At the launch of crawfish season last year, we put together a 225 Dine roundup of prices for live and boiled crawfish. Our writer had to call more than a dozen places to put the story together, and we knew it’d be a matter of days before prices would change again. Turns out we weren’t the only ones doing this—the Baton Rouge-based couple behind this new app felt as exhausted by constant crawfish calls as we did. They decided to make an app for that and launched it earlier this year, complete with price per pound at more than 700 vendors statewide.
How it works: The app’s clean white and red design makes it easy to navigate as you sort by live or boiled, price, rating and/or distance from your current location. It’s like GasBuddy but for crawfish.
What it costs: Free!
Download if: You’re planning a crawfish boil; you’re a 225 Dine journalist tired of making crawfish phone calls
Lyft
Uber’s biggest competitor arrived in Baton Rouge earlier this year. So what’s the difference between the two apps? Well, drivers will tell you Lyft is friendlier to them. It allows riders to add tips to the fare, unlike Uber, and it offers bigger sign-up and power bonuses for drivers once they’ve completed a set number of rides. For riders, though, the rates, wait times and app’s functionality are all pretty similar.
How it works: Use the app to set your pickup location, and voila—Lyft will send a driver your way. Estimate their arrival by watching the tiny car icon move along the map toward you in real-time.
What it costs: Base fares are $1.25 plus a service fee of $1.95. After that, it’s 15 cents per minute and 90 cents per mile, with a minimum fare of $4, according to Daily Report.
Download if: You’re tired of Uber; you’re out of ride discounts for Uber (you can get free rides for Lyft if you use a code sent by a friend); you’re boycotting Uber for political reasons
Zipcar
Zipcar is all the rage in cities like New York, where a large percentage of the population relies on public transportation. Unlike more traditional rental companies, Zipcar’s car-rental app allows you to reserve vehicles by the hour, and the company covers gas and insurance.
How it works: Zipcars are parked in designated spots marked off with lime green paint around downtown and at LSU. You can gain access to the cars by unlocking them with the app. There are a total of eight cars available for rent right now, with models including Ford Focus and Honda Civic and CR-V.
What it costs: Annual membership fee prices range by plan but can run up to $70 per year. Cars are available to rent from $7 an hour.
Download if: You live around LSU or downtown and don’t have a car; your car is in the shop; you want to rent a car but don’t feel like talking to any human beings today
This article was originally published in the April 2017 issue of 225 Magazine.
At the launch of crawfish season last year, we put together a 225 Dine roundup of prices for live and boiled crawfish. Our writer had to call more than a dozen places to put the story together, and we knew it’d be a matter of days before prices would change again. Turns out we weren’t the only ones doing this—the Baton Rouge-based couple behind this new app felt as exhausted by constant crawfish calls as we did. They decided to make an app for that and launched it earlier this year, complete with price per pound at more than 700 vendors statewide.
