# Lyft vs. Uber



## Karen Stein (Nov 5, 2016)

Here's a thread for those who have driven for both:

What's the difference? What did you like or dislike between them?


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## jp300h (Oct 5, 2016)

Uber gets way more pings and has select in my market. Uber also has significantly more/ better surges here. If lyft premier comes here, I will possibly try it.


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## Grahamcracker (Nov 2, 2016)

•Lyft has built in app tipping option
•Lyft has a 5 minute timer built into its app
•Lyft has MUCH better contact support
•Lyft pays slightly higher per mile/minute
•Lyft pay entire cancellation fee to driver
•Uber has better surge and it's visible on the ping screen
•Uber has more requests
•Uber tends to have shorter time on their ping requests


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## AuxCordBoston (Dec 3, 2016)

Grahamcracker said:


> •Lyft has built in app tipping option
> •Lyft has a 5 minute timer built into its app
> •Lyft has MUCH better contact support
> •Lyft pays slightly higher per mile/minute
> ...


Not sure about more requests on lyft


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## PTUber (Sep 16, 2015)

Grahamcracker said:


> •Lyft has built in app tipping option
> •Lyft has a 5 minute timer built into its app
> •Lyft has MUCH better contact support
> •Lyft pays slightly higher per mile/minute
> ...


I agree with most except in my market they pay the same per mile & minute. I don't think Lyft's support is any better. I have a few inquiries that were never answered. I do like that on the Lyft app when you get to the PAX you can see right away where you are going.


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## JimKE (Oct 28, 2016)

Grahamcracker said:


> •Lyft has built in app tipping option
> •Lyft has a 5 minute timer built into its app
> •Lyft has MUCH better contact support
> •Lyft pays slightly higher per mile/minute
> ...


I agree with most of this. Rates and volume are going to vary widely from market to market. In our market, Lyft is pretty weak and their rates are identical to Uber.

A couple of other things I have noticed about Lyft:

They tend to develop global policies (like one size fits all). And, of course, one size does NOT fit all -- so their policies are sometimes detrimental in your particular market. For example, they recently decided Jan/Feb is the slow time of the year so they needed to lower their rates to Uber's level. It's the busiest time of the year here in South Florida, so they just threw money out the window.
They are very rigid on their policies. There is zero flexibility.
Some drivers have reported lower ratings with Lyft. Mine is somewhat lower with Lyft, but I don't have many rides. Ratings are very opaque -- I have no idea what goes into them.
I ignore anything Lyft says about Primetime, guarantees, and bonuses. I've never collected a penny on any of them, and the requirements are usually from another planet. I've never heard anyone say they understood PT.
I find Lyft rides generally longer than Uber rides -- for normal around-town rides.
I find mostly local people or college students use Lyft. Business people and tourists mostly use Uber.
I've found Lyft driver support MUCH better than Uber's...with the caveat that there is zero flexibility. Uber is humorous at times, but much more flexible and much better with fare adjustments.
I get a very high pax cancellation rate (40%-60%) with Lyft, but I think that's market-related because they are so weak here. Lyft pings are further away than Uber, and I think the pax see that and cancel Lyft to take the closer Uber.


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## DocT (Jul 16, 2015)

Karen Stein said:


> Here's a thread for those who have driven for both:
> 
> What's the difference? What did you like or dislike between them?


That's exactly what my riders ask me.



Grahamcracker said:


> •Lyft has built in app tipping option
> •Lyft has a 5 minute timer built into its app
> •Uber has better surge and it's visible on the ping screen
> •*Uber has more requests*
> •*Uber tends to have shorter time on their ping requests*


Agree with Grahamcracker on some points.

I've only had 5 rides on Lyft since I started 2 weeks ago.

And the main point:


Grahamcracker said:


> •*Lyft has built in app tipping option*


Of my 5 Lyft rides, 4 have tipped in app. The one that didn't tip was a working college student, so it's understandable.

Uber and Lyft rates are exactly the same in my market.

