Mears Taxi - still love it

[AngiTN]

With Uber, and Lyft in some markets, the route the driver takes should not make any difference in your fare. Uber uses "up-front pricing" and the price you are quoted is the price you pay. Lyft uses up-front pricing in some markets, but I'm not sure they use it in all markets. Taxis, OTOH, are usually metered and you pay by the mile -- so if the driver takes you on a scenic tour, you could pay more.

Drivers in the Disney area don't do up front pricing only. They do a mixture and the route does make a difference. Yes, you do up front pricing based on your estimated route and time but if your final trip exceeds the estimate they adjust and charge you more. That happened to me Sunday night. And it was because the driver took an excessive/incorrect route from GF to AoA, 14 miles vs. 6 miles, for no reason. Twice as far and twice as long resulted in a fare that was twice as much as originally estimated. I questioned it with Lyft and they refunded me the extra charge after reviewing the route the driver took. You could clearly see the two uturns he made where he passed the road he should have turned on and turned around. I had a similar instance with an Uber driver but it wasn't as excessive so I didn't make a claim with Uber. This was a while ago, we were going from BWI to AK and the driver took the exit to MK in error. He realized it and turned around and got going on the right way but the distance did update on our final fare. It was only a $1 or so change.

 

[JimMIA]

Drivers in the Disney area don't do up front pricing only. They do a mixture and the route does make a difference.

Drivers have nothing to do with which pricing model is used. That is strictly up to the company. In fact, we have no idea what fare the rider pays until after the ride is over. And we have zero control over how your ride is priced.

Yes, you do up front pricing based on your estimated route and time but if your final trip exceeds the estimate they adjust and charge you more. That happened to me Sunday night. And it was because the driver took an excessive/incorrect route from GF to AoA, 14 miles vs. 6 miles, for no reason. Twice as far and twice as long resulted in a fare that was twice as much as originally estimated.

That's Lyft.

Uber uses up-front pricing on every ride I drive in Miami. My last ride this evening, we got stuck at a bridge opening for more than 30 minutes; the rider paid the same fare she was quoted, but I got both mileage and time. Uber barely broke even. I don't know what they do in Orlando, but I suspect it's the same.

Lyft charges straight mileage and time fares on every ride I drive in Miami. I have heard that they may use up-front pricing in Orlando, but I don't know if that's true or not. From what you're saying, it sounds like they are NOT using up-front pricing -- or at least didn't on your particular ride.

I questioned it with Lyft and they refunded me the extra charge after reviewing the route the driver took.

Yes, of course they did. Both companies are VERY good with customer service and will never risk losing a customer over a few dollars. They may be wild and crazy, but they're not stupid.

 

[AngiTN]

Drivers have nothing to do with which pricing model is used. That is strictly up to the company. In fact, we have no idea what fare the rider pays until after the ride is over. And we have zero control over how your ride is priced.That's Lyft.

Uber uses up-front pricing on every ride I drive in Miami. My last ride this evening, we got stuck at a bridge opening for more than 30 minutes; the rider paid the same fare she was quoted, but I got both mileage and time. Uber barely broke even. I don't know what they do in Orlando, but I suspect it's the same.

Lyft charges straight mileage and time fares on every ride I drive in Miami. I have heard that they may use up-front pricing in Orlando, but I don't know if that's true or not. From what you're saying, it sounds like they are NOT using up-front pricing -- or at least didn't on your particular ride.Yes, of course they did. Both companies are VERY good with customer service and will never risk losing a customer over a few dollars. They may be wild and crazy, but they're not stupid.

Sorry, I knew that, I misspoke (typed). I meant the companies
what I'm saying is, they don't do the same as you are doing in Miami, not in my experience. I have many fares that change from the original estimate/quoted fare based on my final trip

They did a combo of upfront and then an adjustment. It's how I've always had them work.
When you begin your trip they charge you a fare based on the time and distance of your trip, based on your origin and destination and their estimated time it will take. Then, if it takes longer once you actually do the ride, they adjust and charge you an additional amount.

 

[JimMIA]

Sorry, I knew that, I misspoke (typed). I meant the companies
what I'm saying is, they don't do the same as you are doing in Miami, not in my experience. I have many fares that change from the original estimate/quoted fare based on my final trip

They did a combo of upfront and then an adjustment. It's how I've always had them work.
When you begin your trip they charge you a fare based on the time and distance of your trip, based on your origin and destination and their estimated time it will take. Then, if it takes longer once you actually do the ride, they adjust and charge you an additional amount.

I assume you're talking about Lyft here. Keep in mind that they could give you an estimate of the ride cost, but that's not the same as an upfront fare. It depends on whether they are using true upfront pricing, and that's hard for the rider to know. In MY market, I KNOW that Uber uses upfront pricing, and Lyft does not. I don't know about Orlando.

Uber does NOT change the upfront fare unless the rider changes the destination in their app. And even then, they don't increase the fare unless the difference is quite substantial.

For example, that ride yesterday. The woman was going to a wedding rehearsal dinner. The party was leaving from the bridal party's hotel and busing a few blocks away for the dinner. We couldn't make the bus departure, so she changed her destination (on her phone) to the restaurant so she would not delay the rest of the wedding party. When I ended the trip, we double-checked her fare because I was concerned that she might have to pay more due to the delay. She didn't; it was exactly the same as her quoted fare even though the ride took twice the time and was maybe 2 miles longer than the original plan.

But that was Uber. Lyft could well be different. With either company, if you have doubts about your fare, question it. Both are very customer-oriented and will adjust your fare immediately.

 

[MillauFr]

I prefer Lyft. They have a good system in place for kicking out bad drivers. If their average rating drops below 4 stars they are removed from the AP. It is much harder for the bad drivers to be removed from the taxi companies.

 

[JimMIA]

I prefer Lyft. They have a good system in place for kicking out bad drivers. If their average rating drops below 4 stars they are removed from the AP. It is much harder for the bad drivers to be removed from the taxi companies.

Actually, with both Lyft and Uber, the threshold is 4.6 -- which is 92% and an "A" in school, but a failing grade with Uber/Lyft. Both companies are also required by Florida law to suspend drivers if certain kinds of complaints are made against them.

There is a general sense in the driver community that Uber is more hard-nosed than Lyft about driver quality, but I don't know if that's accurate. My guess is that that belief is caused by drivers who were terminated by Uber going over to Lyft. Uber was first and many drivers drove only for Uber at first -- so if they got fired, obviously they would go to Lyft. That doesn't mean Lyft is more lenient, though. Both companies have systems in place and both actively police their driver corps.

 

[MillauFr]

Uber didn't tolerate bad behavior of their CEO. They canned him. Good for them.