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Via facts Flashcards
NYC Ridesharing Facts - trips per day
650k trips per day on ridehailing apps:
- Via 4% –> 29k trips per day
Ways to Group Data Points for Statistical Process Control
- Day of week
- Time of day
- Did Uber surge?
- Driver –> are some more efficient, others need more training?
- Equipment –> Are some vehicle provider partners maintaining vehicles less? More issues?
- Neighborhood
- –> Traffic
- –> Potholes
- –> Inefficient road design
- Who did the onboarding (via employee)?
NYC Unique Vehicles per Month
Via 5.7k unique vehicles per month
Via monthly trips per vehicle
Monthly trips per vehicle - Via 150
Year over year trip growth
Year-over-Year trips growth: Via is declining, like other companies, but Via declining faster than remaining competitors as of Sept 2019:
–> Via: -8%
% of trips shared
% trips shared –> Via by far the market leader –> people who are willing to be inconvenienced to save money know to go to Via!
o Via: 63% of rides are shared; Lyft: 27%; Uber: 10%
Little’s Law
Avg # of customers in queue = avg arrival rate X avg amount of time spent in system
Avg arrival rate = rate at opening app to request rides (demand rate)
avg amount of time spent in system = time from app open to arrive at destination
Inventory = Avg Flow rate X Avg Throughput Time
Throughput Time
Throughput time = Open app + select destination + approve price and method + wait to pickup/wait for ride + get in van and ride to virtual bus stop + get out of van
- -> # of passengers able to ride at once given # of cars available = bottleneck capacity
- -> so avg inventory (# of people engaging with Via at once is = bottleneck capacity X throughput time
Total time
Total Time = Time of bottleneck process + time before bottleneck + time after the bottleneck ends –> Approx Equal to the time of the bottleneck process –> rate of production is as fast as the slowest step/component
Activity Capacity
Activity capacity = Rate at which tasks can be completed = Max # of tasks at once / activity time
–> bottleneck = step with lowest capacity
Throughput Time
Throughput Time (aka Flow Time) = Time spent in the process (time worked on + time waiting) –> cumulative throughput time = area under the inventory curve
Price elasticity
If price is elastic, demand will change when you increase or decrease price…ride sharing has price elasticity–the lower the price we charge the more rides people will take and the more revenue we’ll generate. The opposite is true for many drivers–the more we pay them, the more they are willing to supply.
Price discrimination
Are there opportunities to price discriminate (charge different prices for identical rides to different customers) based upon their willingness to pay, their quantity of demand, or by the rider characteristic?
- -> Knowledge work firms (banks, consultancies, hedge funds, etc.) often pay for their employees to get home –> the employees are not price sensitive but their firm would like to save money, so can we offer better deals to the firm to win business?
- -> Riders who live far from public transit might be willing to ride more frequently if given a better per-ride rate. This is why Via offers discounted rides for buying in bulk and why they offer ride passes.
Compensation Model for Consumer Business
Blue Mode: Accept an hourly rate for a window of time –> follow directions on screen to pick up riders and go to areas of anticipated demand. Paid regardless of number of rides completed.
Flex/Online mode: Pay per ride, like Uber/Lyft, but the commission is lower –> per minute and per mile fare
Rewarded for shared rides, rather than accepting a lower rate of pay like in Uber
In NYC, Median Net Hourly Earnings = $20.99 (as of 2018) versus 13-14 for Uber/Lyft
Microtransit offerings (TaaS)
Turnkey solution that includes technology plus operations management of drivers and vehicles:
Variation of Uber/Lyft with the consumer business in select cities like NYC, DC, Chicago, and Via Van in London, Amsterdam, etc.
–> Use vans to shuttle multiple passengers who are headed in a similar direction, only stopping to pick-up and drop-off on a corner to corner basis. Passengers then walk the last block or two to their destination to avoid unnecessary detours while making the rides more efficient. Most rides are shared rides.
Also the option to hire a private car, like Uber or Lyft
For the shared rides:
Busiest during commute hours, so the passengers tend to be of a regular (non-drunk) variety that are simply trying to get to and from their jobs without incident. Most of the passengers use the service often (repeat customers) and Via educates customers to manage expectations (customers don’t ask for you to wait long, drop off at alternative location, etc.)
First/Last mile “Via to Transit” for low-density and difficult to serve parts of city
- Kings County Metro (Seattle)
- Free rides to the LA Metro within three areas of LA, during normal business hours
Arlington TX On-Demand –> The biggest city with no good fixed route service and citizens rejected funding for mass transit. So Via offers shared mobility on demand to reduce single passenger car trips.
