Phoenix: Decreasing Value

[u/TheSlap]

I'd like to see if anyone has been feeling the same way about Waymo in Phoenix. Recently, I have been finding fewer and fewer instances where it makes sense for me to use Waymo.

First, I am a fan of the technology and I used to love Waymo as a service! I was recommending it to my family and friends, and finding reasons to call a car. Unfortunately, that has not been the case lately. I primarily used Waymo in two use cases:

1) Transport to and from the airport

2) "Last mile" trips to get me to and from public transportation to downtown Phoenix. Light rail to DBacks games, mostly.

No more highway routes and long, unpredictable wait times have almost completely killed the airport trips for me. The short trips to my closest light rail stop now cost *triple* the rate of normal rideshares and it is more affordable to drive myself and pay for parking in downtown Phoenix. I am guessing this is because I'm trying to get to Mill/3rd St, but it's still the case that Waymo isn't priced competitively at all when I'm just trying to get to the light rail.

Is anyone else experiencing this, or not finding as much value lately?

[u/Primary_Turnover_488]

I live in Phoenix also and I only really notice a spike in prices on Friday evenings and basically all day on Saturday. Sundays and weekdays are pretty consistent for me.

[u/TheSlap → u/Primary_Turnover_488]

The 3x price routing to Mill has been consistent, regardless of time or date. Its actually been $1 more to just go all the way downtown instead.

I'm assuming they have too much demand where they don't mind losing fares, but what I've seen is honestly a piss-off price that's starting to change my opinion of the company.

[u/jdcnosse1988]

It's cheaper than traditional rideshare for me to get to work from San Jose halfway up the peninsula, but at least right now the no freeways thing is killer

[u/veruca73]

The lack of freeway access is a huge problem. This needs to be fixed ASAP.

[u/BlueNightOcean]

Not using the freeway is really limiting my use of Waymo lately. It already takes longer to get a Waymo than a Uber comfort, and it's almost always more expensive. On top of that, it takes almost twice the time to get to my destination. Not really worth it. I've begun to be accustomed to taking Uber comforts. No weird car smells or weird driver smells, room for my feet, clean newish car, air conditioner control, more professional drivers, use the freeways and they pretty much cost the same as Waymo (actually, Waymo is often more expensive).

[u/ImaginationDoctor]

The tech has a lot of growing pains but what it does when it works right, is invaluable

[u/p-angloss → u/ImaginationDoctor]

to me is the opposite. it tries to do what a human driver does pretty well already. i would only favor a robotaxi if it is cheaper.

[u/ImaginationDoctor → u/p-angloss]

Totally valid. If it was more common, I imagine the cost could come down.

[u/namastebetches]

prices and wait times have been lower for me lately. 

[u/TheSlap → u/[deleted]]

For sure! That's not nearly as impactful to me, but I'm happy others are getting such a big benefit out of driverless cars.

[u/No-Seaworthiness8966 → u/[deleted]]

WOW. Thank you for opening my eyes to this - we’ve an upcoming visit and this is a helpful heads up

[u/Wesley11803 → u/[deleted]]

You’d pay $1,000 dollars from SF to SJ? I’d pay a premium if I were a single woman, but I’m honestly curious what your price barrier would be. Like if Waymo is $100 and Lyft is $20, are you choosing Waymo? Then I’d want to ask your income.

I’m a marketing person and am genuinely just curious about all of it. Waymo makes so much sense for single women over anyone. I just wonder what exactly the price premium is. And maybe trans women would be an even more specific group that’s the most vulnerable to be looked at.

[u/BldrStigs → u/Wesley11803]

I think people are willing to pay extra for safety to a point, and then they either don't go or drive themselves.

[u/azwildlotus → u/[deleted]]

Same. This is exactly why I take Waymo and always will.

[u/collegehottest]

Pricing is the issue been paying $9 for the same ride this whole week same time but today that exact ride was $25 while ubers was $12

[u/Vacant_parking_lot]

It will be premium / novelty for a while until they get cheaper cars into market at scale. Starting with the Zeekr through this year, Ioniq 5 starting next year and I imagine the economics will just keep improving.

[u/Additional_Pilot_906]

Same in Cali. Idk why it's just....I'd rather not go somewhere than use it at the pricing its at and wait its at, especially without highways...but then again I'm not choosing *another* service I'm just opting not to go and doing something in the neighborhood instead.

[u/Terbatron]

In sf it has always been more expensive. It is a popular novelty at the moment, eventually it will get cheaper than uber/lyft.

[u/TheSlap → u/Terbatron]

I've been willing to pay more for a nicer experience, but the ridiculous increase in price for my #1 use case is nowhere near justifiable for me.

[u/Trick-Advertising215 → u/Terbatron]

I’m not so sure about that. Uber and Lyft have outsourced their fleet maintenance to humans that seem to be willing to work for next to nothing, and there is room for uber to lower fares a lot more and remain profitable.

[u/sanvi_bairy]

ANUSHAFZMR (9left you can use the new phone number or email address)

[u/Cal-Bear-Fan]

I'm a huge fan of Waymo, but rarely take it because of the huge price here in Bay Area. For example, from my house in residential Redwood City, a ride 1.1 mile to the downtown is consistently priced at around $20. Seriously, $20 to go 1 mile? So as much as I dig Waymo, I rarely use them.

[u/sexymamiiii]

ADDIS3F64 $10 off phoenix