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The Uber Bubble

braveneweurope.com

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Re: The Uber Bubble

#541

Post by michaelcampbell »

westcort wrote: post #35

My key takeaways: 1. Uber is actually a higher cost/less efficient producer of urban car services than the taxi companies it has driven out of business 2. Individual Uber drivers with limited capital cannot acquire, finance, maintain and insure vehicles more economically than Yellow Cab 3. Expenses other than drivers, vehicles, and fuel account for 15 percent of traditional taxi costs but Uber charges drivers 25-30 p…

> 1. Uber is actually a higher cost/less efficient producer of urban car services than the taxi companies it has driven out of business

How is its cost/efficiency in the areas where there ARE no taxis? I have nothing but "gut" to back this up but I live in one of the areas where aren't (m)any, and uber/lyft is infinitely more efficient here.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#542

Post by nerdponx »

oneoff786 wrote: post #447
nerdponx wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With this many billion dollars on the line, one can never be too cynical. One has to wonder if this has been the endgame all along: driving taxi services out of business, replacing them with a monopoly where consumers pay the same price (or higher) and where drivers are paid less. I will say that services like Uber have been very beneficial for areas that were previously underserved by traditional taxi companies. But…

No you should always be cynical and assume the simplest dumbest reason. They didn’t think it through this far. They thought driverless would work. They just did what they thought was best along the way. (Not to suggest that thinking things through this far out from the beginning is a feasible task)

That's the opposite of what I mean by "cynical". That is the charitable view that gives tremendous benefit of the doubt to people who do not deserve it.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#543

Post by nerdponx »

kristofferR wrote: post #488
nerdponx wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With this many billion dollars on the line, one can never be too cynical. One has to wonder if this has been the endgame all along: driving taxi services out of business, replacing them with a monopoly where consumers pay the same price (or higher) and where drivers are paid less. I will say that services like Uber have been very beneficial for areas that were previously underserved by traditional taxi companies. But…

The wealth transfer has been to the passengers though, as this article points out repeatedly Uber isn't earning money.

I was thinking of their employees and technology vendors, as well as any open source projects they contribute to.

The point is that there must be some awfully huge payoff to make burning billions of dollars as an upfront investment worth it.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#544

Post by alexvoda »

Here is an issue I do not see anyone else mentioning.

There is no way to contact them for unusual problems. You either have the chatbot solve your issue or you are f**ed.

In my city, for some reason there is a location that is wrongly labeled as the railway station. There is nothing there, just residential blocks. Yet when searching, this option is always ahead of the real railway station. Triped me up several times already.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#545

Post by xapata »

prmoustache wrote: post #358
xapata wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some countries, taxis are so often criminal that tourists are warned to avoid them. In some less extreme places, drivers simply never use the meter and the passengers must negotiate every ride. Uber and its competitors have been wonderful for hailing rides in these places.

Apparently in Mexico it used to be the case 5years ago but nowadays you can't rely on Uber either anymore if you are a woman and you don't want to just be a dead raped corpse the next morning. Source: mexican gf and her family still living there. Not sure if the issue comes from Uber not giving out drivers info, drivers blaming someone borrowed their car but not disclosing identity of supposed borrower or police not…

Why would a taxi be any better?

Re: The Uber Bubble

#546

Post by xapata »

Nursie wrote: post #476
bradleyjg wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The drivers have definitely learned how to game the system in some cases. I was once at LAX airport and the local drivers had somehow figured out how to create a surge fare that only kicked in after you matched with a driver. The app would offer you the higher price and if you turned it down you’d find that there were no cars available. If you canceled and tried again the lower fare would once again show.

This is now common here in Perth, Western Australia. The drivers appear to have figured out that cancelling repeatedly, if they all do it, can create a 'surge' where there was none before.

Interesting. That algorithm problem should be short-lived, I hope.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#547

Post by [deleted] »

Elyra wrote: post #450
omegalulw wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Taxis died because it's a horrible user experience that was propped up by a government-enforced monopoly. This cannot be understated. Also, as an introvert, negotiating with drivers, especially those that don't drive by the meter was always stressful, I mostly ended up overpaying.

Or when they "accidentally" make a wrong turn, or purposefully take a "shortcut" just to take you a longer/slower route to drive up the meter, almost making you late.

[deleted]

Re: The Uber Bubble

#548

Post by xapata »

whiplash451 wrote: post #520
shostack wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"credit card machine is broken." Things I don't ever have to hear or put up with ever again #623.

The solution to this is Square, not Uber.

The taxi drivers have Square. They just choose not to use it to avoid the processing fee. Also, cash payers are more likely to round up for a tip.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#549

Post by the_af »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #362
the_af wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's true the meaning of the word has evolved into a slur. At least some of the people who used to be called gypsies in English don't want to be called that. As for shows, didn't Netflix's "Gypsy" take flak for the name?

>Well, it's true the meaning of the word has evolved into a slur. Is it, though, or is it one of those words like "Indian" (referring to an American Indian, not someone from the country of India) that people say is a slur but is not considered offensive at all by the community it supposedly degrades (and in fact, refusing to use it in their company will get you strange looks more than anything else). See also: my use…

Hm. It seems you're right. Well, I stand corrected.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#550

Post by projektfu »

prmoustache wrote: post #529
projektfu wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"In Mexico" is really too broad to say what to expect. Cancun, Tijuana, CDMX, and Queretaro, as examples, are going to be vastly different experiences.

Well Cancun is not mx anymore. GF is from Queretaro, which is somewhat considered a safe place. She would not take an Uber alone anymore as she used to do.

Is that like "Miami is the closest foreign city to the US"?
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