one side of the street and odds on the other as happens (I'd guess) everywhere.

Some places will put both evens and odds on the same side of the street if there's only one side, and then use more numbers if there is subsequently development on the other side of the street. Some places will assign a new house number whenever a new building is added, no matter where it is located. Some places will number in clockwise (or counterclockwise) direction.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#113

Post by shuckles »

Not only will some not miss Super Shuttle because of its occasional marathon ride, but also others will not miss it for their drivers’ tendency to appear and disappear from the pickup location at a random time without even calling.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#114

Post by legohead »

awillen wrote: post #109

More than once I had a SuperShuttle driver tell me their credit card machine wasn't working. When I told them I didn't have cash, they'd insist we stop at the ATM on the way home. When I pointed out that the website where I booked plus the outside of the actual van we were in said they accept Visa, they'd really get in a huff. Always magically had paper credit card slips, though. Some of them really sounded vaguely t…

I took my first SuperShuttle on my last conference trip to SF. I didn't talk about payment until I was already at destination, at which point he told me he didn't have a machine. I thought it odd, and just gave him cash. He told me $19 even though the guy at the airport told me $18. Gave him a $20 and went on my way.

Also the ride was very odd. The guy mentioned how he wished he could drive a tank, and even had tank models in the shuttle. And he drove very aggressively and angrily. I couldn't help but thinking he was in the wrong business...

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#115

Post by anonymousjunior »

gramakri wrote: post #24

I use SuperShuttle pretty much all the time. I understand why the service is widely disliked. Most people expect a predictable shared ride with least surprises. The pick up is predictable but not the ride itself. Sometimes it's like 3-4 stops and the whole thing takes a long time. On the other hand, I have tried uber shared ride from airports and it's way worse (at SFO). The rides keep getting cancelled. Late at nigh…

When did you try Uber at SFO? They changed the pickup process a few months ago and it's been a nightmare ever since. I've found the trick is to make the trek through the airport to the International terminal where they're still allowed to pick up curbside.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#116

Post by jcranmer »

khuey wrote: post #50
usr1106 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US? My experience is that most airports are not connected by railway or subway. Admittedly most of my trips were more than 10 years ago, but I would be very surprised if things have drastically changed. Yes, in Europe it starts to be become rarer that major airports have only bus connections.

There's probably no more than twenty airports in the US with rail/subway connections. Notably the second busiest (LAX) does not have a rail connection but they're finally building one.

I count 25:

Boston, Cleveland, Chicago O'Hare, Chicago Midway, Providence, JFK, LGA, Newark, Philly, BWI, DCA, Atlanta, SFO, Oakland, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Portland, Seattle, Dallas/Fort-Worth, St. Louis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee, Salt Lake, Phoenix.

If you include proposed or in construction links, there's also Honolulu, Washington Dulles, Orlando, LAX. There's also a few more airports that have bus service to the light rail line (e.g., San Jose airport).

Essentially, every city with a subway system has a stop at the airport, LA and San Juan being the two exceptions here. Some commuter rail networks stop at the airport. Several light rail systems don't stop at the airport, particularly if the airport is well out of the center of town. So it's more of indictment of the degree to which US cities lack rail transit.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#117

Post by supernova87a »

The problem with Supershuttle was the variability and never knowing quite what you were going to get. You could get a straightforward ride home (+25% for the extra dropoffs), or you could get a 2x of your journey time and a shady driver.

The manual pooling of rides (suboptimal), low volume, and subjectivity of the driver deciding how to drive just couldn't make for a consistent and good experience. And add to that the inability to enforce or provide feedback essentially gave you taxi driver incentives to cheat / work the system.

Much as Uber/Lyft has its disadvantages, I say good riddance to Supershuttle.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#119

Post by biztos »

jcranmer wrote: post #116
khuey wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably no more than twenty airports in the US with rail/subway connections. Notably the second busiest (LAX) does not have a rail connection but they're finally building one.

I count 25: Boston, Cleveland, Chicago O'Hare, Chicago Midway, Providence, JFK, LGA, Newark, Philly, BWI, DCA, Atlanta, SFO, Oakland, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Portland, Seattle, Dallas/Fort-Worth, St. Louis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee, Salt Lake, Phoenix. If you include proposed or in construction links, there's also Honolulu, Washington Dulles, Orlando, LAX. There's also a few more airports that have bus…

Thanks for that list! I haven't lived in the SF Bay Area for ten years and I totally missed that Oakland has a BART station now.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#120

Post by awillen »

legohead wrote: post #114
awillen wrote: post #109

More than once I had a SuperShuttle driver tell me their credit card machine wasn't working. When I told them I didn't have cash, they'd insist we stop at the ATM on the way home. When I pointed out that the website where I booked plus the outside of the actual van we were in said they accept Visa, they'd really get in a huff. Always magically had paper credit card slips, though. Some of them really sounded vaguely t…

I took my first SuperShuttle on my last conference trip to SF. I didn't talk about payment until I was already at destination, at which point he told me he didn't have a machine. I thought it odd, and just gave him cash. He told me $19 even though the guy at the airport told me $18. Gave him a $20 and went on my way. Also the ride was very odd. The guy mentioned how he wished he could drive a tank, and even had tank…

Yeah, the drivers always tended to be a little off... I had one guy run up on the curb while he was looking at his phone, and he yelled when I told him to get off of it. That was the last one I took.

I had another one where the driver got into a shouting match with a customer he dropped off because they didn't tip - at least SS gave me a refund on that one.

I think the reality is that it was a very low-cost franchise, so you'd get people who weren't the kind that could manage normal office jobs but could scrape together 20k.

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