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Uber Tests Cheaper Fares For Riders Who Are Willing To Wait Longer (qz.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: The ride-hailing company has started testing a feature that gives riders the option to trade a shorter wait for a cheaper fare. "Prices are lower at 17:00," Uber recently advised an Uber employee who requested a ride in Berkeley, California, and tweeted a screenshot of the feature. The image showed the Uber employee that he could request a ride "now" (4:56pm local time) for $10.18, or wait until 5pm and pay $8.15, about 25% less. "If you're OK leaving later, we'll request your ride at 17:00 for a lower price," Uber's app stated.

The option to wait longer in exchange for a cheaper ride is being tested among all Uber employees in San Francisco and Los Angeles, a company spokeswoman told Quartz in an email. "Affordability is a top reason riders choose shared rides, and we're internally experimenting with a way to save money in exchange for a later pickup," she said.

94 comments

  1. Good AI by 110010001000 · · Score: 1, Funny

    This is a good application of Deep Learning Neural Networks AI. Very clever.

    1. Re:Good AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Very clever." Indeed. Mark my words, it will be turned around eventually. "Want an Uber right away? Push the 'Uber Now' button!"
      Only triple the price.

    2. Re:Good AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No blockchain though.

    3. Re:Good AI by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Where does it say they are using neural networks, or even AI? I didn't see that in the article.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    4. Re:Good AI by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Maybe they'll go full retro and work 3D printing in somehow.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. Cheaper Later? by number17 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is it actually cheaper later or is it more expensive now?

    1. Re:Cheaper Later? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      You just blew my mind.

    2. Re:Cheaper Later? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly. They are probably testing if being picked earlier can be made into some king of premium product in the long run.

      Tech is cool and all that but better not forget we are talking about Uber here.

    3. Re:Cheaper Later? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      Is it actually cheaper later or is it more expensive now?

      When everyone chooses the option to wait until after 17:00 . . . the demand will be so high, that the "surge" prices kick in.

      Then it will be even more expensive.

      Just like in casino gambling . . . the house always wins in the long run.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    4. Re:Cheaper Later? by alvinrod · · Score: 2

      You've hit the nail on the head. This is why I think Uber shouldn't have fixed rates and let riders and drivers negotiate prices for each ride. If you really want quick service to an out of the way location, offer to pay more and someone will be more than glad to take you there. If you want to attract one or two last customers before quitting for the evening, drop your rates and you'll get more takers.

      Doing this would also lend Uber much more credence when it tries to claim that its drivers aren't employees.

    5. Re:Cheaper Later? by parkinglot777 · · Score: 1

      Also, would there be any surcharge if the "later" just falls right into the time they usually top it up with a surcharge rate? For example, it is $10 right now and if you wait, it would be $8. But then 5 minutes later, a 25% surcharge is added due to rush time (or whatever reason). How could it be cheaper?

    6. Re:Cheaper Later? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Serenity now, insanity later.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    7. Re:Cheaper Later? by Sloppy · · Score: 2

      To be fair, "I'm in a hurry so I want you to blow off other customers to give me priority," simply is a premium request.

      If you don't want to nice your process like most other people then you don't have to, but it comes with a price.

      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
    8. Re:Cheaper Later? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Colonel Sandurz: Now. You're looking at now, sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now.

      Dark Helmet: What happened to then?

      Colonel Sandurz: We passed then.

      Dark Helmet: When?

      Colonel Sandurz: Just now. We're at now now.

      Dark Helmet: Go back to then.

      Colonel Sandurz: When?

      Dark Helmet: Now.

      Colonel Sandurz: Now?

      Dark Helmet: Now.

      Colonel Sandurz: I can't.

      Dark Helmet: Why?

      Colonel Sandurz: We missed it.

      Dark Helmet: When?

      Colonel Sandurz: Just now.

      Dark Helmet: When will then be now?

      Colonel Sandurz: Soon.

      Dark Helmet: How soon?

    9. Re:Cheaper Later? by SCVonSteroids · · Score: 1
      --
      I tend to rant.
    10. Re:Cheaper Later? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is it actually cheaper later or is it more expensive now?

      It may be a very clever way to raise prices.

    11. Re: Cheaper Later? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      People don't want to haggle. The reason market makers like Uber exist is because they aggregate both supply and demand.

