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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

#331

Post by Retric »

semiquaver wrote: post #266
ndr wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can dispute via your credit card. They'll care quickly enough.

Lyft will ban your account if you issue a chargeback. You’ll get your money back but if you want to continue to use the service this is not a good option.

Do it anyway. You get your money back, it costs them more money, and the more they ban people over stuff like this the faster you run shitty companies out of business.

To do anything else promotes them doing the same thing to you in the future and other people.

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

#333

Post by hedora »

jopsen wrote: post #170
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…

$3 isn't this kind of a small problem? I miss rideshare service, in Denmark we have mess of expensive high quality taxis that you cannot get hold of when you need one.

The $3 often makes the difference between someone that should not be allowed to have a drivers license, and a someone that's been driving high-end limos for years.

For example, I once had a driver that heard regenerative breaking was good for fuel economy, so decided to cycle their busted prius between 60mpg and 70mph every few seconds on the freeway. I was carsick for 2 hours after that ride. Another time, I had an angry line of people tapping the windows and politely giving the driver some unsolicited advice. (The mob was right; I mostly just tried to hide my face.)

So, the $3 is a big problem, but has nothing to do with money.

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

#334

Post by autobodie »

gruez wrote: post #233
turtlesdown11 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

It's literally called a "living" wage, and I guarantee you in reality it's nothing more than that, if even. Life tends to always have unexpected costs. I shouldn't need to tell anybody that, including you.

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

#335

Post by mensetmanusman »

matthewdgreen wrote: post #283
habosa wrote: post #202

I mix and match but I’ll take a Waymo if it’s 1. Literally zero variance. Every car is the same. Every driver is the same style. If it says it’ll be there in 7 minutes it will be 7, not 5 and not 10. 2. A jaguar SUV is a premium vehicle. It’s comparable to an Uber black not a regular Uber. 3. It’s so child friendly. My son can make all the noise he wants and I can take time loading him in without a driver being impat…

You’re experiencing the early pre-enshittified product. Ubers used to be cheap and excellent too, but then they started optimizing for profit. I assume this will happen even faster for Waymo, just because tech firms have more experience now.

Waymo should charge dirty customers more to pay maids to clean it.

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

#336

Post by paulgb »

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…

> Their determination? I wasn't entitled to a $3 refund.

Frustratingly, Lyft’s position on this is that if you don’t like the car that arrives you should reject it when it arrives, otherwise you’re not entitled to a (even partial) refund, even when they know on their end that the car they sent doesn’t match what you paid extra for.

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

#337

Post by jfengel »

Mordisquitos wrote: post #259
Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's my rampant misanthrope leanings, but even in more trivial things like choosing automated kiosks other staffed in CVS, I'm just more comfortable not having to make small talk with a person, worry if they're having a good day or not etc. I'd happily pay 20 percent more to Waymo for that personless experience too.

It's interesting how American cultural expectations of forced social interaction may be having the effect of promoting automated systems as a reaction. As someone who lives in Spain and has lived in the UK, the idea of choosing self-checkout at a supermarket to avoid small talk with a cashier sounds alien to me; we simply don't do that here. While cashiers will certainly chat with certain customers while scanning the…

That is extremely rare in America, too. But it still feels awkward to an introvert. Just having another person nearby makes you feel self conscious. You won't be called on to make small talk, but you can't be sure of that.

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

#338

Post by freddie_mercury »

liveoneggs wrote: post #316
booi wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also impossible to book an Uber with 2 child seats so, i guess i'm effed then.

search "mifold grab and go booster" on amazon

Uber operates in 71 countries. That booster seat is available in 1 country. So it solves 1.4% of the problem.

Also that's a booster seat, not a child care seat, so can't be used if your kids are under 4.

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

#339

Post by balfirevic »

MegaButts wrote: post #252
silvr wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minority view here I'm sure but maybe profits are a just reward for inventing the future - this is literally science fiction come to life

Self-driving cars are cool but I'd rather have good public transit. These vehicles clearly have utility beyond just public transit, but I'd rather they be an edge case rather than considered a main solution. So yeah, from my perspective the problem is being focused on profits instead of trying to solve the real problem with solutions that have already existed for decades. If you zoom out a bit, your argument would be…

Even in cities with good public transit, it will not take me home at 3 AM, with possibly few exceptions like New York.

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

#340

Post by AlotOfReading »

chipsrafferty wrote: post #322
AlotOfReading wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never really understood this "improve public transit instead of autonomous vehicles" argument. They're two entirely distinct funding sources. Nothing is preventing us from improving public transit except the same things that always have.

It's an argument that we should fund public transit more. What's hard to understand?

Obviously funding public transit is good, but people usually phrase funding arguments as zero sum tradeoffs. You wouldn't write "bookstores are cool, but I'd rather have public transit", because there's no trade-off there. I'm assuming the OP actually meant something by writing their post the way they did.
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