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Comment by downandout | Hacker News Reader

Are Uber users this price conscious though? I think their core user base skews to a higher net worth, and aren't going to be the kinds of people that want to share a car with another person. The only thing they'll know about the person they are sharing with going in is that they are too cheap to take their own Uber ride.

This just doesn't sound like it will work with their core user base. Maybe they are trying to expand their user base to the public transportation crowd, but that may devalue the brand.

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With the pivot of UberX yes. Previously Uber had a luxury brand position, all of their products (UberX, Black Car, SUV) were priced higher than a taxi, and the bulk of their revenue was coming from black car services. I remember the old advertising and they never had the concept of a "sale" or messaging about their pricing relative to the competition.

However the rise of Lyft and other competitors essentially pushed Uber to go into a price gauging war. They went into a big price cut with UberX that essentially made them cheaper than both Lyft & taxis, and had a lot of advertising campaigns talking about their price advantage. This happened late last year (I believe) and since then both Lyft & Uber have been going through a series of price cuts & driver promotions to compete on both side of the table.

So yes, Uber users are definitely price conscious. This has happened largely because Uber has shifted its model more towards UberX. Slashing fares was a pretty bold move (companies rarely cannibalize cash cows with high margins).

The new focus, I think is to consolidate their position by growing aggressively, competing with Lyft on pricing & driver promotions, and ultimately, drive the cost of service so low that they expand the market past on-demand limos (Uber before X), cabs (Uber now), to a service cheaper than owning a car (Uber in the future).

Users of Uber proper might be high net worth, but UberX is popular with (among others) college students, because it's a bit cheaper than taking a cab and you don't need to carry cash.

Agreed. I used to drive for Lyft when UberX started up. They did get a good pull of the college and young 20's market with their service in SF.

I just think of brand differentiation with these companies now, not really the price point.

I am starting a new job soon about 3 miles from my apartment, which is a little too far to walk. (I can walk that far, but I don't really want an hour-each-way commute.)

One thing I've been considering is using Uber / Lyft, but it's a lot of money over the course of a year. At 40% cheaper it looks a lot more attractive, though. And sharing a car with another rider isn't any worse than sharing it with the driver! :)

Is there a reason you don't want to just bike? Seems like the perfect distance for it, and it's free after the initial investment of a couple hundred dollars.

What's the saying? A car runs on money and makes you fat, a bike runs on fat and saves you money.

Depending on that 3 mile commute (hills, traffic, bike routes), it may also be faster.

I very much do want to bike, but my family (and some of my bike-commuting friends) seem to think I'll get hit by a truck and are very against the idea. :P

Depending where you live, there may be resources to help you get started. 3 miles is a perfect biking distance. Bike-commuting friends don't want you biking? Is there something particularly bad about your surrounding environment?

(...) the initial investment of a couple hundred dollars

And learning to ride it :)

simply not a practical option for everyone. I only do it because I can bikeshare one way home. After biking a few miles in DC in the summer I need a shower and complete change of clothes.

Also, before they put the bike lanes in biking during rush hour felt stressful and dangerous.

I hear you; a lot of people feel the same way (I'm lucky enough to be able to shower at each end; if I don't bike commute it's usually more laziness).

That said, a lot of people seem to sweat less on bikes with an electric assist; people worried about sweat might look into those as an alternative.

The driver has an incentive to be nice. Your fellow rider doesn't.

You really don't think Uber will be asking riders to rate their fellow passenger right after the ride? And then start displaying it to potential riders to help them decide if they want to take the share?

I typically bike to work, but I'll take an Uber every once in a while for about $7-$9. Sometimes I use MUNI, which is $2. If Uber can drop the price range to $3-$5, I'd consider using them almost every day -- the difference in price between taking the train and carpooling at that point seems negligible. I think there are a lot of people in a similar position.

They don't want to be a brand for the wealthy. They want to be known and perceived as a utility for everyone. So if anything, this helps fix the brand issues they have.

I spend north of $300 per month on uber, and I'm selling my car because I never touch it anymore. That changed recently as prices kept dropping.

My guess is that there are large numbers of people who would use Uber to get to/from drinking establishments regularly but don't because it's just a tad too expensive to catch two rides a night, several times a week. If Uber could cut the price down somewhat, they could open up a potentially huge market.

different markets are different; that may be the case in SF; the core user base in SD skews to "Doesn't want a DUI", and we get a LOT of students during the school year, for example, although their ability to manage money may be suspect.

I became an uber user because it became cost comparable to taxi's. The uber experience is significantly better than NYC cabs and now that it will be cheaper it really is no contest anymore.

> The only thing they'll know about the person they are sharing with going in is that they are too cheap to take their own Uber ride.

Oh the horror.

I don't know if higher net-worth necessarily means that there aren't a good amount of those that are mindful of their spending (or cheap).

In the Millionaire next Door (or maybe it was the Millionaire Mind), it was pointed out that a common way of becoming a high net worth individual isn't to make an obscenely huge amount of money; but rather to be careful about how you spend the money that you do make. A lot of high net worth individuals own their own business, and make a good income, but are also frugal enough that they are able to build up wealth rather than make the money and immediately spend it.

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