RIDEGURU
Chris Hawes (chawes)
Ride Guru from Boston, MA
CTO of RideGuru, tech expert & enthusiast
756 Rider GuruChris has been involved with the Taxi industry since co-founding TaxiFareFinder.com in 2007, and has been an avid follower of the rideshare industry since its inception. An expert in full-stack web design and development, Chris oversees all the technical aspects of Unleashed's innovative products.
Activity
Posts by chawes
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How to keep your car safe during COVID
Check it out, some smart people figured out how to make airflow in your car safest for avoiding getting germs … -
Due To New California Law, Uber Allows Some Drivers To Set Their Own Rates
Whoahttps://www.npr.org/2020/01/28/800437791/due-to-new-california-law-uber-allows-some-drivers-to-set-their-own-rates?utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR25AV1xVIyT5ykvB3lF6EcC8thYJ4pf4BX2pBKCOZmGCZV8isrR5a_-KOU -
Uber: The ride-hailing app that says it has ‘zero’ drivers
Reality distortion field...Uber contract drivers helped bring in more than three-quarters of the company’s revenue in this year’s first … -
Bird raises new funding at a $2.5 billion valuation, thanks to longer-lasting scooters
Lot of cash for a company that can't turn a profit......That may have something to do with grim reports … -
Inside the new Uber: Weak coffee, vanishing perks and fast-deflating morale [Washington Post]
It's official. Uber has gone from hip startup to boring big company.https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/30/inside-new-uber-weak-coffee-vanishing-perks-fast-deflating-morale/Sounds like morale is pretty low among … -
Inside Uber’s plan to take over city life with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/26/20885185/uber-ceo-dara-khosrowshahi-interview-exclusiveIt’s an ambitious play to become the de facto transportation and delivery service in every major city. But the … -
New York City’s first self-driving shuttle service is now open for business
https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/6/20755163/new-york-city-self-driving-shuttle-serviceMuch like other autonomous vehicle (AV) shuttle services that have cropped up in recent years across the country, it … -
Woman gives birth in back of taxi. Driver is cool.
Warning: graphic. Can anyone top this??? -
The Uber for helicopters is now Uber
This pricing doesn't seem that bad. Getting from Manhattan to JFK can be a nightmare. Helicopter in 8 minutes? Where … -
As was predicted, Uber’s IPO means you’ll be paying higher fares for your rides
This article nicely sums up what I think a lot of us were already thinking.As we’ve reported before, Uber's … -
The future of the gig economy...
Is this it? LOL -
Uber rang in its IPO with champagne and mimosas. Then the hangover began.
You just can't teach an old dog new tricks, can you.SAN FRANCISCO — Uber shut down a party at … -
Beijing Taxi Trajectories
Check out this cool visualization of a day of taxi trips in Beijing. Talk about busy huh! Click on the … -
Four reasons Uber’s IPO stalled on Friday
So the Uber IPO is a huge dud, surprising exactly no one (especially after Lyft's weak performance since it's IPO). … -
Uber and Lyft stop hiring new drivers in New York City
NYC's new regulation around rideshares is officially doing its job now, for better or for worse. Uber and Lyft have … -
Electric scooters may not be around for long [The Verge]
The article is light, but watch the video for more detail.The fundamental numbers don’t really add up because scooters … -
Lyft becomes the first ride-hail company to go public, beating Uber
Welp, here it is folks.https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/1/18246328/lyft-ipo-ride-share-bikes-scooters-uber-public-secI am surprised to see how much Lyft's market share has increased in the … -
Uber and Lyft reportedly giving some drivers cash bonuses to use towards buying IPO stock
So, would you buy the IPO, or just pocket the cash? I know what I'd do...The two programs are … -
Uber Exploring Autonomous Bikes and Scooters [TechCrunch]
Pretty wild. Scooters that can drive themselves to their charging stations, and redistribute themselves to wherever they are needed. So … -
Uber Is Headed for a Crash [nymag]
Interesting read. How long can Uber survive hemorrhaging money?Uber’s investors have been buying your satisfaction in the form of …
Featured Answers by chawes
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Ok since a few people have wondered about this:
How much does it cost to charge a scooter? Less than you might think. Just to run some rough numbers:
The scooter batteries' capacities are reported to be about 8800mAh at 36V. We can convert this to watt hours: 8800 * 36 / 1000 = 316.8Wh
Electricity costs on average of 12 cents per kilowatt hour (ie. 1000 watt hours) in the US. So, the cost of charging one of these scooters from empty is going to be something like:
(316.8 / 1000) * 12 = 4 cents
It's probably a bit more than that since chargers are not 100% efficient. And, the cost of electricity varies between different locations, so take this with a grain of salt. But it's safe to say the electricity cost of charging these things is not something to worry much about.
