The Ride Sharing phenomenon is changing the world at quantum speeds, and the two fastest growing companies are Uber and Lyft.
Interestingly, while there are many similarities, there are also some differences, and these differences can heavily impact passengers.
On the similarity side, both companies charge about the same, they are competing after all. The apps are easily downloaded to your cellphone, payment is taken from your credit card, and rides usually arrive within five to ten minutes.
Riders get in the cars, which are usually, but not always, Prius's, they can chat with the driver or not, curl up in the corner and sleep, or whatever. Most drivers, honestly, don't care about chatting, though it does tend to make their time go faster.
On the differences side there are a couple of items that effect the passenger a little, but the driver more so.
First, the pay for Lyft is better. Lyft charges about the same, but they pay their drivers a higher percentage. What this does is make the Lyft driver more polite and caring. Also, Lyft allows, even encourages, tipping. Uber frowns on tipping, even telling their drivers to turn down tips. Ha! That's like telling somebody in the desert not to drink.
The interesting thing about this matter of tips is that Uber tells the public that tipping is built into their fare. But it's not. Not even remotely. And especially since Uber has consistently driven the price of rides down.
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