Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 527 posts

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#141

Post by eddieplan9 »

According to leaked financial in [1], Lyft is expected to generate $32M of net revenue on about $158M of fare, while losing $50M per month. If everything stays the same, Lyft would have to raise rate by 156% to break even. Also, Lyft's growth is mostly purchased:

> While rides increased about 11 percent from April to May, fully paid rides, without the use of a coupon or a credit, grew by only 5 percent in that period.

They recently launched in 50+ cities simultaneously, which means they will bleed cash faster in hope of generating some growth number.

In comparison, according to [2], in Q3 of 2016, Uber collected 5.5B of fare, and after paying drivers, had a net revenue of 1.7B (30%) and a loss of 800M. If everything stays the same, Uber could break even by raising rate by 47%. If you consider that most of the loss is from developing markets, it's actually not that hard for Uber to break even in the U.S.

[1] https://mattermark.com/lyft-financials/ [2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-20/uber-s-lo...

Edits: grammar

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#142

Post by usaphp »

balladeer wrote: post #122
freyr wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lyft has in app digital tipping (drivers keep 100% of tips). One of the reasons I don't like Lyft. How about this system: pay the drivers a fair wage up front, so they don't need to subsist on the generosity of strangers. If they get great ratings, you can give them a bonus.

Why is that sentiment (general sentiment, not just yours) different in case of restaurants? When I meet Americans and when I leave w/o tipping, which is not common but normal where I live, they feel really offended and sometimes, I suspect, they might have thought they have to hangout with stingy persons like me. I am not sure whether I am meeting a very different kind of Americans or it's ingrained in the culture th…

Do you leave no tips in America or in your home country?

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#143

Post by smileysteve »

lightcatcher wrote: post #137
MichaelApproved wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think it's reasonable to expect ride share companies to pay their drivers a fair wage It's always reasonable to expect companies to pay their people a fair wage.

So if you were running Uber, would you increase your prices to pay a more fair wage even if it makes you more expensive than competitors? Would you expect to stay in business if you offered a commodity like transport at 20% higher prices than competitors?

If it weren't for the contractor lawsuit, I think Uber should have kept it's anti-tipping policy.

The 'Premium' image was black cars, inspected cars, and no need to tip.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#144

Post by savanaly »

foxfired wrote: post #127

Here is how I see it. I rely on those rides to go to work every single day and here what it (would) costs me. Uber: $250 a month.(Majority) Lyft: $500 a month (Whenever Uber is too expensive) Bus : $100 a month (1h:15 for 6 miles and 3 buses... No) Politics and all internal conflicts aside, there is a need for these services whether we like it or not. When I need to make a decision in the morning I take whatever is t…

I think the answer is that as long as both sides agree to it then we let the trade go through (if uber can find someone who would exchange their time for money at the going rate, and you likewise). If the driver is frustrated that uber sets the rate too low, I think what they should be frustrated at is that there is no better alternative use for their time-- or if there is then no company has found out a way to hook them up with it with minimal transaction costs like uber does for ride sharing.

More companies that lower transaction costs (these are all the rage in Silicon Valley these days apparently) for this sort of trade would help, as maybe that guy giving you your ride would be better used (and thus slightly better paid) tutoring your kid in math, but the transaction cost of him moving into that line of work is too high. If nothing else exists or can be found that's a good use of their time I'm afraid that's just the breaks. Back to school, or lower your standard of living so that the amount you make is enough. I'm all for a basic income type proposal by the way, but that's a whole other story.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#145

Post by baddox »

xiangmin wrote: post #90
Griffinsauce wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain how it's a strawman? The Muslim ban (as it has been known for a long time) is a ban on people from a particular faith.

> a ban on people from a particular faith Is it though? For example of Muslim, it does not even affect about 88% of the world's Muslims (Bangladesh, Egypt, Nigeria, Turkey, Malaysia, others) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_by_country

I don't see why the percentage of Muslims in the world is relevant. The internment of Japanese Americans in the 1940s certainly targeted Japanese people despite that being a small percentage of Japanese people in the world.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#146

Post by baddox »

paulddraper wrote: post #121
erispoe wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet it was sold as a Muslim ban by the administration, which is a major reason for San Francisco's federal appeal court to suspend it. The fact that it's not an effective Muslim ban is a different question.

