# LYFT drivers who pay no commission?



## HOOSIERGAL (Mar 20, 2016)

I had a pax tonight who said his friend drives for LYFT, takes 100+ rides per week and because of that pays $2.00 per ride and no commission. Is this true? Is there a program that reduces the commission if you have a certain amount of rides per week and/or your length of times with LYFT?


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## MattyMikey (Aug 19, 2015)

HOOSIERGAL said:


> I had a pax tonight who said his friend drives for LYFT, takes 100+ rides per week and because of that pays $2.00 per ride and no commission. Is this true? Is there a program that reduces the commission if you have a certain amount of rides per week and/or your length of times with LYFT?


Yes it is the Power Driver Bonus


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## HOOSIERGAL (Mar 20, 2016)

Ugh, that leaves me out, my car is a 2010


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## mlaalm (Mar 22, 2016)

Doesn't take that many rides. In Charlotte it's about 55 rides for 20%. Varies per area I believe. Later.


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## Manotas (Dec 2, 2015)

I drive part-time and can't never make the power driver bonus for 2 reasons: The hours Lyft wants me to drive conflict w/ my regular full time job and the amount of rides 80 per week/25 peak never happens because it's freaking slow with Lyft


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## Ben105 (Feb 27, 2016)

I agree. PDB is nearly impossible for me. There are just too few ride opportunities with Lyft in my area.


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## Dan The Lyft Man (Dec 25, 2015)

This is only for the full time driver to hit that 20%. But 10% Driver Bonus is doable in a weekend, you have to put in the time.


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## mlaalm (Mar 22, 2016)

Agree. Hardest part for me is getting peak rides in around my full time. If I commit Fri - Sun the 10% can be reached but I can't work both companies.


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## Dan The Lyft Man (Dec 25, 2015)

mlaalm said:


> I can't work both companies.


Ya I know... I want to try this but I know when I do. It's going to be a weekend that it's slow and it will just tick me off...


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## stemor (May 15, 2016)

I drive in Memphis, where we only need to hit 15 rides at "prime time" (which has been poorly defined by somebody that doesn't know Memphis, apparently), and a total of 45 rides, to hit the maximum 20% PDB. I've hit it most weeks that I tried ... I haven't tried the last two weeks, as it has occurred to me that it is unprofitable to drive 25+ minutes to the outskirts of town, just to keep one's acceptance rate high (you need 90+% acceptance rate to get the PDB). I now believe that it would be better strategically to ignore distant requests, forego the PDB, and pick up more nearby rides. That, or simply don't drive if you don't really want to, which is where I'm at now.

But note ... if you get $100 in gross fares, and Lyft takes 20% (they take 25% from me, but let's go with the old 20%), then you now have $80.

If they give you 20% back, it's on the $80. So, you wind up with a $16 PDB, for a total of $96. You did get "most" of your money back, but not all of it.

Don't believe that Lyft "gives you all your money back", though their deal is superior to what Uber offers.


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## mlaalm (Mar 22, 2016)

Tks for explaining


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## stemor (May 15, 2016)

mlaalm said:


> Agree. Hardest part for me is getting peak rides in around my full time. If I commit Fri - Sun the 10% can be reached but I can't work both companies.


Well, here's my logic. I see a change to get a power driver bonus on Lyft, as well as the fact that I average about 25% extra from tips on my Lyft rides. So, if Uber isn't surging, I'm not driving for them ... I'll drive Lyft unless, and until, I can get something over a 1.5x surge on Uber. If Uber is surging >1.5x, then I'll turn the app on ... if they're surging >1.9x, then I figure I'll do better taking their rides than Lyft, so I'll turn off the Lyft app for however long (or short) the Uber surge lasts.

Just be sure to be happy with what you do, and worry only about maximizing your own experience. And, be sure to have fun and enjoy the ride!


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## macchiato (Sep 29, 2015)

Doesn't look like your math is working properly. I'm getting my 20% back.


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## Flarpy (Apr 17, 2016)

macchiato said:


> Doesn't look like your math is working properly. I'm getting my 20% back.
> 
> View attachment 42894


It's actually Lyft's math that's wrong. Or rather, how we assume they're describing their math. They calculate the 20% off the total ride payments, not your net. Which is actually somewhat generous and surprising of them.


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## stemor (May 15, 2016)

Yep, it looks like that's how it's working for you. It must be nice to be in a desirable market, where the math works differently.  Not the same in Memphis, for me, I'll need to look into it further.


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## Jimmy Bernat (Apr 12, 2016)

Yep the PDB is one of the bug reasons I drive Lyft mostly. I get the 20% back every Wednesday. It's pretty easy in Denver 
70 rides 20 in peak times
It use to be 65 rides 

UBER has a PDB also now in Denver which was 60 rides but now it's 70. The one week lyft was at 65 rides and uber was at 60 I did 125 rides and got all of my Lyft commission back and only had to pay uber 5% it was fantastic


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

That's opposite of Uber who makes you think you're making $18/hr on their guarantees, only to say, now we want 25% of that back.


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## Flarpy (Apr 17, 2016)

Jimmy Bernat said:


> The one week lyft was at 65 rides and uber was at 60 I did 125 rides and got all of my Lyft commission back and only had to pay uber 5% it was fantastic


Good lord, you're doing 125 rides per week? How much time and how many miles is that? I'd go insane.


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## Jimmy Bernat (Apr 12, 2016)

Flarpy said:


> Good lord, you're doing 125 rides per week? How much time and how many miles is that? I'd go insane.


I think that week was 52 hours and 1200 miles 
I typically don't work that way but I really wanted to hit full PDB for both companies as more of a personal goal

I usually do around 100 rides and 40 hours and rarely over 1000 miles

Last week for example I made 975 after gas (gers deducted from my uber earnings) I worked 29 hours and gave 77 rides, with 730 miles put on my car


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## galileo5 (Jan 16, 2016)

HOOSIERGAL said:


> I had a pax tonight who said his friend drives for LYFT, takes 100+ rides per week and because of that pays $2.00 per ride and no commission. Is this true? Is there a program that reduces the commission if you have a certain amount of rides per week and/or your length of times with LYFT?


No driver pays $2 per ride.


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