Hah, fair enough.
So this will cover 3 weeks of commuting to work. The extra week will cost about $100 using Lyft Line. So $400 a month.
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Lyft's All-Access Subscription Plan Rolling Out Nationwide, $300/Month for 30 Rides
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Hah, fair enough.
So this will cover 3 weeks of commuting to work. The extra week will cost about $100 using Lyft Line. So $400 a month.
You can’t factor in car payment and depreciation both as expenses.
If you lease, depreciation is in the payment.
If you are buying over time, the only part of your payment that is a cost is interest (and any fees) then you factor in depreciation. Principal payment is not an expense.
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Wind farms should be banned. They increase local temperatures and produce 1/10th to 1/100th the amount of energy promised once scaled up. They are a blight on the landscape and kill countless birds.
Solar could be successfully implemented as rooftop only. Solar farms aren’t as productive as expected and they also suffer from losses over distance just like other power plants.
Damn. You’d have to ride over 20 times a month to get your moneys worth. I can’t see why one person would think this is a reasonable idea. Maybe a Manhattan resident that doesn’t to pay for parking but that’s it.
In March, Lyft began testing a monthly subscription plan for select high-frequency users, and today the company announced that a version of this plan will now be available to everyone in the United States by the end of the week. Called the "All-Access Plan," passengers will be able to pay upfront every 30 days, locking in a set price for their rides and not having to pay out for each individual Lyft trip.
Subscribers of the All-Access Plan will get 30 rides (for up to $15 each) for a monthly fee of $299, and can cancel their plan anytime. If a ride goes over $15, subscribers will have to pay the difference. If the 30 ride limit is exceeded, Lyft will offer five percent off additional rides. Additionally, unused rides will not roll over to the following monthly pay period.
During its test, Lyft tried out plans that cost $200/month, $300/month, and $400/month for different amount of rides and incentives, but it appears that the company landed on $299/month as the sweet spot. At the time, Lyft CEO Logan Green discussed the subscription plan tests, saying, "We are going to move the entire industry from one based on ownership to one based on subscription."
In today's press release, Lyft says the nationwide rollout of the All-Access Plan is the first step toward "delivering on our goal of making car ownership optional."
Lyft launches its subscription plan after rival Uber trialed its own similar monthly subscription payments in 2016, without following up with a full launch. Lyft has also partnered with Google's Waymo "to bring autonomous vehicle technology into the mainstream."
Article Link: Lyft's All-Access Subscription Plan Rolling Out Nationwide, $300/Month for 30 Rides
I think that mentality is exactly the issue we are having currently. Many people buy cars to have them parked 22 hours of each 24-hour circle.
Some people don't want all the hassle that comes with owning a car (maintenance, insurance fees, road taxes and what not) they simply want to pay for the travel they do. I think sharing is a pretty good solution for the current issue we are having with transportation but there is this obsession of people wanting to own a car, even if it means being parked 95% of the time.
You are right, companies never launch products and services after months of “research” and then realize it’s complete crap and no one is interested.
This offer doesn’t make any sense for most consumers. Unless you regularly take trips that are consistently above 15 dollars and all other times between $10-15.
Everytime you don’t spend $15 dollars, it’s only marginally worth it.
Plus, it takes away the main reason most people use this service for: convenience.
With this subscription, if you have a meeting 5 minutes from where you are, instead of just calling a Lyft for $5 dollars, you’ll end up walking or whatever because using it with an active subscription would mean wasting $10 dollars.
So it only works if your rides are > $10 on average, and you need 30 of them. You'd have to be commuting into a super dense city where this is necessary just to avoid parking, yet the city doesn't have public transportation. I rarely needed a car in San Francisco, and I always had parking in Los Angeles, so I don't know where this is meant to be used.
For most big workplaces, best you can do is carpool. There are apps for this, but they aren't necessary in theory; just group up and figure out who lives closeby.
Uber and such are great for rare occasions like going to an airport or bar or completing small last limbs of trips or getting yourself un-stranded. Or if you don't make enough trips to make car ownership worthwhile and presumably walk or public transport to work. Fine, but that's not going to be 30 trips per month.
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For most big workplaces, best you can do is carpool. There are apps for this, but they aren't necessary in theory; just group up and figure out who lives closeby.
