OT: Uber or Lyft ?

17 comments

• shailynn

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  8 years ago

  I have both apps on my phone but I have only ever used Uber. I used to love Uber but after my trip to Las Vegas where I didn't rent a car and used Uber a lot, I am no longer singing their praises. I had some disasterous fares as these idiots didn't know how to get to places they should know how to get to.
  
  I've read Lyft has a much more thorough screening process than Uber does which may alleviate the problem I ran into in some smaller citites.
• Papi_Chulo

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  8 years ago

  "... I had some disasterous fares as these idiots didn't know how to get to places they should know how to get to ..."
  
  Does this result in a higher fare or just wasted time?
• ppwh

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  8 years ago

  Uber is the only one available in my town. The upside is that it's usually cheaper than a taxi and the drivers are more likely to be regular people than the local taxi drivers who mostly look like they just got out of jail.
  
  Downside is most of the local Uber drivers call it a night after the bars close, and the clubs are generally open for another 30 minutes to an hour. Sometimes instead of being half the price of a taxi, that causes Uber to surge to 2-3x what a taxi would cost based on supply/demand. Other times, the app says No Cars Available. Luckily, taxis still exist.
  
  When the driver screws up, you can submit a request to Uber and they generally have it straightened out by the next day. The app tracks where the car went and you can view it on a map on-line afterwards, so it's pretty obvious if the driver was following bad directions from Waze.
  
• shailynn

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  8 years ago

  I think just wasted time.
  
  For example in Vegas I was staying in a well known off the strip time share. Not one single uber guy ever picked us up in the right spot. Every single cabbie got it right.
  
  There was road construction a block away from the place I was staying so you were stupid to come in from the left better off driving around the block and coming into the right. Every single uber driver drove us straight into the traffic jam, only one cab driver did.
  
  In Vegas it's not a big area to cover so how these guys fucked up so easily is beyond me. After that experience I would never attempt Uber in a huge city like NYC. Now smaller cities like Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, etc I haven't had any issues.
• Papi_Chulo

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  8 years ago

  Per ppwh - has it been an issue for others trying to get a car late at night (2, 3, 4, a.m.)?
• ppwh

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  8 years ago

  Uber uses a hybrid time/distance model, so if the driver gets into a traffic jam, you get to pay for that. For a longstanding and obvious situation such as shailynn is describing, you could submit a request to get the fare reduced. In that kind of case where they technically didn't get lost, it's pretty sure to really piss off the driver, though. When I took Uber a lot in a small city, I would get the same drivers over and over, so it's probably a better plan to ask them up-front to take a different route than the one you know is bad. Most of the Uber drivers I have met are people who turned on an app to make a little side money rather than any kind of professional.
• shailynn

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  8 years ago

  Uber isn't even legal in my state, it's been blocked so far but it has a decent shot to pass this year. If it were available here, I would probably drink a lot more when I go out, which would enable me to go bar hopping more often.
• K

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  8 years ago

  I use Uber exclusively. never had a complaint . As for Vegas, Uber drivers tell me the geolocation in their app does not work well in Vegas. Experienced drivers will call you to find you. They also add hundreds of Uber drivers ahead of major events or holiday weekends only to release them afterwards. I was there last month and used it at least twice each day.
• ppwh

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  8 years ago

  ^ it sounds like Uber operates differently depending on the size of the market. I have never taken an Uber in a major city. I'm guessing you wouldn't see a drop-off in active drivers to the same extent after bar closing time in places like Miami and Atlanta.
  
  I remember reading something about surge pricing in NYC on New Year's Eve, though, where a lot of people felt like they got screwed over. The thing is, on a busy day like Valentine's Day here, I could get an Uber to come within 10 minutes, but it would cost more. The other option was for a taxi company to put me on the list and it would take two hours or more for the taxi to show up.
• jackslash

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  8 years ago

  I have used both Uber and Lyft, and they are very similar in terms of service and cost. They both use a combination of time and distance to arrive at the price, and they increase the cost at surge pricing times. I don't favor one over the other. I have both apps, and if no cars from one service are close by, I will try the other app.
  
• Subraman

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  8 years ago

  I tend to try to take Lyft more these days, when it's available and competitively priced, for no reason other than the fact that they are Uber's only viable competitor right now, and the fare increases are fairly predictable if Uber isn't having to compete. I'm a one-man playing field leveler :)
  
  If you do decide to use Uber, if there's a price surge and you're in a big city, there are price surge apps that will tell you where the surges. Sometimes, you can walk just a few blocks, to an area with no surge.
  https://play.google.com/store/apps/detai…
• Papi_Chulo

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  8 years ago

  ^ nice
• larryfisherman

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  8 years ago

  Jackslash took the words right out of my mouth.
• mrrock

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  8 years ago

  I've never used either. I have a car.
• Subraman

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  8 years ago

  I have a car, too, but Uber/Lyft is so convenient, that I find myself using them fairly often. Forget how inconvenient and unpleasant traveling via taxi is ... Uber is the opposite of that. So, first and foremost, I don't drive after drinking at all anymore, if I even think I'll be drinking, I uber it. Or if I drive somewhere and then find myself deciding to drink, I just uber home. If I have to drop my car off for maintenance, I don't bother trying to coordinate with friends to get a ride back, I just Uber it home for $5.
• ricktheturtle

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  8 years ago

  I go for Uber, but some hairless apes won't pick up turtles. Damn racists. Aah...yup
• jackslash

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  8 years ago

  Although I have a car, I won't have a DUI using Uber or Lyft.