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So many of these unicorns seem so stupidly simple in hindsight.

I'm in St Petersburg right now and the taxi outside the train station quoted an initial rate of EUR 50 to drive a grand total of 6km (after haggling, "just" EUR 30).

I booked an Uber (operated under Yandex Taxi in Russia now) and the total price was just EUR 5

Take stodgy, often scammy, and downright consumer unfriendly industries, add transparency and accessibility to them, and viola - you have a unicorn.



> So many of these unicorns seem so stupidly simple in hindsight.

The "stupidly" part comes in when you realize that maybe the cabbie had a better grasp of the economics of his business when he accepted your bid of 30 EUR. The gig economy people driving you for a fraction of the 5 EUR you paid might come to the same conclusion sooner or later.


Even worse Uber might have paid the cabbie another €5 to take the job.


$10 is still less than $30


Add the taxes, add the commercial insurances (how many Uber has one?), add the much higher maintenance for a car that runs all day every day,...

Just because those drivers don't factor in things in legal or financial hindsight doesn't mean they won't need it, or that it won't go seriously wrong when that need gets called on.


I've traveled widely enough to know that at least at tourist centers, airports and train stations, the traditional cab driver business model is built on scamming unsuspecting tourists.


Most estimates put the cost of driving (in the US) at around $.50 to $.60 per mile. Assuming this is somewhat on par with Europe. Guy’s costs were likely around $1.50. After Uber’s cut he’s “making” like $3?

Take someone else’s money, spend it aggressively, pretend like you can fix things in the future, and viola - you have a unicorn.


The cost of driving a marginal mile is probably more like $0.15-$0.20/mile. The total cost of ownership of a newish car is $0.50-0.60/mile.

If an Uber driver is driving with a car that they were already going to own anyway, they only need to cover the variable costs.


Not sure I understand your math here. A car depreciates faster if it is driven (more repairs, needs to be replaced sooner). Just because I already own a car doesn't mean it's only the cost of fuel to drive it.


Fuel is about $0.10/mile. Overt wear is about $0.02-$0.04 (tires and oil). The rest is some additional diminution in value by miles.


Tires, oil, brakes, belts, wheel bearings, transmission... With a mechanical system like a car there are lots of things which wear down with use.

Instead of trying to figure out the actual difference yourself, you can simply look at what people are willing to pay for a car which is the same year but has different amounts of mileage. The literal resale value of your car changes drastically depending on mileage, that is the actual unrealized cost most of these ride sharing services exploit.


The insurance is not even fixed cost (atleast I pay per mile bracket).

A have one minor vehicle tax that is fixed


==Take stodgy, often scammy, and downright consumer unfriendly industries, add transparency and accessibility to them, and viola - you have a unicorn.==

And, maybe some day, actual profits.




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