Uber vs. Lyft

I’ve been kicking around making some extra cash in my spare time and am wondering, from a drivers perspective, if anyone knew firsthand which company is better to drive for. Again, this would be part-time, perhaps 10 hours a week on average. I have a new car and my kids are grown, so I have spare time in the evenings. Was also wondering if I could pick up fares going to Mpls airport on my drive to work (I work in BLM) in the a.m.

Any experience with either company or heard good or bad experiences from others? What type of insurance do I need to carry?

TIA!

I can only speak from the customer’s POV, but why not do both? I’ve had a lot of drivers that are clearly on both services.

Mrs. Grouse is a road warrior and she will never take a taxi again. She had way too many bad experiences with dirty, overpriced cabs driven by drivers who had no clue where they were going.

She has commented that at the airport, there is a parade of Uber and Lyft cars, pick up, drop off, pick up. It’s constant and they must now make up half of the “taxi” traffic to/from the airport.

Only thing is expect to be abused by bitter cab drivers who resent the breakup of the Cabopoly.

Grouse

Do check with your insurance before signing up.I think a few companies will not cover it.AAA does not(they suck).We do foster care,and have to carry a very high bodily injury(1 million)and they thought that we were doing transportation for reimbursement.Had got a few letters stating that they were going to cancel our policy,had to explain to agent just what was the case.

Good luck with it,you get some bad apples along with the good ones.

X 2 most drivers I ride with do both.
From what I have experienced most cab drivers are d*&%s, every uber ride I’ve taken the drivers have been very nice.

I Love UBER. Give the guy that came up with that a High Five.

I believe that the airport has certain restrictions for Uber and Lyft drivers but as long as you follow the guidelines you should be alright. Keeping the sticker visible, only parking in certain areas, etc. If I’m remembering correctly, Lyft allows the passenger(s) to tip the driver and Uber does not. I recall one Uber driver had a small sign that read that tips are appreciated but not expected and you had to tip them with cash instead of on the app. Something to think about if you’re going to drive.
You may have already done so but check out the requirements for the vehicle for each company.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Only thing is expect to be abused by bitter cab drivers who resent the breakup of the Cabopoly.

I was in NYC this spring. We took an Uber from a Yankees game back to the hotel, and man, the cabbies will do their best to keep you out of an Uber, and they’ll berate you when you do take one!

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

I was in NYC this spring. We took an Uber from a Yankees game back to the hotel, and man, the cabbies will do their best to keep you out of an Uber, and they’ll berate you when you do take one!

Yes, Mrs. Grouse has had taxi driver yell abuse at her Uber drivers in several cities including at MSP. Drivers have commented that there are certain no-go zones near the airport where Taxi drivers hang out and will abuse any Uber/Lyft driver that comes there. I won’t name the places, but I’d think they would be obvious to anyone who knows the airport area.

As if abusive cab drivers are going to make somebody stop taking Uber and start getting in grimy cabs with totally lost drivers again.

BTW, the final straw for Mrs. Grouse with Taxi cabs was when one of the local Taxi drivers got stuck on our FRONT LAWN when leaving 3 winters ago. The clueless moron was so bad that Mrs. Grouse had to do turn by turn directions for him because he didn’t know where 3M was. Then he didn’t know how to print a receipt and called Mrs. Grouse the b word under his breath when she insisted that she had to have one.

Finally, he was leaving and got in too big of a hurry when backing out of our driveway. For reasons nobody can understand, he cut it hard about 20 feet before he was actually out in the street and buried his POS rear wheel drive cab in the snow on our freaking front lawn.

Needless to say, I had to quickly intervene to prevent the ordinarily cool/calm Mrs. Grouse from beating him with a scoop shovel. So after I saved the useless POS’s scull from meeting pure aluminum in a high-velocity collision–and wait for it, this part is brilliant–he says to me…

“Could you help dig me out and then give me a push?”

I told him no, but I would help by calling his cab company if he wasn’t off my lawn in 5 minutes. You should have seen the little b@stard dig like a friggin’ snowthrowin’ Toro after that.

Yeah. We’re Uber fans.

Grouse

What the hell is an Uber?

RVRDUX

As usual the gallery has good advice. Do both. My friend that does Uber, he will often pick up a fare as he’s driving across the city, and another one on his way back home. He basically does it for gas money, and comes out ahead. Make sure you check with your Insurance company, you will want to ask if they have a Uber/Lyft endorsement. Uber and Lyft will require some proof of insurance also. Make sure you also get confirmation in writing, along with updated policy documents, your agents word is not good in court. Each company has different requirements, at State Farm we only will add the endorsement if your Uber/Lyft miles are less than 50% of the miles you put on.