    12. Re:Cheaper Later? by mysidia · · Score: 3, Informative

      It NEEDS to be more expensive; Uber's a horrendous deal for the transportation workers.... with fares such as $0.99 a mile being offered in many places, after subtracting Uber's 25% cut = Only $0.74 for the driver. Next subtract the fuel, tires, and vehicle maintenance cost, according to IRS guidelines the average deductible cost is $0.54/Mile and could be more (IRS tends to give a low estimate), so $0.74 - $0.54 = $0.20.
       
      Next, because Uber never collects or pays any of the local taxes they effectively amplify their cut --- the driver is responsible for paying 100% of the local sales tax and any other taxes for the entire fare -- including the Tax on Uber's cut (PLUS the driver has to pay the sales tax on the $1.80 booking fee and other charges riders pay which are NOT shared with drivers) FROM the driver's 75% cut of the fare; local tax rate here is 10%, so that's $0.09 per Mile plus $0.18 per Trip. That means for a 5-Mile trip the total tax is $0.13 per Mile.

      $0.20 - $0.13 = Leaves $0.07/Mile for the driver after they pay their gas and local taxes.

    13. Re:Cheaper Later? by Junta · · Score: 1

      I would guess that after 5pm the available driver base increases (people who have gotten off work on their day jobs starting to take fares because they can't afford rent without a second job).

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    14. Re:Cheaper Later? by N1AK · · Score: 1

      The fact none of the remotely well known ride sharing firms uses this kind of model is a good indicator that this isn't seen as an attractive option. I'm not entirely sure why in Uber's case given that it isn't like they have one fixed pricing calculation, but I assume it is because they feel that drivers and customers don't want the mental load of optimising the rates constantly to get a bite.

      To give an example of what I mean. I use a P2P investing platform where you can set rates you are willing to lend at, or you can let the platform select a rate to lend quickly. You can easily get a few percent more by actively managing it (which when it can be thousands invested is a notable difference) but most investors use the automatic option. If people investing thousands aren't willing to make a couple of minor tweaks to rates which could make them $100's over the lending term then what's the market for that kind of option on transport?

    15. Re:Cheaper Later? by Solandri · · Score: 1

      Neither. They're just the market price at that time of day. Your phrasing implies the price is somehow higher or lower than market price, and that someone is manipulating the prices to be higher or lower. It's the market price itself which is fluctuating throughout the day - fewer riders but more drivers means lower prices, more riders but fewer drivers means higher prices. The change in price is what dampens the fluctuations in wait time. Higher prices encourage more drivers to give rides, helping work through the backlog of unusually large numbers of people wanting rides at that time. Lower prices encourages drivers who don't need to drive to get off the road, so as not to create the situation of a long line of taxis waiting in line at the airport for a handful of riders.

      Uber is now just giving riders the option to see those fluctuations (at least the ones which make consistent patterns, like time of day) so they can opt to save a few bucks by riding at a different time if their schedule allows. I dislike Uber, but I think this is a great new feature. It helps Uber and drivers too since shifting riders from high-demand times to low-demand times results in lower average wait time for riders, and less downtime for drivers (waiting for a rider to appear) during low-demand times. Everyone wins - riders, drivers, and Uber.

      It's the same as how ticket sites like Kayak/Orbitz/Expedia give you a grid of fares on different days, so you can pick a cheaper fare if it turns out the original date you picked is rather expensive and your schedule is flexible enough to travel on a different day. Most people who fly a lot have figured out by now that airfares tend to be higher on Mondays and Fridays (when business fly employees to/back from off-site locations, resulting in fewer seats available for leisure travelers). Or the power company telling you that your electricity rates are lower between 10 pm to 6 am. This is Uber now telling you that it'd be cheaper if rode at a different time.

    16. Re:Cheaper Later? by nasch · · Score: 1

      People don't want to negotiate a rate for a ride and then wonder if they got screwed. People don't want to spend five minutes haggling over the rate for a 10 minute car ride. And then there's the gaming. If I offer $8 and a driver accepts immediately, what's to stop me from cancelling the request and making a new one for $6? Some riders will be screwed by drivers with more knowledge of the market, and some drivers will be screwed by riders willing to game the system.

