News Disney considering a service like Uber at WDW - Confirmed as Minnie Van

[mm121]

No, it's a way to have a piece of the ride sharing pie, from which they currently have no revenue. People in 2017 want on-demand transportation.

While the name is cute, must everything be catered to children now? It'd be one thing if they kept the name but made the cars sleek and memorable, but climbing into that polka dotted thing is just embarrassing, especially without a little child. I'd take Uber just to avoid getting in that.

agreed the polka dots and name do kinda of cheapen whats meant to be a luxury experience

 

[Nubs70]

View attachment 215838

Oh the maintenance issues.

18 minivans vs 1 bus....

 

[NoChesterHester]

ideally this would drop you off at the gate maybe use one of the bus loops, versus where the ubers drop off that then requires a monorail or ferry.

that would give the Minnie vans a competitive advantage over Uber

If they had one always waiting for someone to walk up then had direct door to door service - yeah I can see this being wonderful.

 

[mm121]

If they had one always waiting for someone to walk up then had direct door to door service - yeah I can see this being wonderful.

at the parks that would be the best way for this to work, then you'd only have to "request" one when leaving from a hotel, but ideally they'd figure out how many they need that there'd always be one "close bye" during main parts of the day

first in first out loading would make more sense than having cars waiting for specific parties like happens now with ubers where its hard for people to find a specific car

which is why at sports events they now have uber lots with numbered spaces so people arrive walking to the uber pickup area then request a car and are told which parking spot to go for, rather than letting people request a car while still in the stadium causing traffic jams outside

 

[s8film40]

Imagine how ****ed the taxi guys must be...

The interesting aspect is Disney is potentially giving up a source of revenue. Mears pays Disney for the exclusivity of having taxi stands on property and Disney only being allowed to refer guests to Mears taxis. So when you pay a Mears taxi fare your money is going to Disney, Mears, the Driver and the Driver's expenses. This is why Uber cost so much less, because there are less people making money off the fares.

Uber works because it has a database of all active drivers in an area and when a request comes in its sent to the closest available drivers who can choose to pick up the fare, fare and driver are TRACKED to destination. And pricing is predictable at time of call and you know exactly when to expect a uber driver

Compare that to a cab company cars sit in central pools, dispatch is by radio/phone and tracking is non existant and pricing can be manipulated by driver using the scenic route

All Disney needed to do was to adopt one of the GPS enabled dispatching systems and provide an app. They could have sold access to local taxi firms

The Mears taxis are tracked by GPS, fares are made available on a first come first served basis to the driver who has been waiting in the area of the request the longest. It's essentially very similar to what Uber does in that regard. The big problem is they haven't adapted to the technology on the user end like Uber has. The user has to call or have someone call on their behalf and really doesn't have feedback on the progress of the request. They finally made an app to try to compete with Uber, but I think all it really does is allow you to submit request information. They also are maintaining a fleet of vehicles which have to be rented out to the drivers at very high costs, whereas Uber's use of personal vehicles makes them far more flexible and cost effective.

 

[mm121]

The interesting aspect is Disney is potentially giving up a source of revenue. Mears pays Disney for the exclusivity of having taxi stands on property and Disney only being allowed to refer guests to Mears taxis. So when you pay a Mears taxi fare your money is going to Disney, Mears, the Driver and the Driver's expenses. This is why Uber cost so much less, because there are less people making money off the fares.

I'm sure disney has factored this loss of revenue into their business plan, it's probably a much smaller cut than it use to be in the days pre-uber, which is probably exactly why they are doing this

could they possibly be planning to end the exclusive contract and convert the taxi stands to minni van stands? as space at the gates at the parks is limited

The Mears taxis are tracked by GPS, fares are made available on a first come first served basis to the driver who has been waiting in the area of the request the longest. It's essentially very similar to what Uber does in that regard. The big problem is they haven't adapted to the technology on the user end like Uber has. The user has to call or have someone call on their behalf and really doesn't have feedback on the progress of the request. They finally made an app to try to compete with Uber, but I think all it really does is allow you to submit request information. They also are maintaining a fleet of vehicles which have to be rented out to the drivers at very high costs, whereas Uber's use of personal vehicles makes them far more flexible and cost effective.

