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The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone

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Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone

#51

Post by slau »

legitster wrote: post #33
twiss wrote: post #3

> I arrived in Lyon recently and figured, hey, this is Europe, why not try the European app again, and used Bolt. A bit off topic but IMHO your first thought should instead be: "hey, this is Europe, why not try the train?" In Lyon, the train from the airport to the city takes half an hour, same as a car. My guess is that you'll have a vastly better experience than taking the train in North America, and also a better…

Depending on where you are going, ridesharing provides much better point to point service. Also, if you are not familiar with a city or it's language, sometimes trying to understand the public transit on your first day can be a nightmare. I love taking public transit, but also, after a really long flight I can understand not wanting to think really hard about getting to the hotel.

Apple Maps, Google Maps, and I’m sure anything else under the sun will tell you specifically which train to take, in which direction. Usually, also with platform information, and in some cases even pricing/ticketing information.

Yes, traveling is a skill. It gets easier (and more comfortable) the more you practice it.

Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone

#52

Post by twiss »

pclowes wrote: post #35
twiss wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting to claim that tourism in Europe won't be "durable" at a moment when tourism in the US is sharply declining.. Anyway, Booking.com is a European company and has many more customers than AirBnB.

I don't understand what you are trying to claim. 1. Booking.com is owned by Booking Holdings which is an American parent company. 2. US GDP growth has been massively outperforming the EU since 2008. I am saying tourism is not something governments should want to heavily optimize an economy for. No amount of taking money from people on vacation will translate into building a more competitive or innovative economy.

Apparently Priceline.com Inc. took over Booking.com (founded in the Netherlands) for € 110 million, and then changed its name to Booking Holdings to reflect the fact that Booking.com was much bigger than Priceline.com. Indeed a great example of "American innovation" :)

Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone

#53

Post by stickfigure »

socalgal2 wrote: post #45
pclowes wrote: post #12

Sadly I have encountered this on multiple different kinds of European tech platforms. There is some deep cultural disconnect on understanding how/why American tech companies are successful. Most often they seem to ape most of major US tech platforms functionality but critically somehow miss the "make something people want" and instead make something that: - Sort of works? Has all the major screens but the whole exper…

I know this is an anecdote but I was curious if Europeans can tell me if this is a one-off experience or if there is something more to do this. I was booked to catch a DBS train from Brussels to Berlin at 9:45 am. I get to the station at 9:25 looking for the train, can't find it. I go to the counter and get told the train came early at 9:15 then "Not my fault" (the first words out of the DBS attendant's mouth"). I go…

Wat? Trains departing early? How does that happen? Seems easy to fix, you just need a clock...

Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone

#54

Post by ghaff »

rawgabbit wrote: post #43
dontlaugh wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like a huge amount of luggage for just two weeks.

My wife does not pack light either. She loves giant suitcases. It is always an argument that I rather bring four carry on size suitcases so I can manhandle them up the many stairs in Europe. Instead of two jumbo suitcases.

That's still a fair bit of luggage, however subdivided. Can't always be avoided but still hard to navigate on trains, etc.

Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone

#55

Post by comrade1234 »

socalgal2 wrote: post #45
pclowes wrote: post #12

Sadly I have encountered this on multiple different kinds of European tech platforms. There is some deep cultural disconnect on understanding how/why American tech companies are successful. Most often they seem to ape most of major US tech platforms functionality but critically somehow miss the "make something people want" and instead make something that: - Sort of works? Has all the major screens but the whole exper…

I know this is an anecdote but I was curious if Europeans can tell me if this is a one-off experience or if there is something more to do this. I was booked to catch a DBS train from Brussels to Berlin at 9:45 am. I get to the station at 9:25 looking for the train, can't find it. I go to the counter and get told the train came early at 9:15 then "Not my fault" (the first words out of the DBS attendant's mouth"). I go…

No I've never heard that. I'm an American living in Europe for 20 years. For Swissair you're more likely to hear "it's your fault" because Americans don't understand some concepts that are normal here, like reserving your seat , or, nor swissair related, wire transferring your chalet fee bank-to-bank rather than going through a third-party like Airbnb.

Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone

#56

Post by twiss »

socalgal2 wrote: post #45
pclowes wrote: post #12

Sadly I have encountered this on multiple different kinds of European tech platforms. There is some deep cultural disconnect on understanding how/why American tech companies are successful. Most often they seem to ape most of major US tech platforms functionality but critically somehow miss the "make something people want" and instead make something that: - Sort of works? Has all the major screens but the whole exper…

I know this is an anecdote but I was curious if Europeans can tell me if this is a one-off experience or if there is something more to do this. I was booked to catch a DBS train from Brussels to Berlin at 9:45 am. I get to the station at 9:25 looking for the train, can't find it. I go to the counter and get told the train came early at 9:15 then "Not my fault" (the first words out of the DBS attendant's mouth"). I go…

I think there is some cultural difference between the US and Europe where in the US it's seen as somewhat OK to hold the customer service agents as personally responsible for the failings of the company, and treat them accordingly. Customer service agents in Europe dealing with Americans may feel the need to point out that they're not personally responsible for fear of said treatment. That (hopefully) doesn't mean that they won't try to help you, just that they hope you won't be angry at them personally.

