<story><title>Uber and Lyft don&apos;t save money, time, or the planet</title><url>https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-10-20/taxi-uber-lyft-rideshare-cost</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bko</author><text>&amp;gt; Sunday night, I flew into LAX from San Francisco and boarded a shuttle to the airport’s newish pickup spot for ground transportation just east of Terminal 1. I found myself standing amid an unhappy crowd of restless travelers who had been waiting as long as 30 minutes to be picked up by their Lyft drivers.&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t this because most cities have ridiculous rules that disadvantage Uber drivers while cabs are allowed to park out in front? They have no convenient very short term parking, instead they&amp;#x27;re sometimes made to wait on the side of the highway, which makes the ride more expensive. They also charge fees. LAX charges $4 per ride [0]&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t the fact that people use Uber proof that they provide some value? I think the point is to have an alternative to cabs that are highly variable as per the author&amp;#x27;s own admission.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.latimes.com&amp;#x2F;business&amp;#x2F;la-fi-airport-uber-parking-revenue-20190301-story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.latimes.com&amp;#x2F;business&amp;#x2F;la-fi-airport-uber-parking-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>spywaregorilla</author><text>Just to be clear, it&amp;#x27;s not pandering to taxis to do this. It&amp;#x27;s basically required.&lt;p&gt;Taxis are first in, first out. Someone leaves the airport and gets in the first available car.&lt;p&gt;Uber is like the bubble sort of queuing theory. It&amp;#x27;s random in, random out. A driver and a passenger are matched with no regard to the queue, then, if not specially managed, the driver occupies a spot until that passenger gets there. If anyone calls a car too early or is at the wrong place, they&amp;#x27;ve just congested the system pretty badly. Total waiting time slows down.</text></comment>
<story><title>Uber and Lyft don&apos;t save money, time, or the planet</title><url>https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-10-20/taxi-uber-lyft-rideshare-cost</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bko</author><text>&amp;gt; Sunday night, I flew into LAX from San Francisco and boarded a shuttle to the airport’s newish pickup spot for ground transportation just east of Terminal 1. I found myself standing amid an unhappy crowd of restless travelers who had been waiting as long as 30 minutes to be picked up by their Lyft drivers.&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t this because most cities have ridiculous rules that disadvantage Uber drivers while cabs are allowed to park out in front? They have no convenient very short term parking, instead they&amp;#x27;re sometimes made to wait on the side of the highway, which makes the ride more expensive. They also charge fees. LAX charges $4 per ride [0]&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t the fact that people use Uber proof that they provide some value? I think the point is to have an alternative to cabs that are highly variable as per the author&amp;#x27;s own admission.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.latimes.com&amp;#x2F;business&amp;#x2F;la-fi-airport-uber-parking-revenue-20190301-story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.latimes.com&amp;#x2F;business&amp;#x2F;la-fi-airport-uber-parking-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>i_am_proteus</author><text>Most airports I have been to in United States have a &amp;quot;cell phone waiting lot&amp;quot; where you&amp;#x27;re allowed to remain with your vehicle (if you leave a vehicle unattended, you&amp;#x27;ll get ticketed or towed).  This originally cut down on people picking up their friends from arrivals just circling the airport while waiting, but they&amp;#x27;re pretty commonly used by taxi services nowadays.&lt;p&gt;Certainly Uber and Lyft provide value, but I personally have seen that value plummet in markets where the rides aren&amp;#x27;t subsidized by VC money.</text></comment>