Uber may be the most popular choice for cheap on-demand rides, but it’s not always reliable when you need it the most.
Blacklane is as an alternative to Uber that allows you to schedule higher-end rides in advance.
Blacklane specializes in airport rides, and all of its drivers are professional livery drivers.
But why choose Blacklane over Uber? The biggest appeal of Blacklane is that you can schedule your ride in advance with the confidence that a professional driver will arrive on time.
What is Blacklane? On-demand commercial car service
Blacklane is targeted at travelers who want the reliability of booking in advance and the assurance that the driver, the car, and the driving company will be professional and properly insured.
- Blacklane specializes in professional rides to and from airports, but you can travel
- You can schedule your ride in advance online at Blacklane.com, or from the mobile app
- Drivers bid behind the scenes to get your fare
- The price of your ride includes 15 minutes of wait time at a regular pickup spot, and 1 hour of waiting time at airports
- You receive SMS and email updates when the driver is on the way and when the driver arrives
- Blacklane features three levels of service
- Business Class: A mid-size sedan or small SUV. Mercedes E-Class, Lincoln MKC
- Business Van/SUV: An SUV or full-size van to accommodate up to 5 passengers. Cadillac Escalade, Mercedes V Class
- First Class: A full-size luxury sedan. Mercedes S-Class, BMW 7 Series, Audi A8
How to schedule a ride with Blacklane
- Go to Blacklane.com
- Enter your pickup and drop-off locations, the date, the time
- Select the level of service you want
- Enter any frequent flyer program information that might apply, or special instructions for the driver
- Create an account by entering basic personal information
- Enter your credit card details and check out
Blacklane vs. Uber
On the surface, both Uber and Blacklane seem to provide a pretty similar service.
Both allow you to request rides from an app, and both give you access to professional livery drivers (if you select UberBlack or UberSUV).
The biggest differences come down to the Blacklane scheduling feature, the drivers, and the pricing.
Blacklane offers real scheduling. Uber doesn’t (yet)
Blacklane offers a true scheduling feature where a driver knows in advance the date, time, and pickup location.
Uber has a scheduling feature called Uber Reserve, but it comes with all sort of caveats and disclaimers saying that you may not actually be matched with a driver.
Comparing pricing: A ride to LAX with Blacklane
A ride from my home in central Los Angeles to LAX would cost $55–$81 with Blacklane.
Blacklane doesn’t go into much detail on rates/mile or rates/minute, but it’s nice to quickly get one up-front price.
Here’s how the prices broke down for my ride:
- Business Class: $55.17
- Business Van/SUV: $77.69
- First Class: $81
A ride to LAX with Uber
An Uber from my home to LAX would range from $18.95–$96.89.
That’s a massive price difference! Uber offers many ride types in LA, ranging from a shared ride with a stranger (POOL), to a ride in a high-end luxury car (LUX).
- UberX: $21.05
- UberXL: $34.72
- UberBLACK: $63.48
- UberSUV: $81.84
- UberLUX: $96.89
The most important prices to look at in this comparison are Black and SUV. Those are the main competitors to Blacklane, and it turns out that prices for those services are pretty on par with Blacklane.
For those three premium services, prices range from $51–$81, which is just about identical to Blacklane.
So if the two services are so similar in price, what should make you choose one over the other? Let’s look at what each service offers that the other doesn’t.
More about Uber and transit options for airports
- Uber for airports: Which service will fit your group?
- How much does Uber cost? Uber fare estimator
- What is GroundLink? And when it might be better than Uber
- RideYellow: Request yellow taxis with this app
Features Blacklane has that Uber doesn’t
- A true scheduling feature that informs a driver of the date, time, and location of your pickup well in advance of the date
- All drivers are commercially licensed and insured. Only UberBlack and SUV drivers are commercially insured
- All drivers undergo the more stringent background screening required of cab and livery drivers
- Waiting time built into the price. Ubers can cancel on you after 5–10 minutes, depending on the ride type
- No surge pricing. You won’t have to worry that the price of your ride will increase due to traffic
Features Uber has that Blacklane doesn’t
- Cheaper options, and many options
- Instant requests. You can’t always plan your trip ahead of time, so Uber can offer more flexibility
Blacklane is a good option for business Travelers and people who want a reliable scheduled ride
Blacklane is a better service for business travelers, people who are willing to spend more for a more professional experience, and regular travelers who don’t want to risk not getting an Uber when they need it most.
The ability to schedule a ride well in advance of a trip and have it show up without issues is something that a lot of people need, and it’s a feature that you’re not always going to get with Uber.