> The fact that it's not an effective Muslim ban is a different question. It is precisely the question. What the ban is is much more important that what it purports to be. For example, if it purported to be a ban on terrorists but actually was as ban on Muslims (and I mean, a bonafide ban on all Muslims), would that not matter?

No, that would still be illegal, because a ban on Muslims is illegal. It is illegal to ban Muslims, and it is illegal to intend to ban Muslims. The latter reason is the one provided by the Ninth Circuit.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#147

Post by Nutomic »

foxfired wrote: post #127

Here is how I see it. I rely on those rides to go to work every single day and here what it (would) costs me. Uber: $250 a month.(Majority) Lyft: $500 a month (Whenever Uber is too expensive) Bus : $100 a month (1h:15 for 6 miles and 3 buses... No) Politics and all internal conflicts aside, there is a need for these services whether we like it or not. When I need to make a decision in the morning I take whatever is t…

This can't really be solved by individual consumers. Instead, the government should introduce laws to ensure that drivers make at least minimum wage (after fuel, maintenance, taxes etc). If that is not enough, it might be necessary to raise the minimum wage.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#148

Post by yladiz »

mc32 wrote: post #111
freyr wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lyft has in app digital tipping (drivers keep 100% of tips). One of the reasons I don't like Lyft. How about this system: pay the drivers a fair wage up front, so they don't need to subsist on the generosity of strangers. If they get great ratings, you can give them a bonus.

Exactly! Charge me what you're going to charge. None of this tipping nonsense. It's really a vestige of former times when if someone felt nice enough they'd offer you a tip --not that you deserved it, but it was to show they had heart, a kind of virtue signal. Why would Lyft want to continue this anachronistic idea which puts the burden on a fare? It's the number one reason I do not use Lyft.

The number one reason you don't use Lyft is because of tipping? What do you use instead, Uber, taxi, or do you drive? If it's the first, how do you justify using Uber when its practices are significantly worse than an optional tipping for the users? If it's the second, how do you justify using a taxi when tips (in the US) are almost mandatory?

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#149

Post by snowwrestler »

kemayo wrote: post #57
mdorazio wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoint: one of the reasons I prefer Uber is that it doesn't allow or encourage in-app tipping. Tipping sucks, is economically dysfunctional, and socially awkward. If the drivers aren't making enough from base fares then the fares need to go up - it's not my job to be a charity.

I completely agree, and was halfway through writing a similar comment when I saw your post. I actively make choices for things like transit and food which reduce how much I have to think about tipping. I don't like having to judge someone's service, and decide how much it's appropriate to tip them based on some unwritten societal rule. The signal that hiding tips away sends is "the service provider is being compensat…

> I'm absolutely in favor of Uber/Lift charging whatever is necessary to pay their drivers properly.

Ok, great, but they don't, so the practical effect of your stand against tipping is less money for these drivers.

And why? Because you find it socially awkward? That's why it's better to have it in the app. You just get out of the car and it drives away. Then you select the tip in the app. Way better than Uber's system of "hand the driver some ones."

> The signal that hiding tips away sends is "the service provider is being compensated already", and if you want to make an extra effort to pay them more you can, but it's not required of you.

I agree that's the signal, but that doesn't mean it's true.

Re: Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles

#150

Post by kagamine »

foxfired wrote: post #127

Here is how I see it. I rely on those rides to go to work every single day and here what it (would) costs me. Uber: $250 a month.(Majority) Lyft: $500 a month (Whenever Uber is too expensive) Bus : $100 a month (1h:15 for 6 miles and 3 buses... No) Politics and all internal conflicts aside, there is a need for these services whether we like it or not. When I need to make a decision in the morning I take whatever is t…

I have never used the any of the 3 services you describe except the bus, can you or someone else explain how the driver makes less when taking on more passengers? Surely that works in an opposite way to the bus. The more paying passengers using the bus service simultaneously, the greater the margin per vehicle. But for some reason Uber turns this on its head?

Note: I am a country bumpkin who grew up in the sticks and still lives in the sticks, I had to learn how to bus as an adult. Forgive my ignorance.

Post reply on HN