    17. Re:Cheaper Later? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      If you could do all that kind of shit it's unlikely you'd be driving for Unter, isn't it?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  3. how many drivers have to die by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    in the rush to get there sooner to get the more expensive fair? Before they realize this is a silly idea.

    1. Re: how many drivers have to die by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We have laws against rushing in a car to the point that you kill people.

      Perhaps rather than try to root out every cause of the problem, improved enforcement of reckless driving laws would be cheaper and more effective.

      I would give anecdotal evidence that I've never seen reckless driving from an Uber driver, but I am certain you have witness Uber drivers running over several people and killing them already to have said what you did.

    2. Re: how many drivers have to die by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and yet we also have things like sub 60 pizza and business deliveries...

    3. Re: how many drivers have to die by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And yet the few times these policies have cause accidents the companies have immediately discontinued the program as the law worked... They were found to be risking liability and they like being insured.

  4. Four minutes is 25% of the price by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So they know are fucking you over

  5. "taxi" by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >> ride-hailing company

    The word you are looking for is "taxi", as in "Uber is a taxi company"

    1. Re:"taxi" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >> a top reason riders choose shared rides

      And here the driver isn't sharing his car

    2. Re:"taxi" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But it's "taxi over the internet" ... so it needs a more exotic name (and also to avoid all those taxi regulations).

    3. Re:"taxi" by KiloByte · · Score: 1, Funny

      The word you are looking for is "taxi", as in "Uber is a taxi company"

      No -- a taxi is guaranteed to charge more than promised, start the counter at more than 0, take you a scenic route, shortchange you or claim to have no change even though you see it in the driver's wallet. You always get at least one from the above list, if you're going from the airport while looking obviously foreign you're likely to get every single item.

      Uber would have to introduce weekly orphanage shootings using bullets made from charred kitten bones if they'd want to be anywhere near a typical taxi company.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    4. Re:"taxi" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      >> ride-hailing company

      The word you are looking for is "taxi", as in "Uber is a taxi company"

      No, Taxis are regulated, have commercial licenses and insurance, and where I live the rates are set by the city and not by the cab company -- there is no "surge" pricing.

      Taxis in my city also have mandatory cameras in case of crimes, and the drivers have all had background checks, and a photo of the driver with his name on a placard so you can know who is driving you.

      Uber is some random guy who likely has none of these things, with prices set according to the whims of Uber.

      Uber is a bootleg cab company, who have loudly said "la la la, your laws don't apply to us because we've smeared ourselves with magical unicorn poop".

      Fuck Uber. Not interested.

    5. Re:"taxi" by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      >> ride-hailing company The word you are looking for is "taxi", as in "Uber is a taxi company"

      But without dispatchers, man! Without dispatchers!! It'll blow your mind, it's freaky awesome, dude!

    6. Re:"taxi" by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Taxis in my area also have washable seats, and an emergency strobe and plexiglass shield for the driver. They are also contracted to have at least one waiting at most hotels and the airport, so if you need one you can just walk to the nearest hotel.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    7. Re:"taxi" by religionofpeas · · Score: 0

      You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talking... you talking to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?

    8. Re:"taxi" by tepples · · Score: 2

      where I live the rates are set by the city and not by the cab company -- there is no "surge" pricing.

      In other words, they run all surge pricing all the time.

      Does your city have a "medallion" system, where the license to operate like a taxi is considered a durable, heritable good not unlike real estate?

    9. Re: "taxi" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is their regulation loophole, and be damn sure their marketing and PR teams are going to be on laser beam point with the semantics.

    10. Re:"taxi" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who gives a fuck if you are interested or not.

      Well, I'm sure as fuck don't give a flying fuck what an asshole like you thinks.

      Stop acting like a punk, in real life you'd be staring up at the ceiling wondering what the fuck happened to you after I knocked your ignorant ass flat on your back and boot stomped you.

      Go take it up the ass, dickshit.

      Grow the fuck up.

    11. Re:"taxi" by Pascoea · · Score: 1

      You do realize that when applied appropriately, profane language can emphasize a specific point and actually make a good argument more effective. When sprinkled incoherently throughout poorly worded sentences it just makes you look like a buffoon. So there is that.

