Yay! I\u2019ve finally been added to Waymo\u2019s South Bay customer list!<\/p>\r\n
I\u2019ve been waiting for months for this. Every time I\u2019ve opened the app since they expanded service to Silicon Valley back in March or so, it has told me that they\u2019re gradually adding customers and they\u2019ll notify me when I\u2019m added.<\/p>\r\n
But I guessed that they might not notify me (because that sort of system often fails), so I\u2019ve kept on occasionally checking the app.<\/p>\r\n
And I\u2019m glad I did, because I still haven\u2019t received a notification but I now have access!<\/p>\r\n
I haven\u2019t yet had my first Waymo ride, and today\u2019s a little busy so I probably won\u2019t try it until at least tomorrow. But I\u2019m excited.<\/p>\r\n
\u2026One thing that I wasn\u2019t expecting, and that reduces my excitement: it\u2019s significantly more expensive than I was assuming it would be.<\/p>\r\n
For example: A Waymo ride from my place to the grocery store that I usually shop at (about 3 miles) will cost about $15-$19 each way (apparently varying by day and time of travel). Using Lyft, that would be $10-$15 each way (plus tip). Based on Lyft rides I\u2019ve taken elsewhere in the country, I was guessing that Lyft to that store would be more like $5 (plus tip) each way, and I was assuming that Waymo prices would be similar.<\/p>\r\n
When I drive myself to that store, the cost in electricity and wear-and-tear on my car is (I\u2019m guessing) probably about 50 cents each way. (Plus some cost in my time and attention because I can\u2019t do other things while driving, plus some cost in danger to myself and others.)<\/p>\r\n
I had vaguely thought that I might switch entirely to using Waymo for local errands like groceries that I drive my own car for; but at these prices, that won\u2019t be happening.<\/p>\r\n
But the pricing may depend a lot on various factors. If I were going to the San Jos\u00e9 airport (SJC) right now, I could get a Waymo ride (one-way) for $25; Lyft would be $35 (plus tip). (And if I drove there myself, paid parking would be $12\/day in the longterm parking lot, if booked in advance.) So it looks like Waymo is a great deal for me for getting to SJC.<\/p>\r\n
Anyway, we\u2019ll see how things go, but despite the prices, I\u2019m glad to have this as an option.<\/p>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","category-transportation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21722,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21721\/revisions\/21722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}