Uber and Lyft are two very similar services. Both are “ride-sharing” apps you pull up on your phone to quickly get a ride somewhere from driver using their own car. These two services have become more and more similar over the years, but there are still some major differences between them.
How Uber and Lyft Work
These ride-sharing services work in basically the same way. They allow drivers, who are independent contractors and not employees of Uber or Lyft, to pick you up when you book a ride in the app. You’re charged a standard fee with a base rate and a per-minute and per-mile fee. The cost generally adds up to much less than you’d spend on a traditional taxi for the same distance.
That’s not the only reason people prefer them to taxis. You can book them from your phone and see exactly where the driver is and when they’re arriving, which beats calling a taxi service and wondering when the taxi might arrive. The same app works in every city, or at least the cities where these services are available. Both apps allow you to select a pickup and drop-off location, see nearby cars, and track the car’s location as it arrives. At the end of the ride, both let you rate your driver and even tip them from the app, if you like. Drivers rate riders on both services, too.
For the standard service—known as an “uberX” in Uber or just a “Lyft” in Lyft—the experience is about the same. Both allow you to book a larger SUV if you have more people or larger items that need transportation, a higher-end luxury car if you want that experience, or a cheaper shared service known as “uberPOOL” or “Lyft Line” where you’ll ride with other people going in the same general direction for a small discount.
Uber and Lyft Are More Similar Than They Used to Be
Lyft has cultivated a more playful, driver-friendly image. Lyft drivers used to have a pink mustache affixed to the front of their car, and fist-bumped their passengers (though they don’t do either of those things anymore). Uber acquired a take-no-prisoners, combative reputation for the way it expanded into cities that had regulations on the books that would prohibit it, fighting legal and political battles only after launching the service in a city.
At this point, though, Uber and Lyft are more similar than they are different. In our experience, you’ll often call an Uber or Lyft and get in a car only to see that the same driver is driving for both companies. One driver that only drove for Lyft told us that this is typical of drivers who are driving full time, while others (perhaps retirees looking for a bit of extra work) often stick with one service.
Both Uber and Lyft screen their drivers in basically the same way. Anyone can apply to be a driver, and Uber and Lyft both perform background checks with the driver’s social security number before approving them. Uber and Lyft use different background check companies, but the criteria for approval can vary based on the…
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