4 ms·

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

by tibbon 12y ago

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).

mrbrowning 12y ago
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 something like the bike messaging that Uber is getting into in NYC, where prompt service basically requires the service provider to be brusque)? In such a market, the company wouldn't be able to trade on their reputation as the friendly alternative and in fact might be even harmed by the expectation that they would be that. Is friendliness a straightjacket in the making?
- iambateman 12y ago
  1. Friendliness is always important in customer interaction. 2. Chick-fil-A is an example of "friendliness" scaling up to x0,000 employees. 3. No, being nice is not a straightjacket in the making.
  - starfishjenga 12y ago
    Yeah, super friendly - unless you're gay!
    - sp332 12y ago
      The one near me sponsors a pride parade every year, so I guess some things don't scale that well :p
  - mrbrowning 12y ago
    Of course, but I'm not talking about mere interpersonal politeness so much as having friendliness be a central component of your branding. Chick-Fil-A, for all its vaunted good cheer, still has all the trappings of a commercial transaction, whereas Lyft tries to downplay that in favor of appearing as merely a facilitator of intra-community interactions. That part, specifically, is the part that I wonder about.
- vivekpreddy 12y ago
  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.
prezjordan 12y ago
Aren't there laws against the whole "machine broken" thing?
- eli 12y ago
  Yes.
- pfortuny 12y ago
  There are plenty of them but it seems all of them are broken -one way or the other.
- waterfowl 12y ago
  The machine seems to start working when you tell the guy to mail you an invoice.
dcpdx 12y ago
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 there the quickest way possible. Also I don't have to feign interest in the driver's backstory and keep up a weak conversation during the entire ride--I just want to sit back, check my FB/Twitter feed, and zone out for a few minutes until I have to be "on" again when I arrive at my destination. If the cab driver sucks, you can just give them a low rating and you'll never get that driver again. I should note that I do not work for Flywheel, just a huge fan who switched from Uber due to some scummy tactics I read about (employees overwhelming competitive apps, etc).
- vivekpreddy 12y ago
  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...
- dotBen 12y ago
  You get the ... professionalism and expertise of a cab driver Hmmmm, that's usually stated in inverted commas and the precise argument why Uber/Lyft is better.
eridius 12y ago
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.
alexeichemenda 12y ago
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.

by tibbon 12y ago

mrbrowning 12y ago

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 something like the bike messaging that Uber is getting into in NYC, where prompt service basically requires the service provider to be brusque)? In such a market, the company wouldn't be able to trade on their reputation as the friendly alternative and in fact might be even harmed by the expectation that they would be that. Is friendliness a straightjacket in the making?

iambateman 12y ago
1. Friendliness is always important in customer interaction. 2. Chick-fil-A is an example of "friendliness" scaling up to x0,000 employees. 3. No, being nice is not a straightjacket in the making.
- starfishjenga 12y ago
  Yeah, super friendly - unless you're gay!
  - sp332 12y ago
    The one near me sponsors a pride parade every year, so I guess some things don't scale that well :p
- mrbrowning 12y ago
  Of course, but I'm not talking about mere interpersonal politeness so much as having friendliness be a central component of your branding. Chick-Fil-A, for all its vaunted good cheer, still has all the trappings of a commercial transaction, whereas Lyft tries to downplay that in favor of appearing as merely a facilitator of intra-community interactions. That part, specifically, is the part that I wonder about.
vivekpreddy 12y ago
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.

prezjordan 12y ago

Aren't there laws against the whole "machine broken" thing?

eli 12y ago
Yes.
pfortuny 12y ago
There are plenty of them but it seems all of them are broken -one way or the other.
waterfowl 12y ago
The machine seems to start working when you tell the guy to mail you an invoice.

dcpdx 12y ago

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 there the quickest way possible. Also I don't have to feign interest in the driver's backstory and keep up a weak conversation during the entire ride--I just want to sit back, check my FB/Twitter feed, and zone out for a few minutes until I have to be "on" again when I arrive at my destination. If the cab driver sucks, you can just give them a low rating and you'll never get that driver again. I should note that I do not work for Flywheel, just a huge fan who switched from Uber due to some scummy tactics I read about (employees overwhelming competitive apps, etc).

vivekpreddy 12y ago
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...
dotBen 12y ago
You get the ... professionalism and expertise of a cab driver Hmmmm, that's usually stated in inverted commas and the precise argument why Uber/Lyft is better.

eridius 12y ago

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.

alexeichemenda 12y ago

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.