# Lyft business in Chicago



## Stlman (Feb 17, 2016)

Does anyone in Chicago do lyft 40- 50 hrs a week and roughly how much you make net a week and how many rides a week


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## tiguan (Dec 26, 2015)

Most of I've ever done is about 34 hours (75 rides) once. With the new PDB system which allowed me to get the 20% bonus and tips (usually 8-12 percent of total ride charges in a given week), I grossed $832 that week. Now, that's before the 15% independent contractor tax hit, regular taxes and cost of gas


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## Master Uberer (Dec 10, 2015)

tiguan said:


> Most of I've ever done is about 34 hours (75 rides) once. With the new PDB system which allowed me to get the 20% bonus and tips (usually 8-12 percent of total ride charges in a given week), I grossed $832 that week. Now, that's before the 15% independent contractor tax hit, regular taxes and cost of gas


Where do you drive? What's your system for making that kind of money?


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

Stlman said:


> Does anyone in Chicago do lyft 40- 50 hrs a week and roughly how much you make net a week and how many rides a week


StlMan, if you go here https://uberpeople.net/forums/Chicago/ to the Chicago section of this forum, you'll find quite a few drivers who work that many hours, and some of them are Lyft drivers. Good luck with finding what you need!


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

tiguan said:


> Most of I've ever done is about 34 hours (75 rides) once. With the new PDB system which allowed me to get the 20% bonus and tips (usually 8-12 percent of total ride charges in a given week), I grossed $832 that week. Now, that's before the 15% independent contractor tax hit, regular taxes and cost of gas


What is this "15% Independent Contractor Tax", Tiguan? Is it something that our broke, no-budget, state of Illinois has saddled us with for 2016? I'm hoping you're mistaken about this!


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## UberWhenICan (Jan 28, 2016)

AllenChicago said:


> What is this "15% Independent Contractor Tax", Tiguan? Is it something that our broke, no-budget, state of Illinois has saddled us with for 2016? I'm hoping you're mistaken about this!


How else can they save enough money to pay for those waiting on their lottery winnings? ☺


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## tiguan (Dec 26, 2015)

AllenChicago said:


> What is this "15% Independent Contractor Tax", Tiguan? Is it something that our broke, no-budget, state of Illinois has saddled us with for 2016? I'm hoping you're mistaken about this!


No, it's something that Silicon Valley has saddled us with. As an independent contractor you are responsible for all the payroll taxes that a normal employer would pay (SS, FICA etc.) That is roughly an extra 15% on top of your normal federal, state and municipal taxes. If we were traditional W2 employees, Lyft and Uber would be legally responsible for paying this. That's why Lyft and Uber will spend tens of millions of dollars on top-shelf legal talent to fight to the end to ever have us reclassified as "employees" instead of "contractors." If that ever happens, it's game over for their business plan.


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## BostonTaxiDriver (Nov 23, 2014)

tiguan said:


> Most of I've ever done is about 34 hours (75 rides) once. With the new PDB system which allowed me to get the 20% bonus and tips (usually 8-12 percent of total ride charges in a given week), I grossed $832 that week. Now, that's before the 15% independent contractor tax hit, regular taxes and cost of gas


Is that $832 before Lyft's commission? Do they have a safe rides fee like Uber?

Did you drive days or nights?

Do you figure gas at about $2 for each hour worked on average?

Thanks.


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## tiguan (Dec 26, 2015)

BostonTaxiDriver said:


> Is that $832 before Lyft's commission? Do they have a safe rides fee like Uber?
> 
> Did you drive days or nights?
> 
> ...


Since I hit the 20% bonus, Lyft took no commission. So, the number is 100% of ride charges + tips. Gross rides were around 750 with tips bumping the final number up to 832. Lyft has a $1.60 fee on the pax, and I don't know if that's a city tax or Lyft keeps it. I don't get it, so I don't really care where it ends up.

I primarily drive morning rush hour (I'll knock out my 20 peak time rides just on that--6 this morning), some evening rush hours and brunch hours on the weekend. It was Valentines Day weekend, so I drove longer than I usually do since the pings were coming quick and did about 35 rides with the majority prime time on Saturday and Sunday but finished up by 8 or 9 pm both days. I never drive past 9. The week was a bit of anomaly, but I think somebody driving 40 to 45 hours a week should be able to gross over 800 pretty consistently. It's still not a great salary though if you're having to cover a considerable amount of vehicle cost through your lyft earnings.

My car takes 93, which has been about 2.30 to 2.40 at Costco lately, and concentrating my driving in the city core, I'm not getting great mileage. However, since my real job/company pays full lease, insurance and maintenance on my car, my only cost of driving Lyft is the extra gas used rather than the entire cost of the vehicle.


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## andaas (May 19, 2015)

tiguan said:


> However, since my real job/company pays full lease, insurance and maintenance on my car, my only cost of driving Lyft is the extra gas used rather than the entire cost of the vehicle.


Wow, that sounds like trouble waiting to happen... What happens if you get in an accident? That insurance you have is not going to cover the car your company is leasing for you.


