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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

#461

Post by martinpw »

arealaccount wrote: post #97
Pingk wrote: post #8

The article doesn't mention if tips are included in their calculation (I suspect not). Are Uber/Lyft still cheaper after a 10-15% tip?

Only about 15% people tip https://www.businessinsider.com/1-percent-uber-riders-always...

Important caveat to that study from right at the end of the article:

the data set used for the study, while massive, was limited to 2017 data. [...] Uber only added a tipping function to its app in 2017

So the study was either before you could even tip in the app or soon after and when it was still new.

A more recent study would interesting.

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

#463

Post by [deleted] »

killion wrote: post #213

This looks like a clickbait study. Waymo is cheaper 100% of the time for me. The two big data points I think they purposely glossed over are: 1. Tip – Uber and Lyft cost 20% more than the ride price. 2. Car quality – Sure, a Corolla on Lyft is cheaper than Waymo. But once you select something desirable the price goes up, a lot.

[deleted]

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

#464

Post by smelendez »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #435
Mordisquitos wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It was an old school approach to appear friendly, which in theory makes customers more comfortable and encourages retention. Small steps to build a community. At the very least, you don't want to appear like that unresponsive cashier who's clearly having a bad day and grimaces at you when you say 'hello'. It's definitely a generational issue. Gen X and older seem to appreciate small talk more than most millenials and…

Yeah, Walgreens (US drugstore chain for those who aren’t familiar) often has their cashiers say “hi, welcome to Walgreens!” when customers come in.

It just doesn’t work. Customers are wearing headphones, or on the phone, or sick with a respiratory infection and wearing a mask and trying not to talk unnecessarily, or don’t speak English very well, or maybe they’re just trying to remember everything they need, and it quickly gets awkward for everyone.

The same store often has the credit card terminal ask customers to donate a dollar to various causes, which I’ve seen completely stump foreign tourists and generally slowing down the line.

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

#465

Post by bscphil »

ryandrake wrote: post #386
ribosometronome wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then you're forever barred from using the service.

Why would you want to continue using a service that is ripping you off? If you're at the point where your only recourse is to charge back, that's kind of a bridge burning moment.

> Why would you want to continue using a service that is ripping you off?

For the same reason that I'm going to continue using Uber despite them ripping other people off, as described in this very thread. People systematically overweight their own negative experiences and underweight those of others; I believe that every single negative story about Lyft and Uber I've read in this thread is likely to be true. In other words, they do sometimes rip people off. On the other hand, am I likely enough to be ripped off the next time I use Uber that it doesn't make sense to use it? (And do what instead, walk?) No. It's unfortunate, and I support social solutions to the problem like better regulation of businesses, but if I personally dropped every company I think sometimes rips people off, I would do business with no one ever.

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

#466

Post by theamk »

Scoundreller wrote: post #373
sundaeofshock wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very safe. They obey most traffic rules and don’t do stupid things. I have friends who commute in bike and say they feel safer with Waymo’s on the street. As a pedestrian, I appreciate them since I don’t worry it might run me over when I’m crossing the street.

Once every vehicle is a Waymo/autonomous, can we all jay-walk with impunity?

You won't get hit, yes.

But if this starts happening too much, I wonder if in the future, vehicles will start reporting jaywalking to police automatically, complete with video evidence and automated face id?

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

#467

Post by theamk »

WhyNotHugo wrote: post #207

Replacing 100% of cars with self-driving taxis are definitely the future. In this context: Corporate owned for-profit self-driving cars are the mark of a dystopian. Publicly-owned or non-profit self-driving cars are the mark of a utopia.

publicly-owned as in pre-Uber taxicab system? Government-enforced monopoly, completely stagnant, and no incentives to make users' experience better? That's not utopia.

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

#468

Post by kulahan »

ghushn3 wrote: post #446
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…

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.

Threatening someone for being a complete asshole is always okay, and even cool.

I really do not care how uncomfortable it makes the driver to move a family a few extra blocks to somewhere vaguely safe. I’d similarly threaten him if he tried to drop my family off in a forest, or on the side of a highway, even if that’s what the GPS, God’s Position System, tells them to do.

If your job ends in a way that someone who was your customer is now in danger, you absolutely deserve to be threatened.

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

#469

Post by bscphil »

ghushn3 wrote: post #446
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…

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.

I mean, we're talking about a literal crime here, getting banned from Uber is not an adequate punishment for threatening someone with assault.

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

#470

Post by whoisyc »

nixpulvis wrote: post #237
gavinray wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, I will pay a premium for not having to deal with a human being in the car with me. It's a dice roll: you could get a very extroverted driver who won't leave you alone, or someone who smells bad, or someone rude, or a distracted driver... Just let me sit in peace, alone with a robot.

Isolationism progresses.

1950: cars give you the freedom to go anywhere you want. Artificial fertilizer puts an end to hunger in industrialized world. Yeehaw!

2000: you are a second class citizen who can’t even get a job in many places if you do not have a car. Also the median person is overweight. But here is this new internet thing that lets you get everything you need in life sorted out with no need for human interactions. Yeehaw!

2025: the average person can no longer hold a conversation with a stranger for five seconds without having an anxiety attack. Oops!

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