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Lyft Plus

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Re: Lyft Plus

#81

Post by vivekpreddy »

dcpdx wrote: post #75
tibbon wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has used both services (and others like Sidecar) they are all about the same to me. Generally, Lyft seems a little friendlier than Uber. However honestly all are light years ahead of a yellow cab- in which the drivers rarely accept cards (machine broken), refuse to use GPS, and talk on the phone nonstop (despite the laws on that).

I was a longtime Uber user who started using Flywheel a few months ago and haven't switched back. You get the convenience of an app as you would with Lyft/Uber along with the professionalism and expertise of a cab driver. I don't want to have to sit idle in the front seat of a Lyft for two minutes while the driver punches in the address on Google Maps, I want to say "Bush and Sansome" and have the driver take me ther…

Lyft allows you to input the address yourself right after you book a ride. The driver simply has to click on "Navigate" and he/she gets directed by their default maps application.

And I've never understood why people get so turned off by the driver talking to you. It's not that hard to tell the driver that you have to take care of some work on your phone- I've done this a few times before and the drivers have all been very respectful...

Re: Lyft Plus

#82

Post by vivekpreddy »

mrbrowning wrote: post #15
tibbon wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has used both services (and others like Sidecar) they are all about the same to me. Generally, Lyft seems a little friendlier than Uber. However honestly all are light years ahead of a yellow cab- in which the drivers rarely accept cards (machine broken), refuse to use GPS, and talk on the phone nonstop (despite the laws on that).

What I wonder about Lyft is the extent to which friendliness scales. That it has scaled so far is obviously due to the fact that they can simply project that sense of friendliness and then rely on individual drivers to actually do the work of giving that impression to customers, but what if they want to expand their business into domains where friendliness is unimportant or even a downside (an example might be someth…

In my experience the friendliness permeates the entire company. Lyft (as opposed to Uber) has heavily invested in Customer Service that is absolutely top notch. To my knowledge, this is a quality they actively look for in every hire they make regardless of whether that's a driver or a developer.

Re: Lyft Plus

#83

Post by eridius »

jacalata wrote: post #70
tibbon wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber started at the top and then did Uber X to go down in pricing. Lyft started at the bottom and now goes up. My biggest problem with all of these services is that there aren't enough drivers (at least in Boston), and I can rarely actually find one on any service when I need it. And it seems a large % of the drivers are actually chilling at home, waiting for a ride (which is fine), but sometimes don't "move" on the…

I've noticed that too, it's infuriating. And with Uber and cabs, they all mark themselves as having 'arrived' some 2-5 minutes before they pull up - it's like, dude, I can see you on the map as six blocks away, how the hell do you get away with this?

With Uber, marking themselves as "arrived" does nothing but notify the passenger. I asked one driver about it and he says he does that a few blocks away because he doesn't want the text to be delayed.

The actual paid portion of the ride doesn't start until you enter the vehicle and the driver taps the Start Trip button.

You can also verify the entire trip later on your receipt. It shows the entire trip on a map, plus the start and end times, so you can verify that it matches your expectations.

Re: Lyft Plus

#84

Post by eridius »

tibbon wrote: post #7
toomuchtodo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber went into Lyft's space with Uber X. Lyft is going into Uber's space with Lyft premium. For Lyft users who prefer not using Uber is who its for.

As someone who has used both services (and others like Sidecar) they are all about the same to me. Generally, Lyft seems a little friendlier than Uber. However honestly all are light years ahead of a yellow cab- in which the drivers rarely accept cards (machine broken), refuse to use GPS, and talk on the phone nonstop (despite the laws on that).

The difference between Lyft and Uber was once described to me as "Use Lyft if you want to talk to the driver, use Uber if you don't". So yeah, if you value conversation with the driver, you'll probably find Lyft to be the friendlier service. Me? I'd rather not maintain a conversation with the driver.