As far as I know, Uber never guarantees drivers for an event. It's just not how they work. If you are trying to get a lot of people from a remote area in Ubers, it may be a problem, even with the event created.
Are the guests all going back to the same place? A hotel or something? If so I'd think about looking into renting a van or bus service. If not, then the problem is a bit more difficult.
I absolutely would. It doesn't take an island to create bottlenecks. Getting from a lot of the metrowest suburbs into Boston takes more than an hour during most of the day.
Hanscom airfield is perfectly located smack in the middle of a whole bunch of affluent surburbs and would be a perfect base for this. I'd take a helicopter from Hanscom to Logan to beat sitting in traffic any day.
Technically he could take an Uber, which you could book for him on your end. RideGuru puts the cost a bit under $200 for Uber X.
Whether you'd find a driver willing to make the 4 hour drive is another matter. You could book the ride ahead of time, but, when the time comes, it might be that no drivers accept the ride. Booking ahead is not guaranteed.
If you want to be sure, you could call some Miami taxi companies and see if any would be willing to drive him. Taxi will be considerably more expensive (~$350 plus tip), but at least you'd be sure of it.
This seems like a really weird move for Uber on first glance. But then you think about a company like Amazon, which is a retail company, but makes more money selling cloud computing products than selling retail items. The retail side of the business required very innovative tooling, which Amazon was then able to sell on its own.
Uber handles a lot of payments per day and surely has developed some interesting infrastructure to handle it. Maybe Uber Bank will be the new AWS...
😂
Vintage Uber.
😄
We try to include every company we can find, to be as comprehensive as possible. It is hard to stay on top of it since this industry changes so fast. Companies come and go, get acquired, etc. in the blink of an eye. But that's part of the fun too 😃. It's really helpful when people write in like this.
Flights, busses, all these things are on the table. We'll see what the near future brings...
Hi, thanks for writing in. Best way is to send us a note through this form. That will go to the person in charge of adding new companies. Looking forward to having you on board!
If you don't hear back, please reply to this comment. I'll make sure you get through.
Holy crap. WTF.
Interesting prediction. It makes sense, if Uber X fares start to approach Uber Black, Uber X will start to wither and die, so Uber will have to do something to make it more enticing such as raise the vehicle requirements (at the expense of drivers...), like you said. Or X will just go away.
But, I'm not sure the X rates will actually get that high. Black is more than 2x in most markets. And, even if it does get close, a lot of people are money conscious enough to still take the cheaper ride, and don't care what car they are riding in.
That sounds like a difficult situation for you.
There have been a few attempts at a kid-friendly rideshare/taxi service. However, most of them have not fared well for one reason or another.
However, here are a few options to check out from the RideGuru rideshares listing. Most of them are carpool-oriented services. I don't know if any of them operate in CT, but you may want to keep tabs on them as they may grow quickly.
KidCar (this one operates in NYC, maybe parts of CT too?)
Carpool Kids
GoKid
Kibzy
HopSkipDrive
Kango
Zum
Pogo
Best of luck to you.
What state/country/etc are these in?
Seems like a decent deal actually. RideGuru estimates more than that using normal rates, and that's assuming no surge.
Waiting for spUber. Space Uber that is. I will sign up.
Here is a RideGuru estimate from the airport to your hotel, showing some ride options. As you can see, Uber should work, and there is also a service called Cabify which might be slightly cheaper. Taxis will also be around the same price.
Have a good trip.
Here is an estimate showing all of your options. Looks like if you go with the Uber X level service it'll be around $60.
I'm not sure why you wouldn't be able to use it. I think you will have to take this up with Uber unfortunately.
Generally it is a safe bet. BUT. It is not 100% guaranteed. If there happen to be no drivers available at that time you are out of luck. But if you are in a reasonably populated area it shouldn't be a problem.
What gets me about the whole thing is like... can't the pax just ask for some quiet time? Why do we have to sanitize all human interaction these days through apps. The basic skill of conversing is becoming lost.
I'm getting bored over here!
JUST KIDDING 😃