Announcing UberPool • Hacker News Board

Re: Announcing UberPool

#101

Post by Dewie » Wed, Aug 06, 2014, 9:26 AM UTC

jbarham wrote: post #67

Every time I read about Uber I wonder who the target market is. Then I remember that as a father of three young boys our car has three car-seats in the back row, a CD in the CD player and more in the glovebox to keep the boys quiet, snacks in the center console to placate them when they're hungry, and a stroller in the trunk. And then I realize that Uber is made by and for young, single, childless people with lots of…

Right, I noticed that this thread was missing the standard reply from a suburbanite parent on how X is only for young, wealthy, single people with comparatively little life experience who have no responsibilities beyond their own selves, and how X would never really work for people with real responsibilities because X doesn't provide the benefits of: having a medium/large house vs. a small apartment, suburbs vs. the city, biking and public transportation vs. an owned car, something "disruptive" vs. something tried-and-tested, slightly unconventional lifestyle vs. somewhat conventional lifestyle...

No, you didn't actually say anything like that. But your post is pretty heavy with dismissal, as opposed to just saying "I don't think that this would work for my situation because A, B, C...". I doubt that something like this can accommodate even close to most people's lifestyle and needs, but there is no need for this "pff, only those privileged young people would find this useful" crap.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#102

Post by ilaksh » Wed, Aug 06, 2014, 9:33 AM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #2

I'm a little surprised at the choice of "Pool" instead of more conventional terms in the sharing economy such as "UberShare" or "UberContribute." I was very disappointed that UberPool isn't a swimming-pool-as-a-service.

OMG swimming-pool-as-a-service. You are a genius.

I am going to be so rich. Thank you!

Re: Announcing UberPool

#103

Post by vjvj » Wed, Aug 06, 2014, 9:48 AM UTC

stbtrax wrote: post #89

soheil wrote: post #75

Almost in every single other country this has always been the way to ride a taxi. "This is also a bold social experiment." come on! They're making it sound like they discovered nuclear fusion.

How do people organize cab shares in other countries?

Songthaew

Re: Announcing UberPool

#104

Post by twelve40 » Wed, Aug 06, 2014, 9:57 AM UTC

I like the general idea but don't completely get it

> just happens to be requesting a ride along a similar route > Uber from the Castro to the Financial District

Isn't 90% of the time it's like, one person goes to the Financial District, and the other one will just drop off Mid-Market, or just a few blocks towards SOMA, thank you?

So do you get stuck waiting until there is a person with just the same exact route, or how is this partially-overlapping ride determined and split? You detour a few blocks to the right to accommodate the "nearby SOMA" person? But what if the original person says, screw SOMA, I'm not paying or waiting for any detours, I need to get to FD on a straight line asap.

Sounds pretty hard, matching millions of similar but different routes.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#105

Post by eric_khun » Wed, Aug 06, 2014, 10:13 AM UTC

msoad wrote: post #30

There is a car sharing service in France called Blah Blah. Passengers have rated "Blah" so you don't have to share ride with people who speak less or more than you usually. http://www.blablacar.com/

They raised $100M few weeks ago to expand

http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/01/blablacar-raises-a-massive-...

Re: Announcing UberPool

#106

Post by bobbles » Wed, Aug 06, 2014, 10:22 AM UTC

twelve40 wrote: post #104

I like the general idea but don't completely get it > just happens to be requesting a ride along a similar route > Uber from the Castro to the Financial District Isn't 90% of the time it's like, one person goes to the Financial District, and the other one will just drop off Mid-Market, or just a few blocks towards SOMA, thank you? So do you get stuck waiting until there is a person with just the same exact route, or…

I know if the price was cheap enough I'd definitely be willing to put up with slightly longer pickup delays

(considering that it'd probably still be faster than normal taxis around here)

Re: Announcing UberPool

#107

Post by netcan » Wed, Aug 06, 2014, 10:38 AM UTC

necubi wrote: post #4

Sounds very similar to Hitch[0] which launched a couple of months ago in SF. It sounds very useful for long, expensive trips (e.g., cross bay, down to south bay) where the fixed cost of picking up or dropping off another passenger is a smaller factor. On an unrelated note, how is the form at the bottom supposed to update you when UberPool is in your area? Area codes are going to be inaccurate for anybody who's moved…

This is one of those examples where the raw idea is not the main part.

Uber have a lot of advantages. They have a userbase of passengers and drivers that can be brought over to new services. They have the media's attention, including mainstream media. They have the cash to run at a loss while building up. They have presence in a lot of cities. They also have the competence to do this well.

Imagine that you build a "person search." You enter a name. It brings up a page with pictures, facts and other information collected around the web. It's nifty. That's interesting. But, if Google put a little "people" link between images and news in their search page and person search will have hundreds of thousands of users this week.

The news here is "uber launch carpooling service," not "carpooling service now exists." Rightly so, IMO. If this works well, there could be tens of thousands of user in a couple of months.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#108

Post by rottyguy » Wed, Aug 06, 2014, 10:54 AM UTC

Along the lines of reducing fossil fuel consumption and having just returned from a trip to Copenhagen and Amsterdam, I really wish the bicycling culture was better embraced in the States in the bigger cities. NYC has Citibike which I find fantastic! But DC doesn't have the density of bike stations to make it convenient. How are the other cities? Miami, Chicago, San Fran, etc?

Re: Announcing UberPool

#109

Post by netcan » Wed, Aug 06, 2014, 11:06 AM UTC

bobbles wrote: post #106

twelve40 wrote: post #104

I like the general idea but don't completely get it > just happens to be requesting a ride along a similar route > Uber from the Castro to the Financial District Isn't 90% of the time it's like, one person goes to the Financial District, and the other one will just drop off Mid-Market, or just a few blocks towards SOMA, thank you? So do you get stuck waiting until there is a person with just the same exact route, or…

I know if the price was cheap enough I'd definitely be willing to put up with slightly longer pickup delays (considering that it'd probably still be faster than normal taxis around here)

I think you can look at it as (convenience + quality)/price.

Different people evaluate & value those three differently. To get a customer that equation needs to yield a higher value than the next best thing. To win in a a market completely, you need to tick all three boxes. Better, cheaper, faster.

Uber focused on high quality early on, the limo market. They beat limos for price and convenience (the competition sucked) and matched the quality. More expensive than taxis, but better quality (nicer car). As the network grew, "convenience" went up, fast pickup times. They expanded downmarket (lower price & quality) with uberXand to take on Taxis.

I think this ridesharing/carpooling, if it works well might find an unserved niche somewhere between Taxis and public transport.

A next step might be something close to public transport. Basically minibuses running something similar to shuttles between hotels and airports. Most cities have these. They are possible because hotels can coordinate. That's why they are more common between the hotel and the airport than the other way around. There are probably lots of other use cases that are just missing the coordination.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#110

Post by samirmenon » Wed, Aug 06, 2014, 11:14 AM UTC

rottyguy wrote: post #108

Along the lines of reducing fossil fuel consumption and having just returned from a trip to Copenhagen and Amsterdam, I really wish the bicycling culture was better embraced in the States in the bigger cities. NYC has Citibike which I find fantastic! But DC doesn't have the density of bike stations to make it convenient. How are the other cities? Miami, Chicago, San Fran, etc?

Boston has a very strong biking culture, partly due to the large number of university students there.