Rideshare services - Uber, Lyft, Hailo, etc.

Ride sharing used to be cool. It used to be just drunk millennials all the time. But now it's just old smelly people who just want to save a few bucks.

and children

drunk children

who want to save a few bucks

their whole thing was "why can't I hail a cab w my phone"
um

i'm with Οὖτις, idgi

suspect there's subtle racism behind it

(flees thread)

is über just for rich ppl who don't want middle eastern cabbies or is my impression off?

― k3vin k., Sunday, November 23, 2014 8:57 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm with Οὖτις, idgi

suspect there's subtle racism behind it

(flees thread)

― a but (brimstead), Friday, March 10, 2017

if you live in suburban Miami and want to drink, Uber was a joy. Cabs don't simply drive around or show up when you phone. It's that simple.

it might be cheaper than a cab, because of vc support? (i dunno, i've never used it). and i think there's also a trendiness because uber was maybe first with the app? but . . . yeah

big city snobbery going on here. Many parts of western Miami-Dade County have condo developments and no SIDEWALKS.

I've switched to Lyft in the last couple weeks, but for two years the relief Uber brought was incalculable.

Uber makes travel effortless for me if i don't drive the trip

Yeah, anyone who doesn't "get" the massive success of these services is living in a city with decent public transport and/or cab services. This shit has made things significantly easier and safer for me and everyone I know. No more calling a cab and maybe they'll be there in 15 minutes, or 45, or maybe not at all. Or they'll straight up just ask you how much you're going to pay them before they take you to your destination knowing you're desperate. I get the gross capitalistic shark tank this all is, but the system in some cities needed a kick in the ass.

Like knowing i can go to a strange town and not have to figure out their local cabs and reliably get a cheap ride has made me travel three times as much

its 'massive success' is only because unsustainably low costs are being propped up by venture capital. it has never made anything close to a profit, nor does it have a clear path to making one in the future. its only hopes are a) driverless cars or b) driving every other form of transportation out of business

neither is likely to happen soon. and yeah, taxi cabs are a total racket, but the fact is that personal transportation is fucking expensive. stop drinking and buy a car, you'll do fine. if you can't manage either then you're stuck

In Melbourne this has caused a big shitstorm because the taxi companies here had a weird monopoly semi-supported by state government, that involved a taxi plate (badge? Im not sure the proper term) being something of an investment for a driver. So they'd pay maybe $100k - but a lot more in recent years for complex reasons - to own one and be able to drive cabs/hire subdrivers.

Now the govt have conceded to Uber and said "ok we'll let you operate in our city but we have to compensate taxi plate owners". Except the payback ceiling is only $100k I think, and a lot of drivers are furious because they claim this was basically their retirement fund and it is being taken from them.

I'm struggling to find sympathy, as I see it as an investment like stock, but I prob dont know enough.

"stop drinking and buy a car"

Awesome, excellent advice. Problem solved.

oh, i've done neither. i'm just saying that uber isn't likely to be a long-term solution

its 'massive success' is only because unsustainably low costs are being propped up by venture capital

This is something I only discovered recently and this is pretty key. The dotcom crash happened for shit like this. Have techbros learned nothing?

I at least see it as something to kickstart a change in a system that's total fucking garbage in a lot of cities. I'm not championing how they operate, but having things like ordering a car on an app and seeing their ETA are enough for me. I guess some cabs are doing that now, but not here.

xp

tbh cab companies here have had apps for some years but yeah I see the diff is big city v towns

I mean Baltimore isn't necessarily a small town, but...

If there's a functional alternative here, anyone, let me know.

heh https://danielcompton.net/2017/03/14/uber-bombshell

below a surge factor of ~1.5 uber is significantly cheaper here (montreal), there's also no alternative (Lyft or Juno) here yet, so I use cabs when uber is over 1.5, which is about half the time.

so is there any way Levandowski could be facing criminal charges? What a dumb mess to get yourself into, if all that stuff in the filing is true.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7DfFtXV0AAlhsN.jpg

i worked at a call centre for a bank when i was younger and literally anything under 5 stars in all the categories that you were asked about was basically a blemish on your record and reduced your bonus

if you were getting 3 stars or whatevs consistently you would be fired

i never got an uber driver that was less than a 4, but almost always aimed for a 5

yeah once I learned there was a threshold they couldn't fall below I gave all 5s. only person I gave a 4 was a dude who called another driver a "bitch" loudly

Oops

https://twitter.com/NickMiller510/status/843880062197800961

SF Biz Times reporting that Uber pulling out of Oakland, will only house 200-300 workers, instead of proposed 3,000

Further from him:

Fewer than 10 percent of Uber's 3,650 employees will move to Oakland when Uptown HQ opens....BART board planned to hear proposal on special station under Uber HQ on April 13 ... wonder if that's now off?

It had better be off.

also the #2 quit yesterday

https://twitter.com/Kantrowitz/status/845654077904084994

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7xdq4ZVUAA_yeR.jpg:large

Freefall

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8ByUW_UwAA_zhv.jpg:small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8ByUXAVsAAS1mk.jpg:small

excuse me while i puke up my entire body

what fresh hell is this

everyone namedrops Lyft on twitter now

jewbers wtf

I don't understand what 'Uberettos' is trying to mean

ya

is it like ghettos? but what wld the other one mean?

it sounds a little like a chuck tingle tweet

this?

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=uber%20jewber

Uber closes down in Denmark, due to a law put forth by our ultra-libertarian transport minister. I'm not entirely sure I understand why, but there's a lot of schadenfreude going around.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Suicide-of-an-Uber-engineer-widow-blames-job-11095807.php

https://www.buzzfeed.com/priya/drivers-in-nyc-feel-cheated-by-juno-which-promised-to-save?utm_term=.hbRv661X6#.lmqKoomRo

tht's a shitty story about the guy who killed himself, but that probably could have happened at any number of companies in the bay area these days. being trapped by your pay is a pretty common feeling.

and it sounds like a lot of money but factor in a house and a family and it's really not.

https://www.recode.net/2017/5/1/15498026/uber-travis-kalanick-arianna-huffington-code-conference
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/01/uber-pittsburgh-city-mayors-237772

couldn't be happening to a nicer bunch of lads

this gonna be good https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/technology/uber-waymo-judge-denies-arbitration.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share