Thanks Sonya! I'll definitely look for opportunities to do short pieces like this in the future. I appreciate the pointer to the uber drivers' forum.
Choosing Lyft over Uber was partly a historical accident. At the time of my first story, our only car was a 2003 Mazda Protege, which was too old for Uber's standards but permitted on Lyft's…
Thanks Sonya! I'll definitely look for opportunities to do short pieces like this in the future. I appreciate the pointer to the uber drivers' forum.
Choosing Lyft over Uber was partly a historical accident. At the time of my first story, our only car was a 2003 Mazda Protege, which was too old for Uber's standards but permitted on Lyft's network. This was also around the time Travis Kalanick was solidifying his asshole reputation. Plus at the time Lyft still had a reputation as the friendlier ride-sharing platform. Passengers were encouraged to sit in the front seat and fist-bump their drivers, which was both a nicer vibe in general and also potentially better for writing an interesting story.
After logging 50 hours as a Lyft driver I had some brand loyalty and continued to use them as my primary app as a passenger. So when I started preparing for this one, I signed up for Lyft first. I have also signed up for Uber and might give them a try if and when they finish my background check.
Another interesting change: back in 2014, a lot of drivers logged on to both apps simultaneously and tried to juggle fares between the two networks. This was helpful because there were sometimes long waits between fares. Today the waits are smaller and so the upside of doing this is smaller. So I would guess this behavior is less common than it used to be, though I haven't verified that yet.
Thanks Sonya! I'll definitely look for opportunities to do short pieces like this in the future. I appreciate the pointer to the uber drivers' forum.
Choosing Lyft over Uber was partly a historical accident. At the time of my first story, our only car was a 2003 Mazda Protege, which was too old for Uber's standards but permitted on Lyft's network. This was also around the time Travis Kalanick was solidifying his asshole reputation. Plus at the time Lyft still had a reputation as the friendlier ride-sharing platform. Passengers were encouraged to sit in the front seat and fist-bump their drivers, which was both a nicer vibe in general and also potentially better for writing an interesting story.
After logging 50 hours as a Lyft driver I had some brand loyalty and continued to use them as my primary app as a passenger. So when I started preparing for this one, I signed up for Lyft first. I have also signed up for Uber and might give them a try if and when they finish my background check.
Another interesting change: back in 2014, a lot of drivers logged on to both apps simultaneously and tried to juggle fares between the two networks. This was helpful because there were sometimes long waits between fares. Today the waits are smaller and so the upside of doing this is smaller. So I would guess this behavior is less common than it used to be, though I haven't verified that yet.