I just found out from one of my Lyft rider was that they can cancel a ride if they don't like the driver/car as part of the cancel option. Is this true?


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## JimKE (Oct 28, 2016)

One other thing where Lyft really suffers is *local* marketing. We have a local Greenlight Hub, and they are very active in marketing Uber.

We have many big events -- boat shows, art festivals, Ultra, major tennis tournament, etc -- and they are really big deals. Uber is almost always THE official rideshare for those events. They have advertising and promotional codes on the event websites, often have dropoff/pickup lots, and all sorts of promotions. You wouldn't even know Lyft was in town.


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## jp300h (Oct 5, 2016)

As mentioned above. I do like lyft built in 5 minute timer and the fact the entire cancellation goes to driver. Lyft pings are almost always further away and cancellations happen way more frequently.



JimKE said:


> One other thing where Lyft really suffers is *local* marketing. We have a local Greenlight Hub, and they are very active in marketing Uber.
> 
> We have many big events -- boat shows, art festivals, Ultra, major tennis tournament, etc -- and they are really big deals. Uber is almost always THE official rideshare for those events. They have advertising and promotional codes on the event websites, often have dropoff/pickup lots, and all sorts of promotions. You wouldn't even know Lyft was in town.


Very similar here. (Orlando) 
This week's big push here is wrestlemania


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## JimKE (Oct 28, 2016)

To give you an idea, President's Day weekend, we had the following:

Miami Boat Show (2 locations)
Miami Beach Yacht Show
Art Wynwood
Coconut Grove Art Festival
I don't know the numbers on the first three, but for many years, the Coconut Grove Art Festival alone has drawn 300,000+ over 4 days. In December, we had Art Basel, which was MUCH bigger.

Last week we had Ultra -- 165,000 over the 3 days -- and the Miami Open Tennis Tournament was going on at the same time, drawing more than 300,000 for the week.

Uber was a sponsor/rideshare for all or most of those...and that's just a few scattered weekends.


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## PTUber (Sep 16, 2015)

JimKE said:


> One other thing where Lyft really suffers is *local* marketing. We have a local Greenlight Hub, and they are very active in marketing Uber.
> 
> We have many big events -- boat shows, art festivals, Ultra, major tennis tournament, etc -- and they are really big deals. Uber is almost always THE official rideshare for those events. They have advertising and promotional codes on the event websites, often have dropoff/pickup lots, and all sorts of promotions. You wouldn't even know Lyft was in town.


Same here in my market. They even have their name displayed permanently at their pick up spots at the Mall of America.

The down side of the big events is I typically hate where the designated pick up spots are. Usually to close to the event making it impossible to get in and out of there in a timely fashion.


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## George McFly (Jan 30, 2017)

Biggest difference:
Lyft you can tip on the app.
Uber has beaten it into passengers head that NO tipping!


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## Karen Stein (Nov 5, 2016)

The past week has given a few surprises.

Most unexpected, I have had so few Uber fares that I have to make a special effort to keep up with my fuel card billings. Uber's irregular fuel billings really make this difficult.

When Uber shows "surge" the Lyft side starts working.

Sometimes folks tell me they chose Lyft because of issues with Uber.

Lyft customers seem to have slightly higher expectations than Uber customers.

By using both platforms my income has jumped about 30%.


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## Jufkii (Sep 17, 2015)

Uber corporate already knows what drivers like and dislike about the companies based on past surveys.

Is it truly necessary "Karen" to conduct yet another?


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## Karen Stein (Nov 5, 2016)

Sure. We can choose to keep other drivers ignorant- or we can share info between ourselves.

Had I known that the Uber application would take a month to process, while Lyft could do it in two days ... Guess who I would have driven for through the winter?


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## Jagent (Jan 29, 2017)

How are you driving Lyft in St. Louis?


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## Grahamcracker (Nov 2, 2016)

Jagent said:


> How are you driving Lyft in St. Louis?


It's possible, for the sake of keeping her information restricted, she could have used St. Louis as a ruse. Can't be too careful I guess.

