
Uber Bookings Now Down 80% - uptown
https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/7120d9
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soccernee
Does this mean Uber will lose less money than it did in previous quarters?

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dkdk8283
I’ve spent $1700 on uber eats since this covid thing started.

Restaurants need help and drivers do too. I would normally think this amount
of money for 6 weeks of food is nuts but I’m glad I can help.

Keeping the economy going as much as possible is really important, IMO.

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Baeocystin
Are you not concerned about kitchen staff acting as vectors? Honest question.

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ttul
There is no hard evidence that COVID-19 is transmitted on food. Furthermore,
restaurants in developed countries have to follow rigorous health and safety
practices when preparing and distributing food. Those practices, which include
hand washing, reduce the risk of virus transmission even further. Keep in mind
that the transmission of disease via food is something that health authorities
have been tackling for decades.

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berberous
Isn’t one of the theorized initial vectors people in China eating bat or
pangolin?

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Baeocystin
Yes.

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adaisadais
Uber driver in San Francisco here.

Yeah, down 80% seems accurate. The last several weeks have been better than
the initial start of Quarantine. There were entire days where I did not give a
single ride.

The airport lot used to have 250-300 cars waiting. Now there are around 10.
The only place I have found any consistency is waiting at the local Safeway.
I’ve gone from 12 hrs driving = $250 to 12 hours driving = $125.

It will be better soon.

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JMTQp8lwXL
This seems in line with the March 19th investor call:
[https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186865/uber-rides-
decli...](https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21186865/uber-rides-decline-
coronavirus-seattle-sf-la-nyc)

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eindiran
From that article:

> Khosrowshahi said the company modeled “an extreme edge case” in which trip
> volume plummeted 80 percent.

We are now in "extreme edge case" territory.

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uptown
@dang Any reason this post vanished from the front-page? Seemed to be
relatively active and not all that stale at 21 minutes at the time of this
comment.

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lawrenceyan
Does HN have an @ functionality? I wasn't aware that there was.

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yalogin
That is to be expected. Uber makes what little it does on Uber Eats. Lyft
probably doesn't even make that. Same with Airbnb, they are probably making 0
right now.

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kylecazar
I just saw a TV ad from Uber thanking me for NOT riding with Uber during this
time.

You're... welcome?

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vwcx
Non-paywall link: [https://archive.vn/xj2db](https://archive.vn/xj2db)

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bluetwo
So how is this going to play out? Negative pricing like in oil?

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anticensor
Negative pricing will not work in passenger transportation. Even zero pricing
would result in overcrowding.

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jandrese
Are you saying that pricing drives demand? It seems to me that demand is
driven by people who have places to go. Pricing can reduce demand, but it
can't increase it beyond the base amount. Not unless people start just telling
their uber driver to go around the city because they just like being inside of
a car.

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anticensor
It can, even to the point of inability to serve passengers demanding for an
actual need. There are situations people taking public transport just because
it is free and they have time. I mean, if there were a free taxi, I can hail
it and pick my friends and acquittances randomly into it and drop them at
random places.

