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Announcing UberPool

blog.uber.com

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Re: Announcing UberPool

#91

Post by mynameisvlad »

madeofpalk wrote: post #8
necubi wrote: post #4

Sounds very similar to Hitch[0] which launched a couple of months ago in SF. It sounds very useful for long, expensive trips (e.g., cross bay, down to south bay) where the fixed cost of picking up or dropping off another passenger is a smaller factor. On an unrelated note, how is the form at the bottom supposed to update you when UberPool is in your area? Area codes are going to be inaccurate for anybody who's moved…

Also seeing as Uber is such an international country (159 cities in 43 countries), I was disappointed at the complete lack of i18n in the article.

It's their blog. They're a US-based company primarily (although not exclusively) focused on US consumers. You can expect that to result in English blog posts, just as you might expect a French company dealing with some France-only consumers to post in French.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#92

Post by madeofpalk »

mynameisvlad wrote: post #91
madeofpalk wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also seeing as Uber is such an international country (159 cities in 43 countries), I was disappointed at the complete lack of i18n in the article.

It's their blog. They're a US-based company primarily (although not exclusively) focused on US consumers. You can expect that to result in English blog posts, just as you might expect a French company dealing with some France-only consumers to post in French.

Sorry, my bad. When I said i18n, I didn't mean I expected them to post in other languages, but I expected them to mention geographical availabilities and what not.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#93

Post by empressplay »

ladon86 wrote: post #71
jbarham wrote: post #67

Every time I read about Uber I wonder who the target market is. Then I remember that as a father of three young boys our car has three car-seats in the back row, a CD in the CD player and more in the glovebox to keep the boys quiet, snacks in the center console to placate them when they're hungry, and a stroller in the trunk. And then I realize that Uber is made by and for young, single, childless people with lots of…

And soon everyone else who doesn't have young kids, and then ultimately you: riding in the back of a far safer self-driving car. You will be able to give your full attention to your children instead of having them distract you from the road. In the future it might seem downright irresponsible to drive your children yourself. Sure you'll drive for fun sometimes, but not with the kids in the back.

Despite your safety argument, couples with young children will be by far the last consumers to use self-driving cars.

Parents do plenty of horribly "unsafe" things with their kids, but the point is _they_ do them -- they aren't going to pass the responsibility for their children's lives on to a computer willingly. Heck, I've known people who refused to take their children on driverless trains, they sure won't put them into a driverless car.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#94

Post by netcan »

This is interesting. It's potentially a bridge into "mass" transit.

Sam Altman's insight about his own (high end) car use and the potential cost of replacing it completely with Uber is one legitimate example of how they could expand beyond of the taxi market. I don't think it's impossible for uber to have a few hundred or thousand core users in major cities that spend $10,000 per year on Uber. That only really applies to a small group of wealthy individuals.

But, the real big markets are usually nearer the bottom of the pyramid.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#96

Post by icebraining »

mdorazio wrote: post #59
joelgrus wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am starting a new job soon about 3 miles from my apartment, which is a little too far to walk. (I can walk that far, but I don't really want an hour-each-way commute.) One thing I've been considering is using Uber / Lyft, but it's a lot of money over the course of a year. At 40% cheaper it looks a lot more attractive, though. And sharing a car with another rider isn't any worse than sharing it with the driver! :)

Is there a reason you don't want to just bike? Seems like the perfect distance for it, and it's free after the initial investment of a couple hundred dollars.

(...) the initial investment of a couple hundred dollars

And learning to ride it :)

Re: Announcing UberPool

#97

Post by pyvpx »

stbtrax wrote: post #89
soheil wrote: post #75

Almost in every single other country this has always been the way to ride a taxi. "This is also a bold social experiment." come on! They're making it sound like they discovered nuclear fusion.

How do people organize cab shares in other countries?

"are you going in the same direction? would you like to split cab fare?" is usually how it goes, depending on the local dialect.

Re: Announcing UberPool

#100

Post by Dewie »

downandout wrote: post #44
andrewmunsell wrote: post #14

I'm a periodic Uber user and tend to use it later when public transit isn't running. This would be interesting, and if cheap enough, could be more convenient than waiting for a bus if you're in an area where they don't run frequently and it's storming, extremely hot, you don't want to wait around. I also just tried out Car2Go which costed me ~$15. The same trip from Uber, albiet at a different time of day, costs $9-1…

Are Uber users this price conscious though? I think their core user base skews to a higher net worth, and aren't going to be the kinds of people that want to share a car with another person. The only thing they'll know about the person they are sharing with going in is that they are too cheap to take their own Uber ride. This just doesn't sound like it will work with their core user base. Maybe they are trying to exp…

> The only thing they'll know about the person they are sharing with going in is that they are too cheap to take their own Uber ride.

Oh the horror.

I don't know if higher net-worth necessarily means that there aren't a good amount of those that are mindful of their spending (or cheap).

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