Sharon Coolidge

scoolidge@enquirer.com

Cab services in Cincinnati are under fire as two new services – Uber and Lyft – enter the market.

Cincinnati cab drivers are complaining that they are at an unfair disadvantage because so-called ride sharing companies are not subject to the same rules and regulations. New rules are coming, though, as Cincinnati City Council takes a closer look at how other cities regulate the services.

In the meantime, The Enquirer looked at the best way to get around. We tested the services by riding them at the same time to the same place – 7 p.m. May 15 from The Enquirer to Eli's Barbeque in Cincinnati's East End neighborhood.

UberX

Rider: Jack Walsworth

Punctuality of pickup: Arrived three minutes earlier than originally estimated

Did driver know Eli's? No

How long it took to get there: 12 minutes

Driver politeness/chattiness: Driver asked if I was comfortable a couple times. He was quiet otherwise.

Directions/ease of getting there: Once he put the address into his GPS, it was a breeze.

Atmosphere: The leather seats and cloth floormats were spotless. The radio station was playing current hits.

Kind of car: 2008 Ford Taurus

Price: $14.29 (Because of a $10 uber credit, it only cost $4.29.)

Notes: I was picked up before the estimated time by my driver Saleck. He got me to Eli's in 12 minutes, and my ride cost only $14.29. His car was clean on the inside and made the ride that much more comfortable.

Lyft

Rider: Carl Weiser

Punctuality of pickup: As soon as I opened the app and requested a car, the driver called me. He was already Downtown and was at The Enquirer within five minutes. Lyft cars are easy to spot: They have a pink mustache clipped to their fronts.

Did driver know Eli's? Not immediately, but eventually recalled driving there.

How long it took to get there: 15 minutes

Driver politeness/chattiness: Driver Steve Rose, 60, of Latonia had me sit up front with him. He chatted amiably, answering all my questions about his life story and sharing stories about driving for Lyft. "It doesn't seem like work to me," he said of his Lyft job. "I like to interact with people. This gives me a chance to do that."

Directions/ease of getting there: No problem. No traffic, knew the route. Rose drove safely, stopping for pedestrians at a Fountain Square crosswalk.

Atmosphere: Nothing fancy, but the car was clean, with a 'Refresh' deoderizer. Rose kept Tootsie Rolls, mints and Jolly Ranchers in his front seat console.

Kind of car: 2007 Ford Fusion

Price: $13 suggested 'donation'; I gave him a $2 tip. (By signing up for Lyft I got a $50 credit, so the ride was free.)

Notes: Downloading the Lyft app was a snap; one thing I liked was that as soon as I typed in two digits of my credit card number it knew what type of card it was. Paying was as easy as pushing a button on my iPhone. Rose says he enjoys the job; his closest misadventure came when he took a vomit-covered guy from Clifton to Southgate. "I tried not to jostle him too much" on the ride home, he said.

Taxi

Rider: Sharon Coolidge

Punctuality of pickup: A few minutes early.

Did driver know Eli's? He knew the general vicinity.

How long it took to get there: 10 minutes, and that was with a brief wrong turn that was my fault.

Driver politeness/chattiness: Very nice, chatty about the city's tax service.

Directions/ease of getting there: Other than my wrong turn, easy ride.

Atmosphere: Leather seats, very clean, but well-loved from years of use.

Kind of car: 2000 Lincoln Town Car

Price: $16. The meter read $21 due to the wrong turn, but the driver quoted the lower figure, saying that's what it should have been.

Notes: I had some concerns with the call process. I chose Yellow Cab due to its brand name, yet it was an Ohio brand cab that showed up. The driver explained Yellow Cab is a website that farms out calls to drivers who give the domain operator a cut of the fares. My driver wasn't even that person – a friend of his forwarded my call to him. It was clear it was a licensed taxi, but in the future I will be more careful about whom I call.