# Lyft “take”



## SiennaMan (Oct 14, 2019)

No longer can see what the “take” is for Lyft. They raised prices and didn’t pass anything along to drivers and now we can’t see what they charged the rider. Another thumbscrew on us drivers. Just keeps getting worse


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## Cold Fusion (Aug 28, 2019)

SiennaMan said:


> No longer can see what the "take" is for Lyft. They raised prices and didn't pass anything along to drivers and now we can't see what they charged the rider. Another thumbscrew on us drivers. Just keeps getting worse


Lyft is confident your protest will be to accept the next ping

problem ain't Lyft


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## SiennaMan (Oct 14, 2019)

Cold Fusion said:


> Lyft is confident your protest will be to accept the next ping
> 
> problem ain't Lyft


Your saying it's my problem i am not a masochist?


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## 2kwik4u (Aug 27, 2019)

SiennaMan said:


> No longer can see what the "take" is for Lyft. They raised prices and didn't pass anything along to drivers and now we can't see what they charged the rider. Another thumbscrew on us drivers. Just keeps getting worse


While it's nice to have that clarity, I still haven't seen a good explanation for how that information will effect a drivers decision making, or profitability.


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## SiennaMan (Oct 14, 2019)

2kwik4u said:


> While it's nice to have that clarity, I still haven't seen a good explanation for how that information will effect a drivers decision making, or profitability.


Lyft has raised prices a number of time's without even passing along pennies to the driver. Their "take" has increased thus affecting my profitability. When gas increases .30 a gallon, does their take decrease? Not in a million years! Maintenance costs have increased over that span and we are not being compensated. I have driven for over 3 years and have yet to file taxes that show a profit. Drivers are not organized, so this will never change!


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## 2kwik4u (Aug 27, 2019)

SiennaMan said:


> Lyft has raised prices a number of time's without even passing along pennies to the driver. Their "take" has increased thus affecting my profitability. When gas increases .30 a gallon, does their take decrease? Not in a million years! Maintenance costs have increased over that span and we are not being compensated. I have driven for over 3 years and have yet to file taxes that show a profit. Drivers are not organized, so this will never change!


You still haven't explained how knowing their take rate affects your profitability? You're paid on a per-mile and per-minute basis. You are not paid based on what the customer pays. The customer could pay $125/ride, and you would still get the same per-mile, and per-minute pay. They customer could have a coupon for a free ride as a promotion, and you still get your per-mile, and per-minute pay. The cash out of customers pocket is independent of your pay. Therefore the percentage between what they pay, and what you receive is independent to your profitability. You should know the costs of doing business, and be able to quickly ascertain if a ride is profitable or not. When they stop being profitable on average, then stop doing business with them.

Do you expect Lyft to not make money? Do you have another source of clients to give rides to? Until the answer to either of those questions is yes, you will have to make the decision for yourself if you continue to do business with Lyft. It's at the core of being an independent contractor.


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## O-Side Uber (Jul 26, 2017)

SiennaMan said:


> Lyft has raised prices a number of time's without even passing along pennies to the driver. Their "take" has increased thus affecting my profitability. When gas increases .30 a gallon, does their take decrease? Not in a million years! Maintenance costs have increased over that span and we are not being compensated. I have driven for over 3 years and have yet to file taxes that show a profit. Drivers are not organized, so this will never change!


That's really the only good thing, writing off the taxes. As long as we're paying for the gas and using our cars .. the tax write-offs will continue.

Rental car people can't write off as much ?
You can't claim depreciation on a lease


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## 2kwik4u (Aug 27, 2019)

O-Side Uber said:


> You can't claim depreciation on a lease


I think on a lease you can claim the entirety of the cost out of pocket though. So payments might be deductible at the end of the year.

Grandmother ran an interior decorating consulting business for years in FL. I want to say she leased her cars for this exact reason.


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## AlteredBeast (Sep 29, 2018)

In the last 6 months in Omaha, Lyft has gone from the better of the two platforms to utter dog crap. 

No surge 
No ability to see where a ride is heading before accepting
Spotty ride challenges

Everyone knows I used to push them over Uber all day long, but at this point, Uber is definitely the better choice: surge, see direction and estimate of ride length, and actually have quests in Omaha on the weekends.


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## O-Side Uber (Jul 26, 2017)

2kwik4u said:


> I think on a lease you can claim the entirety of the cost out of pocket though. So payments might be deductible at the end of the year.
> 
> Grandmother ran an interior decorating consulting business for years in FL. I want to say she leased her cars for this exact reason.


Yes but it's not nearly as much. Lease payments are like 2k a year.. that's like a $200 write off


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## peteyvavs (Nov 18, 2015)

Driving for lyft is an exercise in futility, now bend over and ?


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## #professoruber (Feb 19, 2018)

SiennaMan said:


> Your saying it's my problem i am not a masochist?


He/she is saying ants are a big part of the problem by accepting rides and the current rates.

If 30% of drivers logged off Lyft, they would be in a corner and have to raise the rates or offer bigger bonuses to keep drivers on the road. Desperate ants do desperate things and think $20 an hour is good money but fail to realize $10 of that is true operating expenses.


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## charmer37 (Nov 18, 2016)

SiennaMan said:


> Lyft has raised prices a number of time's without even passing along pennies to the driver. Their "take" has increased thus affecting my profitability. When gas increases .30 a gallon, does their take decrease? Not in a million years! Maintenance costs have increased over that span and we are not being compensated. I have driven for over 3 years and have yet to file taxes that show a profit. Drivers are not organized, so this will never change!


