RideGuru – helping you find the best and cheapest taxi and rideshare service

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“When you get to LAX take either an Uber or Lyft to my place.”

My friend Johnny Jet was helping me to navigate my way in LA upon arrival for the BlogHer conference.

I didn’t say it out loud, but my confused mind was thinking, “What is Lyft and how will I know if Uber or Lyft is better?”

Australia is the land of minimal choices; we only have Uber and traditional taxis. It’s one reason we love the US so much – options. It means your dollar can go further.

Just as I was trying to figure out which was better, I was contacted by RideGuru. It was the answer I was looking for – a tool to help people know which taxi or rideshare service is best and most economical.

I tested out the website in LA and quickly understood whether I should grab a Lyft or Uber from LAX.

Rideguru LAX airport taxis

It turns out there wasn’t too much difference, so I stuck with Uber – what I know, like and trust. It saved me figuring out a new system, but once we move to the US, I’ll get an account with Lyft, so I have more options.

And I’ll be using RideGuru to help me figure out quickly which service would better to suit my needs and my wallet.

What is RideGuru?

taxifarefinder rideshare rideguru

RideGuru is an online tool that quickly calculates estimated fares for ridehail and rideshare services worldwide and displays them side by side.

You enter your beginning and ending locations and RideGuru displays all possible ridehail and taxi options in the area with a breakdown of each ride’s fare estimate. From there, you can narrow down the search based on certain criteria such as the number of passengers traveling or luxury vs economy services.

RideGuru in action

I’ve tested out the RideGuru search engine for a few different locations. For the various scenarios below you can see how the RideGuru features work and what I like about RideGuru.

A local Gold Coast trip

A common trip we take here in Australia is from our home to the Pacific Fair Shopping Centre in Broadbeach. It takes about 10 – 15 minutes on the bus, depending on traffic, and costs about $10 for all of us one way.

website

Here are our options according to RideGuru. Note we only have Uber and Taxis in our area, but it’s great to see just how much you save with Uber. You know we love it.

Burleigh to Pacific Fair taxi uber RideGuru

I also LOVED seeing how much the driver earns. Look at the percentage difference between Uber drivers and taxi drivers. No wonder Uber drivers are always so happy.

Simulate surge pricing

Ever wondered how much that Uber surge price is going to affect you and whether it’s better to grab it, wait, or just jump in an alternative car service? This happens to me ALL the time.

I love, love, love the feature on RideGuru where you can simulate the surge pricing. Surge prices are typically 1.5x (that I’ve witnessed) so I used that for my test.
surge pricing uber comparison

I love its clarity and the ability it gives me to make quick decisions. In two seconds, I could clearly see it was best to wait for an Uber. You can also click through from the RideGuru site to book Uber directly.

Sydney Airport to Darling Harbour

Uber is the best way to get into the city from Sydney airport if you are travelling with more than one person. A one-way ticket on the airport link train costs $17 – I know a freakin rip off, especially since it’s a short journey.

The off-peak price below shows that it’s worth getting an Uber even if you are a solo traveller.

Sydney to Darling Harbour taxi uber

London

To show another example of how RideGuru works, I chose a journey that I used to take all the time via a famous London black cab. You can see the difference between black cabs and rideshares below.

London uber taxi rideshare Rideguru

Features that make RideGuru stand out

  • RideGuru is able to calculate and compare potential fares for a multitude of ridehail companies around the globe without using API’s. They keep a database of real rates provided by riders and drivers, which ensures their prices are as accurate as possible. RideGuru incorporates not only the distance and duration of your trip, but also factors such as traffic patterns, driving speeds, urban density, and possible wait times.
  • RideGuru has prices for Rideshare services plus traditional taxis in over 70 countries!
  • Once a user finds their desired ride, they can simply hail the car straight from the site for most of the ridehail services.
  • It clearly shows what the driver earns so you know how much the company keeps, so you can make a decision based upon what you feel is fair.
  • Through the “Ask the Guru” tool, visitors can ask Harry (The Rideshare Guy) or other members of the RideGuru team questions and/or concerns regarding the ridehailing industry.
  • Many airports don’t allow rideshare pick-ups or have limitations and rules. RideGuru has done the research to show you which of the major airports allow rideshare pickups, and which currently do not! It’s very handy to know: https://ride.guru/content/airports
Relevant Reading: Share riding tips for families

Final thoughts on RideGuru

Rideguru compare taxi uber and lyft

RideGuru is a great tool for travellers – and for anyone in their day to day lives, particularly those who live in cities and frequently catch taxis or Rideshare services.

I love how RideGuru helps you work out the best price for you in the moment, as well as when you’re budgeting for a trip in the future. You can clearly work out whether taxis/rideshare, train, or buses are better and how much to budget for it. You can even work out how much buffer to put away for those unexpected cab rides home after a late night!

I love how it breaks down the prices, which you can quickly adjust for different circumstances – more people, luxury and price surges. It’s fast and easy to use.

My only suggestion for improvement is to have an app. It would make it a lot easier to use when on the go.

However, RideGuru does state that an app is in the making and that currently the website is optimized for mobile use so you’ll have no problems using it on your mobile devices.

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Is Uber, Lyft or taxis cheaper? RideGuru is a new search engine to help you uncover which ridesharing service is cheapest and best to use!
© RightFramePhotoVideo | Dreamstime.com – Yellow Taxi

Which ridesharing service do you prefer and why?

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7 thoughts on “RideGuru – helping you find the best and cheapest taxi and rideshare service”

    1. Totally, a very helpful too. And as I mentioned in the post RideGuru has an app in the making and their website is optimized for mobile so you’ll have no problems using it on your mobile devices.

  1. This is so awesome! Can’t wait until the app comes out, in the mean time I will definitely be taking advantage of this on my travel adventures 🙂

  2. This is fantastic!! It can be tricky as we move around trying to navigate what is the best and cheapest way for us to get from point A to point B with 5 kids in tow. 7 passengers is tricky. We use both Uber and Lyft regularly but to be able to compare them quickly and easily is definitely a great way to step up our game. Thanks!

  3. What I love about this is that it has just shown me there are 2 other app options in Sydney that I never knew about. But I am a bit concerned about its accuracy. I caught a cab home from the domestic airport the other day and it cost me $33. The ride guru page says it will cost $48. The trip from home to the airport was with Uber and was $29 – so that’s pretty accurate, says it would be $30. So, overall I would say great app but looks to be smashing the taxis a little – I wonder if the site gets commission on the click thrus to booking the Uber maybe.

    Great article, thanks for showing me this app.

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