Smitten Kitten (SmittenKitten)

Ride Scholar from Washington DC

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  • Yeah, heavily subsidized like Uber.  LOL.

    I am a bit worried about this economy.  Every company is so heavily leveraged, and the competition brings down the cost to unbelievable levels.  I don't even know how much things are supposed to cost. 

    I mean, how much is Uber suppose to be?!


  • They are slightly different though.  Those are electric scooters.  Dockless, GPS-enabled and all that, but they are powered.


  • well, I suppose theoretically, if you get into an accident, you don't have to tell anyone you were driving for uber at the time, huh?   Assuming there were injuries from passengers or something.  and the passenger rats you out.

    Unless the accident is huge or has some red flags, I doubt the insurance company will subpoena Uber and match it up to whether you were driving a customer at the time.


  • It's noble you believe that, but

    - You are taking money.  That changes the relationship. It's no longer you 

    - Insurance companies may not care if you are driving for Uber but may care for other impacts that arise from it.  a) your increased driving, b) liability from having customers, c) running a business out of your car, etc.


  • We all have to look at the situation at hand, and stop playing the blame game. Uber isn't paying the drivers enough money, and Uber currently has a monopoly and can dictate how much should be paid by them and how the rest should be paid by the public.  It's not a problem of Uber vs. a problem of society thing.  It's a problem as a society that we need to solve.

    Also, let's give credit to the capitalism, shall we?  Does it really matter how much of your extra payment goes tip vs. Uber?  Let's pay the driver whawt they need and move on.  If you don't go with the socio-norm and you are paying less than everyone else, then maybe it's you who has the problem.  (speaking of blame game..)


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     6 years ago in  Taxify valuation passes $1B

    One of the reasons these big companies are popping up everywhere is due to their ability to leverage existing taxi companies and drivers. Look at 99, Grab, Meru, and Didi.  They all played nice with taxi authorities and companies, and were considered as the taxi aggregators before we all realized they were Uber-like. 

    Their pricing similar to taxis, they were making sustainable economics behind it too  

    In contrast, Uber fought taxi companies and destroyed them in US and everywhere they went, with their predatory pricing and putting taxi companies out of business. As a result, the markets crumbled and regulations kicked in hard, and now what they have is a bunch of taxis but this time with super low pricing, while they lose craploads of money. 


  • They can also check whether your referrals led to many new users who only take one ride.

    Simply query, right?  Just pull you up as a referrer, and then see how many referrals were made and how many rides were taken.  If it's 100 to 100, then they know something is wrong.

    They often do this, not necessarily for the # of rides taken, but for how much you brought in as a referrer, e.g. ambassador.


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     6 years ago in  Is "Ubering While Black" a thing?

    You must be referring to this article:

    Ubering While Black

    So, yeah..it's a thing. :)


  • No, the app doesn't warn you for the time being.  Perhaps Uber should implement that.


  • They announced UberRush closing down back in April.  They did it quietly, but it's the end of the gig economy.  I guess the market wasn't ready for it yet?  

    You'd think Walmart and Uber would have deep enough pocket to stay in the race.  The numbers must have been REALLY bad for them to pull out so quickly.

    I posted a related article, in case you were interested in reading more about it.

    https://ride.guru/lounge/p/end-of-gig-economy-no-demand-for-on-demand-means-end-of-road-for-uberrush-and-shyp


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     6 years ago in  Waymo van involved in crash

    Human drivers may have been able to avoid it, as they may be able to pick up additional cues that AVs can't...yet.   People are alert and can pick up many signals that may alert them that something is amiss or something "may be wrong." Then as a precautionary measure they'd slow down and start paying more attention. 

    For example, that black car started to enter the intersection, and let's assume it did it on a red light. (I can't tell from the video.)  or maybe that oncoming silver car honked its horn.  Maybe that car swerved and made a rubber screeching noise. 

    These are cues that Waymo RADAR/LIDAR probably not have picked up.


  • Re: Protect the occupants vs. others.

    As with any invention, marketability will come into play at some point.  I spoke to a designer on this, off the record, and he told me that they have to design it to protect the occupants or such software will not sell or be adopted.  People don't want to buy or invest in a car that may turn on you.

    Of course, the landscape may change if this is the government or a large fleet owner (Waymo, Google, etc.).  They may be able to decide this for the cause of greater good.


