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Announcing UberPool

blog.uber.com

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Re: Announcing UberPool

#41

Post by ZoF »

qeorge wrote: post #32
andrewmunsell wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that to be completely true-- the area around my office is completely void of Car2Go cars from around 4 PM later. I had to walk ~1/5 of a mile to get to the nearest one. Of course, I'm sure at 1 AM that you'd be able to find a parked car pretty close to you, provided you're not by a bunch of offices which have had the cars driven away to residential areas by people at their jobs.

I had to walk ~1/5 of a mile to get to the nearest one. Which is what, a 4 minute walk? That seems pretty minimal to me.

I'm honestly wondering if that's a typo.

In what way is ~1250 feet considered a far distance to go for a rental car? Even in a populous metro area that seems about as short a walk as I would expect, are they generally closer?

Re: Announcing UberPool

#42

Post by ZoF »

RandallBrown wrote: post #37
andrewmunsell wrote: post #14

I'm a periodic Uber user and tend to use it later when public transit isn't running. This would be interesting, and if cheap enough, could be more convenient than waiting for a bus if you're in an area where they don't run frequently and it's storming, extremely hot, you don't want to wait around. I also just tried out Car2Go which costed me ~$15. The same trip from Uber, albiet at a different time of day, costs $9-1…

In Seattle, a car2go trip that costs $15 would be 36 minutes long. Car2Go has no mileage fee for trips under 150 miles. The same UberX trip would be $13 before taking mileage into account. If it took you 36 minutes, I assume you went at least 3 miles. So that makes the trip cost at least 17 bucks. I've found that Car2Go is quite a bit cheaper than using either Lyft or UberX. I usually use them together though. I'll t…

Doesn't Car2Go require you to bring the car back to it's starting point?

Are there multiple locations you can drop the car at, and if not, how do you handle that when taking it to the bar?

Re: Announcing UberPool

#43

Post by mrmaddog »

necubi wrote: post #4

Sounds very similar to Hitch[0] which launched a couple of months ago in SF. It sounds very useful for long, expensive trips (e.g., cross bay, down to south bay) where the fixed cost of picking up or dropping off another passenger is a smaller factor. On an unrelated note, how is the form at the bottom supposed to update you when UberPool is in your area? Area codes are going to be inaccurate for anybody who's moved…

I've used Hitch regularly over the past few months, and it works well for short trips. Half the time I don't carpool (and I still pay half price), and the other half of the time adds just a couple extra minutes (haven't gone more than 5 minutes out of my way). My one issue with Hitch so far is that occasionally it takes a while to get me a ride. Uber has a leg up here, as it has a huge scale advantage. When I open my app, I can see 5 ubers in a 3 block radius - which is pretty astounding reach.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#44

Post by downandout »

andrewmunsell wrote: post #14

I'm a periodic Uber user and tend to use it later when public transit isn't running. This would be interesting, and if cheap enough, could be more convenient than waiting for a bus if you're in an area where they don't run frequently and it's storming, extremely hot, you don't want to wait around. I also just tried out Car2Go which costed me ~$15. The same trip from Uber, albiet at a different time of day, costs $9-1…

Are Uber users this price conscious though? I think their core user base skews to a higher net worth, and aren't going to be the kinds of people that want to share a car with another person. The only thing they'll know about the person they are sharing with going in is that they are too cheap to take their own Uber ride.

This just doesn't sound like it will work with their core user base. Maybe they are trying to expand their user base to the public transportation crowd, but that may devalue the brand.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#45

Post by dnautics »

downandout wrote: post #44
andrewmunsell wrote: post #14

I'm a periodic Uber user and tend to use it later when public transit isn't running. This would be interesting, and if cheap enough, could be more convenient than waiting for a bus if you're in an area where they don't run frequently and it's storming, extremely hot, you don't want to wait around. I also just tried out Car2Go which costed me ~$15. The same trip from Uber, albiet at a different time of day, costs $9-1…

