Getting into a car with a stranger isn’t perceived as the dangerous and exclusively hitch-hiker-like activity it used to be. In fact, doing so is uber-ordinary, thanks to personal chauffeur companies such as Uber. The company has created a modern-day revolution in driving, combining society’s penchant for anything made easier with the click of a button with an ordinary facet of life.

Under the service, rides are instantly arranged, benefitting those that don’t have cars. And prospective drivers can turn their own vehicles into cabs and earn some easy money. It is a mutually beneficial deal and Uber likely won’t lose popularity any time soon. However, with any successful venture, there are inevitable competitors that will emerge.

This is certainly the case with Uber’s upstart rival, Lyft. The company offers the same services as Uber and has been successful with its attempts to improve on Uber in any possible way. Billing itself as “the alternate taxi service,” Lyft acknowledges its opponent is bigger, but it still operates in most large U.S. cities. Aside from the actual sizes of the two, some people are wondering: what really is the difference?

In truth, not much. Lyft and Uber offer essentially the same services: private taxi rides, carpooling, rating of drivers by passengers and vice versa. Lyft also features variable pricing with rates increasing during the peak ride hours of the day.

Generally Uber is less expensive overall than Lyft. On the other hand, Lyft does more extensive background checks on its drivers, although many drivers are employed at both. Yet Lyft does not allow friends splitting the price of fare whereas Uber does.

These are small differences between the two and many feel these differences are negligible. Consumer analysts generally regard Uber as the superior service in terms of benefits to customers. Uber is cheaper and offers more flexibility where rates are concerned.

Granted, as any NAHS student will tell you, there are deficiencies with either service. “They’re both equally bad at finding where to pick us up at North Atlanta, so it doesn’t matter which one you choose,” said sophomore Nailah Willoughby.

Likely from the perspective of North Atlanta students, the superior service is the one who can get its GPS coordinates correctly fixed on our campus. Happy ride sharing, Warriors!