Hacker News Reader

"all the drivers have both apps running"

"lyft drivers think uber is evil, uber drivers thinks lyft drivers are hippies"

??

Sounds about right from my experience.

In SF I have noticed the first part to have changed over the past 6months. I used to see a lot of drivers with both apps, now I see it less.

The rest makes sense those. Even for those that have both apps, you can tell that their personality fits with either uber or lyft.

It's like brand allegiance in consumer brands. You might be a Apple user but have to use Windows to make a living.

Re: Investing in the Escalades, can you explain how that business model works?

Does the owner of the vehicles lease the vehicles out to drivers who then use them to provide Uber Black-car service?

He sold his real estate business to fund his first car, after driving for a few months he invested in two additional cars qualifying for the Uber Black service. He gives these cars to his cousins to drive, taking 10% gross. He's now working with his friend from back in the Arizona metropolitan area to repeat the process with more cars.

some of your statements seem contradictory. I'm in the bay area - I'll offer my perspective.

- all the drivers have both apps running and have no loyalty

Lyft offers a very strong driver incentive, and that has kept me off of the uber platform since I moved to oakland (and drive in SF) in december.

- drivers prefer uber customers, however

In San Diego (a different market) I really hated the uber customers and preferred the college demo. In SF, I never liked the uber customers, either, and I really liked the lyft demo, so I dropped uber.

- drivers don't like lyft's demo of college kids and local rides, it earns them no money

I think that's a south bay thing. One afternoon after a meeting in Palo Alto, I attempted to escape back to the city and wound up getting vortexed into Stanford, so I just got out of there.

- lyft drivers think uber is evil, uber drivers thinks lyft drivers are hippies - all the international travelers coming into silicon valley have uber and used to uber service

Shrug

- uber dispatches to lyft dispatches are a 5 to 1 ratio

This is a function not only of demand but also supply. In particular, in San Diego, I found that the dispatches were in a 2:1 ratio, BUT if I favored lyft rides over uber rides by strategically turning the app off, I was making significantly more per week, because lyft's "loyalty program" is strong.

- uber, whether intentionally or not, actually has viable career plan. an uber black driver i rode with on the lyft service explained how after selling his real estate company and investing in three lincoln escalades was able to make his money back on one of the cars after 7 months.

Well if this guy had some initial capital beforehand a 'real estate company' this doesn't mean much. It might be more difficult to bootstrap this from scratch, which is what you are suggesting when you say 'viable career plan'. This is also contradicted by your projection of automated cars.

By contrast, during my down time from lyft, I'm running a nonprofit research organization and also coding a backend for a startup.

- all the drivers concur uber is pretty evil, don't like the 1099 relationship, hate how uber corporate doesn't support the drivers over customers or incidents, yet sadly resign and accept the situation. it's oddly depressing talking to a uber driver.

Lyft has this 1099 relationship too, and it makes it for very tough running sometimes. But you just have to roll with the punches and keep hustling.

I've ridden/driven for both Lyft and Uber in SF and it was crystal clear that more people actually like the Lyft experience. And that both riders & drivers generally choose one or the other and stick to it.

<< and investing in three lincoln escalades

Lincoln Navigator, or Cadillac Escalade perhaps? Interesting points though, even if a lot of them are contradictory. In Los Angeles, I've similarly observed most drivers using both Lyft and Uber. I imagine that the Bay Area market is more saturated and that a driver could be kept busy on just one service, but I get the feeling it's not quite up to that level in LA.