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Comment by aeyes | Hacker News Reader

> there's no way people who commute every day are doing so for cheaper than actually owning a car.

Yes there is: Public transportation (bus, metro, train). Millions of people get to work using it every day. Just having a car sit on the street would cost me at least 100$ per month in taxes, insurance, parking and other misc costs. I spend much less on public transportation.

Most people live in dense cities so these services exist. I almost only use Uber/taxis when I need to go to places that are hard to reach or at night.

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I should have specified, my point was that Uber is not the same as public transportation and is essentially a luxury good.

I bet Uber/Lyft enable single car ownership for lots of couples, and is nothing like a luxury good. Things like people who carpool, but need a backup when that falls through. Or the ability to get to a doctor (or any location) poorly served by public transit.

I mean, it's not a luxury good in the sense that you can buy a car, but I suspect many folks have made difficult or expensive to unwind decisions that make car ownership expensive. Classifying transportation where an alternative may well cost more than $1k/mo as a "luxury good" is a real stretch of the word luxury.

So a luxury that you can normally get by without? You seem to be strengthening my argument that it's not essential.

I think my point is being missed though and that is that using Uber as your daily commute is certainly not cheaper than owning a car. I think that's perfectly reasonable to say.

Also I don't mean to imply that Uber is a luxury in the same way Lois Vuitton is a luxury.

In my examples in other comments using Uber as a daily commute option almost certainly costs nearly 1000 or more per month.

Using Uber alone for all transportation may be a luxury, but if you're in a situation where you rely heavily public transportation, Uber is a nearly essential addition to it.

Transporting large items, or groceries for an entire family are extremely difficult if not impossible over public transportation. Transporting a group of people (3+) can be approximately the same price on public transportation and Uber without potentially sacrificing comfort, safety, time and effort, many of which can be essential depending on your circumstances.

The cost of using Uber and Public transportation also requires a lot less upfront cost which is necessary for people living paycheck to paycheck and can't afford to spend around $2k on a car, as well as deal with it's maintenance time and cost.

Then car is essentially a luxury good, since it's the same - just someone else is driving it.

Yes. That's my point. Uber is not essential, it is a luxury.

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