patrick.net

Plan to put more women behind the wheel?

What could possibly go wrong

What about their push toward driverless cars?

Also, I hate getting female uber drivers because they almost always make you sit in the back. Most guys are cool about letting you sit up front. I understand the logic, but it still creates a mediocre experience.

Why should women get special treatment? What does Uber do about its drivers going to bad neighborhoods? That's what they should do for all their drivers' safety.

To single out either gender and promote special treatment for them alone is pure sexism.

I don't know about special treatment; I'm not familiar with their safety policies. Uber can't control whether it's drivers go to bad neighborhoods. They state that they have to pick up a certain percentage of the fares that request a ride, but drivers can easily turn off their phone if they happen to be driving by a bad neighborhood.

Some uber drivers just hang out at the airport and turn off the phone after dropping off the customer to avoid having to pick anyone up.

Comments from Bill Gurley, VC for Benchmark Capital regarding Uber

http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/15/technology/uber-bill-gurley-sxsw/

Bill Gurley schools NYU Finance Professor

http://pando.com/2014/07/11/bill-gurley-schools-nyu-professor-uber-will-be-25x-bigger-than-you-think/

Combining the two links above:

"With the average annual cost of car ownership in America coming in a whopping $9,000 per year...."

"I hear parents frustrated that their kids won't get their drivers licenses."

The first excerpt seems to explain the second. Beginning in the 1970s, mandating automobile insurance helped Warren Buffett (Geico, BRK) become the richest person in the world, but it also turned young people off the car ownership treadmill.

Gurley was also asked his thoughts about areas ripe for disruption. There's health care, he said, but it faces significant challenges: "The market is so distorted that you're hesitant to even bet on a good product."

IOW, mandating medical insurance has distorted the market so badly that good products can't get investment.

MMR says

Some uber drivers just hang out at the airport and turn off the phone after dropping off the customer to avoid having to pick anyone up.

Who wouldn't do that? I'm specifically referring to the part about turning off the phone after dropping off someone in a bad neighborhood.

anonymous says

Uber wants to put 1 million women worldwide at the wheel.

And what are their plans for Asian drivers?

Call it Crazy says

Maybe the Asians aren't desperate enough to sign up as an Uber driver like the Americans?

Probably a good thing?

http://www.youtube.com/embed/JYep2-vV3rE

Current business model of Uber needs to be refined before it can be sustainable. Meanwhile, there will be many wannabes like Ztrip, is still early whether Uber will one-day becomes Dell (at their peak glory) or just one of those PC makers (Compaq, Atari, Commodore, ...). The good thing Uber brought to consumers is disrupting the entire public transportation business model.

hanera says

...many wannabes....disrupting the entire public transportation business model.

Service agreements could enable Uber to become the amazon.com of transportation. For example, local and theme car services could contract with Uber for billing and peak overflow. Public transit agencies could contract with Uber for off peak hours. There is no intrinsic need for every small car service to develop its own back office infrastructure, and there is no need to operate a large public transit vehicle with only one or two passengers on board.

anonymous says

Uber's business practices in key markets such as Maryland,

I didn't know uber had much of a presence in the Baltimore area....I was there for 6 weeks in August and tried to hail an uber in Towson on 4 different occasions and had difficulty getting a ride, so I gave up. But there are a ton of taxis in Baltimore and they have a hard time accepting a credit card.

curious2,

I understand the potential of Uber, but am not sure whether Uber is the ONE :). Usually the first one is not the ONE.

This is so silly. Uber is a few more crimes away from disappearing - or a big insurance claim away from disappearing.

What do you think Allstate and State Farm are going to do when an Uber Driver causes a massive 10-car pile up with fatalities and permanent injuries? Pay millions out because the Uber Driver Joe Blow had a $150/month, typical non-commercial car insurance coverage on their 2008 Altima? Hell no.

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/28550186/more-uber-cars-on-nyc-streets-than-yellow-cabs
More Uber cars on NYC streets than yellow cabs

NEW YORK (MYFOXNY) - Uber has officially outdone the New York City yellow cab.

There are now more Uber vehicles operating on the streets of the Big Apple than yellow cabs, according to the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

The company has 14,088 cars compared to 13, 587 medallion cabs.

Part of the four-year-old company's success can be attributed to higher pay for its drivers.

Uber drivers make about twice what a yellow cab driver does in NYC.

Uber has also done a good job at luring drivers away from behind the wheel of yellow cabs.

There are no fare beaters among Uber passengers as customers must pay their fare in advance.

The TLC says it has concerns over Uber's methodology including that it does not pay surcharges to the MTA and that the vehicles are adding to the congestion in Manhattan.

My 2013 passat has hands free, voice control a/o can answer with the push of a button on the steering wheel

A hell of a lot less dangerous then all the morons i see with their shitty pets crawling all over their car, or the fat ass eatimg while driving, and infinitely less dangerous then people driving while tired.

