RIDEGURU
Doug Herrera (DougH)
Ride Apprentice
213 DriverActivity
Posts by DougH
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Course for delivery drivers - Maximum Delivery Profits by The Rideshare Guy
Just wanted to share a few details about a new online course by the Rideshare Guy. It's called Maximum Delivery … -
Taxis have apps now too: You can use RideYellow to request and pay for a yellow cab
Uber and Lyft have nearly pushed traditional taxi cabs out of business in many cities, but cab companies aren't going … -
Drivers: Two delivery apps to look into (Shipt & goPuff)
Things are moving fast in the app-based delivery industry, and there a lot of new options out there for drivers … -
Uber and Lyft aren't the only thing in town: Two other car services using tech to provide rides
On-demand dominates the news, but there are many companies that are catching up with Uber and Lyft tech to carve … -
Which scooter wins? Bird, Lime, Uber Scooter, or Lyft Scooter?
Have e scooters rentals come to your town yet? You might have seen a sudden wave of scooter riders in … -
What about peer-to-peer car rentals?
Uber and Lyft get most of the attention when it comes to new tech in the transportation space, but there's …
Hitting a pedestrian or being in a serious car accident
Hitting a pedestrian or being involved in any serious car accident.
I was looking to see how the companies might distinguish myself and so far it seems less about features/benefits and more about getting more scooters on the streets. Not a bad tactic, but eventually they will need to innovate.
The only thing I like about it so far is that everything is larger: Larger text, larger buttons. That's better for usability. Other than that, it feels like a step backward.
Yes, you can schedule a ride in the app. One thing to note is that the Uber scheduling feature is more of an automated request. The app sends a request at the time you set. It's not like a driver gets your ride ahead of time and puts it in their schedule. The Lyft app scheduling feature is more like a true scheduled ride. The Lyft driver gets it ahead of time and it's stored in their app as a schedule ride.
Here's a picture that shows the button in the Uber app for scheduling a ride:
Very accurate. I try to do my part by telling friends that anything less than 5 is basically signaling that the driver should be fired.
There is a 5-minute time limit for the initial pickup. For stops after that, there is a 2-minute limit. If you're picking up a friend, I don't think drivers will be super strict about the 2-minute limit, but I think waiting more than 5 minutes might make the driver annoyed.
Asking the driver to stop is ok, but using the multiple destinations feature could make the process easier for you because you won't have to manually direct the driver to the stop. If you enter the stop in the app, they'll be able to use their navigation apps to get there.
When picking up a friend it's also helpful to use the 'share status' feature, which lets your friend see exactly where your car is. While on the ride, tap the driver's info at the bottom of the screen and look for the 'share status' button.
The ride won't automatically end if the stop takes longer than 2 minutes, but the driver can end the ride and opt to charge a no-show fee. And yes, the meter is still running during your stop, but the cost per minute is very low. usually around $0.15/minute.
Now that Uber added a multiple destinations features to the app, it's possible to do a round trip. Let's say you want to go from home, to the ATM, then back home. Here's how you do that in the Uber app.
One thing to note: Drivers will only wait 2 mintues at each stop, so it has to be a quick errand. If your errand will take longer, you'll need to request a second ride home. It's a little hard to explain with pictures, so here's a link to my post on how to do a round trip in an Uber, with a picture guide.
I'd also add that you can get deactivated by Uber for doing this. Uber would consider it prearranging rides, which is against the Community Guidelines. Look under the Fraud and Illegitimate behavior section: https://www.uber.com/legal/community-guidelines/us-en/
Doing it once or twice would likely be ok, but if you made a habit out of it, you'd eventually be deactivated.
We still have to consider how much VC cash is keeping all the delivery apps afloat. Do any of the food delivery apps make money yet? I'm not sure. That said, as a consumer I love using Ubereats but I hate driving for it.
ippei gave a great, thorough answer, but one thing I would add is that the Car Seat service may only be availabe in NYC. If you're outside of NYC, you're not going to find a car seat service and drivers won't have a car seat unless you're lucky. Serving parents with young children is a blind spot for Uber/Lyft services.
Edit: It looks like Car Seat is also available in Washington, D.C. Does anyone know other cities where it's available?
I think the lack of info about how to use Uber at airports has held a lot of older potential customers from trying rideshare. Is Uber at the airport I'm going to? Which Uber service should I use? Can I schedule my ride? Where do I go to get the ride? All those basic questions are barely acknowledged by Uber or airports.
It's also not always easy to request the correct Uber ride type when you have a big group, luggage, or oddly-shaped items. And what do you do when the car that shows up isnt big enough? I wrote up an article that goes over how to select the right type of ride for airport trips: Using Uber at the airport. To briefly summarize it, if you have more than 2 people or more than 2 large pieces of luggage, get an XL. And be careful about the 'SUV' service. It's actually a much, much more expensive ride than UberX and XL, but is confusingly named.