Evidently keen to know about your ride experience before it’s even over, Lyft is reportedly testing a mid-ride feedback feature for its app.
Spotted by Mashable and currently being tested with a select group of users who take shared rides, the feature works like this: If you open the Lyft app during your trip, a message will pop up asking: “How’s your route so far?”
You’ll have three ways to answer: Bad, OK, and great. Once you make your selection, you’ll see another question that allows you to elaborate on your previous response. So if you answered “great,” Lyft will come back with something like, “Awesome, what’s going well?” to which you can select either “direct route,” “no traffic,” “minimal stops,” or “drop-off time.”
If it’s not going so well, you’ll have a bunch of other selections to choose from, and Lyft promises anything you communicate during your ride will not affect your driver’s rating.
Lyft’s main ridesharing rival, Uber, rolled out a similar feature in May in the belief that riders are more likely to give extra thought to a question about an experience if they’re asked during the time when it’s is taking place, rather than afterward.
For Lyft, requesting feedback mid-ride appears aimed at helping the company to hone its “shared rides” carpool offering, which collects other riders along a route for cheaper rides.
Shared rides are different to other Lyft rides in that you have to travel directly to your destination without making any personal stops or route changes along the way, and as there may be other riders waiting for their lift, a driver will only wait for up to a minute if you’re not at your agreed pickup point when he or she arrives.
The mid-ride feedback feature began testing a few days ago and is expected to appear in some form for all users before too long. We’ll have to wait and see whether Lyft introduces the option for all of its ride services rather than just its carpool option.
Whether you’re a regular rider with Lyft and Uber or you’re thinking about taking your first-ever ridesharing journey, check out Digital Trends’ analysis of both services to find out which ridesharing app we believe goes the distance.