not going to get into the specifics of uber, but after looking into being a driver i opted against it after considering all the factors and risks vs what the advertised income that uber says you can make is

unless your in a really good market, or work the right hours, you can easily end up making less than minimum wage as a uber driver when you factor in wear and tear and maintenance on your vehicle, or if you participate in one of the uber rental vehicle programs

 

[flynnibus]

could they possibly be planning to end the exclusive contract and convert the taxi stands to minni van stands? as space at the gates at the parks is limited

I seriously doubt Disney is looking to run a taxi service for the greater Orlando area.... and those taxis don't just run resort guests around...

 

[s8film40]

I seriously doubt Disney is looking to run a taxi service for the greater Orlando area.... and those taxis don't just run resort guests around...

This could easily be the straw that breaks the camels back for Mears taxis at WDW. The drivers don't make a lot of money. While yes Disney isn't trying to run a taxi business for all of Orlando this does have the potential to replace a good number of taxi drivers who pretty much work the WDW resort exclusively. If this has a big impact on fares at WDW, which I couldn't see that not happening it will put a lot of pressure on Mears to either end their contract or push for a reduced fee. I haven't kept up with what's going on that area, but as I knew the contract some time ago this service already violates it as is, so they may have renegotiated it already.

 

[mm121]

I seriously doubt Disney is looking to run a taxi service for the greater Orlando area.... and those taxis don't just run resort guests around...

this is true, but would be interesting to know the stats on how many trips from the taxi stands are currently "on property" trips versus "the rest of orlando" trips

if right now most of the trips are on property and this takes over, especially since this Minnie Van service could be a precurser to an automated driverless system once the technology allows that at least for on property trips.

this chance could cut down on the need for mears unless they find a way to make themselves relevent again, if their trips end up getting reduced beyond a certain point i could definitely see the size of the taxi stands being made smaller,

i agree the days of them being eliminated entirely are still a far ways off, but if demand drops too much Mears could opt to cut down on the number of taxis they have just sitting around

 

[s8film40]

this is true, but would be interesting to know the stats on how many trips from the taxi stands are currently "on property" trips versus "the rest of orlando" trips

if right now most of the trips are on property and this takes over, especially since this Minnie Van service could be a precurser to an automated driverless system once the technology allows that at least for on property trips.

this chance could cut down on the need for mears unless they find a way to make themselves relevent again, if their trips end up getting reduced beyond a certain point i could definitely see the size of the taxi stands being made smaller,

i agree the days of them being eliminated entirely are still a far ways off, but if demand drops too much Mears could opt to cut down on the number of taxis they have just sitting around

I would say on property trips accounts for about 3/4 of the taxi fares generated at WDW. It's also not balanced throughout the day. At check out times they get a good amount of airport trips. The rest of the day it's probably around 90% on property.

Also Mears doesn't control the number of taxis they have on property. It's regulated by supply and demand. Taxi drivers rent taxis from Mears, after that Mears could really care less what the drivers do, Mears only makes money from the drivers. If the drivers find that they're waiting 2 hours or more for a $10 fare and paying $100+ a day to rent their taxi they will stop renting them. It will all balance out in the end. Of course as the demand shifts and Mears ends up with taxis sitting idle not getting rented out they'll have to probably scale things back somehow.

 

[Uncle Lupe]

So is the autonomous vehicle idea already dead? Is there a plan for these to have dedicated lanes to increase speed, safety and value in the future?

I'm to cheap for this service. If I'm gonna start dropping $20 a ride one way I'll just rent a car.

 

[Daveeeeed]

So is the autonomous vehicle idea already dead? Is there a plan for these to have dedicated lanes to increase speed, safety and value in the future?

I'm to cheap for this service. If I'm gonna start dropping $20 a ride one way I'll just rent a car.

I know right... you already get free parking for on property hotels.

 

[mm121]

So is the autonomous vehicle idea already dead? Is there a plan for these to have dedicated lanes to increase speed, safety and value in the future?

