Recent Experiences with Uber and Bolt?

Thanks for pointing this out. Just posting in the Portugal forum really isn't sufficient information. lol
I'm specifically talking about Lisbon, Sintra and Evora, although I understand Bolt or Uber to be recommended for transport from Lisbon to Sintra, so I'm assuming it's okay there. The post I read was talking about Sintra problems issues with having scheduled pickup to take them to the airport failing to pick them up. They had 35 cancelled requests. Yikes! I'm wanting to take Bolt from Sintra into the train station, Sete Rios, so that we can get a train to Evora but they don't run as frequently so I need reliability. We could travel by bus but I cannot find an itinerary for that and given the choice we would prefer the trian.

Living here without a car, I use Bolt and/or Uber regularly. Occasionally I get a cancellation but always get another driver quickly. I really don’t understand the story of 35 cancellations. It is worse in the summer with the increase of tourists and for very short trips. Uber now has the ability to schedule a trip ahead of time. I’ve only used it once for a very early trip but it worked well.

If you are really worried, you can always arrange a private transfer with the many companies that offer this service. You will pay more, but I might be worth it for your peace of mind. I, personally, would go with Uber or Bolt.

Can't say any specifics about the situation with multiple cancellations, but just guessing they were trying to arrange a ride well before needing it, from a relatively remote area (not in the city), and likely for an early morning pickup. That is not really what Bolt or Uber is truly designed for. Most likely drivers saw the big fare, grabbed it before another driver did, then reviewed the details and said "aw, hell no" and cancelled.

If you want a pickup like that, go to a driving/transfer service, if you need a ride right now, or in a little bit, that is what Bolt/Uber is for. That is dependent though on driver density, meaning there are multiple drivers operating most of the time in an area, and someone is free.

Myself, last time I did use Uber in Portugal, since I had the app and an account anyway, this time I also downloaded Bolt, just based on feedback that drivers seem to prefer Bolt

I only used Uber once in Lisbon, from the airport. Worked perfectly. I dithered for several days before leaving about whether to take a taxi (heard from Rick's guidebook and my Air BnB hosts about the prevalence of dishonesty among taxi drivers) vs Metro (my AirBnB was an uphill hike from Santa Apolonia station) vs Uber (reported unreliability). I decided to try Uber and if I couldn't get a pickup, I'd take a taxi.
I had also read some older posts about the (former) rideshare pickup location at the airport being such a cluster that drivers were refusing to pick up from there too. It's in a new location and pickups didn't seem to be an issue.

Not specific for Portugal but the only time Uber drivers have cancelled on me is for an early morning 3am pickup in Mexico City to drive to the airport-only 20mins away. Most likely these drivers got better fares and at 3am there aren't many people who want to be picked up at the airport. In these cases, a car service or taxi is more reliable.

That said, I've always had good service with Uber and in many countries, the cars are pristine and drivers polite. Plus, even if they don't know English, they have the information and address on their app. After riding in Mexico City traffic, I have a new respect for anyone that has to drive that every day with no lane markings on the road and motorcycles that seemingly do what they want. The roundabouts were particularly unnerving.

So while you do hear the occasional Uber horror stories, in RL I've never met anyone who had a truly horrible experience.

We used Bolt in Portugal and did not have any difficulties. Based on my research, bolt is probably more popular and cheaper in Portugal than Uber.

Not sure why that particular person received 35 cancellations. Just remember that both drivers and passengers can rate each other. Who would want to pick up a passenger with a poor rating for a long ride?

Thanks for the information. I have Bolt downloaded and ready for you in Lisboa

Booking Uber a day or two in advance doesn't mean much.

All it means that uber will start working on your request about an hour in advance.
It does not guarantee availability

As I often stress on this forum, drivers in Portugal do prefer Bolt over Uber as they take smaller cut from them.

You can also take train from Sintra to Sete Rios.

