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

SuperShuttle is going out of business

latimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 135 posts

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#41

Post by wiseleo »

ghaff wrote: post #19
freddie_mercury wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what scheduling an Uber actually does, though. "The Scheduled Rides feature allows you to select a 10 minute window for a driver to come pick you up. At the start of the window, the app will send out a ride request on your behalf." So if you "schedule a ride" at 7pm, it is exactly the same as just using the app manually at 6:50pm. There is absolutely nothing remotely close to a guarantee that anyone will y…

In my case, there is no way there are going to be drivers available at 4am to take me 45 miles to the airport which is fairly typical of what I need. There are barely drivers available to do it during the day and cancelations for going into the city are not infrequent. I just use a private car service even though it's about 2x the price.

You’d be surprised. Try doing a dry run sometime. I did countless early morning pickups.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#42

Post by gcheong »

tanilama wrote: post #26
gcheong wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one reason I take super shuttle to the airport is because I can schedule it ahead and I can at least be certain they will do whatever they can to honor the reservation. While for now uber/lyft are probably available often enough there is no guarantee that one is going to be available especially if you are flying very early or late.

Then you need to plan your trip ahead of time. With SuperShuttle, you can't predict who they are going to pick up along the way either.

I don't know how I could plan my trip any more ahead of time than making a reservation. You can't predict who else is going to be picked up but you are given a pickup window that is set in such a way, according to when your flight departs, that you will be at the airport within the suggested timeframes, regardless of who else gets picked up along the way. Granted you lose a little flexibility but the tradeoff is more certainty.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#43

Post by jen729w »

gcheong wrote: post #5
fnord77 wrote: post #2

this is hardly surprising. a ride to SFO from my home using uber/lift is about $23. $19 using supershuttle. And I don't have to schedule anything or take a long van ride while other passengers are being dropped off. Very unfortunately for the mom & pop supershuttle franchisees, though, with van payments and a dried up source of income.

The one reason I take super shuttle to the airport is because I can schedule it ahead and I can at least be certain they will do whatever they can to honor the reservation. While for now uber/lyft are probably available often enough there is no guarantee that one is going to be available especially if you are flying very early or late.

This is the one situation where I still rely on a good old fashioned taxi driver. George, to be specific.

George heads up a bunch of WhatsApp-connected drivers of higher-end cabs here in Melbourne, Australia. There’ll be a George in your city, you just need to find him.

I message George the day before a 6am flight, and there has never failed to be a nice taxi outside my door at 4:45am as requested.

I hope this is what the taxi industry here becomes. The junky old cabs that stink and have dodgy bearings get killed by Uber et. al., while the decent cabbies, guys like George who have been driving for decades, stick around.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#44

Post by xmprt »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #38
gcheong wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one reason I take super shuttle to the airport is because I can schedule it ahead and I can at least be certain they will do whatever they can to honor the reservation. While for now uber/lyft are probably available often enough there is no guarantee that one is going to be available especially if you are flying very early or late.

Sample size of 1, but I was able to get an Uber at 4am in a C-list (D-list) city --can I even call it a city?-- in my hometown where I grew up. Had to wait ~20 minutes for it, though.

It's come to the point where mode of transportation isn't even a concern when I need to get somewhere. Uber is always a reliable fallback when public transportation or a friend isn't available to drop me off.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#45

Post by ghaff »

wiseleo wrote: post #41
ghaff wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my case, there is no way there are going to be drivers available at 4am to take me 45 miles to the airport which is fairly typical of what I need. There are barely drivers available to do it during the day and cancelations for going into the city are not infrequent. I just use a private car service even though it's about 2x the price.

You’d be surprised. Try doing a dry run sometime. I did countless early morning pickups.

Why bother? I can book a reliable service and it’s a business expense.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#47

Post by dmix »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #33
awalton wrote: post #31

Let's face it, Ridesharing ate their lunch. I was a religious SuperShuttle user until Lyft showed up - it usually cost me roughly the same amount to take a Lyft shared, I didn't have to wait on the right van to show up, and instead of winding through taking a half dozen other people home first, it often takes me straight home, or at most with a couple of stops. It's a hard world for traditional scheduled taxiing to b…

I remember one time my wife and I took the Super Shuttle home from SFO to Mountain View. It took about two hours since we were the last stop and in fact the shuttle went north a little first before turning south. That was the first and last time I used their service.

I love Lyft but I took a shared lyft for the first time and the driver did three circles around a busy block trying to find a GPS dot (that never moved) that was obviously on the other side of the street, and after an extra 10min jammed an extra person in the car when we hardly fit, despite our protests. That was the last time I took a shared ride.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#48

Post by susijdjdjxa »

jen729w wrote: post #43
gcheong wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one reason I take super shuttle to the airport is because I can schedule it ahead and I can at least be certain they will do whatever they can to honor the reservation. While for now uber/lyft are probably available often enough there is no guarantee that one is going to be available especially if you are flying very early or late.

This is the one situation where I still rely on a good old fashioned taxi driver. George, to be specific. George heads up a bunch of WhatsApp-connected drivers of higher-end cabs here in Melbourne, Australia. There’ll be a George in your city, you just need to find him. I message George the day before a 6am flight, and there has never failed to be a nice taxi outside my door at 4:45am as requested. I hope this is wha…

How do I find my local George?

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#49

Post by sl1ck731 »

awalton wrote: post #31

Let's face it, Ridesharing ate their lunch. I was a religious SuperShuttle user until Lyft showed up - it usually cost me roughly the same amount to take a Lyft shared, I didn't have to wait on the right van to show up, and instead of winding through taking a half dozen other people home first, it often takes me straight home, or at most with a couple of stops. It's a hard world for traditional scheduled taxiing to b…

I had just started using the local Coach airport shuttle because it was so convenient and have begun to travel more. It announced it was shutting down a week or so ago for the same reasons.

Ridesharing will cost me double each way or risk leaving my car at the airport. I'm beginning to dislike Lyft and Uber.

When I was in Vegas it wasn't even worth using them. The lined up procession of cabs is more convenient than trying to find the one car you're supposed to get into, not to mention the same at every airport where ride sharing is just an inefficient mess of slow ubers and riders making rounds in a packed parking garage.

Re: SuperShuttle is going out of business

#50

Post by khuey »

usr1106 wrote: post #39
morsch wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't that be a need public transport addresses? Most airports are connected via railway or subway, right?

In the US? My experience is that most airports are not connected by railway or subway. Admittedly most of my trips were more than 10 years ago, but I would be very surprised if things have drastically changed. Yes, in Europe it starts to be become rarer that major airports have only bus connections.

There's probably no more than twenty airports in the US with rail/subway connections. Notably the second busiest (LAX) does not have a rail connection but they're finally building one.
Post reply on HN