Uber and such are great for rare occasions like going to an airport or bar or completing small last limbs of trips or getting yourself un-stranded. Or if you don't make enough trips to make car ownership worthwhile and presumably walk or public transport to work. Fine, but that's not going to be 30 trips per month.
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People have their own cars because it's much cheaper and more convenient, whether or not there's an obsession. Also, Uber/etc rides aren't available in much of the US because the population isn't dense enough for it to make sense.
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Even with my 2003 regular gas-powered sedan it's better to drive myself than to do anything else. Less than $4 of gasoline to get to/from work. I have cheap carpools and free buses, but if I value an hour of my time at more than $4 + (whatever the amortized car ownership cost is, $2?), not worth the extra travel time. But I'd carpool if I lived further away.
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Cheaper? I don't think so. People pay tens of thousands for a car, including road taxes, insurance and fuel expenses as well as maintenance expenses constantly being added to the top! It suits people who do very long drives on a daily basis, I would still look at public transport (trains) before buying a car. Ride sharing is a much better solution and should be a lot cheaper.
I pointed this out earlier, why can't you use Uber for those trips that don't get your moneys worth?
It’s more than the payment on a lot of new cars. And insurance. All this stuff is all for people who never leave the manmade environments of the human hive.
Yeah...no. Here in the Northeast when it’s winter 9 out of 12 months I’m not, nor most folks willing to ride a scooter or bicycle. (Car2go directly competes with zipcar and is not in Boston or a lot of cities). Others have already said it best. It’s not aimed for those who have homes with garages and cars out in surburbia but more for major cities like NYC, Boston, Washington DC, SF, etc...
Personally I don’t have a drivers license nor obviously a car. Partner has the license. But the costs of owning, maintenance, parking both at home (it’s street parking so good luck even finding a spot) and work would be well above this pricepoint. But we use the mbta, zipcar and Lyft/Uber when we need it (or just cannot deal with the T). We’ve known quite a lot of folks who do use Uber/Lyft all the time so this is aimed for them. Not you, not myself. Those who use car service to go everywhere.
Far as your Uber is life spiel. We can agree to disagree. I used them for a few years. It was 60% good drivers, 35% horrible people who should and probably have been behind bars. Also understand everybody has different experiences. I’ve since switched to Lyft and quite please both with their routes even when I correct them to go another direction and the drivers themselves are not complete loons that’ll stab you if you move wrong! Plus their cars tend to actually be clean. Minus that Lyft I took in New Orleans recently which I’m still trying to get the smell out of our clothing!
Why not pay for $300 and get $450 lyft credit? In a smaller major city like DC, it’s going to be hard to make every ride exceed $15, so you’re losing savings. I assume you’re in a sticky situation when it downpours and waste your $15 credit on a $5 ride.
High upfront cost.
Savings lost on rides under $15.
Feeling obligated to use Lyft
I’d be all about it if it was 30 rides with no cap within the city limits, kinda like the Uber Pool Pass was.
Yeah...no. Here in the Northeast when it’s winter 9 out of 12 months I’m not, nor most folks willing to ride a scooter or bicycle. (Car2go directly competes with zipcar and is not in Boston or a lot of cities). Others have already said it best. It’s not aimed for those who have homes with garages and cars out in surburbia but more for major cities like NYC, Boston, Washington DC, SF, etc...
Personally I don’t have a drivers license nor obviously a car. Partner has the license. But the costs of owning, maintenance, parking both at home (it’s street parking so good luck even finding a spot) and work would be well above this pricepoint. But we use the mbta, zipcar and Lyft/Uber when we need it (or just cannot deal with the T). We’ve known quite a lot of folks who do use Uber/Lyft all the time so this is aimed for them. Not you, not myself. Those who use car service to go everywhere.
Far as your Uber is life spiel. We can agree to disagree. I used them for a few years. It was 60% good drivers, 35% horrible people who should and probably have been behind bars. Also understand everybody has different experiences. I’ve since switched to Lyft and quite please both with their routes even when I correct them to go another direction and the drivers themselves are not complete loons that’ll stab you if you move wrong! Plus their cars tend to actually be clean. Minus that Lyft I took in New Orleans recently which I’m still trying to get the smell out of our clothing!