ViaVan in Berlin offering wheelchair accessible electric vans to fill service gaps in existing fixed-route mass transit
Microtransit Platform (SaaS)
Licensing Via’s on-demand shuttle system to transit agencies and operators who prefer to use their own vehicles and drivers
-> Singapore, Auckland, Austin’s Capital Metro “Pickup” service in 4 neighborhoods
Via’s Four Service Offerings
Microtransit Operations (Transit as a Service) –> Turnkey solution that includes technology plus operations management of drivers and vehicles:
Microtransit Platform (SaaS): Licensing Via’s on-demand shuttle system to transit agencies and operators who prefer to use their own vehicles and drivers
New Mobility Solutions: Mobility as a Service (Maas) products, demand management tools, school bus platforms (NYC DOE/OPT, etc.
Service Planning and Simulation: In-depth analysis using proprietary simulation tools to understand the potential for microtransit
Via’s Vision
Shared, on demand, electric, autonomous
Why drivers choose Via over competitors
Can choose between hourly pay and pay per ride, lower and fixed commission (in NYC they earn a higher median net hourly earning of $20.99 vs. $13-14 for Uber/Lyft)
Via drivers also operate in high-density urban zones. That means Via drivers tend to put fewer miles on their vehicles since there are no long distance trips outside of their tighter operating zone. Additionally, pickup locations are mapped in advance so drivers can wait safely, not blocking traffic or requiring riders to step into traffic. All of these things add up to make a big difference in reducing wear and tear and depreciation.
Better customer service for drivers
More respectful riders (not as in a rush, more aware of reasonable expectations because of rider education)
Environmental benefits
Fewer private cars on the road (especially with ridesharing versus personal car hiring) = less emissions, less traffic-created emissions
Viable alternative to buying a car –> less environmental impact if car manufacturers reduce supply
–> Especially as it promotes people’s ability to take public transit by offering first and last mile services
More efficient and environmentally friendly routes than door-to-door
Increasing use of electric vehicles, and a company vision of electric and autonomous vehicles, both of which will be substantially more environmentally friendly than current impact of driving
Current projects / new offerings
Via and SacRT Launch the Largest Microtransit System in America
• The expansive on-demand public transportation network launches with nine zones and 42 vehicles in Sacramento, California
Jersey City:
• Via van rides for $2/ride outside of downtown. Partnership with the mayor who was fed up with NJ Transit’s poor service and lack of investment in the city, lack of connectivity and mobility options outside of the PATH downtown. First city-run bus system in NJ.
Paratransit in Norfolk, Virginia
• Need to train drivers really well for paratransit –> it’s the only option for people with disabilities, need to train well and provide specialized training
Key Challenges
With new types of service, need various types of onboarding and training:
• Paratransit in Norfolk, Virginia –>Need to train drivers really well for paratransit –> it’s the only option for people with disabilities, need to train well and provide specialized training
• School bus system tech platforms –> training trainers within the DOE
• Increasing push for wheelchair accessible vehicles –> need to train drivers on how to use them, how to be respectful and courteous
Driver growth and balancing supply and demand to maximize utilization and maximize profits and driver earnings; scaling a 2-sided market place by growing supply and demand simultaneously
• Utilization not only for profit’s sake, but also because of new regulation in NYC about 31% cruising rate cap
• Driver growth challenges with minimum wage laws, fierce competition, cap on number of TLC licenses in NYC, classification as employees
o Minimum Wage Laws –> making sure people are actually working who are logged in and collecting paychecks, making sure we don’t have too many people on the road collecting $17/hour when we only need a much smaller number of drivers at the moment.
Rider growth: Fierce competition, low switching costs between competitors
REGULATORY CHANGES:
Minimum Wage Laws in NYC
• Need to know who’s actually driving versus who’s “reporting to work” and doing something else like watching Netflix and getting paid $17/hour –> minimum threshold of productive activity before you kick someone off the platform for the day and don’t pay them.
• Ops team trying to balance supply and demand, but we can’t control demand and have no control over supply because they are independent contractors. So could institute a cap on the number of drivers we hire to ensure we don’t have too many people that can just choose to earn $17/hour without us knowing or wanting them at any given moment. Besides through marketing we will do anyhow, we can’t actually make riders request more, so can only control the number of drivers.
California requiring classification as employees
• Via’s better set up for this than competitors because of Blue Mode hourly pay
• Operating costs will increase if we have to pay hourly wage to all drivers all the time, if we have to pay benefits, etc. Will reduce our competitive advantage with drivers compared to Uber and Lyft if this type of law gets passed in states in which we have consumer businesses like NY and Illinois.
Drivers sharing accounts (i.e. in London)
• Must take a fingerprint on phone at start of shift to start getting rides? Better than photo verification because of racial bias issues
• Ask riders to alert Via if their driver doesn’t look like the person pictured as the driver
Violence by drivers (i.e. Uber’s safety report)
Similar to Uber they do background checks before hiring and then continuous background checks, take customer complaints seriously escalated to a special team and legal team interviews.