Are Uber users this price conscious though? I think their core user base skews to a higher net worth, and aren't going to be the kinds of people that want to share a car with another person. The only thing they'll know about the person they are sharing with going in is that they are too cheap to take their own Uber ride. This just doesn't sound like it will work with their core user base. Maybe they are trying to exp…

different markets are different; that may be the case in SF; the core user base in SD skews to "Doesn't want a DUI", and we get a LOT of students during the school year, for example, although their ability to manage money may be suspect.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#47

Post by vinceguidry »

downandout wrote: post #44
andrewmunsell wrote: post #14

I'm a periodic Uber user and tend to use it later when public transit isn't running. This would be interesting, and if cheap enough, could be more convenient than waiting for a bus if you're in an area where they don't run frequently and it's storming, extremely hot, you don't want to wait around. I also just tried out Car2Go which costed me ~$15. The same trip from Uber, albiet at a different time of day, costs $9-1…

Are Uber users this price conscious though? I think their core user base skews to a higher net worth, and aren't going to be the kinds of people that want to share a car with another person. The only thing they'll know about the person they are sharing with going in is that they are too cheap to take their own Uber ride. This just doesn't sound like it will work with their core user base. Maybe they are trying to exp…

My guess is that there are large numbers of people who would use Uber to get to/from drinking establishments regularly but don't because it's just a tad too expensive to catch two rides a night, several times a week. If Uber could cut the price down somewhat, they could open up a potentially huge market.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#48

Post by jdross »

downandout wrote: post #44
andrewmunsell wrote: post #14

I'm a periodic Uber user and tend to use it later when public transit isn't running. This would be interesting, and if cheap enough, could be more convenient than waiting for a bus if you're in an area where they don't run frequently and it's storming, extremely hot, you don't want to wait around. I also just tried out Car2Go which costed me ~$15. The same trip from Uber, albiet at a different time of day, costs $9-1…

Are Uber users this price conscious though? I think their core user base skews to a higher net worth, and aren't going to be the kinds of people that want to share a car with another person. The only thing they'll know about the person they are sharing with going in is that they are too cheap to take their own Uber ride. This just doesn't sound like it will work with their core user base. Maybe they are trying to exp…

They don't want to be a brand for the wealthy. They want to be known and perceived as a utility for everyone. So if anything, this helps fix the brand issues they have.

I spend north of $300 per month on uber, and I'm selling my car because I never touch it anymore. That changed recently as prices kept dropping.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#49

Post by superuser2 »

downandout wrote: post #44
andrewmunsell wrote: post #14

I'm a periodic Uber user and tend to use it later when public transit isn't running. This would be interesting, and if cheap enough, could be more convenient than waiting for a bus if you're in an area where they don't run frequently and it's storming, extremely hot, you don't want to wait around. I also just tried out Car2Go which costed me ~$15. The same trip from Uber, albiet at a different time of day, costs $9-1…

Are Uber users this price conscious though? I think their core user base skews to a higher net worth, and aren't going to be the kinds of people that want to share a car with another person. The only thing they'll know about the person they are sharing with going in is that they are too cheap to take their own Uber ride. This just doesn't sound like it will work with their core user base. Maybe they are trying to exp…

Users of Uber proper might be high net worth, but UberX is popular with (among others) college students, because it's a bit cheaper than taking a cab and you don't need to carry cash.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#50

Post by electrum »

qeorge wrote: post #32
andrewmunsell wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that to be completely true-- the area around my office is completely void of Car2Go cars from around 4 PM later. I had to walk ~1/5 of a mile to get to the nearest one. Of course, I'm sure at 1 AM that you'd be able to find a parked car pretty close to you, provided you're not by a bunch of offices which have had the cars driven away to residential areas by people at their jobs.

I had to walk ~1/5 of a mile to get to the nearest one. Which is what, a 4 minute walk? That seems pretty minimal to me.

Put another way, that is two city blocks, which is a very reasonable distance to walk after finding parking in any major city.
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