Uber or Lyft? As a rider, I have only done one. But after a couple of deary quiet weekends with Uber, I downloaded and completed the application for Lyft this past week.
If you are following me, you know that my initial impressions of Lyft were positive. They remain that way, though I do see some Uber finer points outshining Lyft to the extent that I have used both. My interactions this week with Lyft, as part of the application process were smooth and painless. A question I posed was answered quickly. Good stuff and it seemed that at the very least the service portion of Lyft outshines
that of Uber.
This morning at 5:45 a.m. I turned on both Apps to run simultaneously to see how they compared. Within five minutes I had my very first Lyft ride request. The notification was less jarring than that of Uber, but could be missed if you weren't paying careful attention. The ride flashed as "prearranged" and was 17 minutes away. Long? Yes! But after a couple of weeks of utter silence on the Uber app I accepted and trekked North on Interstate 95. A really neat feature of Lyft? The ability to pre-schedule rides. As a driver, I can look to see if others are available to select. Very cool.
The one downside I noticed is that the map integration with Lyft doesn't seem as smooth as Uber. With Lyft, once I accepted it kicked in Google Maps and started providing navigation. However, I couldn't easily and intuitively find the destination address. Yes, the navigation would point me there. But, I like the end address so that I can gear up and make note if the street number is odd or even. It appears as though ti can touch the rider button and be told the pick up address, but I was unable to do so this morning. That is likely the result of "user error" on my part by way of not being as familiar with the app as I needed to be.
Upon arrival, I had to "exit" the Google Maps interface and slide back into the Lyft interface to announce my arrival, and then again had to hit a button for pick up. These touches might not seem like a lot, but I can imagine them being burdensome if you were driving during a busy time. It all felt a little bit disjointed after using the Uber app, where the app picks up on my location to let the rider know I've arrived and I merely hit "begin trip" to start navigating to the destination.
I must say, my first Lyft ride was a supremely friendly individual in town for Dragon Boat races. I learned a lot on the ride to the destination and enjoyed the conversation. So my initial impression of Lyft is positive. Different and a little "touchy" compared to Uber but very positive nonetheless.
(A word relative to the picture- this is not Official Trade Dress that is required by the company and local statutes. Those signs are elsewhere as required in my vehicle. I refer to this as my "early warning" device to let riders see me coming).
Thanks for visiting. Stay tuned as I provide wisdom, tips, tricks wins and losses in my rideshare driving experience.
If you are following me, you know that my initial impressions of Lyft were positive. They remain that way, though I do see some Uber finer points outshining Lyft to the extent that I have used both. My interactions this week with Lyft, as part of the application process were smooth and painless. A question I posed was answered quickly. Good stuff and it seemed that at the very least the service portion of Lyft outshines
This morning at 5:45 a.m. I turned on both Apps to run simultaneously to see how they compared. Within five minutes I had my very first Lyft ride request. The notification was less jarring than that of Uber, but could be missed if you weren't paying careful attention. The ride flashed as "prearranged" and was 17 minutes away. Long? Yes! But after a couple of weeks of utter silence on the Uber app I accepted and trekked North on Interstate 95. A really neat feature of Lyft? The ability to pre-schedule rides. As a driver, I can look to see if others are available to select. Very cool.
The one downside I noticed is that the map integration with Lyft doesn't seem as smooth as Uber. With Lyft, once I accepted it kicked in Google Maps and started providing navigation. However, I couldn't easily and intuitively find the destination address. Yes, the navigation would point me there. But, I like the end address so that I can gear up and make note if the street number is odd or even. It appears as though ti can touch the rider button and be told the pick up address, but I was unable to do so this morning. That is likely the result of "user error" on my part by way of not being as familiar with the app as I needed to be.
Upon arrival, I had to "exit" the Google Maps interface and slide back into the Lyft interface to announce my arrival, and then again had to hit a button for pick up. These touches might not seem like a lot, but I can imagine them being burdensome if you were driving during a busy time. It all felt a little bit disjointed after using the Uber app, where the app picks up on my location to let the rider know I've arrived and I merely hit "begin trip" to start navigating to the destination.
I must say, my first Lyft ride was a supremely friendly individual in town for Dragon Boat races. I learned a lot on the ride to the destination and enjoyed the conversation. So my initial impression of Lyft is positive. Different and a little "touchy" compared to Uber but very positive nonetheless.
(A word relative to the picture- this is not Official Trade Dress that is required by the company and local statutes. Those signs are elsewhere as required in my vehicle. I refer to this as my "early warning" device to let riders see me coming).
Thanks for visiting. Stay tuned as I provide wisdom, tips, tricks wins and losses in my rideshare driving experience.
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