• Cameras in vans and cars (can use simple AI to ensure that the camera is showing the inside of the car and not being covered up - don’t allow the app to work if the camera doesn’t work)
• Ask riders to alert Via if their driver doesn’t look like the person pictured as the driver –> driver might not have a background check
• Notification to Via Ops if a customer’s location is off-route
• At end of ride can survey if the rider felt safe
• Give emergency notification within the app
• Note: Can differentiate options if the trip is shared or not –> more cautious or supportive for solo rides
Likely effects of Electric Vehicle Evs:
Charging is slower than filling a tank, will decrease the # rides / hour
Electricity cheaper than gas
Regulatory Changes
Minimum Wage Laws in NYC
• Need to know who’s actually driving versus who’s “reporting to work” and doing something else like watching Netflix and getting paid $17/hour –> minimum threshold of productive activity before you kick someone off the platform for the day and don’t pay them.
• Ops team trying to balance supply and demand, but we can’t control demand and have no control over supply because they are independent contractors. So could institute a cap on the number of drivers we hire to ensure we don’t have too many people that can just choose to earn $17/hour without us knowing or wanting them at any given moment. Besides through marketing we will do anyhow, we can’t actually make riders request more, so can only control the number of drivers.
California requiring classification as employees
• Via’s better set up for this than competitors because of Blue Mode hourly pay
• Operating costs will increase if we have to pay hourly wage to all drivers all the time, if we have to pay benefits, etc. Will reduce our competitive advantage with drivers compared to Uber and Lyft if this type of law gets passed in states in which we have consumer businesses like NY and Illinois.
Drivers Sharing Accounts
Drivers sharing accounts (i.e. in London)
• Must take a fingerprint on phone at start of shift to start getting rides? Better than photo verification because of racial bias issues
• Ask riders to alert Via if their driver doesn’t look like the person pictured as the driver
Violence by Drivers
Violence by drivers (i.e. Uber’s safety report)
Similar to Uber they do background checks before hiring and then continuous background checks, take customer complaints seriously escalated to a special team and legal team interviews.
• Cameras in vans and cars (can use simple AI to ensure that the camera is showing the inside of the car and not being covered up - don’t allow the app to work if the camera doesn’t work)
• Ask riders to alert Via if their driver doesn’t look like the person pictured as the driver –> driver might not have a background check
• Notification to Via Ops if a customer’s location is off-route
• At end of ride can survey if the rider felt safe
• Give emergency notification within the app
• Note: Can differentiate options if the trip is shared or not –> more cautious or supportive for solo rides
Driver Growth Challenge
Driver growth and balancing supply and demand to maximize utilization and maximize profits and driver earnings; scaling a 2-sided market place by growing supply and demand simultaneously
• Utilization not only for profit’s sake, but also because of new regulation in NYC about 31% cruising rate cap
• Driver growth challenges with minimum wage laws, fierce competition, cap on number of TLC licenses in NYC, classification as employees
o Minimum Wage Laws –> making sure people are actually working who are logged in and collecting paychecks, making sure we don’t have too many people on the road collecting $17/hour when we only need a much smaller number of drivers at the moment.
With new types of service, need various types of onboarding and training:
- Paratransit in Norfolk, Virginia –>Need to train drivers really well for paratransit –> it’s the only option for people with disabilities, need to train well and provide specialized training
- School bus system tech platforms –> training trainers within the DOE
- Increasing push for wheelchair accessible vehicles –> need to train drivers on how to use them, how to be respectful and courteous
Key Metrics
**Completed:Requested –> Total number of riders that were dropped off at destination (matched, driver and rider didn’t cancel, no issues that cut trip short) out of the total number of rides requested –> requires enough cars online, short wait times, drivers accepting trips and not canceling.
*Driver Earnings:
• Earnings are key lever for supply health –> improve earnings by improving driver utilization –> Uber did yearly price cuts to drive up demand which encouraged drivers to drive more –> can build features into product to promote driver earnings, such as default tips –> the higher the percentage of tipping, the happier drivers are and the more they drive without Via having to pay.
• Ride sharing like Via or Uber Pool increases driver utilization
–> Productized solutions to get people to tip more. Such as default tips. The higher the percentage of tipping, drivers make more without Uber having to pay more.
