How safe do people feel riding Lyft?

More than half Morton East students use Uber more than Lyft — and safety is a big concern.

Lyft was founded in June 2012. It provides a transportation service that is available in over 350 U.S population with over 23 million users worldwide. It has operated 375 million rides in 2017 and completed more than 1 billion rides. 50% of Lyft customers use their car less because of the service. Lyft is said to serve nearly 80% of the United States population. The difference between Uber and Lyft is that Uber is available in more cities. Based on pricing, Uber and Lyft are roughly the same but it depends on the area you’re in and the time. In a random survey of 104 Morton East Students, 22 students use Lyft as transportation.

“I know about 3 people that use Lyft, but I know the rest of them to have Uber. I actually use Uber more than Lyft, so I’ve been having that on my phone,” Senior Ariel said.

Not everyone uses Lyft, they find using Uber more convenient and is the most spoken. Uber has been available longer than Lyft

“I always do the share, so I can be cheap it saves my money. It’s fun because you meet new people too,” Dean Dugan said.

Most people tend to use Uber more because it’s the most talked about but it’s the most expensive. Using Lyft is the least expensive but that doesn’t mean it’s the safest.

“I don’t have any precautions, as a pretty big guy I feel safe, but I would be hesitant, like if I had a daughter if she was using Lyft by herself,” Dean Dugan said.

Most people that have muscle and that are big have no problem getting into a random person’s car. They use their strength as self-defense.

” My parents don’t even know what Lyft or Uber is, so they don’t care, in terms of issues they haven’t expressed any with me,”  Mr. Smith said.

Most of the time parents never find out their child has any of these apps on their phone but when they do it either because they also need to use it or because they don’t want to get up and drive themselves.

“I’m very safe when I take Lyft, I take pepper spray with me because you never know what could happen, but sometimes I don’t feel safe,“ Junior Alex said.

People tend to use this type of transportation; kids nowadays are very precautions when they go into a random person’s car.

“I take pepper spray with me because you never know what could happen, I also make sure my phone is charged just in case I need to make a call if I don’t feel safe. My parents hate me using it because it’s not very safe and they don’t feel comfortable for me to use it,” Senior Ariel said.

One of the main self-defense objects is pepper spray, it’s something that people feel the safest with because you can have it right on your keys, it’s put in a reachable place.

“I don’t like Lyft because they don’t have to be licensed so if there is an accident you are not covered on their insurance, it happened to my friend and she had to pay from her pocket, so I will never use Lyft,” Assistant Principal Randy Borgardt said.

Throughout actions like these people are to believe that this company doesn’t care about people’s safety, they see it as them getting more money off people.

“I feel comfortable for the most part jumping into people’s cars, I am not precautious, I am assuming that company does that, I’ve seen instances where I know friends that I have where they have tried to become drivers, and they never get approved to be Lyft drivers. I’m guessing that (Lift or Uber) do good background checks on all of (their drivers),” Principal Gamboa said.
Not only do people not know that Lyft doesn’t do background checks, but they decide to stay silent and not say whether they do, or they don’t. But also, in the past years, they have probably change it.

“My parents, they are fine with it I guess I mean; I don’t know if my parents know that I use it. My parents told me growing up to not talk to strangers, and don’t get into anyone’s car that I didn’t know, but now I do that,” Principal Gamboa said.

As we grow up our parents tend to always tell us to never go into someone’s car that we don’t know yet, that’s what we are doing just by using these types of transportation.

“They are okay with it, I think my mom was a little worried at first, but I really haven’t used it much since I’ve moved out of the city, when I would use it, it was when I couldn’t find any parking since my car is so big so I would Lyft everywhere cause it was easier to go and it was cheaper,”Dean Dugan said.

Parents then tend to trust their kid because they know they would be safe about anything that happens, they know they can protect themselves when needed. People start to say the only use it in the city, they don’t have to be so stressed about while they are driving.

“My parents don’t even know what Lyft or Uber is, so they don’t care, in terms of issues they haven’t expressed any with me,” Mr. Smith said.

As adults grow up, they start to ignore everything that’s going on, some to this day don’t even know what Lyft and Uber are.

“I would use Lyft to go places, so I don’t have to take the bus. My parents wouldn’t like me using Lyft because they wouldn’t want me to get kidnapped,”Sophomore Emily said.

Many lawsuits for Lyft are happening to this day. Parents don’t realize how fast they can lose their child just by using these transportation.

“Like I said when I lived in Chicago, I would use it to get to work, when my car breaks down, on the weekends and to get around Chicago, I use it once or twice a year, or when I would see it when I wanted to avoid parking,” Dean Dugan said.
People only use these types of transportation’s when it’s the most needed. Sometimes that may only be once a year.

“I use it a lot because I live in Chicago and so I don’t really like to drive my car anywhere besides to work, so I like to use it when I need to go somewhere that’s no walking distance, cause it is fast and fairly cheap compared to others,”Mr. Smith said.

Mostly the only real reason people use Lyft is that they don’t want to waste the gas in their cars, so using Lyft is inexpensive and is something easy to get around.