Lyft, Didi, Ola and GrabTaxi Partner in Global Tech, Alliance to Rival Uber

http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/03/lyft-didi-ola-and-grabtaxi-partner-in-global-tech-service-alliance-to-rival-uber/

by kevindeasis • 11 years ago

60 62 11 years ago

techcrunch.com

srameshc• 11 years ago

The more I read such stories, the more I feel Uber will rule.

pbreit• 11 years ago

Why is that? Right now the local players seem to be competing very effectively.

mkaziz• 11 years ago

Because they're trying so hard, and the only time I ever hear of people using Lyft instead of Uber is when Lyft is offering some massive promotion.

(disclaimer: anecdote, but then again we're talking about vague feelings)

funkyy• 11 years ago

If they can lobby their way out of being illegal company to being somehow legal, they can use this power against competition. Remember what they did to Lyft year ago using some blackhat booking scheme? Imagine what they will do once they have lobbying power.

Spivak• 11 years ago

That's their marketing strategy. Convince everyone that they will be ubiquitous and as if by magic they will be.

n-exploit2• 11 years ago

We'll learn a lot more as we get closer to the IPO (estimated) in Q4 '16 or Q1 '17. As an investor and rideshare driver (Uber and Lyft), I'm skeptical.

itgoon• 11 years ago

Do you want to beat Uber? Pay the drivers better.

Uber has shown that this is plenty of money to be made. Let the drivers get it. Choke off Uber's resources.

JumpCrisscross• 11 years ago

Do you want to beat Uber? Pay the drivers better.

In a race towards a self-driving fleet, this does not appear to be the winning strategy.

spiralpolitik• 11 years ago

Uber has to survive until they can get a self-driving fleet. The winning strategy in the short term is to choke off Uber's cash flow, so paying drivers more so they drive for you rather than Uber is the winning strategy at this point of the game.

schwap• 11 years ago

That finish line has a lot of technological and regulatory barriers in front of it. There is a lot of time to choke Uber out before we reach it.

schandur• 11 years ago

Is the self-driving fleet really that close?

Apocryphon• 11 years ago

Lyft does allow a way for their drivers to keep more of their pay by driving more: https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/214586477-Power-Driv...

They also allow tips, unlike Uber. But I've heard from drivers that they don't get tips often, at least not in the Bay- too many passengers are used to Uber's no-tip system.

derwiki• 11 years ago

That's surprising -- most of my friends in the Bay are either firmly in the Uber camp or the Lyft camp; I'm surprised that Uber's no-tips would make much of an impact. I haven't used Uber in years; I didn't even know they didn't allow tips. I almost always tip $1 for Lyft drivers.

corford2• 11 years ago

I used UberX a few weeks back and I'm sure I remember a setting somewhere where you could specify a % of the fare as a tip. I remember because it defaulted to 20% and I reduced it to 10% - yes, I'm a cheap bastard :)

sopooneo• 11 years ago

That is certainly the more moral thing to do. But if it is really the most long-term profitable business strategy, then do we suppose that Uber is not only greedy, but imprudent? And that these two mistakes are canceling one another out?

I admit that such a situation is possible, but I'm skeptical.

doktrin• 11 years ago

That's only a viable strategy if Lyft & co. have deeper pockets than Uber - which they don't.

dharma12• 11 years ago

I've had chats with a lot of Uber drivers. Some of them use several apps. Competition would need to reward both drivers and customers better than Uber.

For instance, a loyalty scheme for customers (discount on every nth trip) which Uber doesn't do, and for drivers 10% cut of each journey instead of 20% Uber take from the drivers.

nostromo• 11 years ago

Here in Seattle a driver told me they switched to Lyft just for the tips.

It goes 100% to the driver and can really make a big difference in their earnings.

It's possible to tip Uber drivers, of course, but cash is a pain, and it's less awkward via the app.

tdaltonc• 11 years ago

If more and more intermediates are allowed to enter this meta-market, it should cause all of the intermediates to commodify. Drivers already run multiple ride-sharing apps to get the best price. This deal means that now all of the apps have made it trivial for riders to do the same. So what value are the intermediates (lyft, didi, ect) creating/capturing?

gscott• 11 years ago

If you add a bunch of turds together you don't get a diamond... you just get a larger turd.

Lyft, Didi, Ola and GrabTaxi Partner in Global Tech, Alliance to Rival Uber

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