Uber launches flat fares in San Francisco through subscription

Uber has taken $12B of capital, broken the regulatory regimes and opened the drive-for-hire markets, marketed the benefits of drive-for-hire and ride-sharing to drivers and consumers, and helped drivers finance vehicles – but now there seems to be no barrier to entry for any competing service except writing an app. I'm happy to let VCs pay for my comfortable daily ride to work but I don't see how this is sustainable...

I used Pool last night in the city. Took me from the Fidi to Inner Richmond. $2.37. It was almost cheaper than Muni. I can&#x27;t imagine the drivers are making much <i>at all</i>.

The copy on this page is super unclear. I just realized(after signing up) that the subscription is to get the special $2&#x2F;ride pricing, not the <i>actual</i> ride. Put another way: after you have the $30&#x2F;month subscription, you can get UberPools for $2&#x2F;ride.

&gt; Flat fares are designed to cover full fares for almost every trip, with a $20 limit for uberPOOL and $25 limit for uberX. You’ll be responsible for paying portions of the fare that exceed those maximums on each trip.<p>The pricing felt convoluted even before I saw this part. I can&#x27;t see this being worth the effort, if you can&#x27;t even guarantee the $7 prices.

Back in September of 2009 JetBlue offered an all you can jet pass because September is traditionally the worst slump of the year. Summer&#x27;s over, people start schools and jobs, travel drops overall.<p>This is the same trick to get you out there more. It&#x27;s also inevitably the end game for Uber. Deliver value for less than your monthly car payment.<p>Someone is crunching the numbers right now figuring out exactly how much LTV they can extract from you in exchange for paying $500 a month every month to Uber.<p>Then when Uber wins that game by the end of next year many other CPG and big box retailers will follow suit, riding along the subscription box model.<p>By 2020 it will be normal for you to receive income from the government just so you can hand it over to lifestyle providers of all stripes every month to live how you personalized it to be.<p>Latest fashion every month from WalMart! Semi-prepped meals every day from Safeway! 30 day supply of customized toothpaste from Target! Just insert token.

Makes sense as a way to lock riders into Uber rather than Lyft. Wonder how drivers will react.

Interestingly, Ola in India had already done something like this very recently.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.olacabs.com&#x2F;olaSelect" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.olacabs.com&#x2F;olaSelect</a>

They launched this yesterday in San Diego also. I signed up.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.uber.com&#x2F;info&#x2F;plus&#x2F;sandiego&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.uber.com&#x2F;info&#x2F;plus&#x2F;sandiego&#x2F;</a>

I pay $3 to commute to my office in Uber Pool or Lyft--cheaper than Metro. Usually no other rider. I don&#x27;t know how this is sustainable.

How does this affect driver compensation?

Seeing from the point of view of an investment banker, the money that Uber was going to get at the end of the month ($20-$30) will receive it now a month advance and Uber investors can put it towards whatever investments they want and in this way make extra $$$ and have another revenue stream going.<p>Or Uber can pay off its drivers more earlier and in this way win more of their loyalty for Uber. Brilliant.

They also have flat fares in Chicago for $3.12 with uberPool, Monday to Friday 6am to 10pm. All trips must begin and end south of Irving Park, north of 71st Street, and east of Western Avenue. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.uber.com&#x2F;info&#x2F;chi-uberpool-312&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.uber.com&#x2F;info&#x2F;chi-uberpool-312&#x2F;</a>

This is being offered in Seattle as well.

Hey Uber, it is very nice to offer this in SF, SD, Boston, but what about NYC? :-(

Clicking on the link launched the Uber app for me. I then rage quitted it before reading anything more.<p>Also happens in &quot;no so&quot; private mode on the iPhone. Apple should really fix that as it leaks information.

I do not really like Uber. The company does shady stuff quite often but also their drivers seem to be bad. They do not care at all about traffic laws. Illegal u-turns, stop wherever they want, etc.<p>I can&#x27;t surely be the only one who experienced this?