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## Friendly Jack (Nov 17, 2015)

Stlman said:


> Does anyone in Chicago do lyft 40- 50 hrs a week and roughly how much you make net a week and how many rides a week


Perhaps a better way to answer your question, Stlman, is through my Lyft hourly stats for 2015 and 2016, which you can extend to any number of hours you may care to work. Please keep in mind, however, that I was also driving for UberX, so my Lyft hours represent time when I was actively providing a Lyft ride or available to accept a Lyft (or Uber) request. Also, my hours include time when I was returning home to the suburbs at the end of the night with the app online but less likely to receive a request, so you may want to consider my average hourly numbers approximately 10% less than they would otherwise be.

You can see that my 2016 Lyft average activity lags considerably behind 2015, but the past three weeks of February Lyft activity have been much improved and in line with 2015 averages. Perhaps this is due to Uber's recent emphasis on Pool and riders now utilizing Lyft more frequently? I hope that you find this information helpful...

Lyft *2015* ( figures rounded, $ are my 80%), 22.6 hours/24.8 rides per week average, mostly evenings:

Average rides per hour: 1.10
Average $ per ride, excluding tips: $9.50 
Average $ per hour, excluding tips: $10.47 
Average tip $ per ride: $1.20
Average $ per ride, including tips: $10.70
Average $ per hour, including tips: $11.79
Lyft *2016* ( figures rounded, $ are my 80%), 22.5 hours/21.2 rides per week average, mostly evenings :

Average rides per hour: 0.94
Average $ per ride, excluding tips: $7.62
Average $ per hour, excluding tips: $7.17
Average tip $ per ride: $0.86
Average $ per ride, including tips: $8.49
Average $ per hour, including tips: $7.99


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## Friendly Jack (Nov 17, 2015)

AllenChicago said:


> What is this "15% Independent Contractor Tax", Tiguan? Is it something that our broke, no-budget, state of Illinois has saddled us with for 2016? I'm hoping you're mistaken about this!


Assuming that you are an individual tax filer and not a corporation, you are subject to self employment tax (stated on tax schedule C) of 15.3% before any income tax liability is considered. You must pay this 15.3% self employment tax even if you pay no income tax. The 15.3% is comprised of 6.2% FICA tax (social security tax) plus 1.45% Medicare tax, which totals 7.65%. Since you are self-employed and your own employer you also pay the matching employer contribution of 7.65% making the 15.3% total self-employment tax. You can deduct this second 7.65% from your income thereby reducing the amount on which standard income tax may be owed. If any of this does not make sense to you then please do consult a tax advisor.


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

Friendly Jack said:


> Assuming that you are an individual tax filer and not a corporation, you are subject to self employment tax (stated on tax schedule C) of 15.3% before any income tax liability is considered. You must pay this 15.3% self employment tax even if you pay no income tax. The 15.3% is comprised of 6.2% FICA tax (social security tax) plus 1.45% Medicare tax, which totals 7.65%. Since you are self-employed and your own employer you also pay the matching employer contribution of 7.65% making the 15.3% total self-employment tax. You can deduct this second 7.65% from your income thereby reducing the amount on which standard income tax may be owed. If any of this does not make sense to you then please do consult a tax advisor.


Thanks for such a THOROUGH reply, Friendly Jack. I believe you and member Tiguan are referring to the same tax. The H&R Block software that I've used for the past 7 years has done such a good job of getting my Adjusted Gross Income down with deductions, that I haven't had to pay that Self-Employment tax.


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## Stlman (Feb 17, 2016)

Well after 1 full week of work only driving for lyft I did not turn uber app on at all. 102 rides, 41.25 hrs on app, $933 in pay 170 of that is my bonus so I paid 0 to lyft and 71 in tips. I drove 637 miles and I worked Wednesday- Sunday all nights. It was a success so now I will only do lyft as it is proven it pays better then uber. No need to strike guys what you need to do is educate your customers and educate yourself uber is not the only way to make money.


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## Stripperlocker1 (Sep 4, 2016)

Stlman said:


> Does anyone in Chicago do lyft 40- 50 hrs a week and roughly how much you make net a week and how many rides a week


I do easy 50 hrs I average 800 to 1000. I take a conservative 40% off and it's 480 to 600 a week profit. The problem comes in when a pax makes some bs lie complaint and lyft suspends your acct. Then it a waiting game and it sucks. So do yourself a favor. Factor in that you are working twice as many hrs at half the pay. That's a true number. But if your good at promoting those perks lyft has helps


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## Stripperlocker1 (Sep 4, 2016)

tiguan said:


> Most of I've ever done is about 34 hours (75 rides) once. With the new PDB system which allowed me to get the 20% bonus and tips (usually 8-12 percent of total ride charges in a given week), I grossed $832 that week. Now, that's before the 15% independent contractor tax hit, regular taxes and cost of gas


Whoa hold on how do work 34 hrs get 75 rides at 832 was that a crazy week or what


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