Lyft's All-Access Subscription Plan Rolling Out Nationwide, $300/Month for 30 Rides

[oneMadRssn]

So this is targeted to people that don't have cars? Just getting to/from work is 40 rides/month (average). Then add in getting around for shopping/dinner/etc. How much are these people spending each month instead of just getting a car?

I don't think anyone, including Lyft, would argue that Lyft is cheaper than owning a car for someone that commutes to work 5 days a week.

But that is actually a shrinking percentage of the white-collar workforce. Even huge companies now encourage office employees to work from home once or twice per week. So it could easily be down to 24-32 rides per month.

Also, the cost of car ownership is not just the car - you also have to have a space to park in. In cities, this can be quite expensive both in terms of renting or owning. Couples are more often trying to manage with having just one car (one person uses it daily to get to work, and the other person uses it for shopping/dinner/etc when needed but otherwise relies on a mix of Lyft and public transit).

So for someone living in an urban area, that can work from home at least once a week, this monthly Lyft plan might actually make sense.

 

[Mr. Skeleton]

I don't think anyone, including Lyft, would argue that Lyft is cheaper than owning a car for someone that commutes to work 5 days a week.

But that is actually a shrinking percentage of the white-collar workforce. Even huge companies now encourage office employees to work from home once or twice per week. So it could easily be down to 24-32 rides per month.

Also, the cost of car ownership is not just the car - you also have to have a space to park in. In cities, this can be quite expensive both in terms of renting or owning. Couples are more often trying to manage with having just one car (one person uses it daily to get to work, and the other person uses it for shopping/dinner/etc when needed but otherwise relies on a mix of Lyft and public transit).

So for someone living in an urban area, that can work from home at least once a week, this monthly Lyft plan might actually make sense.

Or Uber’s $20 for 20 rides 15% off. Save the cash and get the same deal

Or car2go, $7 for 30 minutes, or $15 for an hour. No parking fees. Much better deal.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Wouldn’t this be more than the payment of a decent used car?

Where I live, the price difference between a starter home in a good neighborhood near enough the city to commute with one parking spot versus two parking spots is $50k-$100k. That's a big factor, I think.

 

[sinsin07]

So this is targeted to people that don't have cars? Just getting to/from work is 40 rides/month (average). Then add in getting around for shopping/dinner/etc. How much are these people spending each month instead of just getting a car?

What if the person:
Has no license
Is afraid to drive
Has some other thing/situation preventing them from driving

 

[oneMadRssn]

Or Uber’s $20 for 20 rides 15% off. Save the cash and get the same deal

It's not really the same deal at all.

Uber: 15% off $450 worth of rides on Uber is $382.50 plus $20 for a total cost of $402.50.

Lyft: $450 worth of rides on Lyft for $300 total cost.

So, if you easily pass that $450 threshold per month (which I admit is probably rare), this Lyft deal is more than $100 better.

 

[shareef777]

This is pretty simple math for anyone that's questioning this. If you average more then 30 rides that's at least $10 then this could save you UP TO $150 a month. It's only a loss if you take less then 30 rides and the average per ride is less than $10.

Marketing departing for Lyft must've come from one of the wireless carriers. "all-access" = "unlimited"

 

[ArztMac]

This looks like a terrible “deal.” Ugh. Subscription-based everything. I hate it.

Makes a lot of sense actually.

I just enjoy driving my sports car too much. Of course it brings me everywhere, but I have a ton of fun doing it. Am I paying more? Hell yeah! But I am loving it!

 

[adamjackson]

It's crazy that ownership is completely going away. Rent books, movies, access to media, music, lease computers and iPhones and now subscription cars.

It's just odd not to have assets even ones that depreciate, right? If I lose my job, my phone is paid for, my car is paid for, the clothes on my skin is paid for my house is paid off (one day). it's nice to have assets that can't be taken away just because I cancel the service. Odd that this is the opposite of how things re going.

 

[Mr. Skeleton]

It's not really the same deal at all.

Uber: 15% off $450 worth of rides on Uber is $382.50 plus $20 for a total cost of $402.50.

Lyft: $450 worth of rides on Lyft for $300 total cost.

So, if you easily pass that $450 threshold per month (which I admit is probably rare), this Lyft deal is more than $100 better.

Okay my math was wrong, that’s a 33% savings which is great.

I’m not a fan of the high upfront cost, and I don’t think some heavy users who use it daily (like myself) will either.

