re: So i've been without a car for 3 weeks and just using an uber to work from the suburbs

I was a consultant for 6 years, flew out of Houston on Monday and flew back in on Thursdays. I was rarely home to use my truck. During that time I used the hell out of an Uber...travel days to airport, getting around in my project cities, going to Houston downtown office on Fridays (was $15 round trip from Heights vs. $9 to drive and park downtown), Uber instead of valet parking at popular restaurants around town, etc. It has its purpose. I can assure you those aren’t productive hours in an Uber though....I was mainly on TD or calling friends/family to avoid chatty drivers.

That said, their rates are increasing. Also, their car and driver quality (assuming you don’t have status) is slipping as more drivers are entering service which results in less and less money per driver...so you get shitty cars and shittier drivers....it’s basically a more convenient Taxi instead of a premium service like when it started. Also, I’ve probably had a 25% cancellation rate lately.

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Walking out the office... “hey let’s review xyz for a few minutes....” oh, sorry my Uber is here. I can’t.

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I’m sure that will happen. Just another cost. Either cancel or pay to stand by. Both of these costs are fairly minor.

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Let’s go get lunch”. Sorry I can’t drive, I don’t have a car.

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why would an Uber prevent this? I mean I’ve never had to wait more than 10 min for an Uber. And if the person doesn’t want to wait and is willing to drive I can just offer to pick up the lunch tab.

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“Sorry I’m late, I had to cancel my Uber and call another one because — fill in the blank—“

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I’m sure that will happen at some point. Just have to plan ahead if something is extra important.

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“Honey, can you grab xyz at the store one the way home”.

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Big one but grocery store is right down the road from home so very minor inconvenience so far.

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The truth:

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If you live in a rural area (and in Louisiana that means outside of New Orleans, BR and Shreveport, maybe), if you don't have a car, you're most likely a fricking bum.

Ain't nobody got time to wait, 30 minutes, an hour (if you're lucky) to get an Uber ride from BFE, Louisiana to Timbuktu, Louisiana.

And $700 a month just to get back and forth to work? And $15 to go get something to eat. $15 to go pick up your prescriptions. $15 to run to the store to get milk that you ran out of.

FFS...

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suckers

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If the number is close, then owning probably makes more since. However, if Ride share can ever get down to something like $200/month, then wow, watch ride share take over.

I don’t know if it’ll ever get that cheap , though.

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We also live in the suburbs

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So you’re dumb.

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Not dumb enough to live in a place where I can’t function without two cars.

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When you drive, you lose that time because you get nothing done and pay to do it . If you don’t drive, you automatically make the time potentially productive.

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Two problems:

1) You are under the impression that you can’t be productive while driving.

2) Somehow, you seem to have convinced yourself that you are saving money.

my inlaws are doing the one car thing, one is retired and one still works for a few more years.

They thought it was a good idea at the time but they are about 1 year into it and they hate it and are budgeting for a second car. There are so many intangible reasons too numerous to list for having two vehicles, unless you live directly inside a major city with robust public transit ... like Chicago or Lower Manhattan. Where you are spending 10x more on shelter than what a vehicle ownership costs, so even then, financial savvy still doesn't apply.

This is a topic I know a lot about, so I chimed in. My wife and I have, instead of a second car, bikes and relatively fit bodies. Imagine what we must do with all that extra time and less stress.

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Is this an example of automation? Uber is just a cheaper taxi service.

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Yes and no. I would use the term "technology" instead of "automation", but I can see his point. When my lady friend and I went to the F1 race in Austin, we relied on Lyft to get us back & forth from the hotel and the track every day. It was as simple as a few clicks on the app. My cab driver was identified and I was identified. When I was going to CART IndyCar races in the 80s and 90s, there would be a cab line outside the tracks and you had to basically fight your way into a cab. The only people who were able to have dedicated rides were the ones who opted for private shuttle services or had access to limo$ or helicopter$.

I don't know about taking a rideshare to work for any period of time. But when you're in a crowd of 200K people, and there's no way for a cab or rider to find each other, I definitely became a fan of the technology that these companies have developed. Their business models may be troubled, but the tech is pretty darn impressive, IMO.