RIDEGURU
Will Lyft Shared be a good option if I have a computer carry on bag and one piece of checked luggage?
From my reading, it sounds like Lyft Shared is always limited to 1 to 2 people. (I did take a ride as a solo passenger once and the driver picked up a man and his son, along the way, which was fine, as we had enough space).
I'm traveling to the airport and am thinking Lyft Shared looks like a great option. If I bring just myself, a computer bag to carry on my lap, and one piece of checked luggage, is that reasonable (from the driver's point of view) and/or per lyft policy? Thanks.
Comments
Yes that is reasonable. Lyft Shared or Uber Pool allow you to bring 1 person or a bag (luggage). The cars that pick up for those services seat 4 (usually, sometimes more if they have XL vehicle) regardless you can bring a suitcase or a person. If you ever take it and you bring someone just click 2 seats so Lyft or Uber and the driver know you need 2 seats. Otherwise they think you only need one seat and may load 3 more riders into that drivers car in that case someone will get cancelled. It is quite possible the driver will have 4 people to pick up (you & 3 others). I once picked up a rider then the next rider. After I dropped off 1st rider 2nd rider was stuck in my car for over 75 min. Before I could get her to her destination Uber kept adding riders that needed to be dropped off before her destination. I finally cancelled last 2 riders that were added stopoed accepting request and took the poor girl where she needed to go. You may want to leave earlier than yo…
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Yes that is reasonable. Lyft Shared or Uber Pool allow you to bring 1 person or a bag (luggage). The cars that pick up for those services seat 4 (usually, sometimes more if they have XL vehicle) regardless you can bring a suitcase or a person. If you ever take it and you bring someone just click 2 seats so Lyft or Uber and the driver know you need 2 seats. Otherwise they think you only need one seat and may load 3 more riders into that drivers car in that case someone will get cancelled. It is quite possible the driver will have 4 people to pick up (you & 3 others). I once picked up a rider then the next rider. After I dropped off 1st rider 2nd rider was stuck in my car for over 75 min. Before I could get her to her destination Uber kept adding riders that needed to be dropped off before her destination. I finally cancelled last 2 riders that were added stopoed accepting request and took the poor girl where she needed to go. You may want to leave earlier than you normally would in the event the driver has 3 other shared riders to pick up. Riders sometimes more so than not tend to not be ready when driver arrives. Driver will usually wait 5 min for a rider or choose to wait longer. Also keep in mind that although you may be picked up 1st you could be the last to be dropped off. Although this may sound like I am trying to discourage you. I just want you to be aware of what can happen if you take shared or pool as being at the airport ahead of time is priority so you dont miss your flight.
Not sure what city you are in or what time you are leaving so none of this may happen. You may be the only rider. One last suggestion. Assuming your driver is polite, nice, respectful, car is clean, everything goes well and the driver loads & unloads your bag please consider tipping even if just a 1.00 or 2.00. Drivers tend to lose money or make very little on shared and pool rides. Trust me it would greatly be appreciated especially since gas prices have gone up .50 or more in every city:) Obviously if your driver is rude, doesnt load & unload your bag, car is dirty and smelly, driver isnt respectful, etc then by no means leave a tip. Hopefully this helps somewhat so you are not running through the airport to catch your flight because a rider or 2 made driver wait:). Safe travels.
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Thanks. That was very helpful. I always tip, even in rare cases where I haven't had the best experience. I'm middle-aged, and, I think, raised in a different culture, in some respects, to what I'm witnessing today. I say give a little to service industry workers (having worked a bunch of service industry jobs myself, and seeing and trying to see the other side of things). But that's another story. Of course, the size of the tip depends on the quality of service.
I have one clarifying question, please: If I take Lyft Shared or Uber Pool and it's just me, and I'm bringing a computer bag to put on my lap, as well as a suitcase I intend to check with the airline, should I click to request one or two seats within the App? I think in the above the answer is one seat, but having confirmation would help (if I have that right).
This is for a trip from Palo Alto to San Jose airport, and, separately, LAX to mid-city LA. I've taken Lyft Shared and Uber Pool before,…
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Thanks. That was very helpful. I always tip, even in rare cases where I haven't had the best experience. I'm middle-aged, and, I think, raised in a different culture, in some respects, to what I'm witnessing today. I say give a little to service industry workers (having worked a bunch of service industry jobs myself, and seeing and trying to see the other side of things). But that's another story. Of course, the size of the tip depends on the quality of service.
I have one clarifying question, please: If I take Lyft Shared or Uber Pool and it's just me, and I'm bringing a computer bag to put on my lap, as well as a suitcase I intend to check with the airline, should I click to request one or two seats within the App? I think in the above the answer is one seat, but having confirmation would help (if I have that right).
This is for a trip from Palo Alto to San Jose airport, and, separately, LAX to mid-city LA. I've taken Lyft Shared and Uber Pool before, and it's been awhile, and all but once been pleasant. But when I've taken it, it hasn't been clear to me, as a customer, what the baggage limitations have been, and when I've asked the driver, politely, I've always wondered if they are being overly diplomatic -- because they didn't want to risk getting dinged on the rating.
I'll follow your useful advice and leave extra early, given that they may pick up/drop off other riders. Good tip. Thank you.
Separately, I tend to prefer Lyft, because I can write to customer service, and they seem more responsive.
