BC Business
We assess how different people/things and, of course, businesses fared this week.
Well, at least we can stop reading about doughnuts and royals. (Still very much down for royal doughnuts, though.)
In case you haven’t heard, Uber and Lyft have arrived in B.C. (well, at least in Vancouver)!
Get ready to be subjected to ride-sharing all day, every day. We’re talking think pieces, comparisons, videos of airport lineups and interviews with spurned taxi drivers.
For now, you’ll just have to be happy with an all-ride-sharing Report Card. Or, you know, content from all the other outlets that are desperate to get ride-hailing into their headlines for that sweet, sweet SEO.
Here’s what made the grade (and what didn’t) this week.
Lyft
Grade: A+
Okay, so the jury might be out on whether randomly throwing a party because you think it’ll probably be around your launch date works. Lyft got close, though. And, more important, it’s establishing itself as the socially conscious, forward-thinking ride-hailing company.
Sure, Uber might be a little cheaper sometimes, the argument goes, but Tegan and Sara support Lyft! Be a good Vancouverite.
Vikram Vij
Grade: A
Everyone’s favourite celebrity chef is now the answer to a very Vancouver-centric trivia question: Who was, along with Covenant House executive director Krista Thompson, the first person to ride a Lyft in Vancouver?
Your annoying friend who lives in the States
Massive day for Erica in Seattle and John down in Portland. You know what they saw when they woke up today to the news that Uber and Lyft are arriving in Vancouver? Opportunity. With both companies offering credit for new referrals, your “friends” have been waiting for this for years.
Any chance you got an out-of-the-blue text this morning from someone you haven’t talked to in six months?
“Yo, you have Lyft now! Finally! Hit up this code, we both get credit!”
And it’s true, you do. Well played, Erica and John. Well played.
Uber
Grade: A
Uber didn’t need to spend months cultivating the market because hey, they’re Uber. The brand recognition is more than enough, so who cares about contributing in any meaningful way to the cities where they operate?
Journalists
Grade: B+
As we said, the options are endless. And while this morning’s early call time for the announcement from Lyft wasn’t exactly convenient, reporters all over town now have endless story ideas to throw at their boss.
It’ll work, too, because articles about Lyft and Uber move the needle online already. How long will it take for ride-hailing fatigue to set in? Who knows? But we’re certainly going to find out.
In any case, journalists will probably never get a good grade on this thing ever again, so let us soak in it.
“Vancouver core”
Grade: B
Lyft service is confined to the PNE, the airport and the “Vancouver core” (bordered by Dunbar Steet to the west, 41st Avenue to the south and Victoria Drive to the east). In other words, if you live outside those borders, do you really exist?
The rest of B.C.
Grade: C
The rest of the province is (for now, at least) out in the rain. The ride-hailing companies asserted that they don’t yet have the capacity to serve B.C.’s other cities, news we’re sure Vancouver suburbs took very reasonably.
Kater
Grade: F
RIP, Kater. We didn’t know ye.