if cities really want to fight drunk driving they should allow ridesharing. people just don't want to wait literally hours for a cab and pay a fortune before they go out. uber comes in minutes and is much cheaper.
I really hope this bites them in the ass but with $1.5b in funding they'll probably succeed. Which sucks but that's the way it is. I still won't use them if there is an alternative just for this reason, however.
I was in Manhattan this past weekend. Über rates were "surging" more times than not. Gotta use coupons to make it work ($30 off first ride, etc).
This sort of thing ultimately backfires. They may destroy Lyft, but whatever takes its place will adapt and be stronger. Like when the record companies came after Napster. They stomped it, and it morphed into BitTorrent, which is unstoppable.
Napster/bittorrent are weird examples because they rely on being underground and illegal. Walmart came in and crushed mom and pop stores. Best Buy came in and crushed the small electronics store. Amazon came in and crushed local booksellers. Where are all the ones that have replaced them and adapted to be stronger? Sometimes, the big guy actually effectively destroys the competition.
the whole branding experience everything from the pink mustache, to the fistbump, to the user pics, ratings/comments.. and it all starts with the mentorship training session for every driver
Have a safe holiday weekend guys and gals! Don't drink and drive!! Use Uber to get your drunk ass home!!
Walmart crushed mom and pop stores because they are cheaper. Same with Amazon. Mom and pop retail is usually horribly inefficient. Trying to maintain a monopoly through sabotage/obstruction is not a long term successful strategy (with the exception of getting laws passed to eliminate competition). It would be like Papa Johns trying to crush Dominos by placing false orders rather than providing a superior product. No doubt the programmers of Lyft are working on ways to identify phony riders.
You could probably do usage analysis, and data mine to find profiles associated with those of similar profiles to Uber fakers---I don't know if there's a smoking gun trait, but a combo of credit card used/iOS/usage patterns/time/distance could probably get you pretty close. Problem is there'd probably be a lot of legitimate users who would fit that same profile, and given how Uber seems to pre-empting this by telling their team members to specifically be as unpredictable as possible, I don't think it'd work very well. Probably the easiest solution would be to give Lyft drivers a button that pings Lyft HQ when they've been interviewed by a Uberite, then the system nabs them individually and bans them from further rides. From a behaviour point of view, there's a lot to deal with (what would actually get a driver to click beyond just pure devotion to the Lyft cause, and how do you authenticate), but technically speaking it's probably the cleanest.
My cousin started driving for uber because they promised him 1200/week. He barely makes any money when factoring uber's cut, gas, maintenance, vehicle depreciation, taxes, etc..I haven't used the service yet but seems like only an idiot would sign up to use their personal car as a taxi. Probably a great alternative for drunk people considering how cheap the service is though.
He lives in the Heights. He was out there about 50-60 hours at first but decided it may be better as a part time thing.