      Also, i-hail does 100% of what Uber/Lyft does, but with the added "security" that a regulated taxi cab company provides.

      rm -rf ./liberals

      Wow, profane and "clever". Double threat.

    12. Re:"taxi" by bhcompy · · Score: 1

      There's no reason your Uber driver couldn't do the same thing. And, in fact, they do. They skip toll roads, use alternative routes not provided by the app navigation, take "shortcuts" that end up being longcuts, etc.

      The most common taxi ride I take is a flat fare no matter the route or how long it takes(JFK to Manhattan)

    13. Re:"taxi" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All those things are illegal for a taxi company to do in most areas. If something like that happens report it to the city and they'll be fined. Enough complaints and they lose the ability to operate as a taxi. You have no such recourse with Uber and the illegal tactics Ubers employs are far worse than modern taxi companies.

      If those things aren't illegal in your area, then why do you vote for shitty consumer protection laws? You can change that. Your local taxi companies don't have a massive backing to fight you. Uber won't even notice squashing you like a tiny insect.

    14. Re:"taxi" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      start the counter at more than 0

      Depending on what you mean, this is normal. If you mean starting with 5 miles already registered, this is fraud, say something. But if I call you up and ask you to drive across the city, pick me up, and drive me five feet, I can't then expect that it only costs five cents... there is a sunk cost just from starting a new ride.

    15. Re:"taxi" by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      No -- a taxi is guaranteed to ...some bullshit

      Yes it happens, and no, NO, it's not guaranteed, nor as common as you imply.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    16. Re:"taxi" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My local taxi company lets me use an app and pay before I even board the taxi. It never costs more. It's how it works in the UK - a fixed cost per mile. Your point is demonstrably false.

    17. Re:"taxi" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except with Uber you don't get charged more if the driver decides to take a longer route.

    18. Re:"taxi" by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      WTF is an emergency strobe? Is it in case you're attacked by a mob of epileptics?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  6. Would need to be able to lock in that lower price by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If everyone waits, then obviously it won't be cheaper later due to supply/demand.

    I feel like this fucks over drivers most of all?

  7. totture children while you wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For a bigger discount you can torture the strangers of random children

  8. Ride sharing , my ass.. by GrBear · · Score: 1

    "Affordability is a top reason riders choose shared rides, and we're internally experimenting with a way to save money in exchange for a later pickup"

    There's nothing that implies "sharing", except marketing double speak to avoid and dodge restrictions and regulations imposed on what they truly are, a taxi service.

  9. Re:Would need to be able to lock in that lower pri by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    well the divers are 1099'ers so the drive stuck with small fail can be an ass or just not show up at all.

  10. 4 minutes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I figured this feature would be more like "wait 45 minutes" not "wait 4 minutes". Maybe my city isn't popular enough with Uber, but the two times I've used Uber "now" means I'm going to be waiting at least 5 minutes anyway.

    1. Re:4 minutes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It’s taken 10 minutes. I especially like the times when they don’t show up to the right place.

  11. How about self-harm by goombah99 · · Score: 0

    Since the goal here is so segregate people along the price elastic demand curve to maximize the profit area perhaps we could include more categories. Like people willing to cut themselves. Perhaps they could do it on video.
    Maybe they could also clean the cars.

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  12. Even Cheaper Fares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can offer even cheaper fares. My cars never had any accidents. The drivers are never rude or aggressive. Only slight disadvantage is that the cars will never arrive.

    1. Re: Even Cheaper Fares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Asymptotically your rates are zero, numerically equal to the number of your customers and the amount of your revenues. Congrats, you may be running a real dot-com business.

  13. How about being a self-driving tester? by goombah99 · · Score: 1

    You could be a rider or an obstacle to test obstacle avoidance in return for a discount ride.

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  14. Uber's big problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Once upon a time when you called for an Uber, you'd have a nice courteous, clean driver. Usually a college student or someone between jobs. Invariably white, respectful, knowledgeable and conscientious. That was then.

    Now you are more then likely to get some greasy dirty dune coon or ay-rab muslim who doesn't even know the area. The car is dirty and the sand n1gger spends all his time fiddling with his GPS and talking oogabooga language on his cell phone even though it's illegal. To hell with Uber. Did I mentionthe ripe aroma that only a person of that ethnicity seems to possess? It's as though they have simian musk glands.

