Getting around Town: Friendly Rides with Lyft

If you are not familiar with a city, taking a cab can be fraught with anxiety. Will I have to wait long? Is the driver going to rip me off? Will he know where he’s going?

With Lyft, you get a ride and a friendly face. Download the app on your smartphone and you're good to go.

I recently tried Lyft in San Diego, and if you live in, or are traveling there, or to any of these cities: DC, Atlanta, St. Paul, Phoenix, Indianapolis, Dallas, Seattle, Chicago or Charlotte, you can check out this new ride sharing app – and save money.

Lyft rides are the same price or less than a cab, and with the promo code RIDE20, you get $20 in free Lyft credits.

The whole experience was seamless. We landed and I opened the app, a red balloon (the cars are distinguished by the furry pink moustaches on the front). You have to allow the app to access your location; then you are told how soon a driver will arrive.

By the time we got off the plane and walked outside, we got a text that our friendly Lyft driver was there. He greeted us with a fist bump and dropped us off at our hotel. On the way, he told us what local beers to check out.

We requested another Lyft driver when we switched hotels (the Hotel Palomar, with the bikes pictured above), and this one, an art student, told us about a great exhibit at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. It was like having access to insider info.

You pay for the Lyft ride through the credit card stored on the app – there is a suggested donation, and you can add a tip. And both the passenger and the driver rate each other – a handy tool so the company can keep tabs on drivers and weed out obnoxious passengers.

Lyft touches down in Baltimore soon as well.

Note: I did receive a free ride from Lyft, but all views here are my own.