The only true difference with uber is theyre skirting the 300k of yearly economic rent cab drivers pay to have the state promise to enforce their right to monopoly

zzyzzx says

Isn't that what hands free devices are for?

I believe current research is showing two things:

1) Hands-free devices aren't safer than holding the phone
2) Making a phone call isn't as dangerous as thought

This leads another conclusion, which I have long believed: listening to a fusion-powered chatterbox in the passenger seat makes the driver a less safe driver. Same for trying to carry on a conversation. It isn't the phones; it's the conversations.

HydroCabron says

This leads another conclusion, which I have long believed: listening to a fusion-powered chatterbox in the passenger seat makes the driver a less safe driver. Same for trying to carry on a conversation. It isn't the phones; it's the conversations.

So then it's no more distracting than a regular cab that uses a 2 way radio to it's main office, correct?

Uber ride-sharing banned - again - in Germany

Uber's ride-sharing service has been banned throughout Germany for the second time in less than a year.

The injunction imposed at Frankfurt regional court prevents Uber from offering its ride-sharing service UberPop, reports Jeevan Vasagar in Berlin.

Uber faces fines of up to €250,000 each time it operates the service in violation of the ban.

The case was brought by Taxi Deutschland, a lobby group which represents taxi businesses.

In Germany, taxi drivers are subject to extensive regulations including health checks, fixed fares and liability insurance, which taxi companies say is around eight times more expensive than a standard private driver's insurance.

An emergency injunction banning UberPop was imposed in Germany last September, but the injunction was overturned on technical grounds later that month.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/535886/data-mining-reveals-when-a-yellow-taxi-is-cheaper-than-uber/

Data Mining Reveals When a Yellow Taxi Is Cheaper Than Uber

HydroCabron says

2) Making a phone call isn't as dangerous as thought

Your posts must be similiar to your conversations.

zzyzzx says

So then it's no more distracting than a regular cab that uses a 2 way radio to it's main office, correct?

That's my sense of it, unless the driver is fixated on some GUI, swiping back and forth across the screen.

Also: some of the worst drivers you'll see on the road are behind the wheel of a cab.

Call it Crazy says

Uber is also facing claims by drivers who say they were illegally classified as independent contractors. A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday rejected the company’s bid to dismiss one of the suits, saying it should be decided by a jury. A ruling against Uber could force it to pay Social Security and workers' compensation and reimburse drivers for gas and auto insurance, dramatically altering its business model.

That's a great angle as well - their employment status.

There's a reason hackney drivers are licensed and have been for centuries, and why localities don't let anybody start driving people around. There's this idea that one day, some bored bureaucrat or politicians said, "I'm bored. I need to regulate some activity for fun. How about Post and Chaise drivers? Yes, Willoughby, let us draft some regulations lest we succumb to ennui."

There's also mentality involved: A Licensed Operator knows he's "In the System 100%", and generally avoids fighting customers and put up with whiny or trifling bullshit from them. An Uber Driver more often thinks they are just picking up passengers as a Free Citizen and as such are more likely to start fights over money and passenger attitude problems.

When you have rude treatment or worse from a cab driver, you go right to the PD with their cab number, and regulatory - not just corporate - events go into motion. Taxi Drivers don't want a bad record and don't want to pay civil fines. How about Uber?

thunderlips11 says

When you have rude treatment or worse from a cab driver, you go right to the PD with their cab number, and regulatory - not just corporate - events go into motion. Taxi Drivers don't want a bad record and don't want to pay civil fines. How about Uber?

Which city is that in?

Sowll says a license in NY is 500k. Crony Capitalism.

It's obvious that most of you commenting have never used Uber. It's great to have this as one of the options. I've canceled an Uber ride in favor of a taxi, but I have also taken an Uber ride because there were no taxis around. Also, no money changes hands. If anyone is going to argue over price, they need to do that with Uber, not the driver, thunderlips. I also know three Uber, Sidecar, Lyft drivers. The number one complaint is roofied and drunk AND extremely racist passengers. But most of their passengers are amazing.

thunderlips11 says

This is so silly. Uber is a few more crimes away from disappearing - or a big insurance claim away from disappearing.

What do you think Allstate and State Farm are going to do when an Uber Driver causes a massive 10-car pile up with fatalities and permanent injuries? Pay millions out because the Uber Driver Joe Blow had a $150/month, typical non-commercial car insurance coverage on their 2008 Altima? Hell no.

I'm pretty sure their drivers signed away any rights to anything, and are solely responsible for their driving and their car.

curious2 said: Public transit agencies could contract with Uber for off peak hours.
Did you catch this article in today's Chronicle? How about "peak hour" expresses? Looks like a couple of companies are making a go of it.
Chariot’s new feature, Roll with Chariot, allows riders, in a way, to create their own transit routes... On the left side of the curve is Muni, he explained: Low dollar, high time commitment, fixed route. On the other side, Uber and services like it, which are pricier — especially during commute-time fare surges — but faster and don’t follow a set route.
He shaded in his target market, the middle.
“We’re creating the best fit route,” Vahabzadeh said.