Now I know an area the size of St. Louis seems like an impossible way to narrow an individual down but revealing her actual location would rule out literally billions of possibilities.

At one time I didn't think it was a big deal to give out phone numbers but with all of the phone scams lately, I don't think it's such a good idea any more. All they need are a few key words using your voice to reek Havoc with your information.

Lol, in the words of Karen Stein " you never know".

At minimum, I will give the benefit of the dought

Honesty, I don't believe 70% of what I read from others post but if I can recieve and share advice that might be helpful, then I do


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## Adieu (Feb 21, 2016)

I am the EVH of playing Lyft Support like a fiddle with my eyes closed... While driving. Lol

Meanwhile, Uber Support no speaka my language

PS i collect mad bonuses from Lyft


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## Jesusdrivesuber (Jan 5, 2017)

Karen if you are in a city with Rydengo, try it and tell us about it! right after you report it to your bosses in Uber, that is.


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## jp300h (Oct 5, 2016)

I have some new insight since my previous post. I have been primarily driving uber since they have select. This past weekend however, lyft offered some ridiculously good hourly rate guaranteed ($30-50/hr) so I did lyft exclusively the last 2 nights... ending up making just over $700.
So, my thoughts on lyft:
Without the hourly guarantee bonuses, lyft would not be ideal for me. The base before the guarantee kicked in was significantly less than what I do with uber. Getting the min. 1 ride per hour proved challenging (I did 33 rides in 30 hours. Having 3 hours that I did not get ride and subsuquent guarantee) 
What I liked about app: 
1) not sure if this is new or not. But lyft shows the rider destination BEFORE starting ride (once you arrive) this proved helpful on two occasions. I wish uber did this. 
2) most pax did indeed tip. (Although due to hourly guarantee was a non factor) even with the higher % of tippers, lyft would not be better than uber select for me.
3) the ability to see the pax in photo.
4) I had one issue and there was a "call me" button. I pushed and had an actual live person who spoke English call me back instantly that helped resolve issue. This is huge plus. 

What I didn't like :
1)The arrived/dropped off/complete ride "swipes" are cumbersome compared to uber. You have to slide multiple times for each function as opposed to just tapping once. 

2) Seemed slower transitioning from start ride to the navigation.

3) WAY fewer rides here. Worked out great for hourly guarantee as I only wanted 1 min fare ride per hour. But with out that, lyft is definitely not worthwhile. I'm pretty sure I can get more uber select pings per hour here than regular lyft pings.


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## gsneaker350 (Feb 19, 2016)

Lyft has no Karen stein


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## Tr4vis Ka1anick (Oct 2, 2016)

What's the difference?

Well Uber has me of course.

Karen, I think you are just being spiteful now.

You just toss me to the side of the road like a forgotten cell phone in an Uber by a callous unforgiving partner.

I will never forget when you drove just for Uber alone.

Lyft is where all the washed up Uber drivers go. They all stand around fire barrels on cold nights drinking whiskey, smoking ciggies, telling Uber war stories and remembering the good ole days of Uber.

You ever hear of skid row in L.A.?

In San Francisco we call it Lyft Lane.


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## Jagent (Jan 29, 2017)

If you drive for Lyft, you'll get a flat tire.... in the rain. ... 70 miles from home. 

Oh wait, that already happened.


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## PrestonT (Feb 15, 2017)

Karen Stein said:


> Sure. We can choose to keep other drivers ignorant- or we can share info between ourselves.
> 
> Had I known that the Uber application would take a month to process, while Lyft could do it in two days ... Guess who I would have driven for through the winter?


Funny you say that, because my Uber app took 2 days and my Lyft app a week.


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## PrestonT (Feb 15, 2017)

Tr4vis Ka1anick said:


> Lyft is where all the washed up Uber drivers go. They all stand around fire barrels on cold nights drinking whiskey, smoking ciggies, telling Uber war stories and remembering the good ole days of Uber.


I see you have been to LAS staging lot.....


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## PrestonT (Feb 15, 2017)

Now for a response that is actually on topic....

