With the thread about teen driving and insurance costs, I'm curious about exploring using Lyft / Uber for commuting (daily) vs adding a car.

I calculated that it'd cost me about 600-800 / month if I needed Lyft / Uber all the time, but it's likely that my kid won't need the car all the time either (ie might be easier to be dropped at HS, etc). And I won't be taking the car out Friday or Saturday night, and he could have at least one car on the weekend of the two we have.

Anyone done this type of arrangement and what's your thoughts on it? Bad to stay at 2 cars with 3 drivers?

I've had my car in the shop this week - I was originally traveling for work early in the week. So being home for just 2 days and taking an uber each way was awful. I went from house to Park and Ride, bus into town, us back, uber home. They were the "short" trips but the constant anxiety and waiting around was awful. Never once had an English speaking driver. Most all were speeding or in a rush. One guy even just decided to not stop while a school bus was loading kids. Car payment, fuel, maintenance, insurance would assuredly be 2x but not worth it to deal with the headaches every day.

It could work if you found someone and then booked them off app for a same time pickup every day each leg. Or even if you had a separate person each leg.

I saw an article about few years back that ran the math and if you take over 200 trips a year (20 trips+ a month) (i think it was), uber costs more than getting a cheap car and making payments.

Someone could re-run the math in today's prices.... I just know my average uber for around various towns i use it in runs about $18-23 a trip

My dad drove a metro vanpool van to work and volunteered to manage it so he could drive it home. Basically used it as his car and my brother and I shared a car with him. That worked well but only because he had a vehicle all the time, just wasn't his.

I would never rely on ride share like you're proposing but I guess it could work for some. I look forward to the day that I get my son a ragged out truck for him to drive. Probably an old 7.3 OBS

Sounds like a terrible idea - appreciate the feedback. A rule 1 will be in my not so distant future.

I would not do it, simply because I wouldn't want that many random people driving me around that I don't know or trust at that frequency.

I think the best bet if you want to go this route would be to proposition a good Uber driver to be your main transportation and have them do the trips on your schedule.