Lyft to EWR early Saturday morning?

I’ve never used it for a early weekend flight. Will there be any problems with getting a driver?  I need a pickup at 6:15 am Saturday. 


What do y’all think?


Do you prefer not to use Uber? It lets you schedule pickups (and is much cheaper to EWR).


Yeah, our family is boycotting Uber. 


Understood!

If the price difference I see right now ($18 Uber vs. $43 Lyft) is typical, you might as well schedule through a car service and be sure of a reliable pickup.


Should be fine, their model is being available 24/7, so 6 am isn't an issue.


I don't know how that can be. I used to use Uber, now use Lyft and have found their prices to be about the same. It's kind of like coke and Pepsi. 

j_r said:

Understood!

If the price difference I see right now ($18 Uber vs. $43 Lyft) is typical, you might as well schedule through a car service and be sure of a reliable pickup.



That was based on a check of both apps at around 8:30 on Friday night. YMMV.



Smedley said:

I don't know how that can be. I used to use Uber, now use Lyft and have found their prices to be about the same. It's kind of like coke and Pepsi. 
j_r said:

Understood!

If the price difference I see right now ($18 Uber vs. $43 Lyft) is typical, you might as well schedule through a car service and be sure of a reliable pickup.

I use both and their prices are in fact similar. Whatever the above person was comparing the two to, was not comparable I am sure.

In fact it was a Lyft I scheduled in advance for my husband very early on Thanksgiving morning - 4 am - and there was no problem with that.  Lyft was more of a guarantee pick up than Uber which is why I chose them that day. Both were about 16 from Maplewood.



The above person said:

That was based on a check of both apps at around 8:30 on Friday night. YMMV.



I've also found the two services to be about the same, but I use Lyft whenever possible. (In some areas, Uber is more readily available; in others, it's equal.)

Regarding advance scheduling: My understanding is that these services don't actually set something up in advance. What they do is send out a request at a predetermined time. That can work fine--as long as there happens to be a driver around, which is not always the case at 4:00 a.m. in East Bumble. We had one instance (using a third service, whose name escapes me right now) when we thought we had reserved an early-morning ride to the airport but none showed up. We called and were told no driver was available.

Has this changed? When you book in advance now, does that guarantee an actual driver?


You should be fine.  This past summer my son was in the ER and was getting transferred to another hospital to be admitted - I called my husband at 4AM to come get our car so I could ride in the ambulance w/my son and he could follow.  He packed a few things for us, sent out a request to LYFT and got picked up within minutes - he got to Mountainside Hospital from SO about a half hour after I called him.  I would think you'd have plenty of drivers available at 6AM.  Safe travels!



With regard to the Lyft vs Uber thing, I had both apps - and switched to using Lyft as my main (essentially only, but I still have the app installed) during the whole #DeleteUber thing after the travel ban last year. I haven't bothered to do any actual full-scale close comparison between the two, but the pricing is close enough between the two that it is generally not worth worrying about and I haven't noticed any difference in availability (a lot of drivers drive for both I think).

That said, sometimes there aren't a lot of drivers about at odd hours of the morning, and all it takes is one guy who initially accepts your ride and then cancels 10 minutes later when he was seemingly on his way to ruin your day. So I'd make sure you have time allow for potential unwanted cancellations if there aren't a lot of options. Doesn't happen a lot, but it's happened to me a few times.




Two observations: (1) I've had drivers cancel on me several times for no apparent reason. In every case except one, another driver was readily available. (2) I have often asked drivers who drive for both Uber and Lyft which company they prefer. Every single one without exception said Lyft.

qrysdonnell said:

With regard to the Lyft vs Uber thing, I had both apps - and switched to using Lyft as my main (essentially only, but I still have the app installed) during the whole #DeleteUber thing after the travel ban last year. I haven't bothered to do any actual full-scale close comparison between the two, but the pricing is close enough between the two that it is generally not worth worrying about and I haven't noticed any difference in availability (a lot of drivers drive for both I think).

That said, sometimes there aren't a lot of drivers about at odd hours of the morning, and all it takes is one guy who initially accepts your ride and then cancels 10 minutes later when he was seemingly on his way to ruin your day. So I'd make sure you have time allow for potential unwanted cancellations if there aren't a lot of options. Doesn't happen a lot, but it's happened to me a few times.



I have had a traditional cab service not show up for an early morning flight.  And one time when we reserved a van they showed up with a mid size car and we all had suitcases on our laps.  

Have only used Uber but my friend who drives for both prefers Lyft.  he says the prices are the same (based on mileage and time of day).

Best experience for me is driving my self and using a service like value park ($10.00/day) and their shuttle service has worked out fine.  


I also personally use the longterm parking services near the airport. They're quick and efficient. I'm usually in my own car withing 10 minutes of getting my bags. Depending on how many days it is, it'll likely cost more than Lyft/Uber, but it's generally not what I'd consider expensive (I mean, being conditioned to how expensive life in the Northeast just generally is!)


mikescott said:

I have had a traditional cab service not show up for an early morning flight.  And one time when we reserved a van they showed up with a mid size car and we all had suitcases on our laps.  

Have only used Uber but my friend who drives for both prefers Lyft.  he says the prices are the same (based on mileage and time of day).

Best experience for me is driving my self and using a service like value park ($10.00/day) and their shuttle service has worked out fine.  




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