Before and After: UberX And Lyft, Respectively

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Some of the most popular articles on this site have to do with comparing Lyft and Uber earnings. Today, RSG contributor Scott Van Maldegiam uses Sherpa to take a look at his old UberX earnings and compare them to his new Lyft earnings.

First, thanks for all the kind words or welcome. I appreciate it. I will try to post a new article every Thursday. I know Yoda says “there is not try…”. My father is moving in October from a house he has lived in for over 50 years and he is downsizing. Yeah, it is going to be a busy month. Ok, enough of that.

I pulled up my driving statistics in Sherpa this morning. I was a bit surprised at what I saw. My average Lyft fares were almost exactly the same as my UberX fares! Let me explain a bit. I have not driven for UberX until before their changes (before their 15% fare reduction) and I only drove for Lyft after their changes (commission changes). Let’s dive right in to the statistics:

Click to Enlarge

If it’s a little tough to see, UberX is black, Lyft is blue and Sidecar is orange. I have so few Sidecar rides and demand is very spotty so that data is irrelevant. The data from left to right is distance, fare and time. So what can we see from this?

The Lyft distance is slightly higher than UberX
The UberX fare is slightly higher than Lyft
**The Lyft trip time is significantly longer than UberX**
The UberX fare doesn’t include the $1 trip bonus and the Lyft fare doesn’t include tips.

I was surprised by this data and it made me think as to why this was. It didn’t take me long to realize that the difference in fare is due to time. Why is there a difference in time with my statistics?

Lyft starts the ride 1 minute or when your car moves after you arrive to pick up your passenger.
I can’t think of another reason

I have tried to determine why there is another difference. I have been driving during the same times and same areas so traffic should have been similar. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

A couple other things to note when we are comparing fares:

UberX has more demand so you won’t have to travel as far, on average, to pick up your next ride when compared to Lyft. I used to do 3 rides per hour with UberX and I have been doing closer to 2 rides per hour with Lyft. In Chicago, I see this changing rapidly as demand has seemed to improve lately.
Lyft just recently expanded to the suburbs of Chicago. My UberX data has a small percentage of longer suburban rides while Lyft does not.

Let me know your observations with your own data. If you haven’t signed up for Sherpa yet, feel free to sign up using my referral code. Sherpa is completely free and provides some great insight/analytics into your driving.

Another bit of news: I am now a Lyft Mentor!! If you are in the Chicago area and looking for a Lyft mentor, let me know!

New Lyft Drivers Get Up To $250!

Sign up for Lyft now and you’ll get up to $250 after you do 20 rides. Sign up here using my referral code. If you are an UberX driver in Chicago, you could be eligible to receive $500 when you sign up with Lyft and complete 20 rides. Don’t delay as promotions change frequently

Drivers, what do you think about my driving data? Have you taken a look at your UberX vs Lyft earnings with Sherpa yet?

-Scott @ The Rideshare Guy

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Scott Van Maldegiam

I'm Scott, a full time health benefits consultant and rideshare driver. I spent 11 years working for Motorola and Tellabs using my EE degree and MBA before transitioning into the mortgage industry where I spent 6 years. I then spent 5 years in the cycling industry before transitioning into health insurance.