Driver utilization –> [Total time driving customers a.k.a. “On Trip Time” / Online Hours] –> key to profitability and key to driver’s earnings and satisfaction –> ideally the driver is on a continuous trip with at least one rider
Monthly Active Platform Customers (MAPC's): Uber had 103M Total # Trips: Uber had 1.7B Gross Bookings: Uber had $16.5B --> break down to understand driver costs including promos to drivers and guarantees to drivers (i.e. give $50 extra if you do 10 trips), rider incentives/promotions; insurance is a big cost (Uber provides insurance for all drivers on a trip --> huge expense in some specific states) Revenue: Uber had $3.8B
Company Risks
Company risks:
Ability to manage growth and maintain and improve corporate culture
Ability to compete in highly competitive market for riders and drivers –> incentives, promotions, costs of capital versus competitors
Losses for unsuccessful new service offerings –> innovating new models and new partnerships
Ability to identify, recruit, and retain skilled personnel, including key members of senior management
Ability to maintain and protect intellectual property rights
Ability to renew licenses to operate in certain jurisdictions; other regulatory risks, such as NYC’s ride-sharing cap and CA’s law requiring drivers to be classified as employees (Via better set up than competitors, though)
o NYC: regulations mandated minimum wage $17.22 an hour across all app-based car services and yellow cabs. In response, prices for the majority of rides into Manhattan will increase by a flat charge of $2.75 more per trip and 75 cents for group rides –> Juno blamed this regulation for their shutting down
o NYC: From August 2019:
he New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission voted Wednesday to extend its cap on the number of Uber and Lyft vehicles permitted to operate within the city. The commission also amended its rules aimed at limiting the amount of time drivers can cruise without passengers in Manhattan below 96th Street.Last year, the New York City Council voted to halt the issuance of new for-hire vehicle licenses for 12 months. Under the cap, Uber and Lyft could still be granted licenses for wheelchair-accessible vehicles — which both companies sorely lack — but would be prevented from adding new ride-hail vehicles for one year. Today’s vote extends that cap for another 12 months, while also cutting deadheading — or the amount of time drivers spend without passengers in the car — for both companies from 41 percent to 31 percent.The regulations come on top of new minimum wage rules enacted in February, along with a congestion charge for all for-hire vehicles and yellow taxis.
Ability to service existing debt
Ability to prevent disturbances of IT system, hacking –> especially as shift to EV and AV
Ability to defend against any litigation
Industry Trends
Transportation services is a $120B market in the US alone (Damodaran)
The transportation services market is growing –> hugely successful at changing consumer behavior, bringing in people who used to take mass transit or drive private cars –> reasonable estimate that the market will double in 10 years (Damodaran)
Regulation: Requiring companies to classify drivers as employees, minimum wage laws
• Minimum wage laws in NY are really tough as the ops team trying to balance supply and demand, but we can’t control demand and have no control over supply because they are independent contractors. So Uber instituted caps on the number of drivers they hired to ensure they didn’t have too many people they’d have to pay out $17. Can’t make riders request more, so can only control the number of drivers. –> The law allows driver to go to a remote area and watch Netflix for three hours and collect $17/hour; need to use data to prevent this, through acceptance rate criteria in order to stay online (can get kicked off).
Uber Pool is being phased down/out --> Big opportunity for Via Uber thought Pool would create high utilization and high match rates that would help take advantage of low utilization rates of car. If nobody matches, Uber takes the hit because the rider still gets the discount and the driver makes the same rate. Uber Pool became really expensive, riders didn't appreciate it because it took too long unless the route was really cheap. Now they are raising rates to remove the discount, focusing more on higher margin project (pool will probably not be profitable).
Revenue Drivers
o Fixed contracts for TaaS offerings (corporate or college campuses, etc.)
o Fixed contracts for tech licensing
o Variable revenue for consumer business and for other per-ride payments such as first/last mile and paratransit –> fees paid by drivers for use of platform and related services (hourly fee taken out of earnings or commission) –> sums to a share of gross billings (if Via riders are charged $1m and Via’s revenues on those rides are $250k, then Via’s share of gross billings is 25%).
Cost Drivers
o Corporate work force, operations and support staff
o Tech development and maintenance
o Licenses, permits to operate in jurisdictions
o Corporate real estate and other operating costs
o Incentives for riders and other marketing costs, other COGS
o Insurance for the company
o R&D
o Business Development
o Financial expenses
o –> Via’s already doing this to a degree, but the industry trend is to have to treat drivers as employees, which means they have to pay wages and benefits. California already requires it, other states will eventually. Damodaran thinks this means operating profits will drop to 15% steady state.
TaaS Framework
Via:
Profitability:
o Revenues:
Product/service mix
• Consumer: $/ride in commission from drivers X # of rides (function of matching rider and driver supply-demand)
• Platform: Monthly fee from partner? ; fixed contracts for TaaS on college or corporate campuses?
•
o Costs:
Fixed Costs:
• Driver acquisition costs / marketing (outside of per-ride promos)
• Rider acquisition costs / marketing (outside of per-ride promos)
• Operations, administrative, and other corporate staff wages and benefits –> SGA, Real Estate, R&D, Financing Expenses, etc.
• Permits for some cities?
• Business development costs
Variable Costs:
• Insurance per ride? (or is it an umbrella policy as a FC?) –> huge cost
• Per-ride promos for rider acquisition
• Per-ride promos and other incentives for driver acquisition, engagement, retention
• Carbon pricing on the way?
