So you’ve embraced the sharing economy when it comes to places to stay and transportation. You’re using airbnb instead of hotels.com and you’re using Uber and Lyft instead of the local taxicab company. Now it’s time to navigate the kinks.
One of the biggest pains for Uber and Lyft users is getting a straight idea on the rate you’ll pay from point A to point B.
Factors like surge pricing, service and the amount of drivers on the street can change the rate that you’ll pay for a ride with Lyft, Uber and even Uber X.
Kia Kokalitcheva at venturebeat.com discovered UpHail and tested it out to see what the rates would be for a simple trip between the Embarcadero BART station and the San Francisco Caltrain station. Kokalitcheva reports that UpHail came up out of nowhere and no one is sure how long it will last.
Last year a new startup called Corral Rides tried to aggregate data from both Uber and Lyft in order to find users the best rate and the first available car and then allow riders to use their app to book directly from either service. Lyft ended up yanking their data out of the app and Uber revoked the right for Corral Rides users to hail an Uber car from their app.
UpHail says they’ll be expanding to Canada, South America, Europe and Australia soon, although many doubt they’ll be around in the US much longer.
For now you can find the service at UpHail.com