Uber vs. Lyft

Today I tried to use Lyft for the first time instead of Uber. In the past I have used Uber as my preferred ride service but my son told me to give Lyft a try. He has both apps on his smartphone and told me that Lyft would save me $15 today. So I loaded up the app on my phone, put in my credit-card information and hailed a ride for me, my wife, and grandson.

Both Uber and Lyft applications look very similar. Yes, there are differences but they are mostly cosmetic and otherwise behave the same. You have choices for different levels of service and know the number of people you can squeeze into the car. This is very important as there were 3 of us. You can also see the driver's rating and where he/she is on a map in relation to your location.

I could see that our driver was getting close to us and then he disappeared. The Lyft app then told us it would locate another driver. We waited for about 5 minutes and it told us nobody wanted to give us a ride. We then had to reschedule a new driver. I went in and tried to schedule another ride and the price increased by $10. I then switched to Uber and put in our destination. The price was half of what Lyft wanted and so I booked the ride with Uber. Furthermore, we had waited 15 minutes for Lyft already and the Uber driver would arrive in 2 minutes.

I'll be the first to admit that you can't base your opinion for a company on one unfavorable experience. I will also say that I have had an Uber driver get close to picking me up only to cancel at the last minute and make me order a new ride. That being said, I am probably never going to use Lyft again. Uber has treated me well in the past and I think they have gained my loyalty. Besides, I am not traveling nearly as much as I used to and I don't really need Lyft or Uber services as much as I used to. Today was just one of those exceptions.