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

Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 438 posts

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#251

Post by ghostly_s »

Improvotter wrote: post #216
gglover wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a 25 year old with a beater car 5 miles from downtown Seattle. Here are my real numbers: Parking: For me the bus is around 10 minutes slower each way. I just take that most days. Home parking: Free on-street parking Gas: $40/month * 12 = $480 Registration: $200 (May be a bit higher now with ST3) Insurance: $700 Maintenance: $1000 sounds about right For around $2380 / year. Well worth it for the freedom it gives m…

Cause we're all giving numbers here. Let me give you my numbers for my bike. I rent my bike and got a train subscription. I pay about 50 EUR a year for my bike and 100 EUR a year for my train subscription. I have a car, but I'm not the one paying insurance on it anymore (passed on to other family member). The car was 5000 EUR used (Volkswagen Polo) which was bought 7-8 years ago and it was a 5 year old car back then.…

100 EUR per year for a train pass? Wow. I pay $100 USD per month for a CTA pass in Chicago...and that's about the best transit situation you'll find in the US.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#252

Post by praneshp »

panda888888 wrote: post #103

It's part of the reason I haven't bought a car. I'm in my mid 20s and didn't get my license in high school because insurance would have been too expensive (my parents wanted me to pay for it). I think driving is a good life skill so I got my license in my early 20s, but I still have zero desire to own a car. That said, I live in Seattle, where there is good public transportation. Here are my numbers: Parking (I work…

UberX/Lyft or Line/Pool? I do Lyft Line from train station to home when my wife can't pick me up, and I dislike it. I wonder if you are factoring that in, or maybe you're used to it.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#253

Post by yeukhon »

markkanof wrote: post #196
yeukhon wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same experience. I can rent for $100 for the full day. Problem is usually I have to pick up the car from the airport since local garages office hours are limited. There is very few available on the weekend.

Zipcar usually has both and hourly and day rate. The day rate is typically something like $85 and the process of picking up the car is typically much easier than a traditional rental.

Don’t forget you have to add up taxes and other shitty fees. They come out like $100+ for Zipcar. Those $7.5 an hour deal is hard to get because they run out quick and then the ones left are far to pick up - at that point just call Uber or give up...

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#254

Post by yeukhon »

kazinator wrote: post #232
yeukhon wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same experience. I can rent for $100 for the full day. Problem is usually I have to pick up the car from the airport since local garages office hours are limited. There is very few available on the weekend.

That's crazy expensive. I rent for around $30-$40 (Canadian dollars). Booking several weeks in advance, mind you. I often rent over Saturday night to Sunday morning. The near by place doesn't open until 9:00 on Sunday for returns, so I rent at 9:00 on Saturday even though they are open at 8:00 already, so I can return it within the 24 hours. During certain peak season times, they about double the rate. At those times…

Depends. I did take one from Avis roughly $70 for a whole day with some fee. But not all the time and again depends. I have AAA though. Just to be clear, for zipcar, one full day can be super expensive. Deals like $85 a day is seasonal (like Labor Day).

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#255

Post by ilaksh »

I have managed to get by for around three years now without a car in San Diego. I sold my car awhile back in order to keep working on a now defunct startup. Since then I have worked for other startups and still had a small income so it wasn't easy for me to get a car. I just take Uber everywhere (cheaper than Lyft).

I can't afford to live downtown. Honestly if I were to "get a life" things are so spread out in socal and most everyone has a car.. I would almost have to buy a car if I were to somehow miraculously acquire a social life. But since I have no life and work from home, things have been significantly less stressful on a daily basis not having to drive. So it's kind of like I don't want to have reasons to start driving all over the place again because of the stress and risk. Since I only go out once or twice a week now the car trips seem like the primary risk in my life and I'm not eager to start braving traffic on a daily basis.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#256

Post by ttul »

Counter example: I did NOT own a car until after April of this year, which is when Car2Go discontinued service in my area. We don’t have Uber or Lyft, so those were never an option.