Robert Sanchez says
Blacklane looks like it will fail because it has terribly neglected the third leg of the stool: the driver and his compensation. The two other legs are sturdy: customer and ride-hailing app company. No driver in their right economic mind will give an hour wait time at an airport when it is busy at said airport. The driver will cancel the Blacklane ride and go to Uber for an immediate pickup. There is no incentive for the driver to clean his vehicle nor wear fancier clothes at the current prices Blacklane offers. And on top of all this, it seems they want to pay you Uber X prices for a premium vehicle ride with their bidding system. It’s a joke.
Chas.O Stolte says
In the nations capitol USA &DC drivers payout the ASS.sit and wait no pay,go in parking pay out your pocket no up front money (petty CASH) cc a must parking lanes don’t take CASH the one hour wait time is free time not paid.where does FEDERAL law step in . Meat is sold per pound, so is the traveler from the ground up one penny at a time out the pockets of the driver play to pay . Right …….. no wrong ….owners are cheap & company
Chas O Stolte says
Only the company insiders people behind they desks are paid overtime fess& state only look at that side pencil pushers not outside force drivers that’s where overtime isn’t paid out feds & state go to drivers side tax time Drivers Out Big Time where does Federal Govx step in …..
Rose Garcia says
Here in Orlando, Florida we have bookingride.net that allows you also to schedule a higher-end ride in advance providing midsize SUV Lincoln MKT, full-size SUV Suburban, VAN Mercedes Sprinter and Ford transit 12 passengers vehicles. Prices are very good for service reliability.
Truwords says
Blacklane, Uber and Lyft along with 99% of all ride sharing apps and companies exploit the drivers. These companies have no vehicles, no insurance policies, not cost associated with vehicles or maintenance. Whenever you have a middle man brokering a job between provider and client, the provider is screwd. Middle men have made fortunes off the backs of laborers since the beginning of time. Taking more than 20% on any ride is greed. I am an affiliate of not only those mentioned above but some of the larger Limo companies as well. There is no difference between them all. The only way for a professional driver to do well is to have his own private clients, but in this era, people are searching for more cost efficient services. The clients loss in obtaining a better rate is SERVICE. This is a Service industry and a professional driver should receive the higher compensation not the company who specializes in Marketing to the client. All of them are pimping the drivers and the industry, improper statement but so very true. * Note 75% of non professional drivers of Uber and Lyft shouldn’t have driver license let alone be driving passengers.
Cheryl says
I am 1 person carrying skis, a large check duffle bag, and a carryon. Which uber do I need? My luggage fits into any car with fold down seats.
DougH says
I would go with an SUV option. For Uber that’s UberXL. For Blacklane there will be a clearly labeled SUV
Anthony says
An uber xl would work fine and you save money
junior says
Well, I drive for Uber black/SUV, Lyft SUV and Black lane. Black lane might be good for customers because of the scheduling but it’s NOT GOOD/FAIR for the drivers because it depends on bidding.
Doing it that way means their commission might be 30%-40% or even more, depending on how bad you need the fare/cash or knowledgable about the fair prices, and as always the driver’s end p losing. A pick up from SF to Napa, let’s say quoted to a customer at about $300, the bidding starts at about $90, it increases by $4-$5 every or 5 minutes, by the time it reaches about $130 or $140, a driver heading that way might take it. If no one takes it they will stop the fare at about $160-$180 and start the bidding again from $100. If still no taker, they end up calling drivers and negotiating an acceptable price for the driver.
Black lane fares suppose to include everything, which might mean toll and tip……but no driver get any tips from the company as there’s no break down of the fare.
Of course, the payment is always about 40 days later.
All of them, charging customers higher prices and trying to be creative as to how best to exploit the drivers.
DougH says
Thank you for your insight. There isn’t much info about the bidding process out there.
Alex says
Thanks for detailed and very useful info. Wanted to go in to partners with blacklane, but now don’t want it. Payment 40 days later? Thats crazy. And definelty cheating business from their side.
Vasko says
Same thing in Switzerland. Blacklane decreased the fares for drivers in Switzerland about 30% in comparison to the year 2018.
For Example, pick up from Zurich Airport to St Moritz, they charge to the customer about 600 euro. They start bidding at 230 euro for 210 km in one way. That’s miserable rates. At 300 euro is the end of bidding and the ride dissepeared from bidding. Very disappointing from Blacklane to the partners , I must say. Exploiting from drivers is the right word.
Adam says
thank you for the useful information. i will go for Blacklane because i need to schedule my ride ahead and need to have special request for a baby seat. hope to get good timely service.
DougH says
Best of luck. Let me know how it goes.