# How does Lyft assign requests based on location



## nickuber (Jan 6, 2015)

Hey guys,
I am relatively new to lyft and I wanted to get some answers on how lyft works regarding locations.
My question is this:
If two lyft drivers (Driver 1 and Driver 2) were parked at two different locations when Customer 1 requests a ride.
Driver 1 was closer to Customer in terms of distance. 
Driver 2 was farther away to Customer in terms of distance, but closer in terms of ETA.
Who would get the request? Does Lyft just look at distance or does it look at eta distance.

I have attached a simple example below.


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## ElectroFuzz (Jun 10, 2014)

I don't think they release information like this
but their system is built on top of an existing navigation program
so most likely it's the ETA (not distance)

Now I know sometimes it feels like it's the other way around
but there are other factors in place.
The biggest one is that no mater what, there is always some lag in the system.
So if you are driving on the highway and you get a ping for the next exit
you might have passed that exit by the time the ping arrives.


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## nickuber (Jan 6, 2015)

Cool thank you electric! I am going to test it out with a buddy of mine and post what happens


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## Killeen Ubur (Oct 29, 2014)

nickuber said:


> Cool thank you electric! I am going to test it out with a buddy of mine and post what happens





nickuber said:


> Hey guys,
> I am relatively new to lyft and I wanted to get some answers on how lyft works regarding locations.
> My question is this:
> If two lyft drivers (Driver 1 and Driver 2) were parked at two different locations when Customer 1 requests a ride.
> ...


Uber/Lyft both use distance (closest driver get it) I know I had to take crazy route to the pak Here in Austin we got a lot of one ways especially downtown Wow hows Albuquerque doing with Lyft ? My home town LOL wouldn't think those ass backwards homies would know how to use Lyft LOL Be Careful they will probably send for you just to steal your cell phone......!!! Need to move to a real city like Austin


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## ChrisInABQ (Oct 21, 2014)

Nick, I can't tell you how many times I've been at the Coors & Montano area and got a ping for Los Poblanos Inn. Uber thinks I'm only 3 minutes away when it's actually 15 minutes, but Lyft usually gives about 14 minutes or so. That tells me that Uber goes on distance only and Lyft is actually using navigation data to route the nearest driver.



Killeen Ubur said:


> Uber/Lyft both use distance (closest driver get it) I know I had to take crazy route to the pak Here in Austin we got a lot of one ways especially downtown Wow hows Albuquerque doing with Lyft ? My home town LOL wouldn't think those ass backwards homies would know how to use Lyft LOL Be Careful they will probably send for you just to steal your cell phone......!!! Need to move to a real city like Austin


Who says they actually KNOW how to use Lyft? Once got a Lyft ping at 3am about 8 miles away from where the drunk was at. There's a lesson to learn in there somewhere tho, so I adapted and learned how to make a buck on Uber/Lyft in the ABQ.


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## mizzrock (Jan 3, 2015)

ElectroFuzz said:


> I don't think they release information like this
> but their system is built on top of an existing navigation program
> so most likely it's the ETA (not distance)
> 
> ...


This I know ALL to well.


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## Copperas Cove Uber (Dec 14, 2014)

Has Albuquerque gotten that bad. I ain't actually been in the city in years, my parents live in Estancia. I grew up in Albuquerque, went to Taft Middle School before finally moving up north to Indiana. The most I know bout Albuquerque now is what I see on Cops and Breaking Bad, lol.


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