Love game but having difficulties with raid and battles

Have played since July, 2016 consistently every week. The raids are fun but are interfering with walking as we drive around looking for them. The legendary raids were added without the ability to gather a group. Have not been to one where there is another player, so discouraging. This needs to be addressed. My friends are different teams and Niantic will not change our team so we cannot battle together. We are abandoning gyms for now and going back to walking.

RedDoxie37 about Pokémon GO, v1.39.0