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Trends: Uber vs. Lyft

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Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft

#131

Post by MrDom »

swang wrote: post #98
stanleydrew wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've ridden my bike to and from work in SF nearly every day for the past 4 years and have only once come close to being in an accident with a car. But every day I see plenty of other cyclists making overly-aggressive moves that put themselves and other people in danger. You may claim that I'm blaming the victim, but from what I've observed many cyclists kind of enjoy a little (in their opinion) justified indignation…

The fact that bikes want to be treated as "cars" on the road (as in they want space and respect), but when their light is red all of a sudden they become tiny little passengers that can illegally cross the red light. I'm not talking about the ones that stop and look. I mean the ones that just fly straight through the light because they believe they have a few seconds before the cross traffic comes, which is true abou…

> I have never heard drivers yelling at pedestrians when they are crossing a cross-walk.

That's because they're inside soundproof boxes. They do it too, you just can't hear them. I know because I've done it. Same with motorcyclists and pedestrians yelling at bikers and cars. People get frustrated when they're trying to get someplace and can't, so they vent. This can't come as a surprise.

Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft

#132

Post by dang »

alexqgb wrote: post #121
Centigonal wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your points are totally valid, and I agree with you insomuch that I think the comment you replied to is a poorly-informed work of reductionism, but you're being very abrasive yourself as well. You practically gave your parent commenter a verbal beat-down over his grasp of journalistic ethics. The guy said a bunch of mostly wrong things, but he made a few good points, too!

Sorry. For what it's worth, it wasn't his poor grasp of journalistic ethics that attracted my opprobrium. The sharply negative reaction was prompted by the general dishonesty of his remarks and specifically his tendency to reframe the remarks of others in a way that egregiously misconstrued or misrepresented what they had to say.

I'm afraid this is a non-apology that does the same thing all over again.

Let's suppose you're 100% right. Please don't squander that rightness on pejorative epithets and personal attacks. Doing so is wrong, breaks the HN guidelines, makes you look like the jerk in the argument, and makes your position seem weak. That last point is a big deal: since by hypothesis you're right, roiling the waters like this impedes the pursuit of the truth for everyone.

Instead, identify what's wrong and point it out clearly without personal attacks. That's easier said than done, of course, but by hypothesis it has to be possible, and it's your duty to honest readers to try.

Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft

#133

Post by alexqgb »

dang wrote: post #132
alexqgb wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry. For what it's worth, it wasn't his poor grasp of journalistic ethics that attracted my opprobrium. The sharply negative reaction was prompted by the general dishonesty of his remarks and specifically his tendency to reframe the remarks of others in a way that egregiously misconstrued or misrepresented what they had to say.

I'm afraid this is a non-apology that does the same thing all over again. Let's suppose you're 100% right. Please don't squander that rightness on pejorative epithets and personal attacks. Doing so is wrong, breaks the HN guidelines, makes you look like the jerk in the argument, and makes your position seem weak. That last point is a big deal: since by hypothesis you're right, roiling the waters like this impedes the…

Fair points, duly noted.

Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft

#134

Post by codezero »

dredmorbius wrote: post #115
codezero wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. I definitely would have done this even if the cost didn't make too much sense. The exercise is one reason, another is that the caltrain lot fills up before about 7:45 am, so even if I'm catching an 8:15 train, I need to be there early. With a bike, I can ride for 10-15 minutes and get there on time. My bike won't last a year, or a lifetime, it's not decent, I've had to do a bunch of bolt tightening even…

Bolt-tightening (especially on a recently-purchased bike) is hardly unexpected. On a new bike, there's a lot of general stretching and breaking-in of components over the first few days/weeks of use. A used $400 bike _should_ last you a long time, if you've selected properly. Though replacing components is fairly typical -- chain and freewheel, cables, tires, wheels. I've gone through a number of other components as w…

I bought a new $350 bike so my expectations are low. I'm ok with that. I wasn't sure the bike commute would stick so I didn't want to go all in right away.

Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft

#135

Post by dirkdk »

ihaveajob wrote: post #32
sinak wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I cycle around SF, but am considering stopping. The data varies depending on which source you use, but it seems like cycling is about 3 times less dangerous than motorbiking, and considerably (at least ~5-10x) more dangerous than driving. Most people who've lived in SF have plenty of anecdotal evidence of friends who've been hurt, often seriously, by bike accidents. I'd love to be proven wrong about this: I love c…

It has been shown that the biggest factor in bike safety is the number of cyclists on the road. The more bikes, the more aware drivers are of our presence. In SF, Critical Mass had (I've learned) a huge impact in breaking ground for bike infrastructure. Currently, the Bay Area Bike Share has become a strong factor. If we stop biking now until it's safer, it might never be so.

I grew up riding my bike in Amsterdam, it was there my main method of transportation, as it is here in SF. I never ever wore a helmet in Amsterdam, but here I do.

Main reason: not my driving capabilities, but car drivers that don't think about cyclists, whereas in Amsterdam they do. Opening their door next to the bike lane? Looking to their right hand side when turning left? Using their turning signal, especially when taking a right turn at a red light?

Second, roads are obviously way more laid out for cars and not for bicycles. Four way stops are a pain. Roads with no designated bike lane means you are passed by cars that actively have to avoid you, while driving 3-4x as fast. Traffic lights leave too little time between one side turning red and the other turning green.

In the Netherlands, if you hit a bicycle with your car you are automatically responsible. That will make you more aware of bikes.