*If pay drivers wages and benefits it will increase operating costs. Damudaran thinks operating profits will decline to steady state of 15%
Capabilities: o Rider acquisition / marketing o Driver acquisition / marketing o Technology performance o Sales and partnerships o Complements and Partnerships o Differentiation o Via's financial health o Fleet management NYC: Vans owned by the partners who rent out to drivers by the hour (4 hr min, most people choose 8+ hours) or by the week --> drivers pick up vehicle and keep for the week. Stations are just off the FDR downtown. Drivers pay for gas. Maintenance included in the rental and insurance (but there's a deductible drivers pay). NYC private cars: NYC regulated and requires a TLC plate (Camry) (capped at 80,000 for all services) Via serves a lot more rides with fewer base of riders because they are more engaged with hourly pay and keep drivers highly engaged and highly paid. Helps with regulation around "cruising" that NYC is cracking down on.
Partners / New Market:
• Funding stability
• Operational capacity - especially for SaaS platform partnerships since they will ultimately judge our product on how well it works for them even if their operational failures are why our tech doesn’t drive the results they want
• Commitment
• Competition –> are switching costs really low like in NYC?
• Regulation
Other External:
• Competition: Are switching costs really low like in NYC?
o Uber/Lyft
o Public Transit
o Personal Cars
• Regulation: Leading to increased operating costs with tighter regulation
o NYC minimum wage law
o CA law requiring drivers to be classified as employees
o Uber’s license in London suspended
o TLC medallion monopolies
o Port authority airport access @ LGA
• Market size change –> change in population size or distribution in a city or at a company
• Trends in preferences: i.e. Green; frustration with MTA’s service
• Macroeconomic forces
Risks:
• Legal
• Operational (not meeting expectations, stretched too thin, expand beyond expertise)
• Opportunity cost of time and talent
• Reputational for operational failure, safety (driving safety, assault, etc.)
Ways to improve efficiency / reduce driver downtime / Routing - improve utilization, driver time management:
Ways to improve efficiency / reduce driver downtime / Routing - improve utilization, driver time management:
Route trips away from higher risk areas –> NYPD releases locations of all accidents, fatalities, etc. Bias trip routing away from hot spots to reduce risk of accidents and slowdowns due to accidents
Avoid driving crosstown as much as possible
Avoid roads with bike lanes when good weather predicted
For Flex Mode: Give drivers the ability to tell Via where they want to end up at the end of their shift so the system doesn’t give them a ride in the wrong direction as they near the end of their shift. When we don’t do this, drivers are more likely to see the details of the trip and cancel, which hurts customer experience.
Dynamically adjust how far customers are willing to walk to pickup point based upon:
- Circumstances (weather, time of day (perhaps less willing to walk far late at night if drunk or in less populated area) - Individual characteristics (have they cancelled in the past?) Do we have any indication of age or disability? (legal issues? Can they self-identify to help us serve them better?)
Ways to Improve Engagement and Driver Retention:
There are a lot of immigrant drivers maybe we incentivize by offering language classes or social services offerings (win/win for the company too)
Share rider stories to help motivate by the purpose of their work
Ease of use of driver app
Can we increase how quickly they can cash out? There are startups that are changing the bimonthly paycheck to weekly or daily.
Give drivers the ability to tell Via where they want to end up at the end of their shift so the system doesn’t give them a ride in the wrong direction as they near the end of their shift. When we don’t do this, drivers are more likely to see the details of the trip and cancel, which hurts customer experience.
• Discount as a customer for their own rides –> unlock by driving a certain amount
• Partner with other businesses to provide reciprocal benefits that help our drivers –> i.e. provide discounts for LA Subway and Austin Bus System; provide discounts for sporting events or concerts in return for Via promoting transportation to congested events, etc.
• Swag/gifts after a certain number of rides
• Platinum status after a certain number of rides –> increased hourly rate for more rides within a certain time frame, have to keep up engagement to not lose status
• See what riders care about –> the rideshareguy.com
Segment drivers by:
o Part time versus full time
o Highly engagement, medium engagement, low engagement
o Those who usually operate in Blue Mode vs. Flex mode
o Those who drive own vehicle versus Via branded van
Ways to Recruit New Drivers / Driver Growth:
Ways to Recruit New Drivers / Driver Growth:
Segment existing drivers by:
o Part time versus full time As Stephen said:
• Citizen Drivers: Gig economy, part time, just need a car
• Professional Drivers: Need a separate license, comply with regulations, need insurance. Barriers to entry are higher so more likely to work closer to full time. Still, a high proportion of them are immigrants because barriers to entry are comparatively lower than in other jobs. They expect a different level of product experience, compensation, etc. Via built for this model more than Uber/Lyft.
• Highly engagement, medium engagement, low engagement
• Those who usually operate in Blue Mode vs. Flex mode
• Those who drive own vehicle versus Via branded van
Segments of potential new drivers:
• Existing livery drivers
• Existing chauffeurs with reservations several hours apart and time to kill in between
• People driving full time for Uber and Lyft right now –> lower commission, option for hourly pay, better driver support operations, more respectful riders (not necessarily as in a rush, in the mindset of sharing versus personal car), higher utilization
• People in part time jobs; College/Grad students who have predictable free time
• People recently laid off from work or at companies in decline (LinkedIn)
• Part time Uber/Lyft drivers –> find them on forums, at airports, etc.
