Ubyr & Lyft
In Las Vegas At Last
By Jen Chase
First we shopped online. Then came ordering pizza, finding a date and even matching a mate. Las Vegas had a long wait for ride-sharing services, but now that they’re here, here’s what to expect from having the pleasure of self-concierging your whereabouts across the Las Vegas Valley.
Remember when all it took was a whistle, a wave and a little above-the-knee skin to snag a cab? With the advent of ride-sharing services like Hailo, Uber and Lyft, taxi hailing is practically an old-timey practice. Unless, of course, you’re a Las Vegan. Here, rock-solid unions long blockaded our hopes of downloading a handy smartphone app to more easily traverse the Strip and its sights in something other than a cab. Not any more. Not only do we now have the daresay “uber” service, but we even have a little choice. How nice. Check out some of the finer points of being able to navigate the city in a car beckoned by your own whim. Dave Matthews may have crooned “hike up your skirt a little more,” but with these app-based, ride sharing services, we’ll be hiking and hailing no more as we order up our rides.
The Uber Service
All it takes is an app on your smartphone and letting your little fingers to some walking as you plug in the address of where you are and where you’re going (plus a credit card number, natch) and you’re all set to Uber. And, yes, it’s now a verb. Conjugate it like this:
- Getting to McCarran International Airport is a cinch from pretty much anywhere in the Las Vegas Valley. According to the company’s website, simply request an Uber from your smartphone app, tell your driver which airline you’re flying, and you’ll be dropped at “departures.”
- For when you’ve landed at McCarran and need your vacation to begin (or end), keep this in mind: Only two locations allow you to be picked up by an Uber driver, in a predetermined “designated Uber pick-up zone”: Terminal 1 (walk to Level 2M inside the public parking garage); or Terminal 3 (head over to the Valet Level of the public garage). Interested in rates? These are ballparks about what to expect from longer-distance rides (naturally, short jaunts should prove much less expensive):
UNLV to Downtown Las Vegas: $13-17
UNLV to Summerlin: $34-45
Downtown Las Vegas to Summerlin: $36-48
Downtown Las Vegas to Henderson: $39-52
Henderson to Summerlin: $63-84
Lyft You Up
Lyft is oh-so-similar to Uber. (Phone-based app? Check. Use to book ride? Double check. Allegedly, a goodly less expensive than traditional cabs or ride sharing? Checkeroo….) These pointers will keep you in the know:
- Lyft rides are fulfilled 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
- With Lyft, rides don’t have to be one-way.
- Multiple stops are an option with the service LyftPlus
- To figure out ride costs, Lyft has a handy-dandy calculator on its website.
Jen Chase is Vegas Legal’s managing editor. A food and lifestyle editor for nearly 20 years, past and present clients include MasterCard, Bertolli™, Breville™, The Boston Phoenix, Time Out Las Vegas, the Forbes travel guide. Based in Boston and Las Vegas, Chase is also the content director for Vegas-based The Juice Standard and the owner/writer of the blog Culinarie Therapie. Reach out at jen@vegaslegalmagazine.com.
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