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This past week I rode a lyft to a tech meetup in Atlanta. The drive was about an hour away, which meant that the fastest route was through the interstate (I75).

This past week I rode a lyft to a tech meetup in Atlanta. The drive was about an hour away, which meant that the fastest route was through the interstate (I75). The car was a 4 year old Toyota Camry. It looked very nice from the outside and was very clean inside. The driver was a very friendly man who drove very carefully. Rather surprising here in Atlanta. However, the one thing that made the ride highly dangerous: The car had a blown strut (shock absorber) on the front right side. It was not very noticeable at low speeds. There were little vibrations coming through the floorpan but it could have easily been the tires needing a rotation or slightly out of balance. When we got into I75 that's when I was scared for my life. Doing 70+ MPH on a car with a blown front strut is very dangerous. It vibrated and shook as if it was going to break in two any moment. I told the driver to slow the fuck down because we would have an accident. He did. Then I explained why. The driver mentioned being in an accident a month ago. He had fixed the cosmetics, but not the mechanicam because "a friend told him it was ok". I made it to the tech meetup in one piece. Yes, I could have requested another car, but decided to not stop on an unknown area of Atlanta. Lyft must make sure the cars are in good mechanical condition. It must also provide a way to report this sort of incident directly. How do I know about what was wrong with the car? Im a master mechanic who used to specialize and work for Toyota. This incident made me realize Im better off driving downtown. Which is a bit insane given how awful people drive there.

isostatic 8y ago
How would this be any difference with a legacy taxi company?
- pryelluw 8y ago
  I understand where you are coming from, but the question is flawed. All taxi / ride companies must meet some kind of safety and maintenance standards. No matter who it is. Looking back and saying "Taxi companies were also as bad" is a terrible way to dismiss the need for regulation. These contractors should have their cars inspected every n months or n amount of miles by a certified shop. Lyft should also provide a way to allow users to report safety / mechanical problems and temporarily remove that car from service (not the driver) until it is fixed.
  - isostatic 8y ago
    In the UK taxis have a more rigorous safety test each year (more rigorous than the normal safety test all UK cars over 3 years have to have), but that wouldn't help in a situation where it was in an "accident a month ago" Not sure about lyft, but Uber certainly does allow you to report such issues -- certainly more easilly than the majority of taxi or private hire companies. Again in the UK you can always simply complain to the licensing authority -- easy to do with uber (you have the registration and driver's name), but fairly easy to do with http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/taxicomplaintform.htm http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/taxicomplaintform.htm Despite all this, entrenched taxi drivers still complain about uber in the UK ("it's too popular and causes congestion and pollution, unlike black cabs with their express lanes for rich people to bypass the traffic")
- gamblor956 8y ago
  Legacy taxi companies are required to have insurance and their owners can be held criminally responsible for not maintaining their vehicles.
  - isostatic 8y ago
    Depends on the jurisdiction, in the UK Uber are exactly the same as a legacy taxi company and have to have the exact same insurance coverage. They're just more likely to do so.
illumin8 8y ago
I've had similar experiences with Uber and Lyft in NYC. I was once in a Toyota Camry that had suspension so bad the car bottomed out on every single bump on the highway. I'm not a master mechanic so I don't know if it was unsafe, but it sure felt unsafe. I also had a crazy experience with a Lyft in Seattle where I got a driver who must have been a brand new arrival to the country, couldn't speak english, and didn't know how to drive. He literally didn't know traffic laws, tried to make a left turn into oncoming traffic, and almost killed us. Because of the language barrier I couldn't explain to him what he did wrong. I called Lyft safety after that ride and told them the driver needs to be removed from the platform. At least with taxi companies the licensing requirements force them to do regular safety inspections of their vehicles and require drivers to have some training.

isostatic 8y ago

How would this be any difference with a legacy taxi company?

pryelluw 8y ago
I understand where you are coming from, but the question is flawed. All taxi / ride companies must meet some kind of safety and maintenance standards. No matter who it is. Looking back and saying "Taxi companies were also as bad" is a terrible way to dismiss the need for regulation. These contractors should have their cars inspected every n months or n amount of miles by a certified shop. Lyft should also provide a way to allow users to report safety / mechanical problems and temporarily remove that car from service (not the driver) until it is fixed.
- isostatic 8y ago
  In the UK taxis have a more rigorous safety test each year (more rigorous than the normal safety test all UK cars over 3 years have to have), but that wouldn't help in a situation where it was in an "accident a month ago" Not sure about lyft, but Uber certainly does allow you to report such issues -- certainly more easilly than the majority of taxi or private hire companies. Again in the UK you can always simply complain to the licensing authority -- easy to do with uber (you have the registration and driver's name), but fairly easy to do with http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/taxicomplaintform.htm http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/taxicomplaintform.htm Despite all this, entrenched taxi drivers still complain about uber in the UK ("it's too popular and causes congestion and pollution, unlike black cabs with their express lanes for rich people to bypass the traffic")
gamblor956 8y ago
Legacy taxi companies are required to have insurance and their owners can be held criminally responsible for not maintaining their vehicles.
- isostatic 8y ago
  Depends on the jurisdiction, in the UK Uber are exactly the same as a legacy taxi company and have to have the exact same insurance coverage. They're just more likely to do so.

illumin8 8y ago

I've had similar experiences with Uber and Lyft in NYC. I was once in a Toyota Camry that had suspension so bad the car bottomed out on every single bump on the highway. I'm not a master mechanic so I don't know if it was unsafe, but it sure felt unsafe. I also had a crazy experience with a Lyft in Seattle where I got a driver who must have been a brand new arrival to the country, couldn't speak english, and didn't know how to drive. He literally didn't know traffic laws, tried to make a left turn into oncoming traffic, and almost killed us. Because of the language barrier I couldn't explain to him what he did wrong. I called Lyft safety after that ride and told them the driver needs to be removed from the platform. At least with taxi companies the licensing requirements force them to do regular safety inspections of their vehicles and require drivers to have some training.