Get a free ride (up to $10) on Curb, a new taxi app.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Hottie had the privilege of hanging out with First Class Queen in Atlanta. They had a fun, wild night, so they ended up outside a club in a not-super-safe-after-dark neighborhood at a fairly late hour.

They each pulled out their phones to call a taxi/car service. Of course FCQ insisted that they use Uber, while Hottie wanted to use Lyft. Each of them quickly checked to see the available cars in the area, and since the Uber drivers were closer, FCQ happily summoned a driver…who promptly cancelled on them. When he tried it again, the same thing happened, and then all the Uber cars were out of the area.

So Hottie tried with Lyft. Same thing – no one would come to pick them up! They were stranded. Luckily, there were a few other clubgoers outside, so they didn’t feel unsafe, but it definitely could have been a bad situation. Finally, a Lyft driver answered their call and came to pick them up, but the whole thing took a very long time from start to finish.

Another option

I recently learned about a third taxi-summoning app called Curb. It works exactly the same way as Uber and Lyft: you download an app, then use the app to call a car.

Curb contracts with actual taxi services, which means that the prices will normally be slightly higher than Lyft and Uber – EXCEPT for during “surge pricing” hours (when Lyft and Uber raise prices when demand is high).

This also means that you can request a ride at a certain time – just like a taxi. This is VERY convenient!

So Curb could be a good alternative when:

• Uber and Lyft are busy (or won’t answer!)
• You would like to book a ride at a specific time
• It’s surge-pricing time
• You’ve got a credit burning a hole in your pocket 🙂

How to get a $10 Curb credit

1. Install the Curb App.

2. Create your account.

3. Go to the settings page (top right-hand corner).

4. Select “promos and credits.”

5. Enter a referral code (mine is R82H70 if you would like to use it – thanks!).

6. Receive $10 of Curb credit!

The next time you ride and use the app to pay with your credit card, the $10 credit will be applied to your final ride total.

Tips and notes

If your ride is less than the amount of your credit, the remaining Curb credit will be applied to your next ride.

Personal referral codes can be redeemed by new users only.

In some cities, driver tip defaults to 20%. You can change this anytime during your ride by opening the app, tapping “20% tip applied,” and choosing your desired tip percentage.

Have you used Curb before? What did you think?