You may also want to consider option of private car+driver especially you have a family or group of friends traveling together

In Lisbon currently for a few days and used Uber one time and Bolt several times with no problems from either. Bolt is really inexpensive

My recent experience in Lisbon was similar, used Bolt 4-5 times in a couple days. No real issues, there were cases of putting in my destination and a driver would take it, but then not confirm, so another driver would do so, then a third, but I always got a driver, and once confirmed, no cancellations. If you are going from one obscure location, to another, then forgo "economy" and pick the regular for a couple euro more, better chance to get a driver right away.

@TravelJunkie, PortugalChauffeur.com doesn't seem to be valid anymore.

@Paul, thank you for the information. Was there an extended wait time, having multiple drivers picking it up and then not confirming? I would hate to miss a tour bus because I didn't allow enough time for the ride to arrive, thinking it was as straight forward as here in the US.
Thanks

Our experiences in Portugal with Bolt (and some Uber) over multiple recent trips have been far better than usual experience with Lyft and Uber stateside
Cancellations are rare in Lisbon
In Sintra, one has to be reasonable with expectations.
If you try to hail one at Moorish Castle, cancellations are very likely.
Because of one way traffic, it's ridiculous for cars waiting/dropping at Pena Park to accept pickup at Moorish Castle.

But in general rule of thumb all over the world with rideshare is that when reaching somewhere is extremely time sensitive (catching train for example), you must have enough buffer and/or fallback option.

More remote/unusual pickup point, more chances of issues. Similarly, other events (football game, road closures) affect availability.

In such situations, in Lisbon, we used services of Fernando Batista whose website, gmail and WhatsApp contact is alive and well and his services were used by my next door neighbor just yesterday

Was there an extended wait time, having multiple drivers picking it up and then not confirming?

No, all of that is happening within a minute or so. I am sure they are quick to grab a fare, then consider drive time, traffic, and the likelihood of getting another fare near where they drop you off. With Bolt, you see the process, with Uber, you just wait a minute for the ride to be set up.

Wait times were not bad, anywhere from a few minutes to under 10 minutes. Just leave yourself plenty of time, traffic in Lisbon can get bad, the time from the airport was about double what was initially calculated, and near where we stayed, a number of streets were blocked off with, I believe, work on the Metro, so traffic was diverted.

In October 2023, we had zero issues taking Uber from downtown (Moxy hotel) to the airport. Opened the app, selected the options, and waited less than 10 mins. The car/trip was fast, clean, friendly, and by US Uber standards, insanely cheap. Door to door was like 7 Euros vs a shorter similar Uber trip when we got home for $20.

I don't know what "cheap" is for most, but a 7 Euro airport ride is insanely cheap to me (two people and luggage) especially as their fuel is a bit more expensive too.

Returned from Portugal. Travelel Lisbon, Evora and Sintra with Bolt.

We had issues with it. Husband wanted to use Uber instead, until we got higher quotes so we put up with the Bolt. I suppose I should post this in the tips section as well....

Bolt and Uber are only allowed in certain areas of the city. They will not be allowed near a metro station or certain touristy areas or anywhere you see actual taxis waiting. I think some problems stemmed from this because the app would change the pickup location to a place where they could pick up, so it will say the pickup is 2 blocks away and you must be careful to notice if your pin drops where you are located. Even if it appears that the pin is at your location, the driver might go somewhere nearby and say he has arrived. At one Lisbon AirBnB we had to walk half a block to the top of the street to call for the Bolt because otherwise, it sent the driver to the wrong place. Knowing the idiosyncrasies made using Bolt much better but we still had problems.

We would call for a driver, the app would say a driver was found but then he wouldn't accept the ride and it would keep going. Sometimes they would accept the ride then cancel and the app would find another driver.

Also, the driver would accept the fare to our tourist destination and then stop a half mile away and say, "I cannot go any farther, I'm not allowed." I think often they were just lying, as when the driver claimed he couldn't go any farther stopping in from of a retractable barricade. Yet, the Bolt driver behind us (I saw him in the rear-view mirror) was able to travel up the street and drop their fare at the entrance. The hills are steep and the climbing can be rough (especially on bruised knees from tripping on cobblestones). In Sintra, it was a ridiculous hike up the mountainside to get to the Palacia Regalia or whatever it's called. So yes, we cursed those two drivers vehemently. lol

Sherry!!!

