Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Screw taking Washington Flyer out of Dulles...there is no bigger boondoggle in DC than their monopoly arrangement with MWAA.

I fly in and out of Dulles at least once a week. Washington Flyer (also a nice and clean Ford Fusion..) charged me $51.56 to go from my home to the airport, 22 miles. That exact same trip on Uber cost me $91.31, what's up with that? Surge pricing? Why on earth would I want to use Uber when Washington Flyer gets me there for $40 less, is super convenient and one could argue has a better liability insurance?

Anonymous wrote:
Screw taking Washington Flyer out of Dulles...there is no bigger boondoggle in DC than their monopoly arrangement with MWAA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why doesn't Uber like or embrace this model?

Mom of college DD here and in our defense I can add that I don't think many parents would be comfortable having their 20-something DDs making this trek multiples times a day in the area of her college. Part of our deal with her going there was that she'd not walk everywhere at all hours. (She's in great shape, by the way).
But that did bring me to an Uber question:
Are drivers annoyed by short trips (sometimes less than a mile if grocery bags are included).
And are there circumstances where you think additional tipping with cash would be in order?
Thanks for answering these questions. This has been a great thread.

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I just read this whole thread in one sitting. Op, did you ever watch "how I met your mother"? If so, did you see the naked man episode? Because that's how I picture you in my head. But clothed! I like your style!

Anonymous wrote:Great thread OP. If you don't write for a living you should. Not a book about drivig uber but anything. Your responses have been more interesting and s better writing style than I read in the Atlantic and other magazines Maybe a story for the New Yorker?
Oh and dont underestimate the power that hustle, sense of humor and money has on women to bring you from a 4 (don't believe it) up. I married a smart, funny and kind bald short dude and I'm a 7 on a bad day

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't know if this had been covered but is there a way to keep a "regulars" list? Our daughter goes to college in a city and relies on Uber an average of 2-3x per day. Just thinking about the numbers of "strangers" she's getting into a car, the drivers who don't know the area, don't speak English or otherwise just give her a bad vibe have me wishing she could make some sort of connection with a handful of preferred drivers (or at least not get the bad guys again). Any suggestions? Thanks!

I wish I could get a stable of regulars. I would've quit my day job by now. But the service is meant to be speedy and efficient, so the closest driver gets the ride request. It's tough to have a driver conveniently on call because the odds of him/her being right around the corner are slim.

Best thing your daughter can do is ask for a favorite driver(s)' phone number and text them directly when she needs a ride. Here's where the problem comes in...she's gotta pay in cash now for every ride at $1/mile and $5 minimum for a driver to ever think about doing it. This is where uber shines. I gladly let uber take their 20% cut because all the money business is taken care of by them and is seamless behind the scenes.

It's a tough situation to be in a town full of bad drivers, but I remember being in college long ago when I took the bus every day because it was free and walked everywhere else. Your daughter probably could use the exercise.

Following up on this point. So you get the cell# of a few drivers you like and connect with them directly (maybe I have get to/from campus to may apartment every T,W,Th at 9am and return 4pm. Or likely less structured). Anyway, you're suggesting paying cash because this only works outside the Uber model? I guess it wouldn't be worth it to me because we're so risk-adverse (I like the tracking and insurance coverage features of Uber). But I love the idea that Lyft will first search for a "known" driver that you've rated well or overlook a driver you've rated poorly. Seems like a great compromise.
Why doesn't Uber like or embrace this model?

Anonymous wrote:I wish you would give us your phone number. For when we need a ride.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened that the rates from your money making heyday dropped? Why is it less lucrative? Gas prices? More drivers to compete with?

In 2011 & 2012 uber existed exclusively in DC as a black car service. Limo companies would contract with uber to use their Towncars and Suburbans so folks could request them thru the app just the same as now. Average ride cost was around $40-$50. Lyft got fired up in DC as an outlaw operation in August 2013, using everyday folks in their personal automobiles to give rides. Average ride cost for lyfts was right around $20, ~$2.50/mile. Uber answered the next month with uberX at about exactly the same rates and used brute force and cash money to crush Lyft out of the game. UberX heavily recruited already experienced Lyft drivers with cash offers of up to $2k to come give 100 rides with uberX in fall 2013. I took this offer. That was a $20 bonus on every ride given + whatever the fares ended up being. I hammered out all 100 rides over five days and cleared $4k. Uber took a huge chunk of Lyft's early ridership too with lots of free ride offers. Marketshare for Uber over Lyft is right around 85:15 in DC, and has been steady there for a while. Surge pricing came along right before the holidays and I remember one Friday night during Christmas party season where I had a string of about fifteen rides in a row that were all $50+, with a few over $100. It was REALLY EASY money. But quickly drivers got over-saturated once word spread, and thru 2014 the guaranteed money dropped to nothing. With all these now available drivers this set off an almost 2-year price-cutting war between uber and lyft, dropping rates to the current $1.02/mile + 17¢/minute. Great for riders, but it crushed a lot of drivers out of the game to go get a real job. I work the math in my head as I'm driving as $1.40/mile in the city and $1.20/mile on the highway. And I have to be milking surge constantly to make it worth my time.

Gas has been so cheap lately that I just stick to one rule: always buy in Virginia. I get about 30 mpg cruising easy around town, so it's not a huge cost factor.

Driver over-saturation comes and goes. A TON of people try it out for a single day to see what it's like then may never give another ride again, and some will drive just a single ride per month in order to stay active in the system as a "just-in-case" they need to go hustle a few hundred dollars in a hurry. As you may have noticed lately, there are LOTS of new-to-America immigrant drivers doing this now who speak little to no English and are very tentative drivers. I know because I check for the black&yellow TNC tag on every one I see out. These drivers follow uber's every command and end up doing endless POOL rides for 10+ hours a day and end up netting ~50¢/mile which is basically driving for free after expenses and taxes. You could honestly call this situation the new-age human slavery of being a servant robot in America. Uber got some of these folks on the hook really good by suckering them into a sham of a lease deal back when rates were higher. After the most recent rate drop these folks are now a literal slave to their own leased car.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't that illegal? I think you could get pulled over for that.

I am pretty sure you are not legally required to use car seats in a cab. Uber would probably be treated similarly, but it might be a bit of a gray area at this point.

Anonymous wrote:Isn't that illegal? I think you could get pulled over for that.

Anonymous wrote:I have taken a few uber rides (mostly to the airport) where I have had to install car seats for my kids. I am pretty good at it, but it still takes at least 5 minutes to get things set. The drivers have seemed understanding, but I wonder what they really thought. Has this happened to you and, if so, were you pissed.