On an Uber ride I still haven't forgotten, the driver was great, literally could not have been better, and I wanted to rate him 5 stars, and I was stupidly rushing, "multi-tasking," and accidentally gave him one star. Literally. I wrote to uber (on facebook messenger), and they were firm that once a rating is entered, there is no way to change it. That's a really onerous, ridiculous policy. I love how they say, "once a rating has been entered, there is no way to change it." What they should say is, "once a rating is entered, we choose to not allow it to be changed." I struggle to relate to companies with (what I consider) ridiculous policies like that, and, at least with Lyft, I can write to them without having to go through 200,000 hoops.
Thanks again for your answer, and if you or anyone can provide clarification, that would help.
So, if requesting Lyft Shared, for example, and I have just me, and one checked bag for the airline, I request 1 seat only, correct? Thank you.
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Sorry I shouldve been more clear. I was talking about two separate trips, my fault. If you are a rider bringing a friend click for 2 seats. If you are a rider with baggage I would click 1 seat. The car that picks you up should have a trunk with room for bags/luggage. I would hope a driver wouldnt want you to click 2 seats for you & a bag as that would limit them from being able to accept 2 more riders vs accepting 3 more & putting bag in trunk (I don't mean that sarcastically towards you just hoping a driver would not consider putting bag in a seat that could seat another rider). After the story that hit the news today about Reagan Airport and Uber & Lyft drivers nothing would surprise me on the level of stupidity. Unfortunately these idiot drivers make the rest of us look look like we all try scamming the system and screwing our riders. Trust me most of us are not as stupid or dishonest as these drivers. I will post about that on different topic. Drivers are supposed …
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Sorry I shouldve been more clear. I was talking about two separate trips, my fault. If you are a rider bringing a friend click for 2 seats. If you are a rider with baggage I would click 1 seat. The car that picks you up should have a trunk with room for bags/luggage. I would hope a driver wouldnt want you to click 2 seats for you & a bag as that would limit them from being able to accept 2 more riders vs accepting 3 more & putting bag in trunk (I don't mean that sarcastically towards you just hoping a driver would not consider putting bag in a seat that could seat another rider). After the story that hit the news today about Reagan Airport and Uber & Lyft drivers nothing would surprise me on the level of stupidity. Unfortunately these idiot drivers make the rest of us look look like we all try scamming the system and screwing our riders. Trust me most of us are not as stupid or dishonest as these drivers. I will post about that on different topic. Drivers are supposed to have a clean trunk with room in for luggage, groceries, bags, etc... By all means if your ride isnt good and the driver doesnt deserve do not leave a tip. I too tip when not necessarily deserved or service is less than satisfactory. I try to be understanding and assume that maybe the person I am tipping is just having a bad day or going through something in their life thats making it difficult to perform their job. I give 15% if less than satisfactory, good service 20%, and excellent service over 20%. If the driver doesnt get out of car & help with luggage then sorry they dont deserve a tip. Many drivers fail to realize this is their own business yes they can run it how they want but it is based on the riders experience. Driver does nothing other than let you in their car & drive them from a to b. Why would you want to tip? You need to be personable, friendly (not over friendly), courteous, respectful, if they have luggage put it in trunk for them, etc... You want a tip do something to make that person want to tip you. Too many entitled people out there. You dont get extra if you dont do anything to deserve it. Then there are riders that as long as you get them where they are going safely and you dont disturb them they will tip you. You need to be able to read your rider and provide them with the ride they want. Then there is the 3rd type of rider this time instead of being the self entitled driver its the self entitled rider. No matter how nice you are, no matter how much you go out of your way, no matter how much you do for them nothing is enough for them they dont tip you a dime regardless how above and beyind you go for them. Dont even get me started on the ratings lol Riders rate drivers less than 5 stars by mistake or they have multiple trips & rate wrong one, rate drivers for things beyond their control, want a free ride, the list goes on (so do all my post lol), but drivers also rate riders less than 5 stars for equally as stupid reasons, accidentally slamming their door (gotta love that one). How the hell is the rider suppose to know how hard the door needs to be pushed? Ok I've given you much more than you needed to know or asked for. Lol If you have any doubts or concerns once a driver accepts your request text or call them right away. Tell them you have a suitcase coming with you. "Hey just giving you a heads up I have a piece of luggage". I would hope it wouldnt be an issue. Once driver accepts and you see its a really small car the alternative is cancel immediately (to avoid fee) try again and maybe you will get a bigger car. Thats always an option. Hopefully I've answered your question in my long winded answer. If you have any further questions or comments I would be happy to help you. Would love to see more riders post their opinions on here, their advice on what makes a rider happy, comfortable, etc. When a driver gets rated less than 5 stars it is extremely rare we know why. How do we fix what we are doung wrong if we dont know whst we did. Please ask questions, post your opinion, give drivers ideas all are welcome. Safe travels.
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Thank you.
That was very helfpul, and it was great hearing from a driver's point of view. Sincerely, very helpful and much appreciated. Safe travels...:)
Thank you. Happy I could help. Please feel free to ask questions or give your opinion from riders perspective. I just posted under rideshare news about the idiot drivers who were causing surges at Reagan airport andvwere dumb enough to go to the press with it. Would love to have a rider post their opinion.
Definitely reasonable. Go for it.