My Experiment Driving for Uber and Lyft

So, throughout our travels, we used Uber / Didi extensively to get around.. and I’ve been curious what it would be like to experience it from the other side.. so after getting back to the Bay, since I had some time before starting work, I decided to become an Uber driver. Some friends urged me to do Lyft too to compare, so I signed up for Lyft too. Really glad I signed up for both cuz I can do some compare and contrast.. Here are some thoughts after driving for both for 2 days.

First.. the onboarding / vehicle inspection process

For both, you have to upload photos of your documents — driver’s license, insurance, and some other things. But the way each did their vehicle inspection I thought illustrated pretty well how they are different.

Uber’s vehicle inspection was over FaceTime

After filling out the application, I soon got a text from an unknown number saying this was “Kate from Uber” and she could schedule a remote vehicle inspection — so I didn’t have to go to an “activation center” (I’ve seen one in Sunnyvale, and other options showed Jiffy Lubes around the Bay).

At first I was a bit skeptical, and so messaged my friend who works at Uber, and he seemed a bit unsure, maybe bc its pretty new, but confirmed it was legit. And so I scheduled it for 4 and a guy (bearded, Caucasian, looked my age, spoke with a slight accent I couldn’t pinpoint) Facetimed me. He was sitting in a call center looking space.. but basically he walked me through a vehicle inspection, telling me what to point my camera at — odometer, VIN, make sure the brake lights / turn signals worked (Elaine had to help me operate the controls while I was outside the car holding my phone). Even had me do the penny test with the tire tread.

But yeah I thought the whole thing was brilliant — saved me time, saved Uber from having to setup actual physical locations. Really impressed how they used existing technology — the video chat feature on our phones — to solve this problem.

Lyft’s vehicle inspection experience was a bit weird at first, but I appreciated the personal touch

Lyft didn’t have the remote option, and so I scheduled to go into Pep Boys later that day. Once I arrived, they had a big sign saying “Lyft Inspections →” which pointed to a table with chairs surrounding the front in a U shape, and staffed by 2 young guys, prob in their 20s.

Once there, there was a bit of shuffling at first to get the right forms and procedure in order, but I was soon handed a form to fill out, and then one of the guys, who just put on a Pep Boys uniform, went out with me to my car. The guy seemed to have ADD, and would keep making comments that were intended to start conversation.. but I really just wanted to get through the inspection quickly. Saying things like “this guy I knew who drove a Benz described BMWs as BM-Trouble-You’s — have you heard that before?”

Once I got that done.. I had to wait around some more as the other guy at the desk was processing other drivers..

But my initial impression was like, who are these jokers they hired to sign people up.. I was struck that they were people I normally didn’t interact with, being in the “tech bubble” that I am. And the other people signing up (couple guys looked Hispanic, one guy said he drove all the way out from Modesto) weren’t like me or the people I usually interact with in my social circles — basically we were of two different worlds. And yeah I was struck at how I was kind of judgmental at first.

But after being there a little longer, and having him complete my application, and kind of walk me through what it was like driving for Lyft, what to do when you first pick someone up, and make sure you take a picture of this car cleaning service we work with so if anyone throws up in your car, call these guys, Lyft will cover it… after I asked him if Elaine could drive my car and have her sign up too, and he was like yeah should be no problem, but make sure you refer her so you can get the referral bonus — after that and our applications were completed and he stood up and gave us a big hearty handshake with a big grin and said “Aww, now you guys can get approved together [our background checks].. Don’t drive each other crazy!”

After all that, I walked away from it and was like, I liked that experience. It was humbling. It was a quirky, warm interaction, contrasted with Uber’s slick, technology solution, but I was interacting with someone through pixels on my phone.

So had the idea of Uber being slick, tech focused, smart vs Lyft being quirky, more personal.

Next up.. The Driving

The first day I used Lyft exclusively, and I was nervous when I picked up my first passenger — I picked him up in the dark (this was 630 am or so, I got up early since still jet lagged) in Portola Valley and took him up to SFO. He had a British accent. But I was excited, and felt myself kind of nervous, like, I’m driving a stranger in my car, this is a first! He was on his phone the whole time and so I didn’t chat with him, but it was a smooth ride up.

The next ride I gave was to a handicapped man, I picked him up from his apartment in Redwood City. And his destination I found out was the Safeway in Menlo Park! It was cool that he was using Lyft as his commute, especially given his handicap.

And I liked how driving for Lyft enabled me to see how other people live.. and interact with folks I normally wouldn’t.

The next guy was a handsome, put-together guy going up to SFO as well, and this guy initiated conversation, so chatting with him was nice — asking him whether he used both Lyft or Uber or one or the other more (more Uber, but recently Lyft sent him an email with a discount), what he did over the long weekend (took his family to Sonoma, and also Pebble Beach / Carmel), where he was flying (San Diego for work, he does this every week). He even asked if I minded if he made a phone call. I found that refreshing — as a passenger on Lyft/Uber, I haven’t thought much of the driver — but this guy treated me like a person, like he was grateful to be getting a ride in my car up to SFO (who he so happened to be paying). Makes me see it more from the other side’s perspective… inspires me to treat my drivers with more gratefulness/respect going forward.

Anyway, at the end of driving for about 5 hours (not giving people rides the whole time, a lot of time spent just waiting for the next request), I made around $100. And I was pretty tired! So yeah, this driving as profession lifestyle, it’s hard work!

On the second day I used both Uber and Lyft (I would go online for both, and whichever I got a request from first, I would take it, and go offline for the other while I was completing the ride).

Some takeaways:

• On second day where I used both, I had a total of 8 rides, and 5 were Uber and 3 were Lyft. And my total pay this day was $43 from Uber and $28 from Lyft for total of $71.
• You make the most by taking folks to the airport (SFO at least).. and out of 5 rides on the first day, only the 2 I took to SFO tipped.
• Lyft is nice as you can receive tips (not sure if Uber has the option, but I got no tips on second day driving for Uber)
• In general I felt more compelled to accept Lyft rides, because the surge pricing (they call it Prime Time) seemed more prevalent, and they have these gamification things — like to get a 10% bonus you have to complete 5 peak rides, have a > 90% acceptance rate, and complete 60 rides.. and I can see the progress bar going up — plus they have a new driver bonus ($1000 if you complete 300 rides or something).. so with Lyft I felt more compelled to drive for them. With Uber, I just felt it was pretty vanilla. I got paid like $5–10 for each ride that took around 10–20 mins each. Not super compelling.
• Uber’s app is nice in that the navigation is integrated in the app. They have more resources so they’re able to invest in building their own nav system, while Lyft will punch you out to your choice of Google/Apple/Waze (I found it interesting that Waze was the default..)
• I found the whole experience pretty addicting. After dropping someone off, I would be like.. ok, where’s my next ride? Eager to get another request.
• I was talking with Elaine about this, but there’s an interesting ‘existential’ thing I experienced while driving.. the notion that as a driver, you really are going where the wind takes you… but the wind is other people and their commutes… its crazy, because I started from the same place both days — Palo Alto — but on first day I was “blown” up north to SFO and then SF, and the second day I was “blown” south to SJC and around Mountain View / Sunnyvale / Palo Alto. I guess this was because I simply accepted whatever requests I got (instead of having more of a destination in mind).. but it was a cool, kind of carefree / exploratory lifestyle I experienced.. I saw lots of new roads that I would have otherwise never driven on.
• Using navigation was key — and I found I liked the Google nav experience better than Apple’s. There was a bug when I switched to using Apple’s where when Lyft punched me to Apple, the nav was to a previous destination I had, not the current one I needed — and so little bugs like that made me not want to use Apple again — especially when there were passengers waiting for me and if I took a bad wrong turn it would cost me another 5 minutes or so to get to them etc. And usually when I use nav in my personal use, I will navigate to one place at a time.. whereas for a Uber/Lyft driver, I’m navigating places constantly, 4–5 times in an hour for example. So def start developing preferences.
• Uber’s nav app was very much in the mold of Google’s I felt.. the button placement was similar, and they do the zoom in when you reach a turn.. thought it interesting, could envision ex-Google Maps engineers who now work at Uber shaping the product.
• a “tip” on driving — after you pick someone up, take a few seconds to see where you’re going. helps to get orientation correct. I picked up one guy and immediately started following the navigation, but it was actually oriented wrong, and so I ended up going the wrong way, and he was like.. “uh are we picking someone else up?” (bc it was a Lyft Line.. their equivalent of Uber Pool). I said sorry and did a U-ey.

In conclusion, eye opening experience

I encourage everyone who’s interested to give it a shot and see what you discover for yourself. Def helps to be a good driver and kind of a “calm driver”. And yeah, you need the time to do it — to get setup etc. But I liked how it brought me in touch with people I normally wouldn’t interact with. And just to see it from the other side.