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Lyft says its revenue is growing nearly 3x faster than Uber’s

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Re: Lyft says its revenue is growing nearly 3x faster than Uber’s

#61

Post by AlexandrB »

I'm not sure what's impressive about growing revenue in an industry that has no obvious economies of scale. This seems like a case of "sure we lose money on every ride, but we'll make it up with volume!"

Looking at it another way, given a huge funding pool (say $10B) a modestly competent company could outpace both Uber and Lyft in revenue growth by the end of the year simply by subsidizing rides even more. The initial skepticism towards ride sharing services is gone and there's little keeping customers and drivers loyal to either Uber or Lyft.

Re: Lyft says its revenue is growing nearly 3x faster than Uber’s

#62

Post by John_KZ »

Certhas wrote: post #50
ferongr wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. Here in Europe in general, Lyft is uknown, but, at least here in Greece, everyone sings the praises of Uber, in comparison to the terrible service normal taxis provide. HN is not only a regional but also an ideological bubble, and it seems to hate companies that are doing well for themselves (except Apple and Musk-affiliated gigs).

You can speak for Europe in general? In my European bubble people are generally aware that Uber is a morally questionable company (without necessary knowing about the details, just a reputation) and some have heard of Lyft, even though it's not available.

This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Uber is banned in Greece, Italy, Finland and a host of other countries. It's also legally banned in London afaik and heavily regulated in a lot of other places.

Actually in Greece 4 drivers have been criminally charged for violating the law by driving for Uber and falsifying documents (as per company instructions).

In the countries of South Europe (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal) in which I have personal experience, although there are some Uber drivers operating illegally or in gray zones, penetration is minimal. You can only get rides in capitals and major cities, and they're not much cheaper.

The main reasons are 2: people hate Uber because they know they're exploiting workers, and taxi drivers have strong unions. Uber IMHO is the only entity that managed to become more hated than taxi drivers.

The reason Uber is banned everywhere can be summed up by the European Court of Justice: Uber needs to stop pretending to be just an app. It's a transport company, and it's using the app as an excuse to operate illegally, bypassing regulations, responsibility and avoiding tax.

Re: Lyft says its revenue is growing nearly 3x faster than Uber’s

#63

Post by mariojv »

unethical_ban wrote: post #16
121789 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally I haven't found this HN-wide negative sentiment of Uber (and narrative of its decline) to be shared anywhere else in the US. My extended family in the southeast and northeast US is familiar with Uber (without using it), but they haven't heard of Lyft. When I lived in Chicago, most of my peers had Lyft, but Uber was the always the first choice. Does anyone else see the same trend? The bay area certainly se…

If ride availability has anything to say about it, there are plenty of Lyft drivers in San Antonio. I say "take a Lyft" or "Lyft there" when I talk rideshare. I don't preach it or say "Uber sucks" but when I am asked, I mention that Uber had a crummy internal HR program, has committed multiple shady business practices, none of which I can remember, but I can remember disliking.

This is anecdotal, but I'm also in San Antonio and have generally had better experiences with rides from Lyft, even without considering the issues you mentioned. Even wait times have been pretty similar for both. I know someone who drove for both Lyft and Uber, and that person only received any sort of in-person training with Lyft.

I do see the appeal with using Uber internationally that others mentioned in this thread, though.

Re: Lyft says its revenue is growing nearly 3x faster than Uber’s

#64

Post by tootie »

praneshp wrote: post #53
tootie wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber has been ridiculously overvalued. They're core offering an app for hailing taxis. There's a dozen copycats that do it exactly as well as Uber. They are #1 by being first to market and establishing a strong brand. Their product is extremely vulnerable.

> There's a dozen copycats that do it exactly as well as Uber Can you name 3?

Lyft, Gett, Juno, Via are the big ones in NYC. Also, Arro lets you have pay for a yellow cab with an app.

Re: Lyft says its revenue is growing nearly 3x faster than Uber’s

#65

Post by richardknop »

praneshp wrote: post #53
tootie wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber has been ridiculously overvalued. They're core offering an app for hailing taxis. There's a dozen copycats that do it exactly as well as Uber. They are #1 by being first to market and establishing a strong brand. Their product is extremely vulnerable.

