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Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

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Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#11

Post by jessriedel »

chrisabrams wrote: post #7

Based on my rides recently I have seen the quality of drivers plummet on both Uber and Lyft. I'd be much more willing to wait (and maybe even pay) for a higher quality driver. Having a driver who cannot follow a GPS and takes you in a circle 3-4 times around the airport or does not speak English well enough to understand your request to stop on the right instead of the left like the GPS shows can be quite frustrating…

I have had the opposite anecdotal experience. Things have stayed the same or gotten better.

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#12

Post by mandeepj »

Before ordering a ride, Uber always shows ~2 mins wait time. After placing an order, it goes up to 6-9 mins. Their GPS is also bad quality. I live in the downtown of a big city. Lyft drivers come right away, consistently. Lately, for the same reason, I have started using them. Whereas, Uber's drivers keep on circling around until I call them and give them directions. Their reason - it's these big buildings. I respond by saying: these big buildings also exist for Lyft.

In a nutshell, this Uber feature is already there for me. I will admit - Uber's prices are mostly lower than Lyft.

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#13

Post by chrisabrams »

tomsthumb wrote: post #10
godzillabrennus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t that what uber black car is? Pay for better service?

Customers should pay a premium for the driver to not park a block and a half from them at pickup?

If you're in a suburb that should never happen. If you are in the NYC area for example, the GPS just really struggles between all the buildings.

What's more frustrating is when you are on the other side of a busy street, you wave to the driver or even call them to let them know you're on the other side of the street, and they just sit there...

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#15

Post by jessriedel »

dm8 wrote: post #2

Lyft used to do something similar couple of years ago (at least in Bay Area) in Lyft Line. I believe they had 10 min wait option wherein when you request and wait for 10 mins you'll get cheaper fare. I remember getting 10-20% cheaper fares consistently using that option. I'd regularly take 10 min wait option especially going to east bay or peninsula from SF. Uber also has "express pool" option (again in bay area), wh…

The longer the rider is willing to wait, the more the service can optimize the allocation of drivers. (Less distance driven without a passenger, more distance driven with multiple passengers in a car pool, more direct carpools.) This is a real elimination of waste whose value can be split between the service and the passenger, although it's not clear whether the size of that value is really at the 10-20% level.

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#16

Post by maerF0x0 »

I just wanted to drop a note to say I think Uber is doing a good job, all things considered. Many public transit companies have been around for decades and haven't figured out how to scale up to the kind of service Uber is providing. 4B rides in 2017 is pretty amazing.

If I understand the math correctly, BART claims about 126 million rides (2015) and cost $906M (~$7 a ride, comparable to some uber pool fares)

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#17

Post by chimeracoder »

chrisabrams wrote: post #13
tomsthumb wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Customers should pay a premium for the driver to not park a block and a half from them at pickup?

If you're in a suburb that should never happen. If you are in the NYC area for example, the GPS just really struggles between all the buildings. What's more frustrating is when you are on the other side of a busy street, you wave to the driver or even call them to let them know you're on the other side of the street, and they just sit there...

> If you are in the NYC area for example, the GPS just really struggles between all the buildings.

What phone are you using?

In a decade of living in Manhattan, I've never had any issue like this. The location services on my phone (Pixel 2 XL) and every Android phone I've ever used have been spot on.

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#18

Post by ReverseCold »

chimeracoder wrote: post #17
chrisabrams wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're in a suburb that should never happen. If you are in the NYC area for example, the GPS just really struggles between all the buildings. What's more frustrating is when you are on the other side of a busy street, you wave to the driver or even call them to let them know you're on the other side of the street, and they just sit there...

> If you are in the NYC area for example, the GPS just really struggles between all the buildings. What phone are you using? In a decade of living in Manhattan, I've never had any issue like this. The location services on my phone (Pixel 2 XL) and every Android phone I've ever used have been spot on.

Google and Apple do some tricks based on WiFi to fix GPS in dense urban areas. Raw gps is basically unusable in these areas.

Re: Uber is experimenting with letting riders wait longer for a cheaper fare

#20

Post by Tiktaalik »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #16

I just wanted to drop a note to say I think Uber is doing a good job, all things considered. Many public transit companies have been around for decades and haven't figured out how to scale up to the kind of service Uber is providing. 4B rides in 2017 is pretty amazing. If I understand the math correctly, BART claims about 126 million rides (2015) and cost $906M (~$7 a ride, comparable to some uber pool fares)

>Many public transit companies have been around for decades and haven't figured out how to scale up to the kind of service Uber is providing

This is because these are publicly funded organizations that are starved of funds for political reasons.

Public transit works well where it's funded well. It's a political problem, not a technology problem.

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