RSG032: What Did We Learn About Rideshare In 2015?

Although I think it’s important to always be setting goals and looking into the future, it also makes a lot of sense to reflect every once in a while.  In today’s podcast I do just that, and recap what we learned about rideshare in 2015.

I go over all my predictions that I made for 2015 and let you know where I was right and of course where I was wrong.  I also talk about a couple big issues that came up during the year that I missed and how they will affect drivers and the industry as a whole.

Uber App In Passenger's Hand
RSG032: What Did We Learn About Rideshare In 2015?

Stay tuned until the end too since I’ll share an update on how the blog itself performed in 2015.  We saw a ton of growth and made some huge strides.

If you’d like to read a transcript of this podcast, please click here

Intro

  • Happy New Year!
  • Today’s episode will be a recap of rideshare in 2015 and an update of predictions I made earlier this year
  • Discussing the rideshare industry and an update on RSG (the site)
  • Special thanks to our sponsor, Stride Health – the new year is a great time to check out your health care options. Check out Stride Health today and sign up before the end of the year.

2015: A Look Back

  • Episode 13 predicted what I thought would happen in 2015
  • A lot of the big issues I discussed back then did happen in 2015
  • Did miss out on a few
  • RSG changed over 2015, too!

Insurance: What’s Changed

  • Insurance is still a big deal for drivers, not as much for passengers
  • Insurance differs from state to state
  • Insurance not always provided in every stage by rideshare companies
  • Some insurance carriers are offering options for rideshare drivers – check out our comprehensive list here

Regulatory Issues

  • Surprised by how many regulatory issues arose during 2015
  • Takeaway is regulators need political support when attempting to regulate rideshare companies
  • Constituents need to support the regulations, otherwise regulators are going to find a huge uphill battle
  • Cities & counties have valid reasons for trying to regulate rideshare, but the public has to support the regulations too
  • Why Uber left Broward County, FL
  • Confrontation between Uber and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio

International Expansion

  • Rideshare companies expanding throughout the world (China & India are some of the biggest markets), but is still very heavily subsidized
  • China market not looking so great for Uber – China already has established rideshare players in the market
  • Sarah Lacy from Pando – solid tech reporting to check out if you’re interested
  • Lyft partnered with Chinese ridesharing companies
  • Lyft is growing up and out
  • Continued driver churn – 50% of drivers quit in the first year, according to Uber, but there’s no shortage of drivers
  • Will the quality of drivers stay the same?

Separate Services

  • While rideshare companies have expanded beyond driving, like UberEATS, it wasn’t a huge focus in 2015
  • Rideshare companies are expanding in the tech & engineering sectors – UberPool
  • Self-driving cars – Zack Kanter interview
  • Lyft might not be losing ground to Uber, but they do only seem to be along for the ride right now

Uber vs. Lyft

  • Publicly, not a lot of contention
  • Definitely aware of each other – Uber might be more aware of Lyft than before
  • Metrics show it’s not even close – Lyft is second to Uber, but they don’t seem to be going anywhere
  • Sidecar ceased rideshare/delivery services – can’t say I’m shocked by that
  • Shows that rideshare companies really need to care about passengers – using Sidecar was confusing for passengers

What Did I Miss?

  • W2 vs. 1099 employment lawsuit – missed this by a mile!
  • Interview with Shannon Liss-Riordan covered this topic in-depth
  • There won’t be a quick resolution to this – many rideshare drivers don’t want to become employees, but some do
  • Delivery companies took off in 2015! I’m surprised people are willing to pay $8 to have a $7 burrito delivered, clearly did not see that coming
  • GrubHub and many other delivery companies challenging the dominant delivery players. UberEATS may crush these smaller players, but time will tell

Takeaways in 2015

  • You’re not going to become rich as a rideshare driver, so you have to take advantage of the flexibility driving offers
  • This industry is all about change – you can’t expect the future will be the same as today
  • Surround yourself with people you want to be like – people who inspire you, looking for the next thing, improving themselves
  • This is your business, so do what’s best for you and your business – outwork the competition

RSG in 2015

  • 30k pageviews a month to 500k pageviews a month in 2015!
  • Very happy with growth on the blog – quit my day job earlier this year, so I’m glad this is working out well!
  • Expanded my team – part-time writers, advertising, website service, and more
  • Income growth was huge this year
  • Launched Maximum Ridesharing Profits this year
  • Lots of media outreach this year – developed relationships with reporters
  • Connecting with readers and listeners – if you ever have questions, comments, email me! I always respond

Outro

Show Notes

Stride Health

This episode was sponsored by Stride Health, they’re a company that connects self employed workers with health coverage and health care for free! And even if you already have health insurance, once you sign up, you’ll get access to a personal advisor who you can call to get help with all your health care decisions and more.  Sign up here to get free access today!

If you’d like to read a transcript of this podcast, please click here

Drivers, what do you think about everything that happened in 2015?  What were the biggest issues for you and more importantly what did you learn or take away from them?

-Harry @ RSG