themicah

Same here. Uber says on their website that there's no need to tip:
https://support.uber.com/hc/en-us/ar...tip-my-driver-

Yoshi212

I had referred my roommate recently to Lyft and he tried using it this morning. besides varying added congestion fees he had 3 drivers accept his ride and all 3 canceled. We live in Dumbo not the Marcy Projects at 3am. He instead walked outside and got a yellow cab in 2 minutes.

vasantn

So I tried Lyft again today. Response in 30 seconds; car arrived within a minute. Did not even bother to attempt the fist-bump this time and just got into the rear seat. Very comfortable. Added $2 tip at end, just to see if I got charged for it or if it was part of the free ride. It was the latter, which was a nice surprise. I'm not sure how the drivers are getting compensated for the free rides so while those last, I will add a tip (and it's not even coming out of my pocket!).

Zantosh

With all these different things going on with Lyft and Uber, I put together a survey. The purpose of this survey is to examine the ride sharing market and I think I may be on to something that will actually give people something of value, as opposed to their offerings.

I could really use your input. The survey can be found at:

http://survey.rideconnect.com

Thanks,
Zantosh

themicah

I don't think the issue is drivers who are afraid of wealthy Dumbo residents, but inefficiencies in the Lyft and Uber dispatching systems, which seem to alert the "closest" drivers without adequately taking into account routing chokepoints (like East River bridges) between the drivers and their potential fares. So you make a request in Dumbo and drivers, eager to pick up a fare, grab it before realizing that they're on the wrong side of the river, or are in a nearby part of Brooklyn from which a potential $8 fare doesn't justify the time it would take to route around the bridges down to Dumbo.

I've had this happen a bunch on the LES and Financial District, where drivers in Brooklyn sometimes pick up the fares before realizing they'd need to cross a congested bridge. I've also had it happen in areas like Herald Square where traffic patterns can make it difficult for a driver who is only a block or two away to get to me.

Both Lyft and Uber need to improve the algorithms they use to calculate arrival times so they can figure out a way to better prioritize drivers who are positioned to get to the passenger fastest.

Letitride3c

+1 on their ETA & pickup time, a "bit" off in the outer boroughs. Just my observations - still have 3 free rides remaining (up to $15 per trip) & looking at Lyft App as I'm in downtown Flushing now, nearest driver is 7 minutes away, in the vicinity of LGA (cruising on the service road and/or parked at the gas station on the parkway) ... definitely, more than 10 to 15 minutes away - would take them at least 10 minutes to get thru Main Street's congested local streets to the pickup point. Was tempted

Been trying to spot their cars with the red mustache for the past month, and not having any luck at all in the downtown business/commercial zones - the Green taxis & local/citywide car services are still dominating with their coverage & availability.

themicah

I have yet to see a single bumper-mounted mustache in NYC. And I've had only a couple of Lyfts with subtle pink mustaches on their dashboards. Most are just regular Uber cars with a second cellphone.

Yoshi212

I've had similar results. Most are Uber drivers also but I do see more miniature mustaches on the dash. In Buffalo NY a Lyft driver was accosted physically by a livery cab driver when she was dropping off a passenger while having her hood mounted mustache so most people didn't want it to avoid conflicts.