The battleground of the ride-hailing war has now moved from San Francisco to Manhattan.
On Friday, bitter rivals Uber and Lyft, both of which offer on-demand rides with the tap of a mobile app, announced price slashes to their carpooling services in Manhattan. So, if you’re looking for a ride and don’t want to grab a taxi, here are your options:
UberPool: Riders can get a trip anywhere in Manhattan, as long as it starts and ends south of 96th Street, and it will cost $10 at most (or less if the distance doesn’t reach $10 per Uber’s fare math), and regardless of whether you get matched to carpool with another rider. Uber says this is for a limited time, so keep an eye out for announcements in case it changes.
Lyft Line: Riders can get a trip anywhere in Manhattan as long as it starts and ends south of 97th Street (note the extra block), and it will cost only $5 even if you’re not matched with another carpooler. The catch is that this only works for one rider . I f you are with a friend, you will be charged $1 dollar for both of you to get into the car.
Gett: This Israeli car service contender has been quieter than Uber and Lyft, but it’s been offering $10 rides anywhere in Manhattan south of 110th Street since last September. Oh, and you don’t have to carpool and you get to ride in a fancy black car.
Uber and Lyft have been running this playbook in San Francisco for several months now, and prices have fluctuated. Manhattanites should expect these deals to be temporary. New York’s city council is also expected to consider a proposal that would halt these services’ expansion by capping the number of cars they can add every year, so any of the above could be affected. Lyft recently agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a city complaint.
At least New York still has a pretty good subway system…