> There's a dozen copycats that do it exactly as well as Uber Can you name 3?

Disclaimer: I work for Grab

The competition in ride-hailing industry is pretty intense right now actually. You have several big players:

  - Ola (India)
  - Didi (China + Brazil & perhaps Japan soon)
  - Grab (Southeast Asia)
  - Go-Jek (Indonesia, a very populous country with 250 million by the way)
  - Uber (global but has retreated from certain markets already, see Uber/Didi deal in China)
  - Lyft (US/Canada)
  - bunch of startups in Europe but not sure if any of them are big enough to mention

Re: Lyft says its revenue is growing nearly 3x faster than Uber’s

#66

Post by snowwrestler »

121789 wrote: post #12
ravenstine wrote: post #6

I remember when Uber was clearly dominant. That was over a year go. For the past two conferences I've been to, including the one I'm at now(Ember Conf), EVERYONE has been using Lyft. It really is possible for a company to piss off enough people.

Anecdotally I haven't found this HN-wide negative sentiment of Uber (and narrative of its decline) to be shared anywhere else in the US. My extended family in the southeast and northeast US is familiar with Uber (without using it), but they haven't heard of Lyft. When I lived in Chicago, most of my peers had Lyft, but Uber was the always the first choice. Does anyone else see the same trend? The bay area certainly se…

Anecdotally, in DC the typical wait time for my Lyft rides has about doubled over the past year. Since I can't imagine why fewer people would be driving for them, I interpret that as evidence of increased demand for Lyft.

Re: Lyft says its revenue is growing nearly 3x faster than Uber’s

#68

Post by johnfn »

rtpg wrote: post #46
ferongr wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. Here in Europe in general, Lyft is uknown, but, at least here in Greece, everyone sings the praises of Uber, in comparison to the terrible service normal taxis provide. HN is not only a regional but also an ideological bubble, and it seems to hate companies that are doing well for themselves (except Apple and Musk-affiliated gigs).

Why do you think HN hates companies that are doing well for themselves? Doing this is way more exhausting than cheering them on (see SpaceX, people have fun in those posts). "Oh this company is doing well and I'm jealous"? Seriously don't know how that's enough. There's a slightly less nefarious interpretation which is that people have different values, and disagreement happens. So many people are extremely happy to…

Are you sure about your first assertion? It is well known that HN is gratuitously negative about everything. SpaceX is the exception, rather than the rule - and you'd be hard pressed to find another company with quite such a positive reputation on HN.

Re: Lyft says its revenue is growing nearly 3x faster than Uber’s

#69

Post by ethbro »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #52
zukzuk wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incidentally, my experience with Lyft here in Canada has been pretty dismal. On average pretty terrible drivers. I have a feeling Lyft is getting all the Uber rejects. If that's the case, this is going to derail Lyft's Canadian debut pretty badly. I wonder if this is a common problem when they come into an Uber-dominated market.

I've seen these anecdotes one way or the other (pro/anti Uber/Lyft/whatever) and I think they're all pretty useless when trying to extrapolate to the broader population. One thing that is abundantly clear, at least in the US city where I live, is that Uber and Lyft are pushing hard for the same pool of drivers; many drivers drive for multiple ride share services. I'm extremely skeptical of "one company's drivers are…

> many drivers drive for multiple ride share services

This has absolutely been my experience in a city where both have operated for awhile. Things may be different in cities where one service is newer.

Drivers may express a preference for one or the other, but ultimately they drive for whichever one earns them more income at a given time of day.

Re: Lyft says its revenue is growing nearly 3x faster than Uber’s

#70

Post by ethbro »

misun78 wrote: post #58
nothrabannosir wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and [HN] seems to hate companies that are doing well for themselves Well, that— and , maybe, a pinch of Company-wide culture of sexual harassment.

Also source required where the number of sexual harassment cases at Uber > the number at a comparatively sized company. Otherwise you are just going off of who gets the most publicity in the media.

I believe it's less the number of claims (though from all the stories, I'd give them 50-50 on being an outlier) and more the seniority of the claims.

If a large org has junior employees harassing other employees, that's bad.

If the CEO and executive level is actively participating in and covering for same, that's organizational policy.

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