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

nytimes.com

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

#291

Post by kobeya »

stevekemp wrote: post #246
smileysteve wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many issues with tipping This article and the research behind it http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/restaurants/a23132/why-tip... 3. The percentage basis makes no sense. 4. Better service doesn't actually beget better tips. 5. It perpetuates racism and sexism.

6. It rewards arbitrary people. If you go out and eat a fantastic piece of food do you think the person who should be rewarded is: * The person who actually made the food. * The person who carried it to your table.

FYI in most jurisdictions the tip is shared by both wait and kitchen staff, by law.

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

#292

Post by [deleted] »

stevekemp wrote: post #246
smileysteve wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many issues with tipping This article and the research behind it http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/restaurants/a23132/why-tip... 3. The percentage basis makes no sense. 4. Better service doesn't actually beget better tips. 5. It perpetuates racism and sexism.

6. It rewards arbitrary people. If you go out and eat a fantastic piece of food do you think the person who should be rewarded is: * The person who actually made the food. * The person who carried it to your table.

[deleted]

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

#293

Post by kobeya »

inflagranti wrote: post #162
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.

As I posted in another thread: it's really sad that the crazy state of tipping in the US makes people think like this. I want to have the option to tip for exceptional service or if I really enjoyed taking to the driver, but I do not want to feel obliged to, which is the issue currently with the low wages.

You have cash in your pocket.

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

#294

Post by raverbashing »

p47 wrote: post #253
biztos wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

81 EUR in Berlin for the "normal" ticket (zones A+B), 100 EUR for the whole network. Discounted tickets for late sleepers. :-)

Pricy. It is 85CHF for Zuerich for zone 110 which covers majority of the city.

Why pricy? Do you know what Zones A+B cover in Berlin?

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

#295

Post by mcherm »

disiplus wrote: post #226
acchow wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wouldn't qualify the growth as "mostly purchased" when it's... 50/50 couponed/full If most of their customers are buying only because they are selling under the market price, then it doesn't matter if the subsidy is 5% or 50% or 100%; their sales are "mostly purchased". Imagine you open a store tomorrow and sell gold for 1% under the market price - suddenly your sales blow up to $1 billion in a day. You have purc…

thats the price of acquiring a customer. for my saas the cost to acquire a customer is X, X is multiple of montly fees. so only after couple of months im going to be on 0. The cost for me could be adwords, running a free plan, or something else. how is this different. I assume that they hope to convert some of those to regular customers.

The difference between an acquisition cost per customer but making money on each transaction and losing money on each transaction is that the first can be a viable business if you can retain customers long enough while the second will always lose money.

Offering below-cost deals to all customers for a time (to acquire them) then raising prices to a profitable level is different from either. Unlike the second, it might make money in the long run. Unlike the first, the ability to make a profit hasn't been demonstrated yet.

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

#296

Post by charlesdm »

jhuckestein wrote: post #272
deusex_ wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Europe, your bus fare would be half of the price and probably you would need one or two connections. The public transport is much more developed and to me seems like a much better mass transportation alternative. More ecological, cheaper, less cars overall.

The thing is, the user experience of Uber, Lyft et al is strictly better than public transport. Some would even say it is 10x better (in the From Zero to One sense). It picks you up whenever you want, wherever you want and drops you off exactly where you need to go. I agree that buses are more ecological, but doesn't this just mean that we should combine Uber and public transport? In the future I see a fleet of large…

Very true. If you can pay €250-350 for a month of uber-ing, vs €100 for bus tickets, and you don't mind spending the money, why not go for the Uber?

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

#297

Post by op00to »

deusex_ wrote: post #160
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…

In Europe, your bus fare would be half of the price and probably you would need one or two connections. The public transport is much more developed and to me seems like a much better mass transportation alternative. More ecological, cheaper, less cars overall.

"Yes, but poor people use public transportation to come from bad neighborhoods to good neighborhoods to rob us! We must ban all expansion of public transportation!"

This exact sentiment is echoed by many in the US as a reason to not expand public transit. When asked about criminals driving cars to commit crimes, they were not open to bulldozing the roads over. It's gross.

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

#298

Post by raverbashing »

smileysteve wrote: post #22
techsupporter wrote: post #3

Forgive me if this is me being dense, but from an outsider's perspective I don't understand what makes Lyft any better than Uber. Neither company properly categorizes their drivers (as employees), both have a rather sizeable cut from fares, both depended on being basically illegal cabs--except for Uber Black, which uses licensed black car services--to get started, and neither has a financially viable business model.…

The key points are - CEO never blackmailed journalists - No major revelations of sexual harassment - ~~No major revelations of political support~~ Related to core business - Surge Limit has prevented complaints about emergency pricing vs Uber. - Lyft takes a lower commission capped at 20%/25% - Lyft has in app digital tipping (drivers keep 100% of tips). Uber's tip policy encourages cash, which is an often cited comp…

Lyft tipping policy shows how US-Centric they are

If they want to grow, they'll have to address that. Fast

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

#299

Post by _benedict »

jhuckestein wrote: post #272
deusex_ wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Europe, your bus fare would be half of the price and probably you would need one or two connections. The public transport is much more developed and to me seems like a much better mass transportation alternative. More ecological, cheaper, less cars overall.

The thing is, the user experience of Uber, Lyft et al is strictly better than public transport. Some would even say it is 10x better (in the From Zero to One sense). It picks you up whenever you want, wherever you want and drops you off exactly where you need to go. I agree that buses are more ecological, but doesn't this just mean that we should combine Uber and public transport? In the future I see a fleet of large…

It depends on the city and the route you're taking. If there are dedicated bus lanes, or other dedicated forms of transport (trains, metros), taking an uber can be slower than taking transport.

Certainly in London, unless you're taking a route that cuts across the city in one of the outer districts, during quiet times of day, these services are rarely materially faster than public transport. If the traffic info is inaccurate you can end up in a journey that's many times slower, without expecting it.

It's still great as an option; it expands the utility of taxis tremendously, since previously the arrival latency was unknown and potentially quite high. With a mature marketplace, the QoS for taxis as a whole goes up tremendously.

But really it's a simple competition with the QoS of the local public transport, and in my experience (in the UK) the Uber QoS is somewhat correlated with the QoS of the local public transport, so it is rarely (if ever) objectively better. It just offers different characteristics that are sometimes worth the cost.

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

#300

Post by Xylakant »

conanbatt wrote: post #290
deusex_ wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Europe, your bus fare would be half of the price and probably you would need one or two connections. The public transport is much more developed and to me seems like a much better mass transportation alternative. More ecological, cheaper, less cars overall.

And yet its been commonly limited or forbidden to let services like Uber operate the way they do in the US. Berlin has uber with taxis only, for example.

Taxis in Germany are regulated as part of the public transport. The state may even force Taxi companies to put more cars on the road, they are obliged by law to take on any passenger and there is a public supervision. In return, Taxis receive some benefits. Uber tried to take the benefits but not the obligations. Stuff like that doesn't fly here. That's what got them banned.
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