Car share to work (Portland: 2013, rent, felony)

[bler144]

IMO, given a choice, you don't want to be commuting from Beaverton to Gresham by any mode of transport.

Personal helicopter or jet pack perhaps excepted. I wouldn't even want to drive it 5 days a week, esp. not during rush.

[topaz420]

Portland really needs a Lyft/Sidecar type of situation--it has revolutionized travel here in car-crazy, public-transport-deficient Los Angeles, because the rates are now somewhere between a bus and a cab (closer to bus!)

[Nell Plotts]

It's Not Just Uber Trying to Break Into Portland?Lyft is Lobbying, Too

[topaz420]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

It's Not Just Uber Trying to Break Into Portland?Lyft is Lobbying, Too

Thank you for the article

So far, the only argument I'm hearing on the "no" side is, "taxi companies don't want it." Of course they don't!

Here in Los Angeles, taxis take 30-45 minutes to arrive and cost about 100% more than rideshare rates.

It has also been a boon for people looking for extra/side work. Anecdotally, at least 50% of the Lyft drivers I get are students, homemakers, writers, etc.

I really hope this makes its way to Portland

[bler144]

Originally Posted by topaz420

Thank you for the article

So far, the only argument I'm hearing on the "no" side is, "taxi companies don't want it." Of course they don't!

Here in Los Angeles, taxis take 30-45 minutes to arrive and cost about 100% more than rideshare rates.

It has also been a boon for people looking for extra/side work. Anecdotally, at least 50% of the Lyft drivers I get are students, homemakers, writers, etc.

I really hope this makes its way to Portland

The downside isn't only that 'taxi companies don't want it' it's that all the background legal infrastructure are still in early stages of evolution - how is it regulated, how is it insured, etc. etc. What happens when a Lyft driver kills a pedestrian and we have a big mess over liability?

On the service side, sure, the ratings system is intended to keep the community honest, but the way its actually implemented both users and drivers have incentive to conspire to give each other top ratings regardless of actual experience (barring something truly horrible).

Yes, it is great that they are creating part-time employment for students/homemakers/writers, but you can't say that without acknowledging that it's coming at least in no small part against the incomes of established drivers, who are also people who also need income for housing/food/etc. Some of the business Lyft generates is 'new passengers' who would not have used a cab, but not all is.

You also at least have to ask what the long-term viability is. Drivers will tell you prices are coming down in no small part because the services are cutting the rates they pay drivers now that they're more established - quite possible this becomes another case of the public conspiring to kill wages in the interest of saving a buck on the front end, but ultimately sending another ripple of weakness through the labor market (which dampens wages in many fields), and potentially increasing what you have to pay in taxes for public services.

And of course, these firms can offer cheaper service now (vs. what they may charge down the road) for at least two reasons - one, their stock and VC funding for now is predicated more on growth than profit, and two, in the short term they can trade profitability for market share. In both cases you're talking about short term sacrifice for a shot at greater long-term gains.

I'm not absolutely opposed, but I do think there's reason to be cautious that the 'great deal' this seems to offer has downsides, and may in the long run not be as 'cheap' as it seems right now. We're in the phase where the market disruptor is almost always going to compete on price - once upon a time Microsoft was that young, disruptive innovator.

[topaz420]

Originally Posted by bler144

I'm not absolutely opposed, but I do think there's reason to be cautious that the 'great deal' this seems to offer has downsides, and may in the long run not be as 'cheap' as it seems right now. We're in the phase where the market disruptor is almost always going to compete on price - once upon a time Microsoft was that young, disruptive innovator.

As a former Uber driver, I have lived through a lot of the growing pains you describe.

But let's sit down with Oregon regulators and figure this out together, instead of just locking the door and throwing away the key for years.

California created a whole new category so that rideshare services wouldn't have to subvert the system. They keep tweaking the law as necessary, such as the recent clarification of insurance requirements (which is now primary and no longer gap insurance).

Let's let rideshare drivers organize and unionize so that their wages aren't decimated (even if the rates were on par with taxi rates, the back-end logistics of these services still make them a far superior experience than taxis).

For a progressive state like Oregon, it's quite telling that Portland and Las Vegas are some of the last cities in the US to have rideshare services. Portland is intentionally dragging their feet in figuring this out.

[Nell Plotts]

My DD is in the Silicon Valley, she tells me that Uber is actually a logistics company at its core. Were I taxi drivers I would explore having them assume dispatch responsibilities, they could also handle insurance (for example). Most of our taxi companies are co-ops. Practically speaking some taxi users can't pay via smart phone so what to do with that segment of the customer base.

[MrFreeze2014]

I wasn't ever literally going to try to bike from Beaverton to Gresham. I'm just trying to get an idea of the worst-case scenario. Right now, I don't know exactly where I'll be living or working and I'm trying to get an idea of how long my longest commute might take. I realize there're several much better options for getting across town, but I use the biking scenario as kind of a baseline; like if worst came to absolute worst, this is how long it would take me to bike from one side of town to the other, even though I know I would probably never have to do that. I figure, if I know how long it would take to bike it, then I can work out a ballpark idea of how long it would take if I ride the trains or the street cars or used one of these services you're recommending. Thank you, btw.

But maybe I should just ask how long it takes to get across town if I DO use all those things. What do you think? I found a well-recommended app that's supposed to tell me that and it seems to say that Beaverton to Gresham would take maybe an hour, at the outside. That sound about right? How about Vancouver to Lake Oswago? Does the TriMet go all the way up to Vancouver?

Thanks again, guys.

[Nell Plotts]

No, the closest Trimet gets to Vancouver is the Expo Center (near I-5) or the Cascades stop near PDX.

C-Tran is Clark County's transit system. Here is their commuter bus map: http://www.c-tran.com/images/Maps/commuter-map.pdf

Honest, I don't see living in Vancouver a viable option for you.

[MrFreeze2014]

I suspected Vancouver would be too far away. Oh well.