  • As I read these responses, I think the answer depends on a few things:

    a) How busy the night is.  Yes, drivers do make money while driving and when the vehicle is moving.  So, if it's a busy night, they'd rather be doing that.  Some are saying, "it's better than making $0.00", but that logic only works if there aren't other passengers out there.

    b) Whether the driver drives an UberX, UberXL, UberBlack, or UberSUV.  The per minute fee is quite different between these services.  In Boston, UberX makes $0.21/minute ($12.6/hr), UberXL $0.35/minute ($21/hr), UberBlack $0.45/minute ($27/hr), and UberSUV $0.50/minute ($30/hr).  UberX drivers would be at a disadvantage and perhaps be grumpy, but UberSUV guys probably don't mind nearly as much.

    c) Location probably matters.  The per minute fee is also different from city to city.  For example, Boston UberX drivers get paid $0.21/minute but those in San Diego make $0.15/minute.  That's a big difference.  You may argue that there is a cost of living adjustment, but $0.15/minute is $9 per hour before Uber takes its cut. 


  • Yeah, they do.  Probably not as blatant as you might suspect.   These scenarios are more realistic of what happens:

    1) You do throw up *a little* in a vehicle.  Then the driver exaggerates it by making more mess (that's relatively easy to clean up) before taking a picture.  This enables the driver to claim a higher cleaning fee.  Since the rider is expecting a charge, this reduces the chance they will dispute.

    2) You are completely drunk and most likely won't remember.  Then the driver makes up a mess, whether it's doritos on the floor or water on the seat.  The passenger has a hazy memory and believes that the mess was indeed created by them.

    3) Multiple passengers, i.e. diffusion of responsibility.  When there are multiple people or multiple stops, the blame is spread across multiple people, and it becomes more difficult to dispute.  So large parties, with multiple stops? Be careful and keep an eye peeled for those weird cleaning fees.


  • I love it how in the midst of a billion scandals, you mention how uber thwarts scams.  No, I am not disagreeing with you.  I guess I am saying no one sees Uber as a "safe" company or players being accountable.

    Speaks volumes to how horrible of a job they did with PR, and even billions of dollars couldn't save it.  The bad boy culture really did a lot of damage there.


  • You sound all noble talking about business models and such, but can we for a second look at the reality of the situation?  Drivers are starving and cannot make ends meet.  You speak of this emerging industry but the industry won't exist soon if people didn't tip. 

    This isn't about whether it's Uber's fault or some drivers conspiring to create the new norm.  It's about drivers earning a living and making this industry work for all of us.


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     6 years ago in  There were 100K Uber and Lyft rides in Boston last year

    100K does sound like a lot, but isn't this one of those psycholoical phenomenon where we all believe the world is smaller than it really is?  

    • It's like when you are at your high school graduation and feeling so special.  Then you realize there are 22,000 other school graduations going on at the same time.
    • It's like when you get your PhD, a doctorate.  Then you realize there are 70,000 other people PhDs graduating that same year.   ...and that's only in the USA.
    • It's like when a child is born, you think it's very special.  Then you realize there are 360,000 babies being born every day.  That's more than 4 babies every second.
    • It's like when your friend passes away in a car accident.  Then you realize 100 people die every day from car crashes...in USA alone.  In the world? 3500 deaths a day.
    • It's like when you hear about someone who passed away and you become sad.  Then you realize a person dies somewhere in the world every 1.7 seconds. That's 150,000 people every day.

    To put Boston into perspective, Central Artery and Zakim Bridge (i.e. Big Dig) is designed to handle 245,000 vehicles every day.  There are 690,000 people living in Boston, 4.6M in Greater Boston Metro.  Almost 1.3M people take the MBTA buses, subways, commuter rails and ferries. Is 100K a lot?

    Well, yeah, 100K Uber and Lyft rides still do feel pretty big number.  OK, it passes my test.


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     6 years ago in  Is there any Uber discount for daily traveller?

    Yeah, not sure where they expect the discount to come from. Who's pocket?  Uber?  So laughable.


  • This whole thing is flawed. Drivers aren't happy because they aren't getting paid enough per rates set by Uber.  Now the riders and passengers are arguing as to how much needs to be paid.  It's all messed up.

    Drivers demand they get pad tips because Uber doesn't listen.  Passengers can be shamed into it, so that's where they turn.

    In a P2P on-demand service, one entity shouldn't be setting a price.   A better business model would allow all parties (riders and drivers) to bid and agree on a price.  Uber can be more like eBay, where as the facilitator, they can take a cut of that and be happy.


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     6 years ago in  Didi IPO is coming

    Did everyone see the bit on how Didi's stance on Autonomous Vehicles is to partner with a car manufacturer?  I agree with that approach over Uber's where they are trying to do that themselves.  (I guess Uber had to do something with that money.)

    "Didi executives said they were considering developing a smartcar customized for ride-sharing and is seeking auto makers that could manufacture the vehicle. The car is anticipated to be an electric vehicle and would be connected to the internet, allowing Didi to monitor data from the car for safety by applying artificial intelligence technology."