Re: Lyft Plus

#85

Post by jacalata »

eridius wrote: post #83
jacalata wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed that too, it's infuriating. And with Uber and cabs, they all mark themselves as having 'arrived' some 2-5 minutes before they pull up - it's like, dude, I can see you on the map as six blocks away, how the hell do you get away with this?

With Uber, marking themselves as "arrived" does nothing but notify the passenger. I asked one driver about it and he says he does that a few blocks away because he doesn't want the text to be delayed. The actual paid portion of the ride doesn't start until you enter the vehicle and the driver taps the Start Trip button. You can also verify the entire trip later on your receipt. It shows the entire trip on a map, plus…

Huh. I find it annoying because I'm usually watching for the car once I get the text and so extra time after being told "I'm here!" feels longer (it's like having a recorded announcement break into the hold music on a phone call), but also I think because I had assumed that they were getting somehow tracked on how long it took them to get to the pickup and they were gaming it by making the signal less useful to me. I know it's not increasing my trip length, thanks!

Re: Lyft Plus

#86

Post by jacalata »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #76
jacalata wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed that too, it's infuriating. And with Uber and cabs, they all mark themselves as having 'arrived' some 2-5 minutes before they pull up - it's like, dude, I can see you on the map as six blocks away, how the hell do you get away with this?

Is there no way to report this sort of behavior? Possibly by refusing to ride with the driver?

I have left feedback on it, refusing to ride would just slow me down even further at that point and isn't worth it to me.

Re: Lyft Plus

#87

Post by prawn »

joosters wrote: post #8

How can companies get away with saying things like 'the most affordable premium option' without providing any pricing information whatsoever? Why do they even think that it is acceptable to do so?

How can they get away with "a custom grille displays our signature 'stache in brushed steel"... And that's after the diamond stitching mention. Come on! It's six seats and snacks so just say that.

Re: Lyft Plus

#88

Post by alexeichemenda »

tibbon wrote: post #7
toomuchtodo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber went into Lyft's space with Uber X. Lyft is going into Uber's space with Lyft premium. For Lyft users who prefer not using Uber is who its for.

As someone who has used both services (and others like Sidecar) they are all about the same to me. Generally, Lyft seems a little friendlier than Uber. However honestly all are light years ahead of a yellow cab- in which the drivers rarely accept cards (machine broken), refuse to use GPS, and talk on the phone nonstop (despite the laws on that).

I've used Uber, Lyft & Summon (in SF). I was a big fan of Uber (UberX), but Summon is much cheaper than UberX or Lyft (I think 15% is the official number).

And yes, I do feel sometimes there are less drivers, but I just open those apps in order : Summon, then UberX, then Lyft.

I also talked a lot to the drivers (of all companies), and it seems like Uber drivers are really treated like shit, which is mainly why I switched to competitors.

Re: Lyft Plus

#89

Post by seanmccann »

hammock wrote: post #80
nostromo wrote: post #72

I'm curious about the economics. I presume they're buying the SUVs? By getting into the game of managing a fleet of vehicles, I imagine their margins will look more like a cab company's and less like a software company's. It's as curious as if Airbnb started buying up hotels and their associated inventory risk.

Uber has been maintaining fleets for a long time. Don't have a source off the top of my head but I know from talking to lots of drivers here in Chicago that they regularly take their top-rated drivers and offer them a (company-owned or leased) SUV or town car to drive as a part of Uber Black.

This is not true. They perhaps contract with them to set minimums, but Uber does not own the cars.

Re: Lyft Plus

#90

Post by ztratar »

icelancer wrote: post #79
brk wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I don't care. I'm pretty much auto-ignoring any "request an invite" bullshit these days. Launch your product, or don't. But I'm not clamoring for an "invite". When it's actually for-real, then it's easy to compare the price/service ratio.

This is the ultimate form of Lean Theory bullshit. It's parasitic and ridiculous.

Is it? I think it's a great way to test hypothesis for early-stage companies.

For lyft, on the other hand... not so sure.

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