Riders face long waits as Uber and Lyft struggle to recruit drivers
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
Are there any former Big Cab execs/actuaries/quants on Uber/lift payroll?
It would appear that what Uber and Lyft really did was unveil the monopoly over cab *FLEETS* which existed..
By greatly increasing the fleet size to N, and eliminating the barrier to being a driver, they have caused that disruption handedly. However, maintaining all other aspects of a healthy and profitable company came in second step.
Which is fine...
But how maintain? How much money do these companies make - that they aren't jointly working with all EV mfr companies to create the perfect cab?
Built on billions of rides - they should be able to glean the optimal reqs for a cab. and have a custom cab built to spec based on that data - and have the cab behavior change over time based on more data....
Further, they should be tracking the full commute/transport of the user base - such that they know how many rides terminate to a bus, train, ferry, walk, etc.
Which districts have the longest commutes to them? Which companies have the longest commutes to them per employee capita.
Then they can build products to service companies better. The company realizes that the avg commute time is 47 minutes, of which XYX are spent in car, train, walking respectively - and can accommodate on better terms for all.
Etc.
The amount of behavioral data in these companies is insane - and it would be lovely to see what that looks like.
I disagree with your premise, that Uber and Lyft are monopolistic. They certainly try to be, but they have lots of competitors (including each other).
One other major difference is that traditional medallions were oligopolies created by governments. That system did not arise from heavily-capitalized, loss-leader tactics in a de-regulated market (which is what Uber/Lyft are doing).