What would entice me (with high upfront cost) is true unlimited rides.

 

[Tinmania]

Ah, but take into account gas, insurance, maintenance, etc. then you have an argument. I think this is a great idea. Not sure $300 is the correct starting price point though.

Won't be much gas and maintenance if you only take 30 trips in a month, though. I don't drive a lot, but between back-and-forth from work, errands, and whatnot, easily exceed 75 trips in a month (probably closer to 100, if I factor in the semi-regular trips back and forth to lunch, during workdays). At $600, for two of these Lyft "deals" it still wouldn't be enough for me--and now exceeds the cost of my car. My car might depreciate, but at least it will have value when I sell it.

I guess if you regularly use a ride service 30x per month, or more, and are paying more than $10 a trip, this would be a good deal.




Mike

 

[Mr. Skeleton]

Also take in account that you lose savings if your trips are less than $15. Trips only cost $11? That extra $4 doesn’t rollover and is lost.

Why not pay $300 to get s $450 Lyft credit, hmm? Not a good look!

 

[shareef777]

Won't be much gas and maintenance if you only take 30 trips in a month, though. I don't drive a lot, but between back-and-forth from work, errands, and whatnot, easily exceed 75 trips in a month (probably closer to 100, if I factor in the semi-regular trips back and forth to lunch, during workdays). At $600, for two of these Lyft "deals" it still wouldn't be enough for me--and now exceeds the cost of my car. My car might depreciate, but at least it will have value when I sell it.

I guess if you regularly use a ride service 30x per month, or more, and are paying more than $10 a trip, this would be a good deal.




Mike

I'd imagine this is targeted at a very small number of people. If you need ~30 short rides a month, it'd be cheaper to pay the $300 for this then the same amount for a car, but pay an additional fee for fuel/maintenance/insurance (and possibly parking).

 

[oneMadRssn]

Okay my math was wrong, that’s a 33% savings which is great.

I’m not a fan of the high upfront cost, and I don’t think some heavy users who use it daily (like myself) will either.

What would entice me (with high upfront cost) is true unlimited rides.

I agree - I am a heavy Lyft user but this upfront cost is too high a risk. What is good is that this can be subscribed/unsubscribed month to month. If I know I will be riding Lyft a ton in the future, I can subscribe to this for just one month, in theory.

My issue (not really a problem at all, it's actually a good thing) is that my employer reimburses me for about half my Lyft/Uber/taxi rides. Rides home due to working late past 10pm are billed to the client and reimbursed. All rides taken for a business trip are billed to the client and reimbursed. So even when I have a busy month with travel and working late, where I can rack up hundreds of dollars in rides, over half will be reimbursed.

I'm not sure how they would handle reimbursements for rides that are covered by a personal monthly plan. My guess is they wouldn't.

 

[EdT]

It's crazy that ownership is completely going away. Rent books, movies, access to media, music, lease computers and iPhones and now subscription cars.

It's just odd not to have assets even ones that depreciate, right? If I lose my job, my phone is paid for, my car is paid for, the clothes on my skin is paid for my house is paid off (one day). it's nice to have assets that can't be taken away just because I cancel the service. Odd that this is the opposite of how things re going.

2 words:Service Economy. US companies can’t make physical items as cheaply as foreign companies can so they are pushing things to the perpetual rent option. That way they can make money over the life of the rental. If all they are is the local point of sale for physical items then after that sale they aren’t making money off of the devices’ users if the user owns the device and can just buy whatever the device needs to work. With perpetual rent they continue to make money over a long period of time, after first giving the manufacturer whatever it cost to buy the physical item.

 

[shareef777]

2 words:Service Economy. US companies can’t make physical items as cheaply as foreign companies can so they are pushing things to the perpetual rent option. That way they can make money over the life of the rental. If all they are is the local point of sale for physical items then after that sale they aren’t making money off of the devices’ users if the user owns the device and can just buy whatever the device needs to work. With perpetual rent they continue to make money over a long period of time, after first giving the manufacturer whatever it cost to buy the physical item.

It's the human mindset. People will see something as more costly at $120 up front vs $10 a month for a year. That's why you have people on here balking at the $300 price when it'll actually save you a third of your costs if you're a heavy Lyft user. It's also why most are ok with paying $1k+ for a phone now as most just pay a monthly fee that's heavily increased (from avg of $30 per month to $40).

