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Comment by mattdotc | Hacker News Reader

I was in San Francisco for a few days in mid June.

Having never used a ride-sharing service before, I hesistantly installed Lyft and handed over my payment information.

After the first ride, I didn't look back. I used their services maybe 10 times in 3 days in order to get around the city. Waits were never very long (we got rides at many different times of day, morning, mid-day, late night) and all of the drivers I had were friendly.

My experiences were all pleasant and the fares were reasonable. I can't speak to the quality of the Uber experience, but it seems many of the Lyft drivers were not too keen on the company.

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Having used both, the one thing that keeps me from exclusively using lyft is coverage. Around Atlanta suburbs they don't seem to have much coverage, not something that can be fixed easily I guess.

On at least two occasions in San Francisco I've seen someone with the Uber U on their windshield and a pink mustache on the dashboard, ready to swap out. Don't know how widespread it is, but it seems pretty easy for drivers to work both networks.

I was in SF a few weeks ago (for YC Hacks, actually) and virtually every one of my Lyft drivers (~4) was a driver for both Lyft and Uber.

All of them said they vastly prefer Lyft — they said Uber's policies for firing otherwise excellent drivers as soon as they dip below 4.6/5.0 stars makes them very worried.

As a user, I found the actual driving experience of Lyft better, but the Uber app is vastly superior to Lyft's – not being able to split rides being a major annoyance.

Lyft has a similar policy re: stars.

The drivers' experience carries far more weight than any policy on paper, though.

Actual implementation of policies can be completely different (imagine a ratings drop triggering an automated email saying "turn in your kit before 6pm today or a security detail will come get it" vs. triggering a non-confrontational call from someone trained to help you improve your ratings). Even the tone with which a policy is generally enforced (even if the end result is exactly the same) matters.

I don't have direct experience with either Lyft or Uber, but I wouldn't discredit drivers' impressions.

This is what I imagine drivers doing. In NYC, if you're in the outskirts of the boroughs you're probably better off as a driver being part of both networks.

Can confirm that some drivers are on both networks (Inland Empire). They even offered discount codes from both Lyft and Uber!

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