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Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

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Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#231

Post by kelnos »

harmmonica wrote: post #166
shawn_w wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Uber no longer fire drivers who don't consistently get 5 star trip reviews?

I have zero clue if they still do, but based on my experiences lately with Uber and Lyft there's zero chance they fire drivers even if they have terrible reviews. I'm an "always 5 star" type of reviewer (sorry if you think I'm obligated to be honest!), but, man, it's rough out there at least in big cities in the US. Sorry that's not reliably answering your question, but even if Uber said they fire those people I woul…

> I'm an "always 5 star" type of reviewer

Same. Only time I will rate lower is for safety issues. Offensive conversation and bad smells are not great, but I don't want to screw up what might be someone's only job because they're having a bad day or because they can't afford to get their car cleaned as often as they should.

But I also don't judge people who would rate lower for stuff like that; everyone's threshold for what's acceptable is different.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#232

Post by kelnos »

killion wrote: post #213

This looks like a clickbait study. Waymo is cheaper 100% of the time for me. The two big data points I think they purposely glossed over are: 1. Tip – Uber and Lyft cost 20% more than the ride price. 2. Car quality – Sure, a Corolla on Lyft is cheaper than Waymo. But once you select something desirable the price goes up, a lot.

My experience is very different. About a year ago I'd agree that Waymo was mostly cheaper or comparable in cost to an Uber/Lyft ride, but in the past 3-6 months I usually see Waymo at 75%-150% more than Uber/Lyft, and yes, I do account for the Uber/Lyft tip when I compare.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#233

Post by gruez »

turtlesdown11 wrote: post #200
strictnein wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Savannah's COL is 22% below the national average. $23.66/hr starting pay plus benefits definitely isn't a "starvation wage".

> In Chatham County, the living wage per hour necessary for one adult with no children is $22.46 while those with one kid is $35.70, two kids is $43.45, and three kids is $56.93. https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/2024/12/09/what-is-a-...

"Living wage" in that report isn't "starvation wage", though. For the housing component for instance, they use 40 percentile rents. The methodology page isn't too clear about how they determine the next highest cost component (transportation), but it looks like they also use the median cost for used cars. The "living wage" might not correspond to a luxurious experience, but it's nowhere near destitute, either.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#234

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

tempestn wrote: post #154

This makes a lot of sense to me. When you ride in an Uber or a taxi, you're a guest in the driver's space. In a Waymo, it's your own space. You can play music, talk on the phone, etc. without worrying about disturbing the driver. You're not likely to have strong odors, or driver's phone conversations. And the experience will be roughly consistent each time. In an Uber, you have no idea what the car or the driving sta…

Why is anyone surprised that a smaller segment of the market will pay more for a safer ride in a luxury vehicle compared to a base model Lyft (which can be a barely drivable car with rank cloth interior where you can't even fit two people in the back seat)?

Next up, some one will post, "First class tickets cost more than coach."

Waymo will eventually have Waymo Comfort and Waymo Black.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#235

Post by conover »

standardUser wrote: post #89
nashashmi wrote: post #70

I once went to a remote town in Maryland that had only one uber driver. Imagine how beautiful a Waymo machine would work there.

Uber barely operates in huge swaths of the US. I've been in parts of Idaho and Kansas where wait times during the day can be a half an hour and after a certain hour no drivers are available at all. And the drivers who operate in these areas tend to be far less experienced/professional than in denser areas (to put it politely). Waymo solves all of this with just a handful of cars in each county.

Bainbridge Island (connected to Seattle by ferry) is like this. There is approximately one Uber driver, at least the last time I was there, and good luck if you get back to the island later in the day. A single Waymo would be amazing.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#236

Post by kelnos »

ghaff wrote: post #143
oytis wrote: post #133

People are eager to pay money to not deal with other people. Which makes me pessimistic about the future of humanity given recent developments in AI really

I question that as a general statement if the "other people" are competent, clean, and polite. That's not to say I won't do something online if it's lower friction than going into a DMV office or whatever. Though I don't really do online food delivery in general, I'm perfectly happy going to a number of local restaurants.

If I could be 100% certain that every Uber/Lyft driver I encounter would give me a perfect "social" experience (where "perfect" varies for me depending on the day), I'd choose it over Waymo at the same price. But of course that's unreasonable and impossible to expect. So for a comparable price and wait/drive time I'll pretty much always pick Waymo.

It does make me sad to some extent; I do enjoy interacting with people working service jobs in my neighborhood, people I see on a regular basis and who recognize me. But I don't think that's ever going to be the case for me for something like a taxi/rideshare driver.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#237

Post by nixpulvis »

gavinray wrote: post #226
tempestn wrote: post #154

This makes a lot of sense to me. When you ride in an Uber or a taxi, you're a guest in the driver's space. In a Waymo, it's your own space. You can play music, talk on the phone, etc. without worrying about disturbing the driver. You're not likely to have strong odors, or driver's phone conversations. And the experience will be roughly consistent each time. In an Uber, you have no idea what the car or the driving sta…

Exactly, I will pay a premium for not having to deal with a human being in the car with me. It's a dice roll: you could get a very extroverted driver who won't leave you alone, or someone who smells bad, or someone rude, or a distracted driver... Just let me sit in peace, alone with a robot.

Isolationism progresses.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#238

Post by kubectl_h »

unsignedint wrote: post #66
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay a premium for Waymos. No need to tip, or even think about whether one should tip. The ride won’t cancel on me, which makes it more reliable. (Waymos are also more consistently clean.) I can take phone calls without worrying about my rider rating. And yeah, they’re more fun because they're novel.

Yeah, I’d happily pay a bit extra just to take tipping out of the equation entirely. Not having to worry about it is enough of a draw on its own. (I’m not a fan of tipping culture to begin with — especially with apps like Uber, where you’re also being rated, which adds even more pressure.) Now if only Waymo were available in my area…

I dislike tipping culture too but the idea that you would pay more so you don't have to tip doesn't make any sense. Additionally you are paying more so you don't have to tip and the thing that enables that is the literal job a human would otherwise have is destroyed.

So bizarre. The levels people will go not to deal with any conflict, no matter how trivial it is...

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#239

Post by kelnos »

rdtsc wrote: post #179
oytis wrote: post #133

People are eager to pay money to not deal with other people. Which makes me pessimistic about the future of humanity given recent developments in AI really

> People are eager to pay money to not deal with other people I wonder if it's cultural. For instance I always hear how Japan has a lot of vending machines and am wondering if it's just pure tech advancement and efficiency at work, maybe lack of space to open a proper kiosk with a seller, or there is a cultural element of not wanting to "inconvenience" others having to interact with them.

For Japan I expect it's also a matter of population/crowd density in the cities. There are tons of staffed convenience stores (7-Eleven, Family Mart, Lawson), but even with a high density of stores, they're often fairly crowded.

Having lots of vending machines even for simple things like bottled water and soft drinks reduces the pressure on the convenience stores quite a bit. More advanced vending machines with other products helps even more.

Re: Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway

#240

Post by pokot0 »

harmmonica wrote: post #137

As a Waymo-booster on HN for a while now, here's my latest anecdote. I tried to figure out how to take Waymo to LAX even though it's not actually in their territory yet just because I value the experience so much. I was borderline going to take it within walking distance (about half a mile), but got lazy at the last minute. I took Lyft instead, and, as if the universe cursed my laziness, I booked a "comfort" car for…

People don't hate automation. They hate BAD automation.

From your description seems like: Waymo -> Good Automation, Call Center -> Bad Automation.

The day we will have a chatgpt level automated customer care experience, we will complain every time humans answer our requests, with their accents and attitudes!

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