• Casual driver who are looking to work for an extra hour a day on way back from work.
• Drivers that will lose jobs in legacy public transit systems we replace or that work for competing systems (i.e. NJ Transit drivers near Jersey City)
How to target new drivers:
• Advertise in places where potential drivers go (buses, target with google ads)
• Part time Uber/Lyft/Livery drivers –> find them on forums, at airports, etc.
• Referral bonuses –> continue and improve
• Promote how much better Via passengers are –> not telling about getting there fastest way, more educated about expectation, not as obnoxious in a shared ride
How to know we need more drivers:
o First indicator: Completed:Requested can indicate an issue, but won’t tell you that the lack of drivers is the cause of the incomplete rides.
o Need to know the # or % of riders who cancel after requesting but before pickup (often indicates wait too long)
• Avg wait time from app open to driver match to pickup
• Avg deviation of routed ride from a non-Via straight-path trip to destination
• Low average driver cruising/downtime (although don’t want this number too high because will disengage drivers and run up against regulation in places like NYC)
• Segment existing drivers by:
o Part time versus full time As Stephen said:
• Citizen Drivers: Gig economy, part time, just need a car
• Professional Drivers: Need a separate license, comply with regulations, need insurance. Barriers to entry are higher so more likely to work closer to full time. Still, a high proportion of them are immigrants because barriers to entry are comparatively lower than in other jobs. They expect a different level of product experience, compensation, etc. Via built for this model more than Uber/Lyft.
o Highly engagement, medium engagement, low engagement
o Those who usually operate in Blue Mode vs. Flex mode
o Those who drive own vehicle versus Via branded van
Who to prompt to start driving when in need of more drivers: • Highly rated drivers • In the vicinity of the anticipated or real demand • High historical response rates at the current time of day/week when previously prompted Driver Concerns / Barriers to Entry: Need to afford a vehicle at first --> so Via gives $500 to get Metris rental Doubt about earnings --> Show average breakdown of earnings compared to Uber/Lyft Where to park the vehicle you rent, especially in NYC? Especially longer vans?
Segment existing drivers by:
o Part time versus full time As Stephen said:
• Citizen Drivers: Gig economy, part time, just need a car
• Professional Drivers: Need a separate license, comply with regulations, need insurance. Barriers to entry are higher so more likely to work closer to full time. Still, a high proportion of them are immigrants because barriers to entry are comparatively lower than in other jobs. They expect a different level of product experience, compensation, etc. Via built for this model more than Uber/Lyft.
• Highly engagement, medium engagement, low engagement
• Those who usually operate in Blue Mode vs. Flex mode
• Those who drive own vehicle versus Via branded van
Segments of Potential New Drivers
Segments of potential new drivers:
• Aging, middle-aged, might be aggravated at full time job, or hard to get re-hired.
Existing livery drivers
• Existing chauffeurs with reservations several hours apart and time to kill in between
• People driving full time for Uber and Lyft right now –> lower commission, option for hourly pay, better driver support operations, more respectful riders (not necessarily as in a rush, in the mindset of sharing versus personal car), higher utilization
• People in part time jobs; College/Grad students who have predictable free time
• People recently laid off from work or at companies in decline (LinkedIn)
• Part time Uber/Lyft drivers –> find them on forums, at airports, etc.
• Casual driver who are looking to work for an extra hour a day on way back from work.
• Drivers that will lose jobs in legacy public transit systems we replace or that work for competing systems (i.e. NJ Transit drivers near Jersey City)
How to target new drivers
How to target new drivers:
• Advertise in places where potential drivers go (buses, target with google ads)
• Part time Uber/Lyft/Livery drivers –> find them on forums, at airports, etc.
• Referral bonuses –> continue and improve
• Promote how much better Via passengers are –> not telling about getting there fastest way, more educated about expectation, not as obnoxious in a shared ride
How to know we need more drivers
How to know we need more drivers:
o First indicator: Completed:Requested can indicate an issue, but won’t tell you that the lack of drivers is the cause of the incomplete rides.
o Need to know the # or % of riders who cancel after requesting but before pickup (often indicates wait too long)
• Avg wait time from app open to driver match to pickup
• Avg deviation of routed ride from a non-Via straight-path trip to destination
• Low average driver cruising/downtime (although don’t want this number too high because will disengage drivers and run up against regulation in places like NYC)
Considerations for Expansion/Growing Ridership:
Considerations for Expanding / Growing Ridership:
Think about the potential market sizes, our capabilities, brand compatibility, is there market share to capture or is the field saturated?
