

Uber - not a great experience at peak times (eg: New Year's Eve) - Roedou
http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/03/car-service-uber-passes-economics-test-fails-marketing/

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tomjen3
This is just yet another example of why taxis should be deregulated.

The reason Uber is as expensive as it is is that it there are too few cars. On
New Years eve more people want to take a cap but there is no way to increase
supply, because there are too few medallions.

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mikeryan
I can also read this article as a reason why Uber _should_ be regulated more
like cabs so folks don't get stuck with a $67 dollar cab ride for going less
then a mile.

In fact in Uber's unregulated market there were _still_ too few cars on the
road and it lead to artificially high prices it seems like this article is
arguing _for_ regulation.

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tomjen3
You could argue that Uber didn't make it obvious what the price would be,
which might make them liable.

But in general these people didn't pay to drive a mile but to drive a mile on
the busiest day of the year. That costs.

The alternative -- and the reason people didn't use regular cabs -- is that
there aren't enough of them. So either you get shortages or you get higher
prices (which are good, since they incentivice those who don't value the
transportation as much to walk).

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dotBen
The cost of Ubers and unregulated market will fall as more supply comes on tap
-- both via Uber and via 3rd parties.

In two years time Uber and everyone else will have a public API to communicate
their permanent variable pricing, and they'll be a ton of smartphone apps that
talk to all of the APIs from all of the providers and suggest which one to
take based on the current supply/demand curve and other factors.

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geoffschmidt
The article suggests that Uber subsidize the price on NYE. Given that the
price is set by demand, that doesn't make any sense. However much Uber or Amex
subsidizes the price, there are still X people that want rides and Y < X rides
available, and the amount you the rider have to pay to win the auction is the
same.

The anger came because Uber didn't do a good job of setting expectations.
Their customers expected that they could get a ride anytime, even NYE, if they
were willing to pay a certain premium over what a cab would cost. But the
premium on NYE was much larger than the customers (rightly or not) expected.
If Uber had done a better job of managing expectations, they wouldn't have
angry customers.

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capkutay
This is similar to what they did on halloween. I wouldn't go so far as to say
they were taking advantage of their customers, but one would think that
UberCab users would only be willing to pay up to x20 the rate of a yellowcab
when they're intoxicated in the middle of the night New Years Eve. Kind of
like when you pay $15 for a beer at that hip after hours bar. If you're
potential customers weren't drunk people out partying, it'd seem like an
absurd pricing mechanism.

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ruckusing
Uber should consider implementing an app feature where I can enter my
destination address and it calculates the price of that route AT THAT moment:
"If you were to book a car now it would be $X" not just "hey its 6.25x". The
UI is terrible. People dont know what 6.25x means. Give it to them in dollars.

This feature alone would have solved this NYE public relations drama.

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krobertson
I use Uber from time to time and enjoy it immensely. I agree with several of
the article's things Uber could have done better, but so much of the whole
outcry is people not wanting to take responsibility for their own actions.

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mikeash
It sounds like this is too extreme to apply a blanket label of "responsibility
for their own actions". People have certain reasonable expectations of what
something will cost, especially when it's a service they use habitually. If
you suddenly change that cost by a factor of 4 or more, you can't reasonably
expect people to spot that and change their behavior accordingly unless you
make it _extremely_ obvious. It doesn't sound like Uber made the surcharge as
visible as the size would require.

I imagine this will attract some replies which say that it's still their fault
no matter how unreasonable one might consider the price change to be. If
you're planning to write one, then before you do, please consider this
question: do you study a taxi's rates from top to bottom before accepting the
ride every time you take a taxi?

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krobertson
I agree that blame isn't all on the user... but most articles seem to be very
one directional.

Even the person in the article mentions seeing the warning but quickly
dismissing it. Think how often you see an alert pop up and dismiss it without
really reading it.

I think even if Uber did a better job of notifying people, you'd still see an
outcry.

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kmfrk
It's probably also a factor that a lot of people were fairly inebriated on New
Year's Eve. :)

It's one thing to create UX for the optimal user to notify them of the price
surge, but people celebrating New Year's Eve?

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samstave
As much as I love Uber, I use it because my work pays for it (expensed travel
to client sites) - but I would very very rarely use it for personal use.

I have used it once for personal use - to go to a wedding at a church 1 mile
from my house; $23.00

I spend ~400 a month on Uber Cab right now...

\---

The service is fantastic but the prices are rather ridiculous.

I would NEVER have used them on NYE - and the prices people were paying just
shows that either all those people are really rich, or really stupid.

I am pissed that I can buy a single leg from SFO to Seattle on Virgin for $59
-- but to take a cab from my house to SFO is $65.00

We can talk about supply/demand market etc all day - but there is just
something wrong with the cost of transportation in SF. Period.

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Roedou
I have used it in Seattle, for business and personal.

Honestly, the reasons I'm happy to pay a premium are the phone app and the
reliability: I'm fed up of booking a cab that turns up 30+ minutes late.

If any of the three/four big taxi firms in Seattle put together an app like
Uber's (basically with the 'pick me up from this spot ASAP and keep me up to
date with how far away you are' feature) - they would be my go-to ride every
time, and would be incredibly popular.

Have never taken a cab in SF; the crazy shortage of medallions in the city
sounds almost criminal.

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aaronbrethorst
Excluding the weather right now, Yellow Cab is likely the worst thing about
Seattle. TaxiMagic is supposed to work ok, although I've never tried it.

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teyc
I bet Uber will pivot rather than be involved with peak time travel the way
they did on NYE. It is bad for the brand to charge ultra high rates when
people are feeling festive.

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lwat
Wow he managed to get a car at 1:30am after NYE? That's amazing! I'd
definitely pay those prices for that kind of convenience! Would be prefer
cheaper prices but no cars available for several hours? I think not.

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Uhhrrr
I recall a Halloween night in SF where I and my SO waited over two hours and
had to share a cab with two other partygoers who did not live particularly
close to us. I would have killed (ok, maimed) for the chance to use Uber.

