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In my experience, Uber and Lyft have sucked out of LAX since they started requiring them to only use the arrivals level for pickups and dropoffs.

The drivers will consistently try to call/text me to ask where I'm going so they can cancel or ignore me if the ride isn't as long as they'd like. Then you end up playing chicken with the driver to see who cancels first and gets stuck with the penalty. If the driver does show up, I've noticed they'll often give a shitty rating out of spite.

I've decided that it's usually not worth it to deal with the Uber/Lyft bullshit when I can pay an extra $1-5 for a taxi. I don't have to wait for the driver to work their way around the horsehoe of LAX, I don't have to worry about the driver canceling on me, and I prevent the driver from wrecking my social credit score in the Uber and Lyft apps.

Why tip at that point? One of the major draws originally for these services was that the price you see is the price you pay, and drivers were discouraged from accepting tips. I tipped for a bit when that changed because of some imagined social infraction I was committing, but I got over it and now I tip pretty much never unless the driver goes out of their way to do something nice for me. I still get exclusively 5-star drivers from nearby locations, so I’m not sure what consequence I’m supposed to pretend to face by not tipping.

But I’ve also not once been asked about my tip or my fare so maybe it’s different in your part of the country.

There's incentive to always tip well because you also get rated as a rider, and I suspect that drivers also can see your average tip.

I dont think drivers can see how much you tip on average, and you get rated before they see how much you tipped for the trip.

>I literally got asked what I will tip by my Lyft driver, and was reminded multiple times during the trip about the tip. Now, I understand, and I did tip, but I did not enjoy the experience.

This reads to me that you were pretty much harassed to tip.

> This reads to me that you were pretty much harassed to tip.

I was, but he did save my ass and it was very late and I was tired, so I was honest with myself and realized I would pay for his service. And I understand, he needs to eat too. Just a crappy situation all around. I'm gonna take taxis from now, if no public transport is avail. My fav would be something like ZipCar if possible, like renting the car equivalent of a Bird.

> The aggressive tip dude that took me basically told me that my fare was "too short" and nobody wants to take it, but how he's such a good guy and doesn't play that game and that's why I should tip him well.

He was gaslighting you. I've taken plenty of minfare trips when it's hot out in the summer or when my bad leg is acting up or when I have a cart full of groceries and I have never had a problem getting a ride with Lyft.

Also, I tip the vast majority of the time, only not tipping if the driver did something wrong (e.g. has issues following Google Maps's directions, gives me shit about sitting in the front seat, etc.), but if someone aggressively demands I tip them, that goes straight past "the driver did something wrong" and into "the driver did something so wrong that not only am I not tipping, but I'm 1-starring them and if I have some free time, I'm calling Lyft support".

>Then in all went downhill, quick.

IME things started going downhill when UberLyft started reducing driver payouts, which led to drivers starting to game the system.

Makes sense too in a way. Driver now have no inventive to make the service pleasant.

This is why I now walk off-airport at LAX before hailing a ride or just grab a cab - it's not worth dealing with the bullshit anymore.

Also, I feel like your comment matches my experience that overall, the rider experiences with Lyft and Uber are steadily trending toward a level almost as bad as taxis used to be. Everyone was happy when it really was just a bunch of people driving in their spare time for extra cash close to their normal routes. Then a significant portion of drivers started driving full-time for basically minimum wage and the end result is... rideshare drivers are taxi drivers. Reckless driving, spamming the horn, poor communication skills, constantly gaming the system to try to get more money / avoid less-profitable fares, etc. I feel like the rating system doesn't really help here because most people don't want to give bad ratings and potentially destroy someone's primary source of income.

You shouldn't have tipped. Don't let people push you around because you feel uncomfortable.

After about 5-10 minutes, Uber will cancel a ride if the driver makes no progress toward the pickup spot and local traffic does not justify the lack of progress. I don't know if it affects the driver's rating but it definitely doesn't affect the passenger's rating.

It only takes a few mins to walk outside of the airport and get picked up on a normal street.

I would always walk to the Hyatt.