# Strategy for adapting to Lyft's ride switcheroos and takebacks



## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

A couple of nights ago I was in downtown San Francisco and wanted to go to the airport. A Lyft ping came through that was a 25 minute ride in the right direction. However, it was up in the marina, about 1.5 miles / 8 minutes away. I knew that, if I accepted the ping, there was a 95% chance that Lyft would take the ride back from me before I was able to reach the pickup so I ignored it. Instead, I parked up and waited. A few minutes later a similar ping came through for a pickup 3 blocks away. I took the ping and was able to get to the pax before Lyft took it back.

Obviously, when Lyft takes rides back from you and gives them to another driver, either by means of switcheroo (they try to force a different ride on you) or takeback (ride simply disappears from the Lyft app, no replacement ride imposed), then that ride does not cease to exist; it is just given to someone else. But what goes around comes around, meaning that while some rides are taken from drivers who do what are now considered longer pickups (greater than 2/3 minutes / a few blocks away), we drivers also benefit from being given rides close to us that have been taken from these longer-pickup drivers.

So the answer is also obvious: take advantage of Lyft's new switcheroo/takeback policy by only accepting Lyft pings that you already right on top of, i.e. rides that are no more than 2/3 minutes or a few blocks away, and letting Lyft give you rides that it has taken from other drivers.

I think that this is the best way of preventing the switcheroo/takeback policy from affecting one's Lyft earnings. My Lyft ping ignore rate was very high before this policy, but I am not sure that it will be higher because of it, or that it will decrease my earnings. Although I now ignore pings that I know I would not be allowed to get to, I am also now receiving from Lyft the switcheroo/takeback pings from other drivers.

Bottom line - ignore all Lyft pings that are greater than a coupe of minutes / blocks away.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

The Gift of Fish said:


> Bottom line - ignore all Lyft pings that are greater than a coupe of minutes / blocks away.


I thought that was standard rideshare strategy


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

NewLyftDriver said:


> I thought that was standard rideshare strategy


No. It used to be on Lyft that pickups that were 5 - 10 minutes away were acceptable. Now, as above, it's 2 - 3 minutes maximum.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

Believe it or not 2-3 minutes is far from switcheroo-proof in SF.

During very busy rush hours with heavy traffic and a swarm of hungry ants, you can easily be switched when the super optimistic ETA calculations fall behind due to traffic. Miss crossing an intersection light because of a noob tourist driver in front of you and fall behind by 45 seconds, and you are highly likely to lose the ride. I've been switcherood as many as 4 times in less than 10 minutes before.

This past Thursday morning when I was put on watch for cancellations and threatened with deactivation I was switcherood 3 times (4 different pax total) in probably 6-7 minutes.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

Tempted to get back out there but nah I have a stomach ache and too comfortable in bed


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

NewLyftDriver said:


> Believe it or not 2-3 minutes is far from switcheroo-proof in SF.
> 
> During very busy rush hours with heavy traffic and a swarm of hungry ants, you can easily be switched when the super optimistic ETA calculations fall behind due to traffic. Miss crossing an intersection light because of a noob tourist driver in front of you and fall behind by 45 seconds, and you are highly likely to lose the ride. I've been switcherood as many as 4 times in less than 10 minutes before.
> 
> This past Thursday morning when I was put on watch for cancellations and threatened with deactivation I was switcherood 3 times (4 different pax total) in probably 6-7 minutes.


Yes, all you can do by only taking close-by pings is minimize the switcheroos and takebacks. When lyft starts going nuts with them, I just give lyft a 30-60 minute suspension and switch over to Uber.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

Wish I had Uber available. Going on more than 2 months now for BG check hold

When it first happened I thought 2 hours was ridiculous. I near flipped out when 2 days hit and thought that was unreal....


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

NewLyftDriver said:


> Tempted to get back out there but nah I have a stomach ache and too comfortable in bed
> 
> View attachment 623273


WTF? You see the bonus zones? This is what I see:


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

What???

I guess it's a partial roll out and I somehow lucked into being part of the early rollout?

I love it compared to the bullshit ppz joke. I hated the ppz game ever since day 1


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

View from just now


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

I'll trade you my Lyft account for your Uber account


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

No response... I'm guessing the fish is furiously driving towards twin peaks


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

NewLyftDriver said:


> View from just now
> 
> View attachment 623275


Well, I'm in downtown SF right now and lyft pigs are coming in at base rate. Obviously I won't be doing Lyft rides this morning


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

How's Uber map looking?


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

NewLyftDriver said:


> How's Uber map looking?


S12- 20 surge


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)




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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Plus an occasional comedy ping to keep me amused


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## Gone_in_60_seconds (Jan 21, 2018)

The Gift of Fish said:


> A couple of nights ago I was in downtown San Francisco and wanted to go to the airport. A Lyft ping came through that was a 25 minute ride in the right direction. However, it was up in the marina, about 1.5 miles / 8 minutes away. I knew that, if I accepted the ping, there was a 95% chance that Lyft would take the ride back from me before I was able to reach the pickup so I ignored it. Instead, I parked up and waited. A few minutes later a similar ping came through for a pickup 3 blocks away. I took the ping and was able to get to the pax before Lyft took it back.
> 
> Obviously, when Lyft takes rides back from you and gives them to another driver, either by means of switcheroo (they try to force a different ride on you) or takeback (ride simply disappears from the Lyft app, no replacement ride imposed), then that ride does not cease to exist; it is just given to someone else. But what goes around comes around, meaning that while some rides are taken from drivers who do what are now considered longer pickups (greater than 2/3 minutes / a few blocks away), we drivers also benefit from being given rides close to us that have been taken from these longer-pickup drivers.
> 
> ...


I did notice I didn't get the switcheroo when I had the destination filter on.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

Gone_in_60_seconds said:


> I did notice I didn't get the switcheroo when I had the destination filter on.


False. It is less likely but it is not fool proof


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

I'm going to have to get in touch with Lyft to let them know that I gave them a 120 minute suspension this morning for offering only base rate rides during peak airport run hours. And that any future occurrences of such behaviour from them will result in further suspensions of their account by me.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

The Gift of Fish said:


> I'm going to have to get in touch with Lyft to let them know that I gave them a 120 minute suspension this morning for offering only base rate rides during peak airport run hours. And that any future occurrences of such behaviour from them will result in further suspensions of their account by me.


Give them a "challenge" and see if they can go 10 rides without doing a switcheroo on you


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## Lord Summerisle (Aug 15, 2015)

NewLyftDriver said:


> Give them a "challenge" and see if they can go 10 rides without doing a switcheroo on you
> 
> View attachment 623334


I challenge them to provide ten profitable rides in a row.


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