New York City seeks to follow Chicago's lead and impose significant fee on all Uber rides to discourage its use:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/26/nyregion/uber-car-congestion-pricing-nyc.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

 

In Chicago, the fines are to raise money on transit improvements.  I think its a win win.  Also they aren't a huge percentage.

“Uber’s elephant in the room is that its business model is fundamentally broken”

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lensherman/2017/12/14/why-cant-uber-make-money/#6ab8eff910ec

^My car broke down on Christmas and I had to use Uber for the first time in years.  The four drivers I got were all quite obviously desperate for cash.  None of them seemed to realize how little money they were making. 

 

 

I haven't used Uber or Lyft in awhile, but have used both Uber Eats and Eat24 (which seems to either be owned by or affiliated with Yelp?) for food delivery. Both of those services seem to be a bit more hectic and chaotic compared to restaurants that run their own delivery services. Last time I got food delivered with Eat24, the driver said that he didn't have my ticket so he didn't know how much I owed, but then I told him that I already paid online and he was like, "oh, ok."

I walked over to the McDonald's across from Woody Sander Ford this week to get breakfast and then hail a ride to work.  The uber driver went into the drive-thru lane because she assumed that she was picking up food for Uber Eats, not a passenger. 

Uber Eats and McDonald's love each other since some people have been made to feel so much shame for eating McDonald's that they can't bring themselves to go there. In the morning though I'd imagine it's for people at a workplace.

They should be ashamed. Not because of the empty calories but because McDonalds tastes horrible. At least get Wendys if you're going to eat fast food. McDonalds burgers are so dry and tasteless.

 

It doesn't seem like McDonalds or any other fast food (especially deep-fried stuff) would hold up well by the time it is delivered. Especially if drivers are lollygagging around and running other errands before dropping it off.

KFC holds up to smuggling.

KFC and Popeyes would be perfect for Uber Eats. So many people love it but don't want to have to drive to the slum neighborhoods those stores are typically in.

Self-driving Lyft debuts in Las Vegas during CES (with a few caveats):

 

Ride-Hailing Apps Were Never Going To Fix Traffic

 

Over the last few years, Uber and Lyft have made it abundantly clear they believe ride-hailing services can and will reduce traffic congestion in cities. Private car ownership in cities will all but end by 2025, one exec said. There’ll be “no more traffic in Boston in five years,” another said. But more and more studies are finding the opposite is happening, reports the Associated Press.

 

https://jalopnik.com/the-idea-that-ride-hailing-apps-would-ease-congestion-w-1823323476

Ride-Hailing Apps Were Never Going To Fix Traffic

 

Over the last few years, Uber and Lyft have made it abundantly clear they believe ride-hailing services can and will reduce traffic congestion in cities. Private car ownership in cities will all but end by 2025, one exec said. Therell be no more traffic in Boston in five years, another said. But more and more studies are finding the opposite is happening, reports the Associated Press.

 

https://jalopnik.com/the-idea-that-ride-hailing-apps-would-ease-congestion-w-1823323476

 

In addition to poaching riders from transit, the clumsy pick-ups and drop-offs are congesting traffic in already-busy areas.  I see these drivers double-parking ALL THE TIME on McMillan and Calhoun near UC, preventing many cars from getting through light cycles. 

 

^ My God, you should see Main Street in OTR on an average Friday or Saturday night. Both travel lanes are totally clogged with Ubers and other cars picking up and dropping off people.

I remember back in the 90s when total logjams formed on Main St., so the phenomenon existed before Uber.  But it was limited pretty much to closing time whereas now it's all the time. 

 

Also, on Friday night I saw 3 ubers blocking the streetcar tracks in front of Rhinegeist at the same time.  They used to have their guy tell the drivers to get off the tracks, but in the bad weather their doorman stays inside. 

A fun one for you guys this afternoon:

 

A $1,600 Uber ride? Drunk man blacks out, takes trip from W.Va. to N.J.

By Jeremy Schneider

NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

 

After a night of partying with buddies in Morgantown, W.V. last Friday, Kenny Bachman thought he had called an Uber to take him back to where he was staying near West Virginia University's campus.

 

Instead, he woke up in the passenger seat of a 2011 Toyota Sienna minivan next to an Uber driver that was taking him home. Not where he was staying with friends in West Virginia, but home home.

 

Like, where he lives. In Gloucester County. More than 300 miles away.

 

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2018/02/1600_dollar_uber_ride_story.html

 

(Or, if you prefer the New York Post's style: Drunk bro ‘blacked out’ and took $1,600 Uber ride)

^this is the second story like this i read in two days. A guy passed out in a Lyft that instead of going 5 or so blocks (his other buddies walked), went from Brooklyn where he was partying with friends, to Philadelphia.  Given that most of these occurrences likely don't end up in the paper I wonder how frequently it must happen.

