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

291–300 of 438 posts

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

#291

Post by latencyloser »

wil421 wrote: post #159
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…

Do you ever leave the city or go on vacation? Exploring the outdoors in the Pacific Northwest would be priority number 1 if I lived in Seattle. You also need to factor in the freedom a car gives you. Time is the limiting factor.

To add on: I just moved to Seattle from Chicago where I lived for several years. In Chicago, I used strictly public transportation or walked, it worked great because I never needed or wanted to leave the "city" in general. If I did, it was infrequent enough to warrant renting a car. All my errands could be done on the walk home from the office as well.

Now that I'm in Seattle (well, Bellevue), the beauty of the PNW has me going on several hours of driving and exploration every weekend. Good luck doing that without a personal vehicle. Also, my commute is agonizing, but even in a personal car it's still orders of magnitude more time efficient than the public transportation options, and I can get all my random errands for the family done during.

I'm probably preaching to the choir by replying to you, but my car is now an indispensable part of my life. I could only imagine not having it being in the densest and most "isolated" American cities at this point (Chicago, Manhattan possibly).

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

#292

Post by OmarIsmail »

j2bax wrote: post #191
ihaveajob wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do have a car and a toddler. The car sits idle most days, maybe once a week we get on it to go somewhere where it's inconvenient by bike or transit. For his first year we didn't have a car. This is in SF and Berkeley. A lot of people, even those with kids, could perfectly ditch their cars, rent occasionally and come out ahead in terms of costs (and lifestyle).

One thing I've wondered is how people deal with car seats with Uber/Lyft/Taxi's. Do they carry their own with them and take the time to install it and uninstall it? Do you just take the bus and not worry about a car seat?

https://ridesafertravelvest.com/

Not affiliated with this company but own one and am happy with it. Only for kids 3+.

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

#293

Post by ggg9990 »

birdman3131 wrote: post #43

I don't get how using lyft/uber as your only form of transportation can be at all cheaper. Let me run some basic math. Uber wants $11.50 to take me home right now. Lyft wants $13.40 $11.50 * 2 = $23/day 23 * 5 = $115/week $115 * 52 weeks = $5980/year (I am ignoring vacation weeks for now.) My yearly cost for car ownership are roughly as follows. (Assuming only work and back.) Insurance(1): $886/year Fuel(2): $292.50…

You can’t compare buying $1000 cars and spending your own time repairing them to getting picked up in an Uber which is a much more modern, comfortable, and safe car, and not having to care if it breaks down (as long as it’s not during a trip!)

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

#294

Post by icebraining »

goialoq wrote: post #274
icebraining wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny the difficulty that car owner show at understanding non-car-owners. Why would you assume that someone without a driver's license would go on vacation in a rental car in the first place? By the way, this might not be true in the US, but in other places there's usually some sort of shared transit. Even if it's not a city bus or a ride-sharing network, there's usually some person with an unofficial "taxi" tha…

Old and poor people suffer severe lifestyle degradations, the don't simply avoid the "waste" of care expenses.

I'm not sure what made you think I meant otherwise. All I'm saying is that their situation happens to create a viable market for people willing to drive others around. I wasn't saying they were "lucky" for not being able to own a car, or anything like that.

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

#295

Post by jimmaswell »

goialoq wrote: post #270
foolfoolz wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i think those numbers are describing a lifestyle and not what it means to own a car. many people who own a car will not pay that much for parking. especially if you live 5 miles away from work. assuming you don’t drive to work and park on the street at home your numbers are down to $4100/yr. but your insurance number looks 2x too big, and maintenance i would drop by half, i think more realistic is a about $3,000/yr

Where is parking 5miles is very close to downtown. Street parking sort of works, if you get enough mercy from your neighbors not parking on-street.

My apartment complex has a free parking lot. You can park there or on the road. I live 2 miles from work (picked the apartment because it was so close).

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

#296

Post by ryanwaggoner »

brianwawok wrote: post #280
lhorie wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We moved cross-country and didn't have our car for a few weeks. For the few uber trips we took during that time, we just YOLO'd: had the kids (5 and 3) wear normal seatbelts, but with the chest strap going under their arms rather than over their neck. They also travelled to/from airport without car seats. In my experience, drivers are generally a _lot_ more careful when there are kids in the car, compared to, say, a…

That's cool, let's risk the kids life to save carrying around a pesky car-seat. May as well smoke with them in the car too. * actual carseat requirements vary by state, the laws seem to be at: http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/child-passenger-safety/

Car seats aren’t magic. They don’t eliminate risk, they reduce it. Much safer is to never drive the kids in a car at all. And if you do, never on the highway and only in the largest vehicle money can buy.

But that’s not how life works. We all risk our lives and those of our kids every day, for convenience, life experience, laziness, etc. You should be aware of the risks and then pick the place on the risk / reward curve that you can live with.

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

#297

Post by jimmaswell »

ttul wrote: post #256

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.

You could've gotten a cheaper car, maybe even one you could pay for entirely upfront.

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

#298

Post by jimmaswell »

paxy wrote: post #72
birdman3131 wrote: post #43

I don't get how using lyft/uber as your only form of transportation can be at all cheaper. Let me run some basic math. Uber wants $11.50 to take me home right now. Lyft wants $13.40 $11.50 * 2 = $23/day 23 * 5 = $115/week $115 * 52 weeks = $5980/year (I am ignoring vacation weeks for now.) My yearly cost for car ownership are roughly as follows. (Assuming only work and back.) Insurance(1): $886/year Fuel(2): $292.50…

Those numbers are going to be very different for different people depending on their situation, especially if they live in a dense metropolitan area. When I owned a car parking costs alone justified a move to Uber/Lyft. I now use commuter dollars and Uber Pool for daily commute (~$5 each way before tax savings). Plus most people rely on a combination of Uber/Lyft, public transit, bike shares, car rentals etc. rather…

Why don't people in cities lobby to put restrictions on parking fees?

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

#299

Post by qudat »

I live in Ann Arbor, which is a small college town that has a pretty good bus system considering we are in the midwest and so close to Detroit. I recently sold my car which was huge boost to my quality of life. Having said that, I had to pay relatively a lot for my house to have the luxury of being within 2 miles of downtown where I work.

Even in this small town, automobile transportation can be extremely difficult. The UoM hospital parking is an absolute nightmare. Even getting the premium parking pass (~$250/mo) does not guarantee an employee a spot in any lot, let alone the one closest to their destination. Patients end up circling the lots for upwards of 90 minutes looking for a spot -- a common reason for showing up to an appointment late.

There really is no other solution besides better public transportation here. Hopefully that will be the driving factor to increase bike lanes, bus lines, and incentivize people to only commute via automobile when absolutely necessary.

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

#300

Post by devdas »

vlozko wrote: post #39
brndnmtthws wrote: post #20

Automobile ownership is dumb, but ridesharing isn't the answer either. Cities need to invest in public infrastructure, especially fast efficient public transit. People should also rediscover the joy of human power (walk, bike, run).

That's the bubble mentality of someone who lives in the city and/or doesn't have a family. How about you try hauling a baby in a stroller, diaper bag, and two other kids to a metro train (if you're so lucky to have one close) and then onto a bus. Ride sharing doesn't solve those problems, either, especially since you'd be in need of carseats. So no, automobile ownership is not dumb. There's plenty of use cases where…

It's not that hard, from what I can see on public transport.
Post reply on HN