Rideshare is gaining more popularity than ever and it shows with billions in funding and all of the media hype companies like Uber and Lyft have been getting lately.  Today, RSG contributor, Jack Ross takes a look at all of the top rideshare stories of the past week and gives us his thoughts on all of it.  What was your favorite or least favorite story from the past week?

This week on the roundup: Lyft makes its way back into the mainstream news with John Zimmer’s enthusiastic interview and a big announcement, Uber gets shown love by American lawmakers (at least on the streets) and shows the middle finger to Parisian lawmakers (always), weed-on-demand and free Uber-rides in LA, a new airport-Audi-rental company, and an update of the Lyft vs. Uber mini-war that never gets old. Here we go!

Congressmen Love Uber, Use Service for Almost 2/3 of Their 2014 Rides.

Though there hasn’t been any remarkable new national TNC legislation passed, these interesting findings from BuzzFeed via DC’s Hamilton Place Strategies data on Congressional trips during the 2014 year speak to Uber’s growing popularity with lawmakers—due to gained privacy, luxury and “cultural cache” for the lawmakin’ pax.

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The real upside, the article concludes, lies with Uber, gaining “a familiar and sympathetic user group with the authority to potentially make regulatory decisions in one of the fastest-growing areas of the tech world. That kind of loyal customer is hard to beat.” Time will tell how quickly the law reflects where Congressional thumbs and smartphones are. [Read more…]

As usual, there were a ton of great rideshare stories this week but the most popular ones had to do with Uber’s surge pricing.  Halloween may have been the biggest rideshare night of the year and the fares certainly reflected that going as high as 10x in certain markets but apparently there were a lot of regretful passengers the next morning.  Today, RSG contributor Jack Ross takes a look at those stories and more. 

AND WE’RE BAAAACK!

This week’s roundup: Uber hits the big time, the Rideshare Wars get REAL (and James Bond-y), and some out of control Halloween fares lead to even more out of control rideshare antics from drivers and passengers, alike. Away we go, starting with a very important tip:

Thinking About Buying A Car with Uber? READ THIS FIRST

Extremely detailed and hugely important piece from ValleyWag with need to knows on the sub-prime loans you could be taking on, and their potentially serious consequences. A deep dive into Uber’s site content, instruction videos, loan partners, sub-reddits with more anecdotes and a whole hell of a lot more. In sum: buyer (or loaner), beware. [Read more…]

This is going to be a busy weekend with all of the Halloween madness and fare guarantees from Lyft and Uber.  Heck, even Sidecar got into the mix with fare guarantees up in SF so you know things must be getting crazy.  But before you spend your entire weekend driving and making money, RSG contributor Jack Ross takes a look at all of the top stories from the past week.  And there were definitely some good ones.  It was cool to be featured in Forbes and definitely good publicity for the site so stay tuned for more of those and feel free to hit us up on FB or Twitter over the weekend to let us know how things are shaping up out on the roads.  It already sounds like Thursday night was kind of a bust with way too many drivers out and about but I’m sure Friday & Saturday will be a lot better.

Welcome back, y’all. And let’s get straight into answering the 18-billion-dollar-question!

This week on the Roundup: a couple of hot startups you should check out, an important read from Forbes, a Must-See Lincoln commercial, a cross-country trip around the USA at all the relevant TNC news, LA Weekly goes gonzo-journalist on Uber, an Obvious Headline involving Uber’s unicorn, Vice’s Motherboard, and Uber’s PR team is literally everywhere!

But first, FREE GAS!!!

Oh, Hey TNC Drivers! Want To Get Free Gas? This Startup’s Got Yo Back

Here’s how Gas4Ads out of Irvine works. You (driver): stick some ads on your headrest, track your miles and let them know. They: pay your gas (?!) Pretty simple, really. For the record, I, for one, am unsure if this maybe kinda sorta violates TNC policies against drivers’ promoting shit while they drive, but great idea either way (and another one of the first of many of the emerging TNC sub-economy). Check ’em out. And get yo’ gas while it’s hot. [Read more…]

There’s definitely no shortage of stories during the week and to those who keep sending me headlines, I thank you!  I had some spies at the Uber protest this week and seems like those guys are still in the minority.  I’m more surprised there hasn’t been a Lyft strike yet due to all their recent negative changes but I suppose most people are just switching to Uber if they’re unhappy.  Today, RSG contributor Jack Ross takes a look at some of the top stories of the week that was in rideshare.

This week on the Roundup: First, Uber, Uber and UBER. Uber vs. Their Drivers (for the bajillionth time), Uber fights the flu, and Uber runs up against the teamsters. Also, big news on the airport-legality front (for one airport, least), some iffy Lyft-y news and a brand-spankin’-new TNC web series. But first, we travel across the Atlantic, because...

Of Course We’re Leading With The “Fighter Jets” of France (or Uber Blatantly Using Sex To Sell)

Apparently, Uber geniusly partnered with a French app company that sends pictures of smoking hot babes (also known in francais colloquialisms as fighter jets, for the uninformed), complete with a contest that doles out a grand prize of a steamy 20-minute ride with one of the girls from the app. Tales of Uber’s sexism are making the virtual rounds, and a lot of people are pissed. These guys really seem to heed to the “any press is good press” axiom pretty aggressively. [Read more…]

It seems like every week, there are more and more awesome rideshare stories, it’s getting harder and harder to narrow them down.  To those that have been sharing stories with me, a big thanks, keep ’em coming.  The rideshare craze even hit South Park this week so you know it’s getting big!  Today, RSG contributor, Jack Ross takes a look at the top stories from the week in rideshare.  

This week on the roundup: lots of Uber talk from big-business moves to screwing over tweeting drivers (the good, the mostly bad, the seemingly typical), talkin’ bout pukin’, a reminder not to sell your car in LA, Sidecar makes news (!) and a couple of $$$ videos.

Without further ado, here we go:

GETT Gets Into the Rideshare Wars Again (or Tries To, Anyways, Claiming 2X Wages for Drivers)

Remember that company that offered riders $10 flat rates on any trip in Manhattan, any time, no surge-pricing questions asked?

Those pesky, undercutting guys at Gett are back, trying to stick it to Uber and Lyft again. Buzzfeed profiled them with a handful of quotes from their CEO and the company’s sexy infographic declaring they are doubling Lyft/Uber driver rates with $.70 per minute fares for NYC drivers. The Gett guys have good traction abroad (London, Tel Aviv, Moscow), but the article contends it’s unclear how they can sustain higher rates for drivers while offering cheaper rides for pax, to boot.

Check out the end for an email response from an Uber exec (hint: the big guys claim their rates are the best of the best of the best, sir. With honors.) [Read more…]