^this is the second story like this i read in two days. A guy passed out in a Lyft that instead of going 5 or so blocks (his other buddies walked), went from Brooklyn where he was partying with friends, to Philadelphia.  Given that most of these occurrences likely don't end up in the paper I wonder how frequently it must happen.

 

During my "career" I probably had 10 people pass out in the car.  I drove one guy to a hotel in Northern Kentucky...he fell asleep laying down across my back seat.  I had to pull on his legs to wake him up.  Then in an instant he woke up and twirled his fedora around like he was in some old musical and strutted into the place.  Another time a girl passed out in my passenger seat.  As we turned left onto her street, I turned hard so that her head knocked into the window.  That woke her up. 

^People probably drink more nowaways than they would if they knew they had to drive home. So there's probably a lot more booze guzzling than before Uber/Lyft existed. I wonder how many people each weekend pass out in a car AND have programmed the wrong destination being another city some $500-$1500 away.

^People probably drink more nowaways than they would if they knew they had to drive home. So there's probably a lot more booze guzzling than before Uber/Lyft existed. I wonder how many people each weekend pass out in a car AND have programmed the wrong destination being another city some $500-$1500 away.

 

Yeah a driver isn't going to pass up the chance for a $500 drive during a surge.  I never drove anyone very far, though.  I remember driving a couple from Mt. Adams to WAY down in Kentucky south of the I-71/75 split during a surge...the fare was about $150 and then they gave me a $40 cash tip on top of it. 

^People probably drink more nowaways than they would if they knew they had to drive home. So there's probably a lot more booze guzzling than before Uber/Lyft existed.

 

Where was all of this stuff when I was partying? We went to Roger Waters last summer, got Uber both ways, and I only had one beer. I think one of us had two. I'm only good for about two bar blowouts a year any more.

^People probably drink more nowaways than they would if they knew they had to drive home. So there's probably a lot more booze guzzling than before Uber/Lyft existed. I wonder how many people each weekend pass out in a car AND have programmed the wrong destination being another city some $500-$1500 away.

 

Even when it comes to beer, the craft beer people are drinking today is usually a significantly higher ABV than what people were drinking during Jammin' On Main.

Before cell phones, everyone had a story or two where they walked a ridiculous distance to a party that ended up not existing.  Plus, we used to walk ridiculous distances from one party to another that DID exist.  One of my uncles-in-law walked from Newport, KY when the bars close to his mom's house in...Finneytown.  That's pretty tough to top. 

^People probably drink more nowaways than they would if they knew they had to drive home. So there's probably a lot more booze guzzling than before Uber/Lyft existed. I wonder how many people each weekend pass out in a car AND have programmed the wrong destination being another city some $500-$1500 away.

 

Even when it comes to beer, the craft beer people are drinking today is usually a significantly higher ABV than what people were drinking during Jammin' On Main.

 

That's why they don't fight as much. Back in the Bud Light days, people were constantly half-drunk, up super late, cranky and on the verge of sobering up all the time. That put them in a rotten mood. They were alert to the most minor slight and didn't let things slide. Taprooms are not happening places at midnight or even 11 whereas the old wood-paneled bars with Spuds McKenzie and Rusty Wallace posters all over the place were always pushed past 3AM.

You can't fight when drinking microbrew beer because the stuff puts you to sleep.  Sitting on folding chairs on your porch splitting a Keystone 30-pak with college buddies = likely altercation with sidewalk heckler. 

Another time a girl passed out in my passenger seat.  As we turned left onto her street, I turned hard so that her head knocked into the window.  That woke her up. 

 

LMAO!

Uber drivers make an average of $3.37 per hour after taking expenses into consideration. Most Uber drivers lack the financial literacy to understand how much wear and tear they are putting on their car when driving passengers around, and Uber exploits that.

Uber and Lyft account for 20% of all traffic in San Francisco:

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/06/13/uber-lyft-san-francisco-traffic.html

 

As the article notes, poor people from the outer reaches of the Bay Area are often driving long distances into San Francisco to drive rich people around.  Meanwhile, those rich people aren't actually giving up their private cars. 

Not sure if it was posted in this thread, but there was a study done a few months ago which found that if ridesharing did not exist, most of the ridesharing trips either would have been transit trips or simply would not have happened. So the real world impact of ridesharing at this point in time is that we're adding traffic to our streets and taking away transit ridership. And this is happening because the trips are below market rates, as they are subsidized by venture capital money and the fact that the drivers are only being paid about 1/3 of minimum wage on an hourly basis.

