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The Beginner's Guide To Ride Sharing In Los Angeles

Olivia Niland |
July 16, 2014 | 10:43 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

Lyft is just one of the popular ride sharing options in Los Angeles (Alfredo Mendez/Flickr)
Lyft is just one of the popular ride sharing options in Los Angeles (Alfredo Mendez/Flickr)
Los Angeles is infamous for its freeway-clogging car culture. While L.A.'s sprawl and notoriously unsatisfactory public transportation system will likely keep this car culture going strong for the foreseeable future, ride sharing has become a popular alternative to buses, bikes and bumming rides off friends for those without cars—especially among college students and young professionals.

But how does the ride sharing competition stack up? Well, it depends on what you're looking for.... 

1) Lyft & 2) Uber:

Uber and Lyft are the most “competitive” of ride sharing companies, in every sense of the word, and it's difficult to discuss one without the other due to their similarities.

The two companies have a less than amicable relationship, making headlines recently for engaging in pranks, price wars and even poaching each another's drivers. They have also received backlash in cities across the country for encroaching upon the business of taxi cab services. Still, they're easily the most popular ride sharing services.

Both Lyft and Uber employ drivers who use their own cars to transport riders. Lyfts are identifiable by the hot-pink “mustaches” on the front of drivers' cars. For both Uber and Lyft, users download the app, sign up for the service, input their location and request a ride from a driver in the area. The fare is calculated and the rider's account is automatically charged once the destination is reached, at which point the rider can choose to rate and/or tip the driver.

Both Lyft and Uber incentivize sign-ups by offering first-time ride credits, typically between $20-$25, and occasionally offer other promotional credits. The catch though is that users must input their promotional codes into their accounts immediately after downloading the apps, even before requesting their first ride.

(Uber.com)
(Uber.com)
At the moment, both Uber and Lyft provide riders the same services, at roughly the same cost, in roughly the same places (Lyft is currently available in 60 cities; Uber in 70.) In Los Angeles, the base fare for Uber X, the cheapest of Uber's services, is $1.61 per mile. Lyft is slightly cheaper at $1.13 per mile, but also charges a small pick up charge and what the company calls a "Trust & Safety" fee. In some cities, however, Lyft does not automatically charge riders, but rather asks for donations at the end of the ride.

For the time being, Lyft & Uber are essentially interchangeable—though this could certainly change if tension between the two services, or the cities they operate in, should reach a breaking point any time soon.

3) Sidecar:

At first glance, Sidecar may seem to be a carbon-copy of competitors Uber and Lyft, but there’s one feature that gives it an edge over the others: it's the only ride sharing app that allows drivers to set their own fare, and riders to see that fare before requesting a driver. This, in theory, alleviates some of that "Oh my god how much is this spontaneous In-n-Out run going to set me back??" anxiety, and also allows Sidecar drivers a little more flexibility, unlike Uber and Lyft, which have fixed per-mile rates. 

If price is the biggest factor in selecting a ride sharing service, especially if you typically ride share solo and can take advantage of Sidecar's 2-door cars, Sidecar is likely your best option.

Like Uber and Lyft, Sidecar also offers new users credits and promo codes. One drawback though: if you plan on using Sidecar outside of L.A., you may be out of luck, at least for now, as Sidecar is currently only available in seven other cities across the U.S.

Zipcars are especially popular amongst college students (Olivia Niland/Neon Tommy)
Zipcars are especially popular amongst college students (Olivia Niland/Neon Tommy)


4) Zipcar:

Especially around college campuses, where the demand for cars outpaces their supply (or where the cost of being a car owner is particularly prohibitive), Zipcar is ride sharing in its most literal sense. For a flat hourly (or daily) rate, Zipcar members (who pay monthly membership fees of about $6 a month, or $25 a year for students at Zipcar-affiliated universities) can reserve a Zipcar online or through the smartphone app, and have the convenience of their own personal car without having to worry about maintenance or gas. Zipcar members are allotted 180 free miles per each 24 hour rental period, after which there is a fee for each additional mile.

Zipcar allows users to drive themselves, thereby ensuring more flexibility and control. It provides space for moving, shopping and other activities that other ride sharing services just can’t afford, and puts scheduling right at its users fingertips, as they can reserve, cancel or extend a car reservation through the app.

But Zipcar is by no means perfect. As the service is still growing, supply often surpasses demands even areas where it’s actually offered, leaving members without any Zipcars available, or availability only for short and usually inconvenient blocks of time. Unlike other ride sharing methods, Zipcars are also round-trip solutions, as the car must be returned wherever it was picked up.

This brings us to perhaps the biggest drawback of the Zipcar ride sharing method: failing to return the Zipcar within the scheduled time block, returning the car even one minute late, results in automatic $50 late fees.

Also of particular consideration for college students: you must be at least 18 to reserve a Zipcar, and those with international drivers licenses typically face a lengthier application process.

Bottom line: Zipcar can be a great solution for those times when you need to do a quick grocery run, or move a few items between apartments (speaking from personal experience, a full-on move is not recommended via Zipcar,) but for more time-consuming moves, one-way trips, or longer drives, you’re better off going with a traditional rental car, other ride sharing service or catching a ride with friends.

5) Flywheel:

Los Angeles isn’t exactly known for its taxi culture, but the "E-hailing" app Flywheel is trying to make taxis more appealing and convenient for a younger demographic, and be competitive with other ride sharing services, by following some of their leads. Like other ride sharing services, Flywheel requires users to download an app, sign up, and "hail" a cab using their phone. It also provides an estimated time of arrival, and the cost of the trip—the metered fare plus a $1 service fee—is paid electronically, as are tips (which are not optional.)

Flywheel offers many promotional codes to riders, but is currently only available in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. Unlike Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, Flywheel doesn't rely on "regular" people as drivers or their personal cars as vehicles; the company partners with licensed cab drivers and fleets only, who then undergo further training to become Flywheel drivers.

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At the end of the day, ride sharing in transportation is all about trial and error. It really comes down to trying each service and figuring out which one works best for your own personal needs and lifestyle. Though reviews for each ride sharing service are a mixed bag, reflective of the somewhat gray area that most ride sharing companies now find themselves in, it's safe to say this concept isn't going anywhere anytime soon. 

Contact Staff Reporter Olivia Niland here. Follow Olivia Niland on Twitter 



 

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