I work for Flywheel, a (much smaller) competitor in the same space.
Customers like you describe certainly exist, and may be the majority, but mercenary customers who switch services are a large subset of the total. For example, we don't surge, and a substantial number of our customers report that they only use us when Uber and Lyft are surging.
There's also a time-frame issue here. The number of users who check different services with every ride is low. The number of users who check different services when their primary service is surging is higher. The number of users who are open to occasionally checking out other services if they hear good things is higher yet.
Cost-insensitive users who have Uber brand loyalty may be a large rump population for Uber -- they were the original adopters of the service. But their growth has been in cost-conscious people, and they've been in deep competition for those people, in a price war. Those passengers are a large enough share of their user base that they can't do without them.
Off-topic, but Do you have a timeline for getting into the Boston market, or a suggestion of an app out here? Taxi dispatch is terrible in this city. I was a consistent flywheel customer in SF and loved it.
Sorry, I can't comment on our expansion plans. I don't have any personal experience with the Boston scene, and the value of different apps is often very location dependent, so I'm not sure how the experience will be, but:
Hailo operates in Boston. They use real taxis and are well-established in other cities, probably worth a try if you are looking to replace taxi dispatch.
Thanks for the kind words, and I hope we get to Boston soon and you can give us a try.
Customers like you describe certainly exist, and may be the majority, but mercenary customers who switch services are a large subset of the total. For example, we don't surge, and a substantial number of our customers report that they only use us when Uber and Lyft are surging.
There's also a time-frame issue here. The number of users who check different services with every ride is low. The number of users who check different services when their primary service is surging is higher. The number of users who are open to occasionally checking out other services if they hear good things is higher yet.
Cost-insensitive users who have Uber brand loyalty may be a large rump population for Uber -- they were the original adopters of the service. But their growth has been in cost-conscious people, and they've been in deep competition for those people, in a price war. Those passengers are a large enough share of their user base that they can't do without them.