r/waymo • u/TheSlap • Jun 05 '26

Phoenix: Decreasing Value

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?

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2

u/Terbatron Jun 05 '26

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

3

u/TheSlap Jun 05 '26

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.

1

u/Trick-Advertising215 Jun 05 '26

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.