Lyft looked promising to me. But I have tried their guarantee game and PDB before. Mysterious non-accepted rides appear that ruin my acceptance %. I can wait for 20 minutes with no pings, then AFTER I've tapped the Online button to go offline, it will throw a Line ping at me, daring me to let it pass and further hurt my acceptance rate. During the guarantee hour, it will give me a ping 3 minutes before the new hour starts that will take me 30 minutes out of the zone and guarantee that I won't make the requirements for that hour even if I somehow make the acceptance rate. Every resort I go to on Fri and Sat night there are 2-3 lighted Lyft signs just staging there waiting for a ping. I get them stacked all night with Uber.

Because of all this, I'm pretty much done with Lyft. I get so many pings, and some good surge times, with Uber that I'm doing well sticking to them. I'll use Lyft as a filler from here out.


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## MSUGrad9902 (Jun 8, 2016)

Lyft takes less of a cut. Which is good. However, they think nothing of sending you 30 mins to pick up somebody. Which I refuse to do. I make more with uber than lyft although I do run both when in the uber queue at the airport. Lyft has no airport queue here. I've done one lyft ride since NYE, that was yesterday at the airport when I was like 16th in the queue on uber.


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## Andre Benjamin 6000 (Nov 11, 2016)

Karen Stein said:


> Sure. We can choose to keep other drivers ignorant- or we can share info between ourselves.
> 
> Had I known that the Uber application would take a month to process, while Lyft could do it in two days ... Guess who I would have driven for through the winter?


Hey Pinocchio, Lyft isn't offered in your city of St. Louis. How is it you drive for them?


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## PrestonT (Feb 15, 2017)

Andre Benjamin 6000 said:


> Hey Pinocchio, Lyft isn't offered in your city of St. Louis. How is it you drive for them?


BOOM!


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## Karen Stein (Nov 5, 2016)

Grahm, you are correctt. I have deliberately muddied my personal details for the express purpose of protecting my privacy.

Lyft rating is up to 4.3. As I write, both platforms are quiet. Monday, right after lunch, and the city is dead.

I agree with most comments. My biggest issue with Lyft is the stripped-down version of WAZE that they use. I've had it stop several times in the middle of a trip. It seems to wait until you're in the middle of an intersection before saying "turn".


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## PrestonT (Feb 15, 2017)

Karen Stein said:


> I have deliberately muddied my personal details for the express purpose of concealing my real job as an Uber mole.


Got it.


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## Andre Benjamin 6000 (Nov 11, 2016)

Karen Stein said:


> Grahm, you are Forrest. I have deliberately muddied my personal details for the express purpose of protecting my privacy.


So basically you have "alternative facts" in your profile. Is that what you're saying?

What other "alternative facts" have you told around here?


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## Lee239 (Mar 24, 2017)

JimKE said:


> One other thing where Lyft really suffers is *local* marketing. We have a local Greenlight Hub, and they are very active in marketing Uber.
> 
> We have many big events -- boat shows, art festivals, Ultra, major tennis tournament, etc -- and they are really big deals. Uber is almost always THE official rideshare for those events. They have advertising and promotional codes on the event websites, often have dropoff/pickup lots, and all sorts of promotions. You wouldn't even know Lyft was in town.


Can't wait for the Uber Christmas party.


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## yougetno.bs (Oct 16, 2016)

Market, market, market makes all the difference in the world. In Vegas the Uber app never sleeps. Its cool cuz you can literally drive 24-7 and make cash. I don't drive Lyft. Why? When Uber keeps me busy enough.
Oh and all the casinos push Lyft but I don't think that makes any difference. People especially tourists recognize Uber. Even when all the negative headlines were coming out about Uber, I swear I got about 3 times busier. Go figure.


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## FloridaUber (Feb 27, 2017)

The assumption that those who ride with Lyft will tip and those who ride with Uber won't is silly in my opinion. Yes, some people don't carry cash but the general principle of tipping a ride share seems to be pretty commonly understood. 

