Lyft says nearly 250K of its passengers ditched a personal car in 2017 • Hacker News Board

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

#301

Post by King-Aaron » Wed, Jan 17, 2018, 1:47 AM UTC

phil21 wrote: post #283

rootusrootus wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have noticed this very strongly just in the last few weeks alone. Anytime a conversation begins that has to do with cars, a whole bunch of people immediately jump in to point how owning a car is immoral, how it destroys the environment, how it kills innocent children, how you should feel ashamed for owning one, etc. Maybe I've missed it before but with the recent spate of self-driving car stories it has become real…

And I'd say your viewpoint is extremely narrow. The entire US is effectively "car culture" - and in my (and others) opinions, that car culture has effectively killed our society. Maybe permanently. You cannot have a functional society when the majority of productive people sequester themselves off from "the others" into little boxes set apart from each other, never interacting with anyone unless it's a planned social…

I don't think the activity of driving cars is as socially segregating as you feel it is.

I have no metrics to base this on, of course. However your comment seems slightly hyperbolic to me.

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

#302

Post by vr2018 » Wed, Jan 17, 2018, 1:49 AM UTC

It won't be long until the majority of people will never need to leave their apartments. Amazon will deliver their meal subscription by drone each day (subscribe and save!), we will be able to work from home, and vacation using VR. Cars will be a thing of the past very, very soon. This will be better for the environment, and reduce congestion for any of the unlucky workers who are still required to be on the streets, i.e. garbage collectors, pizza delivery drivers, etc.

I plan to support any politician in the future who is brave enough to enforce this arrangement via legislation. We have been consuming too much for too long, and we as a species are finally close to having the technology and will to limit our impact but not negatively impact our overall living standard.

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

#303

Post by hueving » Wed, Jan 17, 2018, 1:51 AM UTC

clairity wrote: post #90

hueving wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you serious? Sampling Lyft riders for an life choice that makes them a Lyft rider absolutely would not extrapolate to the US population. It's like sampling people in an airport to get stats on how often everyone flies.

yes. note that the article doesn't extrapolate anything to the US population, that's something that @awwstn added in. lyft, in the article, says 250K people on its platform have dropped car ownership according to its survey. they extrapolate that total number from a survey of a sample of it riders and drivers in 52 cities.

Ok, then the error is much less egregious but there is still a sampling error I can see (at least based on my own usage pattern of Lyft).

As a user of Lyft who owns a car the odds of me being sampled by this survey were significantly lower than the people that depend on Lyft daily.

It's the same problem with surveying people in an airport to determine how often flyers fly. Heavy users are more likely to be oversampled because they are in the airports more frequently.

So for Lyft to overcome this they would have needed to survey people in population adjusted parts from each usage tier. Otherwise the 1% or whatever that ride everyday are going to throw off the whole survey. Especially since the most likely to answer surveys are frequent users.

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

#304

Post by btgeekboy » Wed, Jan 17, 2018, 1:55 AM UTC

gnarbarian wrote: post #220

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…

Sounds like the real expensive thing is living in Seattle.

For someone working in the industry, it’s still one of the best bang-for-your-buck tech hubs.

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

#305

Post by toomanybeersies » Wed, Jan 17, 2018, 1:56 AM UTC

The main downside to not owning a car is that it's really hard to get anywhere outside the city or urban areas. If you enjoy the outdoors, it's a huge disadvantage.

I don't currently own a car as I recently moved countries, and I'm basically confined to urban areas. Sure, I could hire a car, but that does start to get expensive quickly, especially if you have to pay the obscene premiums they charge for being under 25 years old.

It's at least $150 to rent a car for the weekend, and then there's the hassle of trying to pick it up and drop it off. A reasonably good condition, reliable car, would cost me $2000, plus maybe $1000 per year for registration, insurance (third party only), and repairs.

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

#306

Post by toomanybeersies » Wed, Jan 17, 2018, 2:04 AM UTC

milesokeefe wrote: post #217

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…

You pay $700/year for insurance as a 25 year old?

GP might be paying only third-party insurance. I'm not sure about America, but at least in Australia, AU$500 (US$400) per year will get you third-party insurance if you're under 25, and if you're driving a beater car you don't need any other insurance.

I looked at getting comprehensive insurance on my old car, but in the end the excess was greater than the value of the car. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same for GP.

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

#307

Post by toomanybeersies » Wed, Jan 17, 2018, 2:11 AM UTC

vr2018 wrote: post #302

It won't be long until the majority of people will never need to leave their apartments. Amazon will deliver their meal subscription by drone each day (subscribe and save!), we will be able to work from home, and vacation using VR. Cars will be a thing of the past very, very soon. This will be better for the environment, and reduce congestion for any of the unlucky workers who are still required to be on the streets,…

> and vacation using VR

And I can visit China by visiting Chinatown.

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

#308

Post by phil21 » Wed, Jan 17, 2018, 2:20 AM UTC

King-Aaron wrote: post #301

phil21 wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I'd say your viewpoint is extremely narrow. The entire US is effectively "car culture" - and in my (and others) opinions, that car culture has effectively killed our society. Maybe permanently. You cannot have a functional society when the majority of productive people sequester themselves off from "the others" into little boxes set apart from each other, never interacting with anyone unless it's a planned social…

I don't think the activity of driving cars is as socially segregating as you feel it is. I have no metrics to base this on, of course. However your comment seems slightly hyperbolic to me.

> However your comment seems slightly hyperbolic to me.

Perhaps, and I will say I have no hard data either so it's simply anecdote. However the older I get and the more I travel and witness other cultures - I continue to come back to this conclusion. After being a hardcore car+suburban lifestyle sort of guy in my youth.

It takes a village to raise a child and also have a functional community, and the US has very few villages left. The village empties out during the day and is basically a wasteland of people who barely know each other.

I don't think it's so much cars necessarily, it's the ability for people to self-segregate and pretend they are not part of a larger whole or part of an actual functional community. The ability to remove yourself from social situations you helped create (by simply existing), but want to ignore and shove off on other people. There are a few suburbs that are socially functional, but they are in the extreme minority in my experience.

This laughable trope that a nuclear family is a self-sufficient unit has to die.

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

#309

Post by pyromine » Wed, Jan 17, 2018, 2:20 AM UTC

sebleon wrote: post #162

d4mi3n wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in a similar situation, but from what I gather lifestyle factors heavily into the "do I need/want a car" equation. Kids, for example, usually mandate a car. Outdoor activities or any hobby that requires you haul around a lot of gear can also make having your own transportation a lot more appealing.

> Outdoor Activities Renting a car (via Getaround, Zipar) on weekends can be cost effective

I work at a ski resort, I ski anywhere between 3-7 days a week. I lug some level of gear between home and the mountain every single day because sometimes I'm keeping the option of skiing elsewhere open. Renting a car would not be effective for me.

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

#310

Post by pricetag » Wed, Jan 17, 2018, 2:21 AM UTC

Hah, sorry to self plug[0] but I feel it’s relevant. I just wrote about this the other day, except I was using Uber instead. It turns out that for my personal situation it’s not worth it to go with a ridesharing service. Right now I’m spending $4,560 a year on Uber. Does anyone have bicycle recommendations for under $400?

[0] https://pricetaganalysis.com/2018/01/15/how-much-money-i-spe...