EBGuy says

Did you catch this article in today's Chronicle?

I hadn't seen that, so thanks for the link. The article says that "the new shuttle services, charging between $3 and $6 per ride, cater to people who want to sidestep the sights, smells and slowness of Muni but don’t want to pay top dollar for a cab." The average Muni ride costs over $6 before subsidies bring the fare down to around $2, so these services are operating profitably for less than the real cost of Muni.

anonymous says

Where in the article does it say anything about operating at a profit and how did you come to that conclusion?

The article doesn't say anything about profit, and elsewhere you have a good point about the viability of start-ups operating in the red. I based the conclusion that they are operating profitably on several facts:
1) their costs are only marginally higher than a taxi company, but they can collect much higher total fares by carrying more passengers;
2) SF and many other places have a long track record of van sharing businesses operating profitably;
3) they are proliferating, as the sector attracts competitors.
The marketing fad perks (e.g., iced coffee delivered to your seat) might go away if they don't add enough value, but the underlying structure looks like a taxi or van-sharing business with added features that don't cost much or anything at all: crowd-sourcing routes, smartphone tracking, WiFi.

anonymous says

Competition aside how are these companies going to survive when the inevitable downturn comes?

Business cycles will probably continue, but this ride sharing model might endure due to inherent efficiencies. Meanwhile, PatNet readers waiting for the inevitable downturn begin to remind me of Charlie Brown's vigil for the Great Pumpkin: it's become such a long wait that even Patrick has tired of it and moved on, which might be the capitulation that signals the peak of the bubble.

Meanwhile, I imagine these services will set up as corporate shuttles, enabling even small companies to provide employees "free" rides like the big names (Google Bus, Yahoo bus, WhackyStartUpVan). They could put company logos in the windows, or stay discreet by disclosing their identity only via smartphone app to registered users. The resulting revenues would be more vulnerable to the business cycle, but the underlying model may prove as enduring as the venerable school bus.

Had a ride with an Uber guy once, he was driving a Prius.

Seems like a neat business idea. Drivers are just folks who just want to make extra income by using their own car.

i've used them many times and it seems that the majority of the drivers have a prius. maybe because they really care about being efficient because it comes off their bottom line.

the only thing you have to worry about is "surge pricing" where the ride costs 2x or 3x what it normally would because of a spike in demand, like on new year's eve.

classic example of entrenched interests making innovation and better service illegal in the name of "public safety" or some other bogus excuse.

It's a wonder that this scramble has not yet occurred.

The price for any sort of bulk real-time mapping data from Google is shocking. This price probably makes sense for Uber, if you combine the money saved paying Google, and the money they could make selling such data to others.

anonymous says

$50 billion

Roughly the valuation of Nissan or Honda Motors.
Makes sense to me.

Used Lyft yesterday. It was good.

Uber and Lyft have serious potential. I was reading that investors at these valuations have been protecting themselves with anti dilution provisions. They better hope that Uber has enough cash to get them to profitability, because if new investors have to come in later they will get rid of anti dilution provisions.

thunderlips11 says

That's a great angle as well - their employment status.

The Uber driver fits the classic description of independent contractor: he brings his own tools (the car) and has the option of taking or rejecting any specific piece work.

thunderlips11 says

There's a reason hackney drivers are licensed and have been for centuries, and why localities don't let anybody start driving people around. There's this idea that one day, some bored bureaucrat or politicians said, "I'm bored. I need to regulate some activity for fun. How about Post and Chaise drivers? Yes, Willoughby, let us draft some regulations lest we succumb to ennui."

The scheme is actually more nefarious than that: the owners of the cab companies were the ones who lobbied for the setting up of such commissions, in order to create a monopoly. Their fees are what created and pays for the salaries of the bored bureaucrats to begin with. What's happening now is that the cab company owners are screaming bloody murder because they are not getting their money's worth: the bureaucrats are forgetting that they are supposed to be the leg-breakers for the mob!

thunderlips11 says

There's also mentality involved: A Licensed Operator knows he's "In the System 100%", and generally avoids fighting customers and put up with whiny or trifling bullshit from them. An Uber Driver more often thinks they are just picking up passengers as a Free Citizen and as such are more likely to start fights over money and passenger attitude problems.

LOL. You must not have taken taxis often in big cities like NYC. Your constant fear of Free Citizens should prompt you to seek voluntary slavery somewhere. Your use of John Brown as your avatar, and Zhukov before that, show that you are just a fan of wanton blood-thirst, instead of any sense of liberty or freedom for anyone.

When you have rude treatment or worse from a cab driver, you go right to the PD with their cab number, and regulatory - not just corporate - events go into motion. Taxi Drivers don't want a bad record and don't want to pay civil fines. How about Uber?

Uber drivers' cars too have license plates. A driver review on Uber probably has far more effect on the driver's likelihood to pick up future rides than any police would get involved in mere "rude treatment" by a cabby.