Cloudship

So what about people from say Princeton or Barre or Oxford, where there isn't necessarily a Lyft or Uber within a 3 town distance?

Jinxed_K

I live north of OP 45-ish min drive away from the airport. Used to take a shuttle service from home to Logan as well, but I've found it was rather inconsistent in what kind of ride I'd get (ranged from a black sedan with driver in suit to a van with just myself in it).
The ride cost about $80 compared to Lyft which I take now that ends up being around $60... Considering the business model is similar, (reserve ahead, they come pick you up), IMO it's the price that makes the difference. Uber/Lyft are more flexible that you can hail them on demand on top of that.

Length of trip is definitely a factor for me as well in how I get to the airport.
Day trip, I would just eat the economy park price at the airport
Few days, I'd park at the MBTA station at $4/day + train ticket
Any longer, I'd rather leave my vehicle at the apartment lot and call a rideshare.

darthbimmer

From my perspective it's totally ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft that are putting traditional shared-van services out of business. Years ago I would consider a shared van to SFO as a time-money tradeoff. Where a taxi would cost $100 a shared ride would cost $40. Even if the shared ride took 30 minutes longer due to waiting and stops it was worth the savings. Now Uber, Lyft, etc. offer private service for typically $45-50 to/from my house. That's only slightly more than the shared vans and totally worth it.

As for why one of the van services in OP's area is closing up shop when Uber/Lyft aren't too prevalent locally.... They're likely squeezing the market enough already that operators facing cashflow problems, debt refinancing, or need for significant investment (e.g., repairing/replacing an older fleet) are deciding to exit the business rather than continue against a competitor expected to grow.

swingaling

Agreed. For me, the majority of my travel from BOS is 7-14 days, so it almost always makes more sense to Uber there and back. I live substantially closer to PVD, which is about a $12 Uber from home. Though flying from PVD always entails additional stops (and typically much more expensive airfare).

onobond

Isn't this an example of market economy fundamentals? Demand for shuttle service weakens, hence supply does too. Only hotel shuttles for me, when staying at at airport hotels, otherwise Uber/Lyft

DCP2016

Shared ride/vans are still big here in Florida, especially in the Daytona/Orlando area. I use many of them all the time to get around when Uber/Lyft/Taxi is either too inconvenient or too expensive.

pinniped

A lot of things would have to come together to make a shared van make sense:

- I'm solo. These things usually charge by the seat, and 2+ people almost always tip the advantage to Lyft/Uber.
- The van/bus is driving nonstop from the airport to the place I want to be. Example would be airport to city center landmark, where I know I can walk from that point.
- There's a fixed, frequent schedule and the thing runs on time. If there's more than a 10 minute wait, I'm almost always using a Lyft/Uber.

Example I hate: Used an SFO shared van once and was like the 5th drop off. Never. Again.
Example I like: the BOS bus to/from South Station. Runs in a dedicated lane for much of its trip. Good if you're walking somewhere from the station or jumping on the T. Circulates often enough that the wait time is often about the same as a Lyft. As an added bonus, it's actually really cheap (free one way, paid the other).

The only niche I can think of in 2019 for the privately-operated shared vans might be a longer-haul trip than your typical Lyft driver is willing to take. From a big-city airport to a college town 2-3 hours away, for example. That'd be an expensive Lyft for the rider, yet not that rewarding for the driver who'd have to come back empty. Taking a vanload at $50 per person kinda makes sense. I've seen these at MCI - vans that are headed to Mizzou or K-State.

Cloudship

Ironically that is kind of the situation here. Worcester has an airport, but there are like 4 fights a day. The typical drive into Boston is about an hour and a half, depending of course on traffic. I honestly never considered Lyft or Uber for the airport before - its bad enough finding one out here if you are not downtown, let alone one willing to take you to the airport. A lot of risk. But as a single rider, the shared van is just too costly. When you start getting multiple people the costs go down, but most people out here are traveling alone. Perhaps a scheduled mini bus service might work better if it was conveniently located.

cbn42

I think that, just like the taxis, the shuttle services have done a poor job of adapting to changing market conditions.

Unlike taxis, however, their rates aren't regulated by the government so there is no reason they cannot compete.

Here in southern California, one shuttle company knocked their rates down substantially. One person can now get a ride from most of Orange County to LAX for $25, while Uber/Lyft would be double that or more. The other (larger) company still has the traditional rates, and seems to get business from people who are willing to accept a delay in order to save a few bucks, or who just can't be bothered to research other options.

Given that a shared van is generally more economical than a private vehicle, there is no reason the shuttle services can't compete. Many of them use an owner-operator model similar to Uber/Lyft. I suppose the question is whether they will adapt fast enough.

I still use shuttles regularly, if the savings justify making a pit stop or two. At LAX, they seem to be getting plenty of business, but at smaller airports, I've noticed a decline. At SNA, you don't see as many of them lined up waiting as you used to a few years ago.

pinniped

I used the FlyAway bus from LAX a few months ago. I forgot about that one: it wasn't too bad for what I needed it for - getting out of LAX during rush hour when a couple other buddies were already in LA with our rental car. Probably saved them an hour or more vs. trying to get to LAX and into the airport traffic to pick me up, and we were all headed downtown anyway.

Decent service I suppose. My timing was good to get the next bus - a Lyft wouldn't have been any faster. (No special lanes for this bus...you're just in traffic with everyone else.)

Also thinking about other places around the world and the types of transport I've used to get out of airports: I tend to prefer the large bus with a fixed schedule and route over the small vans where I don't know the schedule/route. The large bus services seem to be sustainable at a price point that strikes the right chord for me in terms of cash vs time cost. The small vans seem to cost more and be more of a time-gamble, making the value prop of a private car look better.

TuxTom

There are also a lot of bus options to get to Logan which offer significantly cheaper rides than a shuttle at the prices the OP mentioned. When I visit my family in NH I usually take a bus to/from Londonderry for something like $30 r/t so my parents don't have to drive into the city. Similarly the massport Logan Express bus from Framingham is $22 r/t with parking at $7/day and runs every half hour. Uber/Lyft certainly are more convenient if you have a viable pickup location but would certainly be over $100 r/t from Worcester.

Cloudship

And that is a great example. Uber/Lyft estimates around $120 RT. The Shared Van, 1 person, runs a little over $100. I can drive to Framingham, parking is $7 a day and the bus is $22 round trip. On top of that, with the bus running every 1/2 hour, i can leave my house later.

I think the shared vans really have to consider that their competition is not just the rideshares, but busses. You can take the bus from Worcester's union station to South Station, but there you still have to take the Silver Line in , and you still have to figure out parking or how to get to Union Station in Worcester. If the shared vans could capitalize on the advantage of leaving right from your door, but not be so expensive, they would be at an advantage.

How is it that rideshares are able to do this affordably, but a shared van, which ostensibly has more people and thus savings, can't? That's what I think is wrong with the current model.

Kirbydog