| This guy gets the wrong impression because he doesn't understand that uber is growing to something totally different: 1.Uber recently started to offer it's uberxl suv service, which carries upto 6 passengers and in sf costs $5 base fare + the lowest of ($0.45/minute or $2.15/mile)[1]. 2.Given enough demand, uber can offer a highly efficient personalized route service, which builds optimal routes needed to transport 6 people. Let's assume such routes can be only 25% longer than normal routes , on average[2]. Combine both of those, we can replace 6X30 minutes car trips , with a single 37.5 minute suv trip, which will be charged $21.87 for 6 passengers, or $3.64 per person. If we wanted to have a similar trip in public transportation, it would probably take around 1.5-2 hours , but might cost $2. And if we compare this to a normal car trip, the uber experience could be much better - you could watch a tv episode on your tablet after a long work day and unwind, instead of the stress of fighting traffic. And it's priced pretty closed to the cost of personal transportation. And the secondary effects from shifting so much traffic to highly efficient forms would greatly decrease traffic jams and further increase speed. TL;DR - with it's new offering uber is evolving to be a much better, new mode of public transportation, both cost effective and a great experience. [1]https://www.uber.com/cities/san-francisco [2]research of "demand responsive transportation" talks about similar efficiencies. |
- Are those 6 people travelling together (relatively unlikely), or are they being stuck in a shared vehicle with strangers? If it's the latter it seems likely to be much less comfortable than a bus, where there's usually a potential to move around a bit and you go into it expecting to make intermediate stops (and knowing where/when they are!).
- After taking plenty of effort to get the dollars right you gloss over the most important issue: routefinding. Mentioning some hypothetical "similar trip" is not all that meaningful. If you live near one stop and work near another on the same line it might be much faster to take transit. If you live in a world built primarily for cars with no regard for other modes, you may find it difficult to find any public transit option for your route.
- And a shift in traffic is laudable only if it doesn't serve to induce further demand [0].
[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand