Uber vs. Lyft

[PSULion]

Is there any noticeable difference between the 2 in terms of availability? We’re staying at Pop and need to get to one early morning at HS and then to the Poly on a different day. We’ve only ever used Uber when traveling to other places, but it seems like more people on here mention Lyft. Just wondered what people’s experiences have been.

 

[KayaWildfire]

You get minnie vans through the Lyft app, which is probably why all the mentions. I use both frequently and bounce back and forth. You can see how many cars are in the area if you open the app and look at the map for both so you can decide one way or the other. I always just go with whichever is cheaper or what I have a coupon for. I've never waited excessively long for one over the other.

 

[Gehrig1B]

Many drivers work for both. We prefer Lyft if the fare is relatively similar but we use both and recognize no real difference in Orlando... We do seem to get more promotions from Lyft though.

 

[Thecouch]

Have both apps and check price and how long the wait estimate. Price can be same of huge difference depending on how many drivers are available

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Generally Lyft was cheaper (a lot cheaper on long journeys) but sometimes there seem to be more Ubers around, so shorter waits. As said above, Lyft seems to have more promotions.

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

My experience with Uber or Lyft is pretty much limited to WDW, and I will say that in the past an Uber driver picked us up, could not communicate with us, and had no idea where she was going. We were almost late for our breakfast reservation at Boma. Our experience with Lyft was in a Minnie van and was 180° different - the driver knew exactly what he was doing and where we were going. It's expensive but the difference was huge.

 

[joelkfla]

My experience with Uber or Lyft is pretty much limited to WDW, and I will say that in the past an Uber driver picked us up, could not communicate with us, and had no idea where she was going. We were almost late for our breakfast reservation at Boma. Our experience with Lyft was in a Minnie van and was 180° different - the driver knew exactly what he was doing and where we were going. It's expensive but the difference was huge.

But a MV is not Lyft, it's Disney using Lyft's software. You can't take MV as representative of Lyft drivers or service.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Have both apps and check price and how long the wait estimate. Price can be same of huge difference depending on how many drivers are available

Good point about price. Surge pricing doesn't necessarily match between the two companies.

 

[AngiTN]

Nope. Availability is pretty even. As in, there are LOTS of vehicles. At least in the common lower 2 classes of vehicles. Get to bigger cars, and maybe it varies some?

 

[AngiTN]

My experience with Uber or Lyft is pretty much limited to WDW, and I will say that in the past an Uber driver picked us up, could not communicate with us, and had no idea where she was going. We were almost late for our breakfast reservation at Boma. Our experience with Lyft was in a Minnie van and was 180° different - the driver knew exactly what he was doing and where we were going. It's expensive but the difference was huge.

Because they are not even comparable.
Minnie Van is not Lyft.
It's a private for hire vehicle employed by Disney.

 

[JimMIA]

My experience with Uber or Lyft is pretty much limited to WDW, and I will say that in the past an Uber driver picked us up, could not communicate with us, and had no idea where she was going. We were almost late for our breakfast reservation at Boma. Our experience with Lyft was in a Minnie van and was 180° different - the driver knew exactly what he was doing and where we were going. It's expensive but the difference was huge.

This is an apples vs elephants comparison.

MinnieVans are Disney owned, maintained, and operated vehicles, driven by Disney CM's, using the Lyft dispatch system for a fee, and driving only in narrowly-defined areas. You are also paying 4x-5x the fare, and should certainly expect MUCH better service from MinnieVan considering their inflated fares.

A regular Lyft ride is in the driver's personal vehicle, with an independent contractor driving. That driver may or may not be from the Orlando area, and they go wherever the GPS tells them to go. The plus with Lyft would be availability and much lower fares than MV.

 

[JimMIA]

You get minnie vans through the Lyft app, which is probably why all the mentions. I use both frequently and bounce back and forth. You can see how many cars are in the area if you open the app and look at the map for both so you can decide one way or the other. I always just go with whichever is cheaper or what I have a coupon for. I've never waited excessively long for one over the other.

For WDW, I think this is the best approach. Generally speaking, there should be plenty of cars available for both companies and I'd just go by price.

With larger vehicles for up to 6 passengers or a lot of stuff, availability may be better with Uber. Uber also offers Uber Comfort in the Orlando market, which offers more legroom and space for only a couple of bucks more on most rides. Lyft has nothing comparable.

Also, only Uber offers some vehicles with child seats, and all MinnieVans have two child seats in every vehicle. Lyft does not offer any vehicles with child seats.

 

[Half Man Half Biscuit]

Agree that promotions are much more common for Lyft which is big plus

Speaking to a few driver on my last non-disney trip (Houston, Dallas, St Louis, Atlanta) and the consensus was that Lyft pay better than Uber. Only a marginal difference but still better.
That also influences me towards Lyft.

