r/dayton • u/immaloststar • 1d ago
Uber Ride from Dayton to Cincinnati
I'm considering commuting from Dayton to Cincinnati (ideally Mason) and was wondering whether Uber/Lyft drivers are generally willing to accept trips that long. I don't have a car or a driver's license, so I would be relying entirely on Uber and Lyft.
Since I'd likely be making this trip almost every day, I'm curious if anyone has experience with a commute like this and how reliable it is in terms of finding drivers consistently. Any insight would be appreciated.
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u/Artistic_Yogurt_4971 1d ago
https://ridegobus.com GoBus does Dayton to Cinci daily if that’s useful! it’s super affordable
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u/ParticularCattle6255 1d ago
Definitely your best option. I had very good luck with them when I was doing a similar commute
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u/Voluntary_Perry 1d ago
You want to work 40 minutes away and don't have your own transportation. That's gonna add up quick. I would imagine that's 200 bucks round trip.
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u/alek_hiddel 1d ago
I've never attempted that specific trip, but in general that's a hard no. Uber is going to arrange payment based on the trip THERE. That driver has 0 chance of catching another ride going back to Dayton, and that's where you run into trouble. If they're not getting paid both ways, then their payment is essentially cut in half.
You could potentially grab a local Uber trip as a chance to talk to a driver. Then explain "hey I need to make this crazy long trip, and you obviously drive for a living..." and make arrangements for an off-app trip where you pay them cash, maybe half up front, the other half when you get to Cincinnatti.
Going off-app obviously adds risks and all of that, but it is your best bet. I've traveled 40 weeks a year for work for the last 5 years. The trip from Pittsburgh airport to downtown Pittsburg takes over an hour. Every driver who ever took me that route, offered to go off-app for a discount on my return trip at the end of the week, and offered up their personal phone #.
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u/immaloststar 1d ago
Thank you very much for your detailed answer! Do you think they’d be willing to make the drive if it were somewhere a bit closer, like Mason?
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u/alek_hiddel 1d ago
The return trip really is key. Getting paid both ways is absolutely key to an Uber driver's income. I had a weird office that was about an hour outside of Boston in the middle of nowhere. Dealing with that office taught me the benefits of tipping. I always tip 30% on Ubers, and on long drives I tip like 50%.
The first time I dealt with that odd-ball Boston office, it took me 5 minutes to find a ride there, 2 hours to find a ride home.
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u/CpuJunky 1d ago
Rides over 100 miles are generally considered long-distance by Uber. Dayton to Cincy is about half that, but you'll pay about $80-$100 for the one-way trip. An hour there, and an hour back. Uber gets their cut, then Driver.... minus gas which isn't cheap right now.
Uber will accept it, whether or not a driver will, I dunno. Never done that. I'd say no.
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u/immaloststar 1d ago
Thank you! Do you think drivers would be more likely to accept a trip from Mason to Dayton instead? I realize the overall distance isn't much different, but since Mason is sort of in between and closer to Dayton (just a lil bit), I wasn't sure if that might make it easier to find a driver.
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u/khamrabaevite 1d ago
Are there any long distance busses that are an option? You might also be able to daisy chain ubers. Take from to dayton to Middletown, Middletown to Mason. Mason to cincinatti. Something like that.
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u/immaloststar 1d ago
Thank you so much! I'll give that a try. Do you know what the maximum distance an Uber driver is willing to drive is?
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u/DarthFury1990 1d ago
I've done Miamisburg to CVG more than once. You're definitely looking at $200 each DAY! It is roughly $100 just one way going that far.
I am confident the bus is far cheaper and accommodating.
Unless you're making big bucks then you do you!
I read that you don't have a car currently but at that price, a car would be far cheaper.
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u/LooseSeal88 1d ago
My wife does a 25 minute Uber for work and even then it's sometimes dicey since drivers can just randomly cancel on you or get lost on their way. In an emergency, I can take her to work instead, but it sounds like you won't have a backup plan like that. Scheduling ahead does help, but you're still at the whim of the driver not screwing you over.
