Why you should use Lyft instead of Uber
Posted by:
LikeLyft
()
Date: February 06, 2017 05:59AM
Your next ride, your car is in the shop, need a ride to the airport, on work travel, or other reason, Lyft, Uber, or taxi? Although concerns with taxis are widely shared, whether you choose Lyft or Uber for next ride, and no ride service is perfect, Lyft exceeds Uber in some ways.
There are many similarities between Uber and Lyft, but some lesser known differences, and sharing from experience from many dozens of rides in paragraphs below. I started with Uber in July, 2015, but then singed up with Lyft in January, 2016 and more so recently have been using them when needed in circumstances above for 95+% of my rides (exceptions if any surge which is seldom or rarely if car not available nearby). All of my trips in the everyday car service, not the Lyft Plus or Uber Black, though a few times if the Plus/Black driver very close by not busy, I have received a ride in the higher end car and driver. Both services in the DMV market give upfront pricing per ride, with Lyft starting in mid January, with pricing per ride between the two services less than a dollar on most trips. Both have rating systems for drivers and passengers, and only very few trips have had a smelly or car in slightly poor condition with either service.
* Though neither Lyft nor Uber requires you to tip the driver, about 40% of passengers including myself do anyway most of the time from conversations I had with Lyft and Uber drivers. Lyft you can tip through the app vs. Uber if you want to tip the driver, you have to have cash unless by chance the Uber driver has an unsupported Square reader.
* Since Uber redesigned their app in December, Lyft app now more friendly in my and others experience. Upon launching the Lyft app, you can get a quick estimate of how far the nearest car is and its GPS down to the city block level is more precise for your pickup place. Uber you have to enter a destination first to get information about general car availability, and its GPS for pickup is at the city level. One pixel off on your screen and your Uber driver is two blocks from you.
* In an early morning trip in Fairfax County recently, my Lyft driver, was a manager in the Lyft DC office during the day. He shared with me Lyft interviews their drivers in person whereas Uber does not. Though both services have a diverse set of drivers including some white ones, the in-person interviewing weeds out more of the bad ones.
* Lyft operates their service as a friendly community between drivers, passengers, and their office. If for some reason you need to ride in the front right passenger seat, almost never a problem, though most trips I ride in the back. Lyft drivers keep between 80-82% of their fares whereas with Uber it is between 2/3 and 75% I learned with talks with drivers during trips. Uber I sensed I had a different good mindset when I first started with them, but in their efforts to expand and grow revenue, found trying to impress investors at expense of drivers and customer experience. To further reduce their labor costs, Uber much experimenting with driverless cars in Pittsburgh and San Francisco, but the ones in SF were running red lights including other traffic violations which Uber CEO did not stop until pressure from the government and the authorities. (Aside politically very recently, Uber CEO in news funding plane fares for his immigrant drivers back to US, temporary relaxing of Trump travel ban).
* If you use any service enough whether a car service, your grocery store, etc. , you are almost certainly going to have an occasional problem. The test of the business is how they respond - do they quickly respond to make things right after the initial contact OR do they make you jump through hoops? Both services before their upfront pricing had trips in early-mid 2016 where driver forgot to turn off meter at end of ride. Lyft responds within hour giving a $10 ride credit on next ride. Uber only got back half of overcharge (driver forgot to turn off meter until after 10 minutes ride ended), and I only got back half of overcharge after days of back and forth emails. Couple of other similar incidents with both went the same way. One very urgent situation which definitely an exception (driver has child in car after dark but otherwise drove safe), Lyft provided a phone number to talk with someone and they called me back in two minutes (and gave me an appreciated ride credit) whereas with Uber no phone number know of including for emergency situations except for local 911. Lyft customer service reads your emails and giving a personalized email as needed, whereas Uber often gives canned emails on an initial response.
* Lyft car availability in late 2016 in Fairfax County has become better since early 2016. Most times car arrival within 10 minutes here in farther out Western Fairfax, exception 4-5am hours in morning but that has become better recently. Lyft goes into Prince William and Loudoun Counties, but for further out trips, fortunately or unfortunately, Uber and taxi are your only major ride services options.
Any other questions I can answer, feel free to post. I only a rider, not a driver, and no have any financial or close relationship in either Lyft or Uber.