If you're driving in a college town you shouldn't expect to get tipped as much in a town where people are established and there is an older age population. 
I wouldn't drive if I was only worried about tips because it's volatile in literally every market. 

The single most important thing to me is request amount, which Uber holds easily.


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## Jesusdrivesuber (Jan 5, 2017)

Karen Stein said:


> Grahm, you are correctt. I have deliberately muddied my personal details for the express purpose of protecting my privacy.
> 
> Lyft rating is up to 4.3. As I write, both platforms are quiet. Monday, right after lunch, and the city is dead.
> 
> I agree with most comments. My biggest issue with Lyft is the stripped-down version of WAZE that they use. I've had it stop several times in the middle of a trip. It seems to wait until you're in the middle of an intersection before saying "turn".


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## Andre Benjamin 6000 (Nov 11, 2016)

Jesusdrivesuber said:


>


lmfao! Good one!


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## Tr4vis Ka1anick (Oct 2, 2016)

Karen come back to Uber. Don't make me beg.


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## Frontier Guy (Dec 27, 2015)

When I have a problem with Lyft, I bypass the Help function and use @Asklyft on Twitter, it's their Twitter support, generally quick response and very helpful. They worked with me all weekend on a massive issue with my drivers license that had my account suspended. I follow both Lyft and Uber on Twitter, I've never seen Uber support on Twitter get a thank you or a retweet. Lyft it's all the time.


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## Jesusdrivesuber (Jan 5, 2017)

After reading:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...y/uber-drivers-psychological-tricks.html?_r=0

I think Karen is one of those "fake gender" agents.

What do you guys think?


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## Jagent (Jan 29, 2017)

Jesusdrivesuber said:


> After reading:
> 
> https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...y/uber-drivers-psychological-tricks.html?_r=0
> 
> ...


I think she's really Chelsea Handler. Things haven't gone well for her since she got dumped by Fifty-Cent.


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## Jesusdrivesuber (Jan 5, 2017)

Jagent said:


> I think she's really Chelsea Handler. Things haven't gone well for her since she got dumped by Fifty-Cent.


http://fortune.com/2016/04/27/chelsea-handler-lyft/

She probably is.


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## Udrivevegas (Feb 20, 2017)

Jesusdrivesuber said:


> After reading:
> 
> https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...y/uber-drivers-psychological-tricks.html?_r=0
> 
> ...


I think it has been pretty well established on other threads that Karen Stein works for Uber corporate. I do not have personal knowledge or proof of this, but it has become obvious to a lot of people on UPN.


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## PrestonT (Feb 15, 2017)

Jesusdrivesuber said:


> After reading:
> 
> https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...y/uber-drivers-psychological-tricks.html?_r=0
> 
> ...


Was thinking precisely the same.


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## TheOnly5StarDriverinUSA (Apr 1, 2017)

PTUber said:


> ... I do like that on the Lyft app when you get to the PAX you can see right away where you are going.


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## Karen Stein (Nov 5, 2016)

After a week of using both platforms: 

Lyft rating up to 4.4. Uber rating down a wee bit to 4.84. 

Both platforms very active.

Lyft fares describe following issues with Uber: unsuitable drivers, filthy cars, surge exploitation, bad customer service from Uber help, and the lack of a tipping option.


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## jp300h (Oct 5, 2016)

Karen Stein said:


> After a week of using both platforms:
> 
> Lyft rating up to 4.4. Uber rating down a wee bit to 4.84.
> 
> ...


With all the brownies and cheerful personality, how are your ratings so low? I give nothing away other than my beaming personality and have 4.95 on uber and 5 on lyft.
Statistically speaking I am one of the best drivers in the country, certainly in my area. Although that may be equivocal to winning a gold medal in the special Olympics. But hey, I'll take my victories where I can get them.


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## AliciaLyftdriver (Feb 26, 2017)

Not happy with either.. I used to drive for Uber, however only for Lyft now. Pick your poison really.


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## shiftydrake (Dec 12, 2015)

Karen Stein said:


> After a week of using both platforms:
> 
> Lyft rating up to 4.4. Uber rating down a wee bit to 4.84.
> 
> ...