I think that explains a couple of the significant issues that we had with Uber. When we were leaving Lisbon and needed to get to the airport, we waited at least a half hour for an Uber that was "minutes away". Then we get a message that it had arrived and where were we? I checked the map and figured out she was two blocks up a hill. We had been waiting with our luggage in front of our hotel. I ran up the hill to verify that was our Uber and then she says she can't wait in that spot. In light of your information, I would guess that Ubers aren't allowed to pick up in front of that hotel, or all hotels?

Regarding drivers accepting and then cancelling. Yes, it does happen, and not necessarily when trying to arrange an Uber/Bolt in advance. Our experience in Sintra was quite different from any experience we've ever had in Europe or the U.S. Our BnB was on the outskirts of Sintra. The morning that we needed to get to Pena, we did have multiple drivers accept and then later decline. Then that same day at about 5pm, when we were leaving Monserrate and needed a driver to take us back into Sintra for a dinner reservation, over the course of 1.5 hours, we had multiple drivers accept and then after 3-7 minutes decline. The problem had to do with the one way streets making the route not worthwhile for the driver. We never did get a driver. Another group offered to let us join them and the Uber driver explained the problems with the platform and why drivers would turn down the ride after seeing the pick up location.

My advice to anyone wanting to see Monserrate would be to rely on the bus service or visit earlier in the day so that you are leaving the property mid afternoon if not earlier when Uber/Bolt drivers are still dropping people off.

So sorry to hear your issues Jules and Sherry- what a pain. We had the exact opposite experience with Uber in Lisbon. We were picked up several times from our hotel and out in the main town at different times of the day within minutes every time- this even included 3 different Ubers for our group of 12 people to go to dinner and come back to hotel- ordered at same time on 3 different accounts. Every driver was super nice and friendly and all cars super clean. I was really impressed because in other cities in Europe and the States we always have at least one crazy ride. It amazed me how cheap the rides were too. We did not use outside Lisbon.

Jules, when I went to Lisbon, my air BnB host's instructions said, and my Uber driver also told me this, that there are zones where taxis can go that rideshare drivers are not allowed to go. My host's instructions said a taxi could get me closer to the apartment than a rideshare (but both would require a walk; the street was too narrow for a vehicle). So a taxi may be able to go right to a hotel, but an Uber driver has to wait a couple of blocks away.

Kayla, we had hosts in Porto and Sintra that said they no longer recommend Uber/Bolt because they had found them unreliable. Also, if a passenger wants to book a ride in advance, the hosts said the taxis work better for that.

I used Bolt many times in Portugal, some just within Lisbon and Porto, but others taking me from one town to the next in the Alrgarve as well as from Sintra to the coast and back. I never had a problem. Once I had to wait about 20 minutes, but that was when I'd been out hiking along the coast and decided I was tired and wanted to head back to Sintra. I was kind of in the middle of no where, so it made sense.

I also accidentally put in the address with the wrong town when I ordered a ride once and when I realized we weren't heading in the right direction, the driver pulled over, canceled my ride and reset it to the correct address, then kept driving. He didn't speak English, but understood when I said "near the Pena Palace". The Bolt driver who took me to Monserrate was amazing! He explained the history of Sintra better than any tour guide probably could. It was clear he loved his home.

I just returned from Lisbon. I found the Uber service to be spotty. I was at a central Lisbon hotel and had a couple of cancellations then a driver started contacting me that he had arrived? Where? I found not find him. Then I happened to see him waving at me across 4 lanes from across the street where I had to use 4 traffic lights to cross the street and run back to get in car. Then he tacked a wait charge on the bill. It was only .25 euro, but he caused the wait.

For my ride back to hotel, I booked a up one grade of car. The service was far better.