Now, out of sheer necessity, I do own a car. And it costs me $550 a month for insurance, financing, and fuel. $550 would have bought a hell of a lot of Uber rides. More than enough for my needs.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#257

Post by praneshp »

mattmanser wrote: post #231
jgust wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't find Zipcar all that affordable except for the very shortest of trips (read: < 3 hours). Anything over that and you're better off renting a vehicle for the day through traditional routes.

If zipcar's like our Enterprise Car Club here in Nottingham, the massive advantages are: 1. No need to travel to rental (out-of-town) centres, it's round the corner 2. Don't have to pick-up or drop-off during office hours 3. Don't have to wait half-hour for all the paper-work and stuff 4. Don't have to answer a bunch of obnoxious questions 5. Don't have to dig out a load of documentation 6. Can decide to take one on…

Zipcar is rent for 30 min blocks, pick up from one of the nearby spots where a car is available; and if your Nottingham is the UK one

1. Traditional car rentals in the cities where this article is relevant are easy to find.

2. Not an issue, at least for dropoffs afaik.

3. Not an issue. With Hertz and National I just walk into the car pickup spots (skip the office because I have membership + reservation)

4. Like?

5. No need to, just cc and driver license.

6. Agreed, but zipcars are unavailable all the time too.

7. Agreed.

Re: Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017

#260

Post by romwell »

verylittlemeat wrote: post #221
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #150

Not sure why so many people here are almost virtue signaling the act of not owning a drivers license. I agree—It's perfectly okay to not own a car if it doesn't make sense to your life situation. That being said, the ability to drive is nevertheless a useful skill and asset and at least in the United States, does not have a very high barrier to entry (for better or worse). There is so much in the United States that a…

It's just a hassle. For you the cost in time and money is worth it. For other people like myself it's just not. I know "virtue signaling" is the hot new way to disagree with people on the internet but you should use it in a more discriminating manner. Getting a permit is not free in terms of time or money. Getting a license takes even MORE time (pointless outdated mandatory education classes) and MORE money (lessons)…

>All the things I want to do that I value more than driving.

This paints you as a very limited person if you are living in the US, because the "things that you want to do" exclude:

-pretty much all the great outdoor activities and nature that the US has to offer (National/State Parks);

-getting to know your own country and traveling within it

-going to any place or event outside the city (for most people, shelling out $100+ on Uber each way is a barrier)

I know where you're coming from, I used to live in NYC and didn't drive. I got my license when I moved to TX for grad school at the age of 24 - and I didn't even need it to get to work (I've been biking to campus for 7 years). But I did use the car for all the "rosy" things, and with that came the realization of how much I was missing out on.

The thing is, you don't even know what you are missing out on. You are a person who doesn't travel, and says they don't want to. You are practically tied to your community. How often do you get beyond the 50-mile radius of your home? 100-mile radius?

Now, if you were living in Europe, that wouldn't be the case. You would be able to travel without owning a car. Owning a car there has smaller marginal benefits.

But you don't live in Europe. Public transportation in the US is horrible, even when you add a hefty dose of Uber/Lyft to it. It's a sad state of affairs, and I wish it weren't that way. I support public transport initiatives when I can.

Choosing not to have a license is voluntarily confining oneself to a very small subset of the country. Uber won't get you to the Rockies. A rental will (so you don't need to own a car), but you still need to drive it.

Yes, it's a hassle (at first; after some time, people start to enjoy it). Yes, it takes effort, time and money. But to say that you don't WANT to have the benefits it gives you in this country, one must at least somewhat be aware of what they are.

Of course, to each - their own. But I got to see the total solar eclipse. And you might read how amazing it was in a book on a train one day.

PS: I apologize for the somewhat-deliberately provoking tone. On a softer note, have you read "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac? If so, do you honestly say that you want none of that? If not, you're in luck, because reading it is a marvelous experience: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Road

This book is culturally significant; but as a side effect, it might change how you see driving.

Post reply on HN