Ok you guys have to remember "she" (Karen Stein) haha lied or stretched the truth on numerous posts....here are a few I can think of:
#1 first of all the picture is not "her"/him/them/whoever you can see in the photo it's a stock picture

#2 claims "she" is from St Louis in the profile....but in one of the early post claims they are from Mid-South

#3 claims to be a Lyft driver as well.. Lyft is NOT running in St Louis

#4 too many other problems from whoever is actually. Posting


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## Tihstae (Jan 31, 2017)

jp300h said:


> With all the brownies and cheerful personality, how are your ratings so low? I give nothing away other than my beaming personality and have 4.95 on uber and 5 on lyft.
> Statistically speaking I am one of the best drivers in the country, certainly in my area. Although that may be equivocal to winning a gold medal in the special Olympics. But hey, I'll take my victories where I can get them.


To Paraphrase a very in poor taste joke:
Even if you are the best Uber drive in the world, you are still an Uber driver.


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## jp300h (Oct 5, 2016)

Tihstae said:


> To Paraphrase a very in poor taste joke:
> Even if you are the best Uber drive in the world, you are still an Uber driver.


 That's pretty much the joke I was referencing.


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## Fred Ex (Feb 21, 2017)

Karen Stein said:


> Sure. We can choose to keep other drivers ignorant- or we can share info between ourselves.
> 
> Had I known that the Uber application would take a month to process, while Lyft could do it in two days ... Guess who I would have driven for through the winter?


But you're not a driver "Karen", you work for Uber social media. Sharing info with you is sharing it directly with Uber.



Karen Stein said:


> Here's a thread for those who have driven for both:
> 
> What's the difference? What did you like or dislike between them?


Hey "Karen", what do you think of the New York Times article on the psycho warfare dirty tricks that Uber are pulling on the drivers?
It didn't even mention the slimey business of planting social media shills on websites like UP.



Karen Stein said:


> Here's a thread for those who have driven for both:
> 
> What's the difference? What did you like or dislike between them?


It's annoying though, I used to use your avatar as a quick link to UP's San Francisco page but now you've changed your location setting to St. Louis I have to use the djmbass menus.


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## Andre Benjamin 6000 (Nov 11, 2016)

Karen Stein said:


> After a week of using both platforms:
> 
> Lyft rating up to 4.4. Uber rating down a wee bit to 4.84.
> 
> ...


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## Jagent (Jan 29, 2017)

Karen Stein said:


> After a week of using both platforms:
> 
> Lyft rating up to 4.4. Uber rating down a wee bit to 4.84.
> 
> ...


So, Uber got you to drive for Lyft so you could report back on your little informal survey of Lyft pax?

Karen, do you (or anyone at Uber) realize why Uber customer service is in the toilet? Do you realize why drivers hate Uber and why pax hate drivers?

Here's a clue - Cancelling pays better than minimum fare.

You guys run this little game where you hide destination and threaten us over cancellations, and pay peanuts for minimum fare. It causes 99% of the problems with rideshare. RAISE MINIMUM FARE TO $12 and all the problems go away.


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## Karen Stein (Nov 5, 2016)

I wonder if the trolls have considered the possibility that I'm really a Lyft agent, sent here to steal Uber's secrets?


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## DocT (Jul 16, 2015)

It's no secret, Uber Drivers want HIGHER rates!


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## Andre Benjamin 6000 (Nov 11, 2016)

Karen Stein said:


> I wonder if the trolls have considered the possibility that I'm really a Lyft agent, sent here to steal Uber's secrets?


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## Tr4vis Ka1anick (Oct 2, 2016)

Karen,






Double agent, traitor and also I will add heartbreaker.

Such a travisty.


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## UberAnt39 (Jun 1, 2016)

"Karen", people who are paid to infiltrate forums under false pretenses are Trolls. Forum members calling you on it are just an occupational hazard that you encounter when doing this on behalf of any client. Posing statements and instruction as questions is just another social psychology technique used in your business.


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