I always compare the advent of bicycles to snowboarders entering the slopes over the last 30 years that were ruled by skiers. Different ways of moving, where the new people are seen as the odd ones. Yes to dare to enter you have to love a bit of adventure and sometimes bend the rules, but it is mostly perception. We just have to get used to each other and work it out

Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft

#136

Post by bryanlarsen »

jack-r-abbit wrote: post #129
bryanlarsen wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Driving for Uber also requires a significant capital investment and risk assumption, so wages could be expected to be significantly higher than the typical low-education job.

Are people buying cars just to be an Uber driver? Or are people seeing an opportunity to make a little money using the car they already own? If people are buying cars just to be a driver, then I would say that is their own fault for making a bad investment.

Whether or not they owned the car previously or not, they are still investing that capital into the business. If they're driving full time with Uber they'll have to replace that car in a couple of years or so, instead of the ~15 years or so of life you can expect out of a modern car.

Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft

#137

Post by lamontcg »

swang wrote: post #98
stanleydrew wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've ridden my bike to and from work in SF nearly every day for the past 4 years and have only once come close to being in an accident with a car. But every day I see plenty of other cyclists making overly-aggressive moves that put themselves and other people in danger. You may claim that I'm blaming the victim, but from what I've observed many cyclists kind of enjoy a little (in their opinion) justified indignation…

The fact that bikes want to be treated as "cars" on the road (as in they want space and respect), but when their light is red all of a sudden they become tiny little passengers that can illegally cross the red light. I'm not talking about the ones that stop and look. I mean the ones that just fly straight through the light because they believe they have a few seconds before the cross traffic comes, which is true abou…

Maybe you should stop making so many generalizations?

There is the odd total idiot on a bike who blows through stop signs and stop lights without stopping and doesn't have a headlight and is dressed in all black without a helmet. There are a ton of other bicyclists who have flashing headlights, dress in bright yellow jackets, wear helmets and stop at intersections. What do you want the latter to do about the former? Its not like there's a meeting of bicyclists where we all get together and draw lots for who gets to be the idiot this week, and just because I ride my bike to work doesn't imbue me with any magical abilities to police the idiots out there.

I suspect that you're not really looking for any kind of workable solution, though, and you're just butthurt about the one guy who did that one dumb thing to you, though, so please continue to vent uselessly about what "cyclists (in general)" should all do to appease your indignation.

Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft

#138

Post by lamontcg »

ibrahima wrote: post #93
stanleydrew wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've ridden my bike to and from work in SF nearly every day for the past 4 years and have only once come close to being in an accident with a car. But every day I see plenty of other cyclists making overly-aggressive moves that put themselves and other people in danger. You may claim that I'm blaming the victim, but from what I've observed many cyclists kind of enjoy a little (in their opinion) justified indignation…

Ugh, this is so true. As a (grad) student who bikes to campus, I hate dealing with drivers who have been conditioned by the inconsiderate other cyclists. I personally always yield to cars in right turn lanes and that sort of thing, but sometimes they also slow down because they're used to asshole cyclists cutting in front of them, so it just causes confusion and tension from both sides. Well, tension mostly on my sid…

I've been going downhill at a reasonable clip and taking the center of the lane (because of speed and the hazards of card doors opening up suddenly) and had cars behind me be so impatient to pass me that they'll forget to check for oncoming traffic and nearly get into head on collisions with other cars. I also started pulling fully into the lane because even though I'm travelling at speed downhill I've had cars pass me, with about an inch to spare when there was oncoming traffic and they were nearly pulling into the other lane -- I've had to take the tactic to force them to choose between flat out murdering me or else getting into a head on collision if there's oncoming traffic. Another time there was construction with cones out and I went inside most of the cones and let cars by, but had to merge into traffic around a cone where the actual construction was happening -- and a car decided they couldn't be slowed down for a second by a bike in front of them and they passed me and ate a traffic cone and dragged it under their car for 2 blocks.

Some people just completely lose it when they have a bike in front of them that is going to slow them down for even a second or two. I don't know if its rage or stupidity, but they get really, really dumb.

I can't wait until manual driving on freeways and in major cities is just banned and everyone has to have their cars on computer control. All the road rage goes away, all the inattention, all the derp would just go away, and traffic would move faster, and all the headgames would be gone -- replace it all with google algorithms that know how to pass a bike safely.

Re: Trends: Uber vs. Lyft

#139

Post by dredmorbius »

codezero wrote: post #134
dredmorbius wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bolt-tightening (especially on a recently-purchased bike) is hardly unexpected. On a new bike, there's a lot of general stretching and breaking-in of components over the first few days/weeks of use. A used $400 bike _should_ last you a long time, if you've selected properly. Though replacing components is fairly typical -- chain and freewheel, cables, tires, wheels. I've gone through a number of other components as w…

I bought a new $350 bike so my expectations are low. I'm ok with that. I wasn't sure the bike commute would stick so I didn't want to go all in right away.

Sunk cost, so, well, roll with it. But a used purchase in this case is almost always going to be more appropriate.

There's a serious inflection point at the lower end of the bike market where you get very low-quality kit. I've not bought new for such a long time I'm not sure where it is any more, but ~$400 - $800 is likely around the range for a basic city bike (e.g., "mountain bike" type stance but geared for city streets).

Figure paying half that for a lightly used model, of which there are generally many to choose from for numerous reasons.

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