I am from St. Louis where there is currently a restraining order due to conflicts with the local taxi union. My understanding was that Lyft had the argument of "we arent a real taxi service since the amount paid is optional, and its peer to peer", which is why they felt they could launch in markets that let taxi commissions monopolize a market. Doesn't this just turn that gray area into black and white?
Lyft Plus
11–20 of 110 posts
Re: Lyft Plus
#12"We started by reimagining ridesharing." I've always viewed Lyft as Uber X with a pink furry mustache. What exactly have they "reinvented" before this announcement that wasn't already "reinvented" by Uber before them?
I may be wrong, but Lyft did ridesharing before Uber. Uber X was initially professional drivers with mid-range hybrid cars, while Lyft used the ridesharing model. Then, Uber moved to the ridesharing model for Uber X with relaxed driver and car requirements.
(Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)
Re: Lyft Plus
#13For some reason the "watch the video" button isn't displaying in Chrome but it is in Safari.
Re: Lyft Plus
#14Is this just a straight livery service?
Looks like they're staying out of that. The plan seems to be sell these cars to their top Lyft drivers, with the promise of more ride money.
From: http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/8/5694720/lyft-goes-after-ube...
"[Lyft is] purchasing the vehicles and having them outfitted, but then drivers have the opportunity to buy them and drive in them. The first crop of drivers given the chance to buy into that are some of the oldest and most active, Lyft says; how much they'll pay for that privilege, the company won't say."
Re: Lyft Plus
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Uber went into Lyft's space with Uber X. Lyft is going into Uber's space with Lyft premium. For Lyft users who prefer not using Uber is who its for.
As someone who has used both services (and others like Sidecar) they are all about the same to me. Generally, Lyft seems a little friendlier than Uber. However honestly all are light years ahead of a yellow cab- in which the drivers rarely accept cards (machine broken), refuse to use GPS, and talk on the phone nonstop (despite the laws on that).
What I wonder about Lyft is the extent to which friendliness scales. That it has scaled so far is obviously due to the fact that they can simply project that sense of friendliness and then rely on individual drivers to actually do the work of giving that impression to customers, but what if they want to expand their business into domains where friendliness is unimportant or even a downside (an example might be something like the bike messaging that Uber is getting into in NYC, where prompt service basically requires the service provider to be brusque)? In such a market, the company wouldn't be able to trade on their reputation as the friendly alternative and in fact might be even harmed by the expectation that they would be that. Is friendliness a straightjacket in the making?
Re: Lyft Plus
#16Fascinating that Lyft seems to be owning and administering the actual vehicles with Plus (custom Ford Explorers). To my knowledge, none of these services do that yet.
Re: Lyft Plus
#17How can companies get away with saying things like 'the most affordable premium option' without providing any pricing information whatsoever? Why do they even think that it is acceptable to do so?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery
its real, deal.
Re: Lyft Plus
#18How can companies get away with saying things like 'the most affordable premium option' without providing any pricing information whatsoever? Why do they even think that it is acceptable to do so?
Considering how few players there are in this market, shouldn't it be pretty easy to guess? Usually I'd agree with you, but in this case I'm not sure if it's really that vague. Just assume somewhere around an Uber black car.
Re: Lyft Plus
#19I am from St. Louis where there is currently a restraining order due to conflicts with the local taxi union. My understanding was that Lyft had the argument of "we arent a real taxi service since the amount paid is optional, and its peer to peer", which is why they felt they could launch in markets that let taxi commissions monopolize a market. Doesn't this just turn that gray area into black and white?
In many cities, the black-car market is regulated differently from taxis, and if Lyft Plus fits the definition of a black-car service that might sidestep the regulatory concerns.
Re: Lyft Plus
#20I am from St. Louis where there is currently a restraining order due to conflicts with the local taxi union. My understanding was that Lyft had the argument of "we arent a real taxi service since the amount paid is optional, and its peer to peer", which is why they felt they could launch in markets that let taxi commissions monopolize a market. Doesn't this just turn that gray area into black and white?
In many cities, the black-car market is regulated differently from taxis, and if Lyft Plus fits the definition of a black-car service that might sidestep the regulatory concerns.
Stolen from another comment http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/8/5694720/lyft-goes-after-ube...
Looks like they are selling the cars to the drivers. It's like NYC's medallion program, but weirder.