Hear me out here... Lyft is actually a more "green" company than Uber, aside from the fact that its brand is also a lot healthier in terms of corporate stewardship/driver care.
Uber is simply trying to replace drivers with robots, and in the long-term, that strategy is not going to do well in the face of competition from companies such as Google & Tesla.
However, in the short-term Lyft is going to continue grabbing more and more of the market. The pricing is fairer, to the point where I've seen it make more sense for my own earnings/time-value to take a Lyft than to take a bus (bus $5 one way, Lyft $6ish one way in this example). Furthermore, individuals who care about the environment will benefit more from using/investing in Lyft because it is a lot more efficient than Uber in terms of Co2 emissions.
Although there are shared rides for Uber, Lyft's biggest attraction is the shared ride (in my eyes). I don't have the research showing me that Lyft uses less carbon to transport people, but I can tell you that Lyft is going Carbon neutral and Uber is not: www.theatlantic.com/...rbon-neutral/558443/
If you are looking for a stock to hold for the next decade, with a high chance of risk and an equally high chance of reward, then Lyft is it. Lyft may end up being acquired by a company like Google or Tesla if the chances are right, but I am not certain of that possibility. What I know is that a network of drivers and riders who appreciate low Co2 emissions and low costs is going to be valuable to the companies that are able to automate driving services using robots (if they want to acquire the network and feed it the technology to profit). Robotics can halve the price of a ride-sharing ride, so if it can do that who has the most to lose? Uber who started out as a "luxury service" and is trying its best to break into everything transportation (food, shared rides, etc), while battling scandals and such, or Lyft who started out as a ride-sharing app for the people BEFORE Uber was invented?
"Lyft may be smaller than Uber, but it has been around longer:
The Lyft app launched in 2012 (Uber, originally called UberCab, in 2009), but Lyft started life as a side project for Zimrides, a carpooling service founded in 2007 that leveraged Facebook and students for long-distance ride-sharing back when Uber was just a limousine-shaped gleam in the eye of Canadian co-founder Garrett Camp." - ride.guru/lounge/p/l...-uber-history-lesson
Yes, Google does have Google Maps which would be a perfect place to "inject" a robotic ride-sharing app into. However, the markets run on human emotions as far as robotics goes. Even though the media is doing its best to open our eyes to the future worlds that are possible through technology, a consumer WILL be more likely to trust Lyft even if it is still dependent on drivers because 1. that will ensure that drivers will still make a living before the majority is able to shift into new jobs (which could take upwards to a decade once robotic driving rolls out), than they will be to trust Google (working with the Chinese from time to time, censoring Google on the Chinese side, etc), or to trust Uber (company that wants to put profits above people, drivers, etc, and does not have a good innovative arm to do it regardless of the investment money that they've been given and continue to burn through).
Thoughts? Concerns? Critiques?
Uber is simply trying to replace drivers with robots, and in the long-term, that strategy is not going to do well in the face of competition from companies such as Google & Tesla.
However, in the short-term Lyft is going to continue grabbing more and more of the market. The pricing is fairer, to the point where I've seen it make more sense for my own earnings/time-value to take a Lyft than to take a bus (bus $5 one way, Lyft $6ish one way in this example). Furthermore, individuals who care about the environment will benefit more from using/investing in Lyft because it is a lot more efficient than Uber in terms of Co2 emissions.
Although there are shared rides for Uber, Lyft's biggest attraction is the shared ride (in my eyes). I don't have the research showing me that Lyft uses less carbon to transport people, but I can tell you that Lyft is going Carbon neutral and Uber is not: www.theatlantic.com/...rbon-neutral/558443/
If you are looking for a stock to hold for the next decade, with a high chance of risk and an equally high chance of reward, then Lyft is it. Lyft may end up being acquired by a company like Google or Tesla if the chances are right, but I am not certain of that possibility. What I know is that a network of drivers and riders who appreciate low Co2 emissions and low costs is going to be valuable to the companies that are able to automate driving services using robots (if they want to acquire the network and feed it the technology to profit). Robotics can halve the price of a ride-sharing ride, so if it can do that who has the most to lose? Uber who started out as a "luxury service" and is trying its best to break into everything transportation (food, shared rides, etc), while battling scandals and such, or Lyft who started out as a ride-sharing app for the people BEFORE Uber was invented?
"Lyft may be smaller than Uber, but it has been around longer:
The Lyft app launched in 2012 (Uber, originally called UberCab, in 2009), but Lyft started life as a side project for Zimrides, a carpooling service founded in 2007 that leveraged Facebook and students for long-distance ride-sharing back when Uber was just a limousine-shaped gleam in the eye of Canadian co-founder Garrett Camp." - ride.guru/lounge/p/l...-uber-history-lesson
Yes, Google does have Google Maps which would be a perfect place to "inject" a robotic ride-sharing app into. However, the markets run on human emotions as far as robotics goes. Even though the media is doing its best to open our eyes to the future worlds that are possible through technology, a consumer WILL be more likely to trust Lyft even if it is still dependent on drivers because 1. that will ensure that drivers will still make a living before the majority is able to shift into new jobs (which could take upwards to a decade once robotic driving rolls out), than they will be to trust Google (working with the Chinese from time to time, censoring Google on the Chinese side, etc), or to trust Uber (company that wants to put profits above people, drivers, etc, and does not have a good innovative arm to do it regardless of the investment money that they've been given and continue to burn through).
Thoughts? Concerns? Critiques?