Not sure if it was posted in this thread, but there was a study done a few months ago that if ridesharing did not exist, most of the ridesharing trips either would have been transit trips or simply would not have happened. So the real world impact of ridesharing at this point in time is that we're adding traffic to our streets and taking away transit ridership. And this is happening because the trips are below market rates, as they are subsidized by venture capital money and the fact that the drivers are only being paid about 1/3 of minimum wage on an hourly basis.

 

This is why the promise that driverless taxis will reduce traffic is incorrect.  People will take more trips.  Granted, many of them will be off-peak, but nevertheless, people will take frivolous trips more often because it will be cheap and easy to do so. 

 

 

And their vegetables rot since they can have Uber Eats deliver them McDonald's rather than run the risk of being seen at a McDonald's.

Uber lost $4.5 billion in 2017:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45317025

Uber lost $4.5 billion in 2017:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45317025

 

They just sent me $127 as part of a class action lawsuit settlement.  I'm not sure I've paid them more than $127 in my life so the Uber app has been a net positive lol.

 

Design Center (descened) <[email protected]>

to Design

 

 

For those of you interested in AI and the future of transportation. UC Forward and Niehoff Studio sponsorship has leveraged a visit by Andrew Salzberg, Head of Transportation Policy and Research at Uber who will speak 7pm Thursday September 20- DAAP room 4400. Please pass it on.

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________

 

Frank Russell, AIA

 

Program Director | UC Forward

 

Associate Professor, Educator

 

Uber losing $1 billion per quarter:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uber-posts-1-billion-loss-210213496.html

 

So all of your frivolous uber rides are still being subsidized by investors.   It would be interesting to tally all of the public subsidies to public transportation across the U.S. and see how those numbers compare per rider. 

Lance Armstrong was an early investor in Uber.  Yes, that Lance Armstrong:

 

He states in this interview that the lucky investment in Uber "saved his family" in the face of $100 million in doping-related lawsuits. 

 

 

 

Study: Uber and Lyft Caused U.S. Transit Decline

 

Uber and Lyft are still crushing transit across the U.S, according to new study examining the effects in 22 cities.

 

When Uber and Lyft enter a city, the app-based taxis decrease rail ridership by 1.29 percent per year and decrease bus ridership by 1.7 percent, the study by three University of Kentucky researchers found.

 

Worse, the effect is cumulative. Authors Michael Graehler, Richard Mucci and Gregory Erhardt estimate that Uber and Lyft for example, have reduced bus ridership in San Francisco a staggering 12.7 percent since they entered the market in 2010.

 

This isn’t the first study to make such findings, but it is one of the broadest, helping to explain why transit ridership has declined in almost every U.S. city over recent years. These declines could not be explained by service reductions or by maintenance issues — although those have been an issue in Washington and New York City.

I think ridesharing is really hurting off-peak service.  I'm certain that a lot of low-wage workers who used to ride the bus to or from off-hour jobs are now paying a cab, despite their low wages and the high cost of a ride. 

 

Also, people who would not be able to own a car are buying cars in order to rideshare.  Then that person is completely off public transportation plus they are able to give occasional or regular rides to other former bus-riders in their circle. 

 

I think people are underestimating how much cheap financing and cheap fuel is hurting public transportation ridership amongst recent immigrant and the poor.  It only takes one person getting a car to enable many around them to get occasional or regular car rides instead of riding the bus. 

Uber reports $1.8 billion loss for 2018:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/15/tech/uber-2018-financial-report/index.html

Lyft files for IPO:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/01/tech/lyft-ipo/index.html

Lyft is public--this could have also been posted in the Income Inequality thread....

 

Opinion: Scott Galloway: Lyft’s stock 1 year after IPO will be much, much lower

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/scott-galloway-lyfts-stock-one-1-year-after-ipo-will-be-much-much-lower-2019-03-29

This is SO STUPID. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/01/lyft-stock-dive-signals-unicorns-may-have-to-settle-for-cheaper-market-prices-when-they-go-public.html

 

Would we have ever compared what is essentially a cable company to a taxi company in the past?  Now we do because it all falls under the umbrella of "tech". 

I'm more interested in the fact that it took Levi's 166 years to go public. 

 

But yes, what passes as "tech" these days is getting ridiculous. You either have companies that find a way to make things like mattresses into "tech" by selling them online (ironically, Casper now has brick-and-mortar stores too), or you're actually a logistics company like Amazon. 