    I can call a legitimate taxi company and at least I will be assured of a brick and mortar organization standing by their product. Unfortunately I may still get a dune coon but they will have been fingerprinted, and photographed, and screened by the police. Uber was OK when it was strictly amateur, but then middle eastern hustlers and rag heads took over, and it ruined a good thing.

    1. Re:Uber's big problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We get it APK, you don't like brown people.

    2. Re:Uber's big problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      APK doesn't use Uber, he uses his tricycle, bought by his mom.

  15. Uber's cheapest fares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    are when you walk there your self. simply walk and pay once at your destination through your app. it is revolutionary!

  16. No, you pay more for quicker by forkfail · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When World Of Warcraft was in beta, after killing a certain number of monsters, your experience would per kill would be cut in half.

    Everyone hated it.

    So, they flipped it around. Instead, they cut all the experience values in half, but gave you double experience at the start of your gaming session. People loved it.

    Same thing is going on here.

    --
    Check your premises.
    1. Re:No, you pay more for quicker by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      I started in open-beta. Double experience was based upon a couple factors. First, how long you'd been offline. And second, if you logged off with your character in a city, town, or appropriate inn. You could gain that same status, staying online just by parking your toon in a city for a while. But the duration of how much double experience you could get was also based upon how long you sat in the city/town/inn, or were offline. It also maxed out at gaining 1.5 levels.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    2. Re:No, you pay more for quicker by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 2

      When World Of Warcraft was in beta, after killing a certain number of monsters, your experience would per kill would be cut in half.

      Everyone hated it.

      So, they flipped it around. Instead, they cut all the experience values in half, but gave you double experience at the start of your gaming session. People loved it.

      Same thing is going on here.

      Classic loss aversion. People react stronger to a loss, real or imagined, than from a gain.

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    3. Re:No, you pay more for quicker by Comrade+Ogilvy · · Score: 1

      Which is why a "discount" for being willing to wait makes for sense for Uber. "The same fast service costs you a premium charge" will cause anger while "discount off the usual already fair price, if you wait a bit" will gain kudos.

  17. Don't get tricked, here's what's going on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Over several months, the prices will go up, and you will end up actually paying a higher price for the regular ride, rather than a lower price for the delayed ride. Profit.

  18. Can you grasp ? by gDLL · · Score: 1

    You do understand Uber has competition, don't you ?

    1. Re:Can you grasp ? by bobbied · · Score: 1

      You do understand Uber has competition, don't you ?

      Yea, but who knows who they are or has their app already loaded on their phone? Market share is your friend if you are on top and your nemesis if you are not.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    2. Re:Can you grasp ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah. I do understand also that what you call "competition" works fine only we have more drivers than riders. When it's the other way around... well, you are in the capable (of ripping you off) hands of riding companies.

      You must live on some rural nowhereland to not grasp the notion.

  19. Ride hailing? by smooth+wombat · · Score: 0

    Hailing a ride is what you do with taxis. It's redundant to call a taxi service a ride hailing service when that is what one does to get a ride.

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  20. competition.... by gDLL · · Score: 1

    You do understand Uber has competition, don't you ? ....

    1. Re:competition.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do I hear an echo?

  21. Prices are lower at 17:00??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems counterintuitive to me.

    In most parts of the USA, the typical workday is 9 am to 5 pm.

    So I would have expected demand for uber to jump significantly at 5 pm and prices should rise accordingly.

  22. explanation ... by gDLL · · Score: 2

    Idea would be that if you are willing to wait a bit then higher chances you can find a shared ride.

    If you like to be regulated hard then please by all means take a cab and STFU about uber.

    1. Re: explanation ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WTF is a "shared drive", when you're just hailing a cab and hot sharing anything at all?

  23. Book sooner by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like a discount for people who plan ahead. Reminiscent of airfare.

  24. Use Lyft, It's cheaper by pgmrdlm · · Score: 1

    And you don't have to wait longer. Uber, you are losing business due to you pricing yourself out of the market. Competition is a wonderful thing.