Expanding geographies: Boroughs that are not currently providing a lot of Via traffic because people don't know about the service, we haven't convinced them that we are a better option for their needs and price point. Dense cities that we don't currently serve because we haven't yet prioritized putting efforts there or because they had onerous regulation we could try to change. Cities that have needs for our budding platform offerings but not a strong demand for private car or shared van rides. a. Paratransit b. School buses c. First and last mile to light rail or bus depots
• Expanding existing services to earn more revenue:
o Identify new use cases for current offerings by segmenting demand and potential demand by borough, demographics, etc.
o Partner with MTA (or other cities’ equivalent) to provide subsidies for transportation to/from transportation deserts like we do in Austin
o Make current offerings more efficient, improve margins statistical process analysis (six sigma), ID bottlenecks
o Grow revenue by improving demand via more targeted marketing
a. Can we identify where people work and if MTA is sending them on a roundabout way given fixed infrastructure? Perhaps with location data or by asking people to ID their home and workplace in return for a promo –> are there common commuter routes not currently served by the MTA?
b. Target people who live in areas with frequent subway delays or subways that are too jam packed to get on the train during rush hour (like where I live) (Google Maps shows this data now)–> especially people who are disabled, elderly, or want to get a seat to work on the train and show them an offer for better transit, we might convert them –> they’d have to self-ID with an incentive
c. Target people who live on subway lines that are not served by express trains
d. Experiments to run:
• Give promos that ping you based upon weather (it’s going to be freezing!), location (we see you landed in Chicago, take a Via!),
• Beginning or end of month
• Email versus in-app push
• People referred and people who refer
• How does the way we initially attracted a customer affect what gets them to ride more?
o Creative promos like Lyft’s “Sell your car and we’ll give you $250 ride credit”
• New Service Ideas:
o Special events:
Olympics–> athletes and officials; attendees –> many venues spread throughout a city, many commonly-used hotels
G7 and other international government summits –> same need as in Olympics but fewer visitors
Cross-city conventions (Climate Week, SXSW)
Military bases –> can book seats or storage space [more on next page]
Adapt the partnership model with Port Authority at LGA to provide affordable rides, with preferential access and publicity, at various types of destinations that are often congested and not easily connected to quality public transit:
o Venues for drop off and pickup at events:
Citifield is only connected to the 7 train - doesn’t help those in other parts of Queens, Brooklyn, or the Bronx who don’t want to go all the way back to midtown Manhattan to get on a train or bus back out to other sections of the outer-boroughs
Flushing for the US Open
Javits Center
The Rockaways during summer holiday weekends
Offer a B2B service for companies that want to improve their transit benefits for their employees and/or cut down on real estate costs by locating their offices away from subway lines:
o Companies that currently offer cars home –> might want to reduce expense or might want to expand the offering to more employees or at more times with a lower per-ride cost
o Companies with offices or plants not easily accessible by public transit –> can provide free or subsidized rides to attract better workers - either private service, or offer a Seamless Enterprise model where riders can automatically charge their company for their rides to and from work as long as the office location is in the destination or origination.
o Red Hook
o Brooklyn Navy Yard
o Brooklyn, Queens, or the Bronx away from train lines
o Companies that pay for workers to get
Ideas for expanding geographies
Boroughs that are not currently providing a lot of Via traffic because people don’t know about the service, we haven’t convinced them that we are a better option for their needs and price point.
Dense cities that we don’t currently serve because we haven’t yet prioritized putting efforts there or because they had onerous regulation we could try to change.
Cities that have needs for our budding platform offerings but not a strong demand for private car or shared van rides.
a. Paratransit
b. School buses
c. First and last mile to light rail or bus depots
Ideas for expanding existing services to earn more revenue
o Identify new use cases for current offerings by segmenting demand and potential demand by borough, demographics, etc.
o Partner with MTA (or other cities’ equivalent) to provide subsidies for transportation to/from transportation deserts like we do in Austin
o Make current offerings more efficient, improve margins statistical process analysis (six sigma), ID bottlenecks
o Grow revenue by improving demand via more targeted marketing
a. Can we identify where people work and if MTA is sending them on a roundabout way given fixed infrastructure? Perhaps with location data or by asking people to ID their home and workplace in return for a promo –> are there common commuter routes not currently served by the MTA?
b. Target people who live in areas with frequent subway delays or subways that are too jam packed to get on the train during rush hour (like where I live) (Google Maps shows this data now)–> especially people who are disabled, elderly, or want to get a seat to work on the train and show them an offer for better transit, we might convert them –> they’d have to self-ID with an incentive
c. Target people who live on subway lines that are not served by express trains
d. Experiments to run:
• Give promos that ping you based upon weather (it’s going to be freezing!), location (we see you landed in Chicago, take a Via!),
• Beginning or end of month
• Email versus in-app push
• People referred and people who refer
• How does the way we initially attracted a customer affect what gets them to ride more?