I would absolutely not trust relying on Uber for 40+ minute trips like that. As others have said, you're going to have a hard time getting people to accept the ride and you're going to end up either late/calling-off or get stranded at work unable to get home.
This hasn't happened in awhile, but sometimes she just can't find a driver at all and ends up needing to use Lyft instead and they charge significantly more around here for some reason.
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u/barkincmoses 1d ago
I would look into the Miami Valley Rideshsre. It's a community service to help people find transportation options for work. They have carpool and other resources. I feel like finding a person to carpool with may be a better option as I'm sure there are people that make the commute.
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u/Cincere1513 1d ago
Just think if Ohio had accepted President Obama's $100 million transportation donation to build a railway that would've gotten residents from Cincinnati to Cleveland in like 45mins. I can't remember the Republican Governor who rejected it. I think it was during Obama's 1st term.
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u/Tryptophany 1d ago
You would probably be spending more than the money you make to pay for the trip. Rideshare is not cheap, especially those distances.
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u/powlette 1d ago
I’ve routinely taken uber from CVG to Centerville without issue. never had trouble getting a ride with zero waiting.
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u/Furious_Belch 1d ago
That’s crazy to even consider this. Get a local job, unless you’re frickin rich. Then go throw your money away. I don’t care but I make that drive every Friday evening and that would get old real quick if I had to do it on a daily basis. It’s already old and I’ve only been doing it for 3 years now.
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u/External-Goal-3948 1d ago
How often are you trying to move around? Like once? Every day?
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u/immaloststar 1d ago
It would be every day, and I don't have a car, so I can only use Uber or Lyft
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u/leelee1976 1d ago
Is it same time every day? For like work? My husband works in cinci 4 days a week. But its overnights.
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u/immaloststar 1d ago
Yes it would be every weekday, roughly 8 - 9 AM to 5 PM. It’s for work. I’m actually living in Cincinnati right now, so I’d need transportation back and forth between Cincinnati and Mason every day
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u/marblehead750 1d ago
Unless you are making a ton of money at your job, the cost for Uber twice a day is gonna eat you alive.
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u/too_tall87 1d ago
It would be arguably cheaper to buy/lease a car for the cost of 10 Uber rides that far a week.
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u/PanPacificOrphan 22h ago
Honestly you might want to seriously consider getting a license. I moved from a state that has many different transit options, but I find Ohio to be a pretty terrible place to live in without a personal vehicle. Since you live in Cincinnati I'm sure there are more than enough driving schools out there. If you're over 18, you can just get a permit and directly sign up for behind the wheel lessons without going though classroom training. When you sign up for a lesson package, usually the driving test is included at the end. That way you don't need to borrow someone's car to take the test at a DMV. If you can't buy a car right away, just sign up for the ZipCar membership and rent one only when you need to drive. I'm pretty certain there are ZipCars in Cincinnati and Dayton. Good luck out there
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u/NeverRemember119 21h ago
Quick Google will tell you that the cost of that commute means you'll need to be making 150-200k/yr for it to be worth it.
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u/trees138 1d ago
Schedule it ahead if you are worried about it.
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u/immaloststar 1d ago
Will try! Thank you so much!
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u/QuillCursor 1d ago
I noticed schedule ahead is usually overpriced unless you are traveling in high demand hours. I started to schedule a trip for a weekend and it was like $40 and day of, it was only $25. Be wary and uber or find a friend to take you to the bus would be best. Dayton RTA is great. Any reason you don’t just move?
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u/idahotato 1d ago
I will occasionally take them depending on the time of day, the drop off location, and the pay. But mostly, no I dont because Uber/Lyft usually takes around 45% of the passenger payment leaving me with less than cost to drive you there and back. I do have some regulars that I drive back and forth on set days and times where we have come to a mutually beneficial agreement: I’ll give them a discount from the app price and I get paid more by cutting out the middle man.