Uber is a bezzle ("the magic interval when a confidence trickster knows he has the money he has appropriated but the victim does not yet understand that he has lost it"). Every bezzle ends.Uber's time is up.1/ pic.twitter.com/UkqGXvC744— Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) August 10, 2021
I still don't really understand why this is the case. Cabs are an existing, profitable business model. Why is it impossible for uber to price rides such that they're just "cabs with a convenient app"?
They would lose the majority of their customers. Cabs are so expensive people only use them if they absolutely have to.
If they lose the majority of their customers, they lose the majority of their drivers because drivers won't be as willing to wait on standby when they rarely get rides. Which means they won't be able to provide rides reliably, which makes just calling a cab company, who has a depot of cabs and drivers waiting for customers a more appealing option. In theory Uber would still be cheaper, but not that much cheaper, and a cab would be much more reliable. So nobody would use Uber anymore.
Taken together with all that has been written, what Uber's investors expect is that Uber will eventually overtake every existing cab alternative other than Uber and become a monopoly over transport. They can't do so by just offering a more convenient alternative. They need to squeeze out the competition, as aggressively as they can.
Yeah, I do understand that what I described isn't uber's business model, I just don't understand why it's not something they can fall back on. But I think @furryanarchy 's answer is good.
I still don't really understand why this is the case. Cabs are an existing, profitable business model. Why is it impossible for uber to price rides such that they're just "cabs with a convenient app"?
They would lose the majority of their customers. Cabs are so expensive people only use them if they absolutely have to.
If they lose the majority of their customers, they lose the majority of their drivers because drivers won't be as willing to wait on standby when they rarely get rides. Which means they won't be able to provide rides reliably, which makes just calling a cab company, who has a depot of cabs and drivers waiting for customers a more appealing option. In theory Uber would still be cheaper, but not that much cheaper, and a cab would be much more reliable. So nobody would use Uber anymore.
Part of the appeal of Uber is that it is cheaper than local cab companies (outside of “surge pricing” hours)
Taken together with all that has been written, what Uber's investors expect is that Uber will eventually overtake every existing cab alternative other than Uber and become a monopoly over transport. They can't do so by just offering a more convenient alternative. They need to squeeze out the competition, as aggressively as they can.
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Yeah, I do understand that what I described isn't uber's business model, I just don't understand why it's not something they can fall back on. But I think @furryanarchy 's answer is good.
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deleted by creator