It may sometimes be useful to verbalize this explicitly by saying "I know you're not responsible for this, but can you please do XYZ to solve the issue", and if it's a reasonable request I assume they'd be happy to comply. Depending on the country and culture, you may also need to be slightly more direct in asking (nicely!) for what you want, rather than hoping that the customer service rep will "make it right" by guessing what you want. You may perceive that as bad service but I think it's mainly about differing communication styles.

Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone

#57

Post by pclowes »

twiss wrote: post #3

> I arrived in Lyon recently and figured, hey, this is Europe, why not try the European app again, and used Bolt. A bit off topic but IMHO your first thought should instead be: "hey, this is Europe, why not try the train?" In Lyon, the train from the airport to the city takes half an hour, same as a car. My guess is that you'll have a vastly better experience than taking the train in North America, and also a better…

In most major European cities I have been in the airport to train connection is pretty subpar unless traveling light.

There is typically no integration of the airport baggage handling with the train baggage handling. So you need to move everything with carts that you can't take on the train.

An international trip to Europe for a longer duration is also a significant trip and not something you want to "one bag". Add in jet lag, multiple young kids, car seats, stroller etc. and it quickly becomes easy to see why the train is cumbersome for the initial airport to lodging connection.

Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone

#58

Post by legitster »

twiss wrote: post #42
legitster wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apples and Oranges. Booking.com is an aggregator. Also, Booking.com is unbelievably exploitative and rife with dark patterns.

How so? At least Booking.com shows me the total price for an accommodation up front, without any additional fees or surprises coming up later in the booking process. The same cannot be said for AirBnB: if I go to the home page right now it lists a bunch of bookings for e.g. "€ 80 for 2 nights", while when I click through the total price is €160. So apparently what they meant is "€80 per night". I'd call that much mor…

Bookings.com runs some incredibly evil tactics. Generally they take about 20% of the booking fees. But they will do things like delist you if you have lower prices anywhere else, and then undercut your prices on their website.

My parents ran a small motel - the only hotel for miles around. But on top of the fees, if they weren't paying for additional promotions Booking would find unrelated distant hotels even when searching in the area. People would sometimes mistakenly book for a motel states away.

Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone

#59

Post by ghaff »

pclowes wrote: post #57
twiss wrote: post #3

> I arrived in Lyon recently and figured, hey, this is Europe, why not try the European app again, and used Bolt. A bit off topic but IMHO your first thought should instead be: "hey, this is Europe, why not try the train?" In Lyon, the train from the airport to the city takes half an hour, same as a car. My guess is that you'll have a vastly better experience than taking the train in North America, and also a better…

In most major European cities I have been in the airport to train connection is pretty subpar unless traveling light. There is typically no integration of the airport baggage handling with the train baggage handling. So you need to move everything with carts that you can't take on the train. An international trip to Europe for a longer duration is also a significant trip and not something you want to "one bag". Add i…

I assume young kids, car seats, etc. change the equation. As an adult doing basically urban travel, a few weeks with carryon is perfectly doable in my experience,

Re: The special hell of Bolt, Europe's Uber clone

#60

Post by deepspace »

devilbunny wrote: post #24
twiss wrote: post #3

> I arrived in Lyon recently and figured, hey, this is Europe, why not try the European app again, and used Bolt. A bit off topic but IMHO your first thought should instead be: "hey, this is Europe, why not try the train?" In Lyon, the train from the airport to the city takes half an hour, same as a car. My guess is that you'll have a vastly better experience than taking the train in North America, and also a better…

> "hey, this is Europe, why not try the train?" I have two people and four items of luggage plus a personal bag each. City trains are poor for this and subways are worse, but I am here for two weeks - I do need clean clothes.

> two people and four items of luggage plus a personal bag each

Well, there's you problem. I have traveled the world, including many trips of 6 weeks or more, with only a single. carry-on. Laundromats exist everywhere.

Snark aside, a bit of planning and organization w.r.t. packing pays off handsomely in terms of flexibility when traveling.

Spontaneous weekend trip to a remote island when carrying only a backpack - sure. Add two heavy suitcases, and it becomes an impossibility.

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