Prices have been more expensive than traditional taxis in my market for over a year now.
Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
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Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#12I'd say, once people stop dumping money into these companies and they can no longer operate at a loss, the real price of a ride/delivery will become clear.
It's a reasonable working assumption that "ride share" prices end up somewhere around where taxi prices are--with the possible exception of places like London where black cabs are somewhat of a premium service relative to minicabs, etc.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#13This is untrue. Without a doubt, with autonomous vehicles, efficient energy usage, storage and harvest via non eco damaging sources like solar power, the cost of rides will get cheaper.
Costs don't dictate prices.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#14The article was written back in August, so are we already seeing the higher prices?
> I've noticed this. I can reliably count on Uber/Lyft to price gouge me whenever they get the chance. Yeah but come on though, the cut the driver has to take, the cost of car maintenance, the cut Uber is entitled to for giving you a reliable service of connecting you to a driver (and co-pool-riders) and making this process smooth -- compare all of that with what a taxi used to cost, it's still pretty cheap in my opi…
Why do you assume that cost isn't being subsidized? Uber and Lyft are both still hemorrhaging money. I'm willing to bet the real cost is at least twice what you mentioned.
Yesterday it cost me $30 to go 5 miles via Uber, and I chose that over Lyft's $40. Not a busy time of day so no price surging. This is in San Francisco for a frame of reference.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#15Prices have been more expensive than traditional taxis in my market for over a year now.
Likewise.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#16The article was written back in August, so are we already seeing the higher prices?
They’re about 2.5x to 3x what they were when I first started using Lyft, and even shared rides are pricey enough and take long enough that they have no edge over government transportation in most circumstances and I’ll generally call a private cab if I’m calling a cab at all.
These days I prefer to get myself around without either, but if circumstances prevent or make that option look unattractive, I’ll generally favor government transportation over Lyft or Uber and only call a cab from one of them if I’m in a hurry.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#17"When will these darlings of Silicon Valley begin to turn a profit?"
The funny thing is criticism of these two companies has been vociferous on Hacker News since the very beginning. I'm not sure what company I'd even call a darling. Every example I can think of FAANG, Dropbox, Slack, etc all have various criticisms. Perhaps Spotify? But it's not a Silicon Valley company.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#18The article was written back in August, so are we already seeing the higher prices?
I feel like I've seen pretty high prices in Boston lately. On the other hand I took a trip to Las Vegas and suddenly Lyft was dirt cheap again.
It seems to vary a lot. I was on a business trip to San Diego recently and airport inbound (taxi) and airport outbound (Lyft) were about the same price, albeit with the taxi ride a little shorter. OTOH, whenever I visit Raleigh, Lyft still seems about half the price of a cab.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#19Pretty crazy with Juul, WeWork, DoorDash, and Uber / Lyft all struggling (or showing their true colors) that all the things they sought to kill are coming back. Taxis, cigarettes, picking up your own food! It's amazing to me that people were having food delivered from a half mile away.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I've noticed this. I can reliably count on Uber/Lyft to price gouge me whenever they get the chance. Yeah but come on though, the cut the driver has to take, the cost of car maintenance, the cut Uber is entitled to for giving you a reliable service of connecting you to a driver (and co-pool-riders) and making this process smooth -- compare all of that with what a taxi used to cost, it's still pretty cheap in my opi…
Why do you assume that cost isn't being subsidized? Uber and Lyft are both still hemorrhaging money. I'm willing to bet the real cost is at least twice what you mentioned. Yesterday it cost me $30 to go 5 miles via Uber, and I chose that over Lyft's $40. Not a busy time of day so no price surging. This is in San Francisco for a frame of reference.
How much would it be renting a car for a day in that area?