 

[macduke]

I drove my high school car for 13 years. I just did some quick napkin math including purchase price, average insurance cost, average gas cost based on miles driven/average mpg (including the crazy prices in the late 2000s), oil changes, parking estimate, and rough total of the few major repairs. It cost me about $160/mo to drive a five year old (at purchase) entry level domestic sedan for 13 years buying outright with cash. YMMV but this was from 2003-2016 and I would take care of my car. This got me through the end of high school, my time in, out, and back into college and my first five years of my post-college job. I feel like this $300/mo plan is not for young people unless you live in a big city with expensive or limited parking. In college to work two jobs and go to school twice per day you would need ~173 rides per month and that's with no socializing and no trips to the store. But let's say you only work and go to school once each per day. That's still ~87 rides per month. Better off to ride a bike, walk if possible, buy an inexpensive car, or rent one of those stupid scooters that are everywhere. Even if you only go to work and never go to the store or socialize that's ~43 rides per month! I'm just not getting how this makes sense for most people unless you just occasionally need to use it like you share a single car with a spouse or something.

 

[Vasilioskn]

Wouldn’t this be more than the payment of a decent used car?

Yeah totally. I pay $220 a month for a new car. But I guess this might be good for people who don’t have licenses

 

[reallynotnick]

Lets break down what monthly car ownership would cost for myself:
$100 Insurance
$75 Parking Space at apartment
$140 Parking downtown
$30 Fuel (assuming about 8mile drive to work, 40mpg and $3.50 fuel price, obviously these all can vary greatly)
$30? Maintenance (no clue on this one)
$X? Car payment/deprecation

So we are at $375 without taking in to account a car payment or any kind of depreciation, obviously this is my own unique situation so it is really going to depend on your own situation, but I can easily see a market for something like this for certain people.

 

[MhzDoesMatter]

If I owned a bar, I would get this as a benefit to my customers.

 

[acctman]

Having a car is not cheaper if you have to pay to park and gas cost. Ex parking in NYC is going to cost you $150 or more

 

[EdT]

I drove my high school car for 13 years. I just did some quick napkin math including purchase price, average insurance cost, average gas cost based on miles driven/average mpg (including the crazy prices in the late 2000s), oil changes, parking estimate, and rough total of the few major repairs. It cost me about $160/mo to drive a five year old (at purchase) entry level domestic sedan for 13 years buying outright with cash. YMMV but this was from 2003-2016 and I would take care of my car. This got me through the end of high school, my time in, out, and back into college and my first five years of my post-college job. I feel like this $300/mo plan is not for young people unless you live in a big city with expensive or limited parking. In college to work two jobs and go to school twice per day you would need ~173 rides per month and that's with no socializing and no trips to the store. But let's say you only work and go to school once each per day. That's still ~87 rides per month. Better off to ride a bike, walk if possible, buy an inexpensive car, or rent one of those stupid scooters that are everywhere. Even if you only go to work and never go to the store or socialize that's ~43 rides per month! I'm just not getting how this makes sense for most people unless you just occasionally need to use it like you share a single car with a spouse or something.

I tend to drive cars until they die, but I just got back from a trip to New York. I don’t think I could afford to drive in Manhattan. After the trip I’m not sure I would want to live in any city with traffic and costs anything like it was there. The problem I had was Lyft was unreliable for me in NY. Or it was faster to take public transit or just walk.

 

[Dionte]

3 tiers would have been better to get people on board.
$99 for 10 rides
$199 for 20 rides
$299 for 30 rides
At $15 each.

 

[nburwell]

If you use Lyft frequently, I suppose this makes sense. The only time I use Lyft is when my wife and I travel and don't get a rental car.

 

[User 6502]

It looks like a terrible deal.

 

[macduke]

I tend to drive cars until they die, but I just got back from a trip to New York. I don’t think I could afford to drive in Manhattan. After the trip I’m not sure I would want to live in any city with traffic and costs anything like it was there. The problem I had was Lyft was unreliable for me in NY. Or it was faster to take public transit or just walk.

Yeah I didn't even mention public transportation in my post, which is a big oversight. I'm just used to living in the midwest where it isn't very prevalent. But I also understand it's expensive to drive in the city. My wife's aunt lives in DUMBO which is in Brooklyn and has a parking garage under her building with a big heavy sliding door and I think the only reason she can afford that is because her unit is $2M and she is well off, lol.