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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

#751

Post by JumpCrisscross »

tacocataco wrote: post #451
jgerrish wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> the word you were searching for is leasing the vehicle

Car leasing tends to be time based. A self-driving car may depreciate more like an airplane, based on miles driven.

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

#753

Post by sitkack »

bgwalter wrote: post #639
harmmonica wrote: post #137

As a Waymo-booster on HN for a while now, here's my latest anecdote. I tried to figure out how to take Waymo to LAX even though it's not actually in their territory yet just because I value the experience so much. I was borderline going to take it within walking distance (about half a mile), but got lazy at the last minute. I took Lyft instead, and, as if the universe cursed my laziness, I booked a "comfort" car for…

Before Uber and Lyft destroyed the functioning taxi market, you got Mercedes by default for a traditional, regulated taxi in many EU countries. You didn't have to argue, interact with a surveillance company, interact with customer service etc. All you needed to do is pick up the phone and get a luxury ride without tracking or surveillance.

Uber and Lyft priced out those needless amenities and transferred into their profit margin. If customers has properly priced those in, the market would see that they are retained. Efficien-en-en-ent!

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

#754

Post by jonny_eh »

alistairSH wrote: post #713
jonny_eh wrote: post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber lets you enable a PIN for each ride. The driver can't say they picked you up until they punch in the random 4 digit PIN the app gave you for the ride.

I don’t know why they don’t require it. Every Uber in Porto Rico uses the PIN but I’ve only had one in the mainland USA ask for it.

You need to enable it on your account.

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

#755

Post by thanatosmin »

harmmonica wrote: post #137

As a Waymo-booster on HN for a while now, here's my latest anecdote. I tried to figure out how to take Waymo to LAX even though it's not actually in their territory yet just because I value the experience so much. I was borderline going to take it within walking distance (about half a mile), but got lazy at the last minute. I took Lyft instead, and, as if the universe cursed my laziness, I booked a "comfort" car for…

Tip: You can take Waymo to just outside the economy lot, then hop on the shuttle to the terminals. The shuttles have their own dedicated lane for going around the loop, so this isn't even that much more time. It's my new favorite way to get to LAX.

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

#756

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

r053bud wrote: post #740
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #649

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh. Just as another point. I mentioned the story to another friend, who used to be a cabbie, and he said "Oh, that was a gypsy cab robbery. Classic." Apparently, the way that it works, is that the cab takes you to a bad neighborhood, then tells you to get out, unless you pay. If my friend had tried getting physical, he would have been staring into the muzzle of a .38, so the talk of physical threats was likely bulls…

This is the second time your story is changing.

Yup.

New information, new story. If I'm wrong, I promptly admit it. I'm weird, that way, apparently. I guess what I'm supposed to do, is refuse to admit fault, to the end. Sorry to spoil the fun. I didn't know the rules.

Funny how none of the worldly cynics, here, figured that out (I didn't, and I thought I was worldly and cynical). When I mentioned it to my cabbie friend, he popped it out instantly. It's a well-known issue, around here. The local airports and train stations have posters about it. I admit that I've seen the posters, but they didn't register, when I first heard the story. It seems the same folks have figured out how to ply their trade with modern ride-hailing apps.

Have a great day!

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

#757

Post by perfectstorm »

harmmonica wrote: post #137

As a Waymo-booster on HN for a while now, here's my latest anecdote. I tried to figure out how to take Waymo to LAX even though it's not actually in their territory yet just because I value the experience so much. I was borderline going to take it within walking distance (about half a mile), but got lazy at the last minute. I took Lyft instead, and, as if the universe cursed my laziness, I booked a "comfort" car for…

another anecdote taking Lyft - they showed me $10.76 price for a trip to the airport when Uber showed $21. obviously i called Lyft and they placed a temporary charge on my credit card for $10.76. Once the driver dropped me off, i noticed that the base charge jumped to $16.76 + airport fees and my total with tips came to a bit over $27. I contacted Lyft and they denied and claimed that they always showed me $16.76. smh. i have proof from my credit card that they placed a hold for $10.76 and yet they refused to adjust the price.

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

#758

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

bena wrote: post #737
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #697

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The confusion around getting the address wrong is an interesting tell. If you think you’re not likely to make that mistake, anyway. It’s also a bit late to realize at that point since you’re already in the bad area. But it reminds me of tech support scams which usually have an element of convincing the victim that they made a mistake.

Yeah, but the route is on your phone as well. The driver cannot deviate from that course without you knowing.

Unless they cancel the ride, and you ignore the notification.

I was talking to someone recently, and they were telling me about how they got a (Lyft, I think) ride from the airport (JFK), and the driver picked them up, and said that the ride had been canceled (as they got into the car), but that for $20, he'd take them where they were going (I assume the ride was less than $20).

Apparently, this is fairly common. There's been a couple of articles about how the Uber and Lyft drivers around JFK and LaGuardia have learned to game the system. They can also conspire to drive up the pricing.

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

#759

Post by ProllyInfamous »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #139
greybox wrote: post #107

This doesn't surprise me at all. I work in the EU but recently the Americans we hire are very hesitant to have conversations with service providers. They will pay more to use a service that has an app, rather than call up another taxi company by phone for example (and it's not a language barrier problem, because everyone speaks english). I can see this extending to not wanting to have a driver in their taxi. I see th…

Years ago when I worked in the food industry, customers would voluntarily pay 20% more for the entire meal just to use the doordash app instead of calling us up. We informed repeat customers that they pay a premium to use 3rd party apps - they just kept using them anyway.

For the first time in my several decades, I live in walking distance to amenities (e.g. bank, hardware store, local & fast -foods).

Literally across the street from my neighborhood is among "the best local pizzarias," and I'll still offer to pay for the entire order if somebody else orders / picks-up ("tip them well" I'll usually suggest). I just don't want to talk on the phone (and don't use apps).

...Americuhly, the usual neighbor still drives (it's like 1000m, round-trip).

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

#760

Post by radlad »

stahtops wrote: post #520
rfurmani wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had a couple bad experiences with Lyft recently, including one time the driver must have clicked that they picked me up while a block away, because I could see the lyft driving to the destination without me. I tried to get a refund since I was obviously waiting my start location the whole time, but the system claimed the drive went from start to finish (even though I wasn't in the car), so no refund.

I waited 40 minutes for a Lyft at an airport because the driver made up a story about an accident and traffic, in the airport . No one else seemed to be affected by this traffic- so eventually I tried booking an Uber. It arrived 3 minutes later. 20 minutes after that the Lyft driver keeps texting me “where are you?!”. Their turn to wait! Saw later they just started the ride without me and drove to my hotel. Lyft said…

On Uber I paid for priority pickup and watched as a driver drove within two blocks of my home and then sat in a neighborhood for 10 minutes. I finally message "Everything OK?" and get no reply but they finish their journey to my place.

The car reeked of weed.

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