Ride share driver told me to take a side street to save 10 minutes

Some Lyft driver in Austin last week swore up and down that cutting through Zilker would shave 10 minutes off my trip to the airport. Ended up stuck behind a school bus for 15 minutes and missed my flight check-in by 2 minutes. Anyone else ever take bad advice from a stranger and regret it right away?

3 comments

3 Comments

parker18318d ago

...and that's pretty much how trusting random strangers on shortcuts always goes. In my experience, people have this weird need to prove they know the local secret route, even if it's actually just their personal guess. I've had a gas station attendant in Denver swear a back road would save me twenty minutes on a road trip, and it turned into a dirt path that added an hour. Your mileage may vary, but I've learned the hard way that if someone's advice sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Drivers just want to feel useful in that moment, not actually help you get somewhere faster.

miles_young5918d ago

So you're telling me that guy who confidently pointed me down a one-lane gravel road was just trying to feel important? I guess getting stuck behind a tractor for ten miles is my penance for believing a stranger actually knew what they were talking about. Next time I'll just stick to Google Maps and its slow, predictable betrayal.

michael_jenkins3918d ago

Ha, I used to be the guy giving out those "shortcuts" until I got humbled too.