Lyft is emerging as a stiff and worthy competitor to Uber in the U.S. It is growing rapidly and claims to have garnered about 35% of the market in U.S. Some of the key features and how both these operators perform on them are provided below.
Coverage
Uber has greater coverage and a greater number of vehicles and drivers on the road compared to Lyft. Both of them offer 24/7 service, but you may have difficulties finding a ride in odd hours. Both operators allow you to book your ride in advance in some cities. You can book a ride up to 7 days advance in Lyft and up to 30 days advance in Uber.
Service Types
Uber has a wide range of vehicles to choose from. Their cheapest offering is UberX which is a regular everyday ride option for seating up to 4 customers. UberSUV is the most expensive offering which features a high-end luxury SUV with seating option of up to 6 passengers. Lyft offers lesser options with Lyft as their budget option and Lyft Premier as the premium offering. Uber drivers are more professional and best for business class passengers. Lyft drivers are more casual and greater fun as they interact with you during the drive.
Pricing
Both Uber and Lyft charge about $1 to start a ride and then charge $1.50 per mile. Both of them use different forms of surge pricing which means the fare increase based on the rider demand and driver availability. Uber calls it surge pricing and whenever the rider demand increases it adds a rate multiplier on the standard fares. The multiplier can be in the range of 1.3X-2.1X of the standard fares. Lyft uses Prime Time and charges you extra as a percentage that gets added to the base fare. So, if the Prime Time is 40%, the final fare will be 1.4X of the standard fare. Surge charges can increase the Uber fare by 7-8 times on occasions, while Lyft Prime Time will increase your fares up to 2 times.
Ease of Use of Mobile App
Both the service providers have user-friendly mobile applications for booking rides. Uber provides more transparency on their charges than Lyft. However, since Uber is adding new features and services to its portfolio, the mobile app is becoming more cluttered and less user-friendly. It makes the app interface more obstructive when you have to book a ride quickly. Lyft application allows you to add a stop on the route which means you can pick up a friend on the way which is very handy. Both applications allow you to pay using your credit card.
Customer Support
Customer support and service for both the service providers has deteriorated as they have grown. However, Lyft has a more responsive customer support feature compared to Uber. It takes time out to respond to your queries while Uber, on the other hand, provides you with their ready-made responses already available on their help center. Lyft customer support delves deeper into the problems faced by the users and is thus a little better than Uber’s customer support and service.