I'm to cheap for this service. If I'm gonna start dropping $20 a ride one way I'll just rent a car.

this is meant as a premium service

though the name "minnie van" and the polka dots don't really convey that very well

the main times i could see using this would be for resort to resort transit as that's one of the moves that takes the most thinking

or at the end of the day when wanting to get back to the hotel after a long day at the parks

 

[mm121]

I know right... you already get free parking for on property hotels.

the days of that could be numbered however

 

[s8film40]

So is the autonomous vehicle idea already dead? Is there a plan for these to have dedicated lanes to increase speed, safety and value in the future?

I'm to cheap for this service. If I'm gonna start dropping $20 a ride one way I'll just rent a car.

I would imagine this is a good way to get some of the infrastructure in place for autonomous vehicles. After this is going for a while they can just start phasing out human drivers. Then eventually this could start to replace busses.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The whole reason people use Uber on property is that they already have the app and payment information uploaded when they arrive. Not only are MVs probably more expensive, there's extra steps involved in booking them, and a lack of familiarity with the system because it's new.

I don't see how they are going to sell this when nobody (not guests, not Mears) is asking for it. People alrady have enough options for getting around the resort (free bus, cabs, uber, the new express bus, rental car, limo services etc).

 

[Notes from Neverland]

It'll be interesting to see how these roll out. If they're connected to the My Disney Experience app, I think they'll be a hit. Families who aren't regular Uber users will eat this up, especially if the Minnie Vans are given priority (they will be) when it comes to pick up and drop off.

 

[s8film40]

The whole reason people use Uber on property is that they already have the app and payment information uploaded when they arrive. Not only are MVs probably more expensive, there's extra steps involved in booking them, and a lack of familiarity with the system because it's new.

I don't see how they are going to sell this when nobody (not guests, not Mears) is asking for it. People alrady have enough options for getting around the resort (free bus, cabs, uber, the new express bus, rental car, limo services etc).

I actually think this could be a huge hit. Disney already has payment methods in place, this could easily work with just a wave of a magic band. Many people are hesitant to use taxis because it feels like an outside thing and there's a big stigma with taxi drivers, they're often thought of as untrustworthy and rude. Really when you look at the value of your vacation time spending a small amount to save the hassle of what could otherwise take a couple of hours this, taxis or Uber really is the smarter way to do things as a guest.

 

[ford91exploder]

The interesting aspect is Disney is potentially giving up a source of revenue. Mears pays Disney for the exclusivity of having taxi stands on property and Disney only being allowed to refer guests to Mears taxis. So when you pay a Mears taxi fare your money is going to Disney, Mears, the Driver and the Driver's expenses. This is why Uber cost so much less, because there are less people making money off the fares.

The Mears taxis are tracked by GPS, fares are made available on a first come first served basis to the driver who has been waiting in the area of the request the longest. It's essentially very similar to what Uber does in that regard. The big problem is they haven't adapted to the technology on the user end like Uber has. The user has to call or have someone call on their behalf and really doesn't have feedback on the progress of the request. They finally made an app to try to compete with Uber, but I think all it really does is allow you to submit request information. They also are maintaining a fleet of vehicles which have to be rented out to the drivers at very high costs, whereas Uber's use of personal vehicles makes them far more flexible and cost effective.

Interestingly Uber in some cases provides cars for the driver, But it seems that MEARS has much the same tech as Uber yet wants to use the 'buggy whip' user interface probably so as to not set performance expectations which in the end is the advantage Uber has over the taxi services. When Uber says a ride will be there in 15 minutes its there in 15 minutes.

Especially in semi-rural area frequently taxis are cheaper than Uber but they show up when they show up. Uber's advantage is its deterministic arrival time

 

[Bairstow]

So is the autonomous vehicle idea already dead? Is there a plan for these to have dedicated lanes to increase speed, safety and value in the future?

I'm to cheap for this service. If I'm gonna start dropping $20 a ride one way I'll just rent a car.

As soon as autonomous vehicle control becomes more affordable (in terms of both implementation and liability) than human drivers, Disney will adopt it.