Lyft is a big rival for shared-ride mogul UBER. In Europe, I’m mainly using UBER when needing a ride (mostly from and to the Airport), if the service isn’t banned in that country. In Los Angeles, there are several transportation network companies available. The, other, most popular one is Lyft. I reminisce I heard about Lyft before but more precisely haven’t heard any Experiences on Lyft or even Lyft Line before. So, I was absolutely thrilled to try this other Mobility App and compare it to my experience with UBER.

My own Experience with Lyft in Los Angeles

If you have already used UBER in the past, you won’t notice a huge difference to lyft. It’s just another App for individual mobility in urban areas. To book a ride you select your pick-up location, the destination where you want to go, check if everything is right and hit the “request a lyft” button, and a driver/car is searched and matched for you. What I liked is that you can choose both destinations either by typing a name, such as the name of the venue, not the exact address, or placing the needle on the map. The one feature I really appreciated is that you can update your pickup location by a few meters even after you booked that ride. As I experienced there is no such option available to UBER. Updating your pickup location might be necessary if you notice the location you’ve chosen might be too crowded or not ideal to quickly park, so you can adjust the radius a bit. Also, at any time you can see the location of the driver in the App, and both the estimated pickup and dropoff times. Of course, in LA Traffic those times can’t always be taken for granted. However, during my 10 rides with lyft, they have always been quite accurate and a great form of shared urban mobility in LA.
Once the ride is booked you get the information on both the vehicle and the driver. Another feature I really appreciated is that it displays the colour of the car, what uber doesn’t. As a European I had to google so many car models, just to be sure I’m looking for the right car, as the names are often a bit different to the names they have in Europe. For example, you get the US Hyundai Elantra as a Hyundai i30 in Europe, or the Nissan Rogue Sport is available as a Nissan Qashqai in Europe. So looking for the colour of a car, and the number plate has been so much easier for me as a passenger. My lyft drivers in Los Angeles have mostly been really friendly and I had so many super pleasant chats with them. Just once a driver was a bit weird – he didn’t even open the trunk of his own car, even though he saw I’m having three pieces of luggage, and I had to stow everything on my own. But that’s just something I’m not used to from other drivers, that have always been helpful and understandable desire to prevent any possible scratches or damages to their cars from placing luggage in the back of their cars.

Overall, my experience on 10 rides with Lyft have been to 95% positive and I can definitely recommend trying out Lyft or Lyft Line. Lyft currently operates in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.

What is Lyft Line and how does it work?

Other than Lyft, where you and your accompanying passengers are the only riders of this lyft ride, you are able to share a ride with a stranger through lyft line. It’s basically the same to uberPool, that I already used many times. In Los Angeles there are the following types of rides available, each with the number of seats that you can book: Line (1-2 seats, shared), Lyft (4 seats), Plus (6 seats), Premier (4 seats, high-end), Lux (4 seats, black car), Lux SUV (6 seats, black car).
For example, you have just arrived at Los Angeles Airport LAX and want to go to Beverly Hills, and there is another person at LAX at the same time that want’s to go to West Hollywood. Though Lyft Line the driver will pick one person at their location up, then the other, and will drop the first person on the Route off, and later the other. It’s even possible you’re picking up another person that want’s to be transported from somewhere near Beverly Hills to WeHo, as it’s perfectly located close to the original Route.
Using Lyft Line does not only result in a lower price for you, it also means there are fewer cars necessary to transport people and fewer cars on the road mean less traffic and less pollution, and yeah, it’s just better.

Lyft Promo Code

Reduced Prices, who doesn’t like that. If you try out lyft for the very first time you will receive a reduced price, valid for first rides in Los Angeles only. Simply use this following Promo Code and the ride credit will automatically be used during your first ride.
Lyft Promo Code: LISA24482
Disclaimer: In exchange, I will also receive a ride credit with lyft, but in Los Angeles only. As I don’t have any trips to LA planned in the future I might not be able to use them, but at least you will enjoy a reduced fee for your first ride.