I mean - I live in D.C. I commute using all the methods. Uber, Car2go, E-scooters, and the WMTA. I use Uber/Lyft all the time, so I’m unsure what your assumptions of my transportation life are based on. I also never commented on the quality of the drivers for lyft/Uber, only comparing the price points, so go ahead and ‘agree to disagree’ with something I didn’t comment on. I am a Lyft driver, with a Tesla Model S. So I know how good the cars can be
Personally I don’t want to Uber everyday, because sometimes it’s nice out, and the scooters are so damn fun and super cheap.
Sometimes I’ll take the metro if there are no scooters, it’s raining, and it’s rush hour. Uber can sometimes take an hour in DC traffic when I can just hop on a 10 minute metro ride (and here in D.C. most stops are underground and heated, we also have one of the best metro systems).
Car2go is great when I have a ton of food I’m picking up for dinner, or I need to make a few more stops/errands.
I like Uber’s $20 for 20 rides 15% off. It’s honestly much more flexible and not so committing. Sometimes I take lyft because on occasion it’s cheaper. But what sucks is if your ride is under $15 (and pools too, making you upgrade to a dedicated car to reach the $15 mark) you lose that savings. Plus you just feel locked in. What if it’s raining and I need to go only 15 blocks?
This only makes sense for those who have trips exceeding $15 that solely using lyft(or pool) everyday.
Sometimes I’ll only Uber/Lyft in the colder months, everyday. I like to cycle between the two based on prices and availability. We have Via here too which is like $2 per ride. Committing to lyft, especially with a high upfront cost that has the potential to be lost on smaller rides just doesn’t make sense.
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You are paying for insurance, maintenance, and depreciation whether it be your own car or ride hailing vehicles. With ride hailing you are also paying for a driver and the ride hailing company itself (they ain't doing this for charity). Parking though, is a biggie, exacerbated if you don't drive much anyway.
In my case it makes little sense to pay for ride hailing as my primary source of travel, or even secondary. I live in a house, and our cars go in the garage. I have a small car payment. I roll over to a new car every 2-3 years or so and basically finance just the depreciation (only if interest is zero or very close to it). Currently my car payment is about $150 (40K MSRP vehicle). My maintenance cost is next to zero, as I sell the car before warranty is up. Also negotiate free oil changes to cover 3 years, and the "big" service at 10k/15k miles. Don't ever buy tires, so my only maintenance is essentially car wash, which I usually do at home. Since I don't pay for parking my monthly car expense is $220 ($150 car payment, $70 insurance).
But I can definitely see how for others, especially if living in a more urban area, this will definitely not be the base--and that ride hailing makes sense. I think it will make even more sense when the vehicles are autonomous.
Mike
Owning a car in cities is expensive. At my apartment building it’s $325/month just to park a car here.
Easy way to compare costs is look at car leases since you pretty much only pay for fuel and insurance beyond that. $160/mo gets you a basic car. Fuel is like $0.15/mile. Insurance is at most $100/mo. Drive 200 miles per month, and the car is already cheaper than the Uber.
You can go even cheaper than leases. New cars are really expensive. Buy a used car, and you pay for maintenance, but it still ends up costing much less overall.
This is under the assumption that you're in the average situation in the US. Very dense cities have additional costs of car ownership, but those places have subways, and the Ubers are more expensive too. I'm not sure why you say ride sharing should be cheaper because as it is, you're using a lot of some driver's time. Only way I can see it being cheaper is if the driver also needs to go where you're going, e.g. in a carpool setup.
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Perhaps in US things are a bit different. I have been 8 years driver in the UK and another 8 years since I have stopped being a car owner. From my point of view and experience, the advantage of owning a car is convenience. I am lucky to live in a central area where I also work and only use public transport or uber on rare occasions. But I have a friend who spends a lot of money on their cars (fuel, insurance, road tax) and the insurance, in particular, can be very expensive and relies on many factors (such as age, an area where you live, years of non-claim bonus, type of car and all sorts)
Well it's pretty black and white if you want to leave convenience out of it. You can figure out how many miles you drive and calculate the overall costs without much effort if you consistently overestimate the car ownership cost. I know cars seem to cost a lot just because of how many different costs there are, but if you add it up, I can't imagine it ever being more than Ubering everywhere.
I know gas/petrol is much more expensive in the UK. I think it'll still end up being worth it. Or there are electric cars now. And btw, cars have suddenly gotten much more reliable and efficient in the past few years thanks to modern computing.
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I used to do this, but I worked from home two of those days. It sucked.
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