I've never noticed much difference in availability

 

[DatDudeSG]

Recently returned from WDW. We used Uber at first until I realized they were adding a "service fee" on top of the quoted fare (this was not shown prior to booking). I quickly changed to Lyft and avoided any extra fees and found the service adequate for what we needed.

 

[JimMIA]

Speaking to a few driver on my last non-disney trip (Houston, Dallas, St Louis, Atlanta) and the consensus was that Lyft pay better than Uber. Only a marginal difference but still better.
That also influences me towards Lyft.

Driver pay varies widely from market to market and Orlando has traditionally been one of the very lowest pay markets in the US.

In my market (Miami) the pay is identical except for two situations. Lyft pays the same for regular rides and Lyft Shared (which the Orlando market does not have), which means they pay more for a Shared ride than Uber pays for Pool. Doesn't matter to me, because I don't accept either Pool or Shared ride requests.

However, Lyft has recently drastically reduced the pay for drivers who rent cars through Lyft. It's a huge cut; Lyft now pays them just a little more than half what Uber pays. But those drivers are so desperate they have no choice because a lot of them don't qualify for Uber. That cut was also made in the Orlando market and has attracted a LOT of driver social media hate toward Lyft.

Personally, I find Lyft extremely annoying to work with as a driver, so I only turn their app on if business is dead slow, and even then I select XL and Lux only.

 

[JimMIA]

Recently returned from WDW. We used Uber at first until I realized they were adding a "service fee" on top of the quoted fare (this was not shown prior to booking). I quickly changed to Lyft and avoided any extra fees and found the service adequate for what we needed.

Where was the ride? Both companies have special fees in certain locations like airports, seaports, etc. I believe Uber has a special fee for pickups at US. Fees like that are usually pass-through fees charged by the venue and neither company makes any money from the fee. Same is true of tolls.

 

[Half Man Half Biscuit]

Driver pay varies widely from market to market and Orlando has traditionally been one of the very lowest pay markets in the US.

In my market (Miami) the pay is identical except for two situations. Lyft pays the same for regular rides and Lyft Shared (which the Orlando market does not have), which means they pay more for a Shared ride than Uber pays for Pool. Doesn't matter to me, because I don't accept either Pool or Shared ride requests.

However, Lyft has recently drastically reduced the pay for drivers who rent cars through Lyft. It's a huge cut; Lyft now pays them just a little more than half what Uber pays. But those drivers are so desperate they have no choice because a lot of them don't qualify for Uber. That cut was also made in the Orlando market and has attracted a LOT of driver social media hate toward Lyft.

Personally, I find Lyft extremely annoying to work with as a driver, so I only turn their app on if business is dead slow, and even then I select XL and Lux only.

That's good to know. When there's not much difference for me personally I like to use the service where the driver fares best.

My anecdotal experience was based on conversations in the 4 previously mentioned markets

 

[JimMIA]

That's good to know. When there's not much difference for me personally I like to use the service where the driver fares best.

My anecdotal experience was based on conversations in the 4 previously mentioned markets

The other thing to consider is that a LOT of drivers really don't know what they are paid or how it is computed. It's appalling to read their social media rants sometimes, because even when the numbers are right in front of them and they are given a crystal-clear explanation, they don't understand.

By not understand, I mean, "What do you mean 2+2 is not SEVEN???" It's actually scary sometimes...smh.

 

[AngiTN]

Where was the ride? Both companies have special fees in certain locations like airports, seaports, etc. I believe Uber has a special fee for pickups at US. Fees like that are usually pass-through fees charged by the venue and neither company makes any money from the fee. Same is true of tolls.

Uber has a "Booking Fee" on all their rides at Disney
Though I suspect Lyft has one too, only it's built in to the total fare, they don't break it down like Uber does so you have no idea what is for what. But Uber fares aren't $3 more than Lyft, they are within cents of each other. For this reason, I've never cared that Uber breaks out a fee, since all I care about is the bottom line price.
But Uber definitely has it on every ride I took over this past weekend. All within property, resort to resort or resort to park.

 

[JimMIA]

Uber has a "Booking Fee" on all their rides at Disney
Though I suspect Lyft has one too, only it's built in to the total fare, they don't break it down like Uber does so you have no idea what is for what. But Uber fares aren't $3 more than Lyft, they are within cents of each other. For this reason, I've never cared that Uber breaks out a fee, since all I care about is the bottom line price.
But Uber definitely has it on every ride I took over this past weekend. All within property, resort to resort or resort to park.

Both companies have a booking fee on every ride, but Uber tends to be more transparent with their ride detail than Lyft.

Generally speaking the level of detail should not matter, because the fare you pay should be what you were quoted most of the time. The only exception would be if there were major traffic drama that caused re-routing or the driver got lost. But even getting lost shouldn't cause much of a difference.