o Creative promos like Lyft’s “Sell your car and we’ll give you $250 ride credit”
New service ideas
o Special events:
Olympics–> athletes and officials; attendees –> many venues spread throughout a city, many commonly-used hotels
G7 and other international government summits –> same need as in Olympics but fewer visitors
Cross-city conventions (Climate Week, SXSW)
Military bases –> can book seats or storage space [more on next page]
Adapt the partnership model with Port Authority at LGA to provide affordable rides, with preferential access and publicity, at various types of destinations that are often congested and not easily connected to quality public transit:
o Venues for drop off and pickup at events:
Citifield is only connected to the 7 train - doesn’t help those in other parts of Queens, Brooklyn, or the Bronx who don’t want to go all the way back to midtown Manhattan to get on a train or bus back out to other sections of the outer-boroughs
Flushing for the US Open
Javits Center
The Rockaways during summer holiday weekends
Offer a B2B service for companies that want to improve their transit benefits for their employees and/or cut down on real estate costs by locating their offices away from subway lines:
o Companies that currently offer cars home –> might want to reduce expense or might want to expand the offering to more employees or at more times with a lower per-ride cost
o Companies with offices or plants not easily accessible by public transit –> can provide free or subsidized rides to attract better workers - either private service, or offer a Seamless Enterprise model where riders can automatically charge their company for their rides to and from work as long as the office location is in the destination or origination.
o Red Hook
o Brooklyn Navy Yard
o Brooklyn, Queens, or the Bronx away from train lines
o Companies that pay for workers to get
Service problems / improvement ideas
The app tells me I have two minutes to talk a couple of blocks to the pickup stop. I don’t know which direction to go, I can’t see the street signs a long distance away to compare to the map and I don’t know which direction is which. I start walking one direction and my phone doesn’t have the precision to know exactly where I am and which direction I’m facing (this happened to me last week) - almost missed my pickup and I was hustling –> Show step by step directions with streetview images, alert you if going the wrong direction –> will speed up pickups, less waiting, fewer missed pickups, more $
Fleet/vehicle management
Can we go electric before Uber/Lyft, install or contract to EV chargers to market ourselves as Greener than our competitors?
How many vehicles do you need to have? Working with partners to manage supply.
Vehicles are a resource. Adding more vehicles will only affect process performance if it’s the bottleneck i.e. if we have more drivers than we have vehicles for them to drive.
but need to build slack in the system to ensure that maintenance doesn’t prevent a driver from getting a van if they want one.
Look at the peak # of drivers desired per hour under various conditions (i.e. weather) over the course of a period of time (consider seasonality, weather, special events, proximity to special events and holidays). Multiply that peak demand by a variability coefficient.
of drivers needed (case)
Need to first determine what percent of demand we want to meet within number of minutes of a request for a ride
• –> If we want 100% of customers to be picked up within 3 minutes we will need many drivers on the road, but this will likely mean that there will be more drivers waiting for riders to request rides, lowering their utilization and their pay and their engagement (if Flex) or lowering our profits (if Blue).
• If we have fewer drivers to keep utilization high and revenue per driver high, then we risk customers cancelling their request and taking our competitors because they can get an Uber much more quickly, and we lose a sale and maybe a customer.
• I’m sure Via has a theory for the % of riders that should be picked up within X minutes.
o If I had to calculate that: I’d want to plot all the ride requests next to all the ride requests that resulted in a rider cancelling their request and I’d want to identify the tipping point at which we significantly lose riders. I would then want to model how much we’d have to pay in hourly wages to have additional drivers to reduce the pickup time if we routed them to the areas that were lacking a driver nearby. Compare the lost revenue and the additional cost to find the point at which it makes sense to keep a rider waiting.
o Big assumptions here: 1. That riders are going to keep flipping through all the apps each time they need a ride and so there’s little risk of giving up a customer’s single ride because we can get them to look at us the next time. I’m not sure that’s the case for Via like it is for Uber/Lyft – we probably have to model in there the customer’s lifetime value rather than the cost of a single lost ride.
Here's a much simpler approach to the problem to get a first order estimate: • # of people looking for rides over the course of a shift (assume 100) • Average length of a ride (assume 10 minutes) • Assuming that all riders will be picked up at the same time --> this approach will underestimate the number of drivers needed and will reduce wasted pay. Assuming no downtime @ pickup and that the average time per ride factors in traffic accurately. • Total number of minutes needed to serve riders = 10 (minutes per ride) X 100 (passengers requesting rides = 1000 min • Total number of minutes needed to serve (1000) / Avg occupancy of the 6 passenger van (assume 3 passengers at a time) --> 1000/3 --> divided by the number of hours per driver shift (8 hours) • Calculation: (1000/3) / 8 hour shift = number of drivers needed for evenly distributed demand I don't think 100 percent of passengers will use Via, they will use other services if their wait time is too long or if the weather is poor and they have to walk far (dynamically adjust for how far people are willing to walk in different circumstances? --> must have data about when people book and cancel in quick succession?)
