canadiancow

Same, but that still means I've had 70+ rides where it wasn't.

redtop43

I haven't done extensive research, but I feel like Uber/Lyft scam both sides.

As a driver, you don't know what the passenger pays, but your calculation is based on time and distance. At one time the calculation was parallel for the pax, but now there's nothing to prevent them from charging a pax $20 for a ride where the time-and-distance would be only $15. They give the driver 75% of $15, charge the pax $20, and pocket the difference.

However, if the price were fixed and unchangeable, it would mean a driver can never accommodate a passenger request, like to stop or go out of the way. When last I looked, Lyft allowed multiple stops in the app but Uber didn't. So if you book a ride from A to C and that's how the fare is calculated, but you want to drop someone off at B and it's not dead on the way, the driver wouldn't really be able to do it if his fare was only based on A-to-C.

canadiancow

Uber allows you to pre-plan stops in the app, and it gives you a quote. Sometimes I'm in a an Uber quoted at $10, and I get a text telling me to go somewhere else instead, so I change the destination. I no longer expect to pay $10. Maybe it'll be less, maybe more. The contract was $10 for A to B, but I'm now going A to some other point (where the change is made) to C.

If I go all the way to B, I expect the agreed upon price to be honored.

diburning

Lyft also allows multiple stops, but I've never used it.

As far as Lyft charging the passenger one price and paying the driver the other, I know that it happens, yet all parties have agreed to it, so it's not a "scam." The up-front fare for the passenger is based upon and average of multiple routes that the driver can take. The driver on the other hand, gets paid by time and distance. So, it's actually very possible for the up-front cost to be substantially more than what the driver is paid (so Lyft pockets the difference). However, I don't think there's malice (maybe incompetence, but not malice) on Lyft's part as I've also had rides where I've changed the destination due to me putting in the wrong address (the correct address was two blocks away), and the new fare calculated by time and distance actually was very close to the up-front price.

Lyft and Uber both will retroactively change the price if you get dropped off at a different location other than your selected drop off address to prevent abuse. Uber is more likely to scam you and recalculate if the GPS drifts or if the driver takes an unexpected route that eats into Uber's cut. Lyft will sometimes automatically end the ride when the driver gets to the drop-off point (I've seen rides ended on my end before the driver even touches their phone). I have also had drivers take a wrong turn and end up on the interstate highway for a few miles until they could get off at the next exit, yet Lyft never charges me any more than the up front price as long as I'm being dropped off at the same address indicated before requesting the ride.

The thing that both Uber and Lyft do that irritates me is that they'll match me with a driver on the interstate highway. I don't live anywhere near an exit, so it will say that they're 2 minutes away when that is impossible unless the driver drives off a bridge. Uber will continue to waste my time while Lyft's app will see that the driver is driving away, and will automatically rematch me with someone else.

Lyft's app does have its bugs though. There have been times where I was about to request a ride, and the up-front price jumps up half a second before I hit request. I hit cancel and it cancels the request, then suddenly I get a text message saying that my driver is here, and it charges me a cancellation fee when I cancel. Lyft is aware of this bug though, as I've been refunded the cancellation fee both times already as they do have a record of me canceling the request.

phat-dave

can't say I've ever noticed, Uber the slimey pricks adding a "booking fee" previously... i never really take notice of the emails they send after the trip, they're starting to increase tarifs, add fees and carry on like a traditional taxi mob.... i want to boycott but the competition in australia is non existent.

cestmoi123

As long as the total I'm charged is what I was quoted (which I've almost always found to be the case, except for a period last year when I had a ride pass, and the accounting was always off), I really don't care if they charge me $5 for the ride and a $2 booking fee or $2 for the ride and a $5 booking fee.

phat-dave

if only it were that simple - in my experience, it'll give an estimate "UberX between $13 & $36" - hardly useful.

canadiancow

You appear to be in Australia.

I can't even tell you how bad my first Uber experience was in Sydney. But it's a topic for another thread.

In SFO, prices are quoted up-front, with no range. The time may be a range, but the price is set.

cestmoi123

Interesting - I only see that if I start a booking via Google Maps, but then I see a fixed price in the Uber app before I tap "confirm" to book the ride.

kyanar

Here's why I'm not as much of a fan of Lyft as I used to be.



And no, it wasn't necessary to take that particular route to drop off the other passenger. The fact the driver spoke precisely zero English, and on numerous occasions tried to drive up one way streets the wrong way probably didn't help.

diburning

Request a ride review. Also I hope you gave your driver the appropriate rating.

HWGeeks

But isn't the first a quote...and a quote is just an estimate. Have millennials forgotten this? or is the first price not a quote

canadiancow

Every estimate I've ever received has been explicitly declared as such, and usually contained the phrase "not to exceed".

diburning

It is not a quote. It explicitly says that the amount shown is what the rider is paying. Uber wants to have their cake and eat it too. If the ride costs less, then Uber pockets the extra. If the ride costs more, then Uber weasels it out of the rider with a stupid excuse.

cestmoi123

In NYC, at least, the price it shows when you tap "Confirm UberX" is the price you pay, unless you make some change along the way (i.e. add a stop, change the destination, etc.).