Of course Uber sees an uptick in bookings. None of the people using the service in almost 200 countries worldwide are tuned into the daily drama of Silicon Valley.<p>Normal people want to get from point A to point B in the most comfortable, efficient, cheap way possible. If that means Uber then so be it. If that means Taxis then so be it. If that means Didi Chuxing then so be it.<p>It just turns out that Uber is well positioned and offers a compelling service in many countries around the world and so enjoys the resulting growing business.<p>I don't mean to downplay the importance of the events transpiring around and within Uber - they are unprecedented and important to varying degrees. But most normal people won't even have a cursory understanding of those events when it's all said and done. The world is vast and people are busy.
The value proposition of Uber is so good that with an empty C-level suites they are pretty much running on an auto-pilot of sort.<p>Honestly, this is a tremendous feat. In that case, they should get their CEO from inside rather than outside.
For me it’s because Lyft continues to get dramatically worse.<p>I’d love to use it more (and I hear drivers prefer it) but between the app UI being so poor, booking taking longer, frequent cancellations by drivers, etc... I only check it <i>second</i> if there are no Uber drivers around.<p>It’s a shame as I really like parts of it more but the overall experience has always been worse for me
This remembers me how in Russia possible investors "test" local social networks. They make a scandal, ask the police to start an investigation and so on. TV, Radio, whole internet discuss this. In a month someone will buy shares in the company.
I liked (and still like them in UK/NL/TH/US) Uber; it was more convenient and nicer than cabs. Cabbies in the countries I frequent are downright rude, their cars filthy and beaten; Uber was a welcome change. But in most of them now they are forbidden or mostly forbidden or on their way out. Some companies made their own horrible apps which half of the time do not work (in Barcelona I tried them all and none of them managed to get a ride, one of them simply crashed at startup etc) or are 'old' as in you have type a time and date when you want a ride and cannot order for 'now'. I have not seen one where the gps actually works so you see if your ride is actually coming and ofcourse, because usually they are made by a big taxi corp, no ratings, so back to rude, smelly drivers in crap cars.<p>In HKG there seem to be issues, the prices went up and drivers often cancel (more so than in other countries I noticed); I do not think it should be possible for a driver to just cancel because they find the trip too short. I should be able to rate them for that. But still more convenient than cabs who you wave over, tell the location and then they drive off for the same reason.<p>Another gripe is payments; in some countries payment card A works, in some B works etc. Paypal als payment doesn't work in Thailand. Still, while annoying, it is better than 'only cash mate' that often happens in cabs.<p>Anyway more competitors would be good ; any way to get all rides on an acceptable level. In countries like Spain where they now are forbidden, I was happy to see them in hopes they would fix the issues with cabs in general (especially in the south) but nope, it just returned to the comfortable bad behavior of always. Last weeks ride from Malaga airport had a cabdriver loudly burp garlic for 20 minutes. Can only complain by filling a form no-one will ever look at.
Frankly the outrage against Uber makes me more likely to use the service. Before it became politically incorrect to mention Uber, I was entirely impartial. I'm sure that I'm not the only one.
Dear Lyft, you're screwing up your chance.<p>When Uber started to have a bunch of scandal, I tried to switch to Lyft. I really did. But, stuck at a hospital after an emergency room visit, trying to get home at 10pm, I sat there for 45 minutes, watching a driver go from 4 minutes away to 5 minutes away to 8 minutes away, then no driver, then a new driver is 4 minutes away, then 4 minutes away, then 5 minutes away, then no driver, then a new driver is 12 minutes away, then no driver...<p>Come on.<p>Raise the price if you have to, but making me wait while these drivers decided I was too far away?<p>Screw that, and screw you, Lyft.
In Victorian times, people didn't mind paying more for a shirt if it meant it was child labor free. These days, nobody cares if a company is a hotbed of discrimination and shitty practices if it means cheaper rides and an easy to use app. Same goes for Facebook, Google, Amazon - nobody cares.