    --
    Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
  25. At some point, public transit is the price floor by tepples · · Score: 1

    I figured this feature would be more like "wait 45 minutes"

    As opposed to the alternative, which is anywhere between "wait 59 minutes" and "wait 60 hours" depending on what day of the week it is. (Source: FWCitilink.com)

  26. A city taxi service by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    thats on time and for a set price it starting to look like a great idea.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  27. Shared rides? by Pascoea · · Score: 1

    ...top reason riders choose shared rides...

    Does this mean this option intends to group customers that are going to a similar location together, sharing the cost? Or is this still just Uber pretending they are not a taxi service?

  28. Not a city person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, I didn't realize that Uber and Lyft were just about as expensive as driving (your own car). I guess that makes sense though, and it could still make for a convenient alternative.
    It does remind me of the few times I've had to pay for a taxi when I was in the city - fucking expensive is what that was.
    Overall, I always hated everything about taxis, so I'm all for Uber and Lyft driving those out of business. I'll use an app if I need a ride next time.

    1. Re: Not a city person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Found the vulture capitalist wannabe.

  29. I’m announcing my very own ride sharing app! by Hallux-F-Sinister · · Score: 3, Insightful

    WolkThare saves you even MORE money than UberD-LAID, or UberL8r or whatever they’re planning to call it. With WolkThare, you simply get picked up at your destination, then immediately dropped off, and since you are then already THARE, you neither get into, nor out OF, your WolkThare ride-share vehicle, because, since you are already where you are going, you don’t really NEED it to be thare at all! WolkThareAnbak offers you a FREE return trip if you went THARE using our revolutionary, game-changing and paradigm-disruptive app in the first place, and there’s NO WAITING AT ALL! When you’re ready to go, just WolkThare and start your journey immediately! No time like the present! Unlike UberNow versus UberL8r, our soon-to-be-award-winning-app does not require you to have an account, download anything, and it’s totally ad-free! No surge pricing, no tipping, no upselling of premium services, and your driver will never rape or murder you, plus you get free exercise, no JYM MMBRSHYP or app required! Unlike SOME app-based ride-sharing services, WE don’t charge you extra if our app detects your phone’s battery is low. It’s like Paleo for transportation! This is how your ancestors got around!!!

    WolkThare is unlike Uber, Lyft, Riid, Flye, and Zwym in that WolkThare works even if your smartphone’s battery has died completely, if you left it at home, or even if you’ve never HAD a smartphone! Even if you’ve never seen one. Even if you are unaware smartphones even exist! Are you a tribesman in the Kalahari in the eleven hundreds, or an Inuit fisherman in the Aleutian Islands circa 552 BCE?!? Do you need to get from A to B? Just WolkThare!

    --
    Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
  30. Willing to wait? by PPH · · Score: 1

    Here's directions to the nearest bus stop.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Willing to wait? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Ten meters away from my door... Total non-issue.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  31. The obvious question and the obvious answer.... by LVSlushdat · · Score: 1

    The obvious question is "Will Uber eat the lower fare or will the driver???".... Come everybody, you KNOW the answer that.. THE DRIVER, OBVIOUSLY...

    --
    THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
  32. How about allowing more vehicles to lower fees? by darth_borehd · · Score: 1

    Their rules require drivers to use 5-seater vehicles. How about 4 seaters and 2-seaters?

    Who wouldn't like being picked up in a corvette?

    Or how about allowing motorcycles with a second seat or sidecar?
    Most people who ride Uber/Lyft do so alone and would probably be OK paying less for a smaller vehicle.

    1. Re:How about allowing more vehicles to lower fees? by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      It’s not that I don’t enjoy riding in a Corvette, it’s that a two-seater is useless for most such rides. Maybe if I’m dropping my car off for service and need to get to work, or coming from home and picking it up later, yeah. But otherwise, I’m probably traveling with my wife, so no go, or with luggage, so also need a decent amount of trunk space. In either case, I’m not willing to pay a premium. A cramped econobox is a better ride than a Corvette if it gets me there with all the people and/or stuff I need.

  33. effectively a paycut for drivers by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

    just what all those uber drivers need, a hefty paycut.

  34. 20% Less by mentil · · Score: 1

    for $10.18, or wait until 5pm and pay $8.15, about 25% less

    No, $8.15 is 19.94% less than $10.18
    However, $10.18 is ~25% MORE than $8.15 /pedant

    --
    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.