Right in the middle of the article one analyst noted, "A lot of the trading in Lyft had to do with that it's popular," And that's the whole thing with people liking a company is that it can get away with almost anything for an indeterminate period of time. AKA the period of time when the numbers catch up with the liking or the liking goes away. It's actually very unfair to boring, solid companies that are B2B or whatever and make up a much larger portion of the market.

Also, it's going to be a very long time before any of these companies pay a dividend. 

 

Also, my grandma's old lady stock club has smoked just about everyone with their Great Recession-era investment in the future of online retail, Dollar General.  It has jumped from $20 to $120/share since 2011, paying a dividend the whole time.  Meanwhile, the tech bros kept throwing money at stuff that has never turned a profit. 

Lyft's stock has fallen well over 10% since its IPO, to about $60. 

 

I got to about 1,100 rides after working part-time for 2 years.  Getting to 20,000 trips would require at least 3 years of full-time driving (an average of 20 trips per day, or at least 10 hours of driving).  Which means basically nobody is getting that $10,000 bonus, er, about $6,000 after taxes. 

 

Some drivers will get cash 'appreciation awards.' Here's what that means

From CNN Business' Sara Ashley O"Brien

 

Uber says it will give one-time cash "appreciation awards" to some of its drivers.

Payments will be based on how many trips drivers have made since they started driving for Uber:

$100 for 2,500 trips

$500 for 5,000 trips

$1,000 for 10,000 trips

$10,000 for 20,000 trips

Additionally, drivers must have completed at least one trip this year and be in good standing with the company.

Drivers eligible for the appreciation awards will have the option to buy shares ahead of the IPO.

Lyft also rewarded some top drivers with cash bonuses of $1,000 or $10,000, depending on certain trip thresholds. Drivers had the option to use the money to buy shares in the company as well.

Now Uber's going public too... sophisticated investor VC cash drying up so they have to switch over to the public in order to go full Pets.com

 

 

 

Uber Aims for Public Valuation of as Much as $100 Billion, Below Expectations

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-aims-for-public-valuation-of-as-much-as-100-billion-below-expectations-11554915215

2 hours ago, GCrites80s said:

Now Uber's going public too... sophisticated investor VC cash drying up so they have to switch over to the public in order to go full Pets.com

 

 

 

Uber Aims for Public Valuation of as Much as $100 Billion, Below Expectations

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-aims-for-public-valuation-of-as-much-as-100-billion-below-expectations-11554915215

 

 

Lyft was trading at $58 this morning after peaking at $88 last week.  I want to thank that circa-1971 copy of The Intelligent Investor I read about 10 years ago for helping me avoid losing a lot of money. 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 12, 20196 yr by jmecklenborg

Hmmm... Uber and Lyft both announcing IPOs got the gears in my head turning. No longer able to run on just VC cash... sure they were losing tons of money, but what made the VCs finally say uncle? What if a lot of the VCs were enemies of public transit such as the Koch Buddies and the car companies? Ford and Chevrolet did "form partnerships" with the rideshare companies. Somehow I got the feeling that despite the heavy subsidies, Uber and Lyft plus the scooter companies didn't do nearly enough to damage public transit ridership to make it nearly worthwhile enough for the car companies to be involved. Since the car companies certainly weren't getting the ROI they needed (not enough city folk buy new Silverados and F-150s) they slowed down and the Koch types weren't satisfied with the "activist investment". A few hours after I started thinking about it, boom this article hits:

 

 

Uber (Finally) Admits It's Directly Competing With Public Transportation

 

...But Uber’s filing for an Initial Public Offering on Thursday paints a very different picture of the company’s relationship to public transit. 

While the filing does mention the company’s efforts to offer riders “multi-modal trips” that may include public transportation should they choose, the vast majority of the filing’s mentions of public transit make plainly clear the company sees buses and trains as a competing service. Far from being a partner in helping people move around cities, Uber regularly slots public transportation as “competition” or an obstacle to the company’s “growth strategy.” 

 

https://jalopnik.com/uber-finally-admits-its-directly-competing-with-publi-1834009027

 

 

 

Previously, Uber's public stance on the issue was that they complimented transit by helping solve the "last mile" problem. Electric scooters and bike shares claim the same. 

More hmmmm... I was watching a program on Ohio PBS tonight talking about ridesourcing and its effect on public transit. RTA rail has not seen decreases in ridership but RTA bus and HealthLine ridership is down 15%. Traditionally the enemies of rail transit are fine with buses and BRT. In fact they are often champions of such. Did their investments in Uber and Lyft backfire by having little effect on rail ridership while negatively affecting bus usage? What is going on in other cities? They only talked about Cleveland in this story.

Uber's IPO in a nutshell: