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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

#451

Post by tacocataco »

jgerrish wrote: post #375
chipsrafferty wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why sell a car when you can charge per ride?

Well, you wouldn't have to sell the car. You could also setup a licensing / loan / dedicated car system. It would work well for local municipalities that want to provide low-cost door-to-door service for the elderly. We have a bus service here, The ART, and a dedicates "paratransit" bus service that provides door-to-door service to eligible riders. And a couple private large-scale developed and managed neighborhoods…

> You could also setup a licensing / loan / dedicated car system.

I think the word you were searching for is leasing the vehicle.

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

#452

Post by Detrytus »

Is it just a matter of Waymo being tourist attraction? Last time when I was in LA my friends and me, we had a rental car to go around, but we still took couple of Waymo rides just for fun. With enough demand from people who have "autonomous car ride" on their bucket list the price can be much higher, as Uber/Lyft are not really competing in the same category.

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

#453

Post by johnfn »

calmbonsai wrote: post #436
duxup wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber has done that to me. You pick a class but what you get seems unrelated. I need more space for luggage and such and ... some "mid-sized" SUV picks me up that has about as much space a regular sedan anyway ... often the same type of vehicle that picked me up the previous day as a regular vehicle.

Same here. To alter-quote The Simpsons, "My eyes! The classes do nothing!" Shortly after pandemic, I noticed "corridor fees" on vastly different routes which, mysteriously, bumped-up the price by the same percentage across each route--but only after the ride had completed. The price I was quoted was not remotely close to the price I was charged. I did the customer service messaging thing. The first time, they removed…

As much as I love to hate on Uber and Lyft, tacked on fees like this are often due to state / federal government, and the rideshare service hands are tied. Uber tags on a very long list of random fees when I Uber out of SFO, but when I investigated them, they were all random taxes from the city / state.

If they want to jack up the prices they can just increase them - they don't need to add random fees.

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

#454

Post by anon84873628 »

whimsicalism wrote: post #443
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another recent anecdote. A friend was recently in Milwaukee (first time ever. He was there for a conference). He, his wife, and another friend, wanted to go out to eat. They were given a wrong address. Could have been the source, or it could have been they screwed up writing it down. It was definitely a wrong address, though, that they gave to Uber. The driver picked them up, and took them to the address, which was d…

The only difference with the Waymo experience would be that there would be nobody your friend could threaten to assault for putting in the wrong address.

The Waymo also can't force you to get out. Probably you can just give it a new address.

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

#455

Post by titanomachy »

tacocataco wrote: post #441
nixpulvis wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isolationism progresses.

Going outside costs $200 a day, and i cant afford to spend 1/4 my paycheck 7 times a week. Also, I'm just doing my best to get the most out of the ludicrously high rent is pay every month.

I think you’re kidding, but I’m not sure. Can’t you walk to a park or ride your bike or something for free?

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

#456

Post by datadrivenangel »

theamk wrote: post #437
ghaff wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But a lot of people basically wanted VC-subsidized cheaper cabs. Even if the easier and more reliable ordering was a bonus.

I don't think "cheap" was the main factor, at least for me and my friends. Predictable pricing, predictable arrival, automated booking, and an ability to complain to someone was significantly more important. (From what I've read, this happened naturally in other countries, but in US, the taxi monopoly was so bad, we needed something crazy like Uber)

Ubers were often half the cost of a taxi as well, and the drivers were getting paid more than you were paying uber, so this definitely impacted how many of my peers were taking uber instead of public transit.

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

#457

Post by seivan »

raverbashing wrote: post #449
ghushn3 wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I was that driver, you bet I'd be contacting Uber to try and get your friend banned for life. Threatening a driver is never ok, even less so when it's not his fault.

Then maybe don't threaten to leave a family in a dangerous area while they're offering to pay it

This is the address they gave to the driver,full stop. After the job’s done, you can’t just tack on extra requests like it’s a buffet. He delivered exactly what you asked, not a mind reading bonus round. It’s not his fault you gave the wrong address, he’s not clairvoyant.

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

#458

Post by theamk »

oblio wrote: post #262
MegaButts wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

We probably went wrong when we decided to maximize money versus maximizing happiness. We badly need to move beyond GDP and to at least IHDI, if not something even better.

When I moved from country where I had to use public transit to a country where I could drive, my happiness (re transportation) increased by a large amount.

I am not sure how this relates to the whole "public transit vs cars" argument though.

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

#459

Post by whimsicalism »

anon84873628 wrote: post #454
whimsicalism wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only difference with the Waymo experience would be that there would be nobody your friend could threaten to assault for putting in the wrong address.

The Waymo also can't force you to get out. Probably you can just give it a new address.

Have you ever used a Waymo?

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

#460

Post by xbmcuser »

antasvara wrote: post #299
rufus_foreman wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> People don't hate automation This is not true.

In the broad sense, people are in favor of automation. Most people aren't clamoring for the days before the stove, dishwasher, and car (all automated versions of past technologies). That being said, I think a lot of people are against automation when it does something worse than the manual version. Think automated customer service over a human being.

Most people don't like change so are resistant to it. It's the same with electric cars a lot of people are resistant to it because of false range anxiety but when people actually use ev for extended period most of then stay with electric.
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