That's the truth, The last things these companies are thinking about is paying the drivers fairly.


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## Cold Fusion (Aug 28, 2019)

SiennaMan said:


> Your saying it's my problem i am not a masochist?


Once again:
"_Lyft is confident your protest will be to accept the next ping"
"problem ain't Lyft"_

expect Uber to also eliminate fare breakdown.
Why bother sharing info with disposable drivers?
....make drivers curse the dark?

evil laughter ??


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## Don'tchasethesurge (Dec 27, 2016)

Fu lyft! I get so happy as I watch the stock drop!


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## #professoruber (Feb 19, 2018)

Cold Fusion said:


> Once again:
> "_Lyft is confident your protest will be to accept the next ping"
> "problem ain't Lyft"_
> 
> ...


50% of my rides, I can usually lead the conversation into how much the rider is paying. Why do I get this information. First, I want to make sure Uber and Lyft are reporting the same amount. Secondly, this information is imperative to compete against Lyft and Uber.

Black car drivers gave been doing this for years and actually use the rider app to quote prices. I use this information to determine market rates as my clientele are the ones that do not get a reliable service from Lyft and Uber. If they pay $50 for a ride to the airport, it's a easy sell when I quote $70 for the same ride because my clients are the ones anxiously hoping for a ride at 4am in the morning. It's an easier sell when they upgrade to select because I am the only car available and their scheduled ride was cancelled due to know drivers in the area.

My $400 per month investment for commercial insurance is a no brainer as I get at least one rider a week that is tired of playing Uber/Lyft roulette whenever they travel.

This is how drivers will beat Uber and Lyft. They created a billion dollar market that never existed. Black car services are basically priced out of the market but are utilized by people with disposable income. Taxis messed up when they didn't build a app and clean up their fleet. And rideshare ants don't have the resources, skillset, or balls to go out and create there own clientele.

What will kill Uber and Lyft is autonomous vehicles. Why? The technology will not be proprietary to them and once car makers start selling them to the public, it will reinvent the rideshare wheel and Uber and Lyft will once again have the same ants operating and maintaining those vehicles.


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## Dekero (Sep 24, 2019)

#professoruber said:


> 50% of my rides, I can usually lead the conversation into how much the rider is paying. Why do I get this information. First, I want to make sure Uber and Lyft are reporting the same amount. Secondly, this information is imperative to compete against Lyft and Uber.
> 
> Black car drivers gave been doing this for years and actually use the rider app to quote prices. I use this information to determine market rates as my clientele are the ones that do not get a reliable service from Lyft and Uber. If they pay $50 for a ride to the airport, it's a easy sell when I quote $70 for the same ride because my clients are the ones anxiously hoping for a ride at 4am in the morning. It's an easier sell when they upgrade to select because I am the only car available and their scheduled ride was cancelled due to know drivers in the area.
> 
> ...


That's it... Commercial Insurance is the best thing I've done in a long time.. slowly building that clientele list... 1 ride at a time... Have to have an exit strategy, let them keep cutting rates for us and increasing the riders portion. Helps me Everytime.


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## #professoruber (Feb 19, 2018)

Dekero said:


> That's it... Commercial Insurance is the best thing I've done in a long time.. slowly building that clientele list... 1 ride at a time... Have to have an exit strategy, let them keep cutting rates for us and increasing the riders portion. Helps me Everytime.


I am banking on that niche between Uber X and black car services which is $1-$4 per mile. Uber did two things in my market.

1.Select is now surging with X and XL. I used to bank on select rides during surge as there are always opportunities where demand exceeds supply. Now people are going to black when the select surge is greater than select or XL.

2. Uber comfort minimized XL and Select rides.

I am about to test out some social marketing that will pinpoint the demographic and control my growth so it can scale. Feel free to reach out and I have no issues sharing my business plan which evolves around helping drivers go independent so we can all eat. Let the rideshare revolution begin. Lol


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## nouberipo (Jul 24, 2018)

SiennaMan said:


> No longer can see what the "take" is for Lyft. They raised prices and didn't pass anything along to drivers and now we can't see what they charged the rider. Another thumbscrew on us drivers. Just keeps getting worse


By design. Did you notice that a lot of academic/industry studies were being conducted to capture the actual take of trips? This required submitting receipts which drivers had access to. Now we cannot do so which means they are at least temporarily able to keep lying about the actual take from the drivers. What did they say in their lying prospectus? That the take rate was something like 23%? LMFAO. I have had up to 80% taken and I would say well over 50% on the average in the past year. If you were an investor and told that the take rate was only 23% you may think that the company can squeeze some more money out of the drivers by increasing Lyft take rate. Now if you said it is up to 80%, investors would likely question how there could possibly be any more increases short of having drivers pay for the privilege of carting paxoles around the ghettos.


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## 25rides7daysaweek (Nov 20, 2017)

SiennaMan said:


> Lyft has raised prices a number of time's without even passing along pennies to the driver. Their "take" has increased thus affecting my profitability. When gas increases .30 a gallon, does their take decrease? Not in a million years! Maintenance costs have increased over that span and we are not being compensated. I have driven for over 3 years and have yet to file taxes that show a profit. Drivers are not organized, so this will never change!


Man you must be in a really crappy market and driving the way wrong car if you aren't making money. I wrote off 65,000 miles last year. I work my ass off in Chicago though.


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## Dekero (Sep 24, 2019)

25rides7daysaweek said:


> Man you must be in a really crappy market and driving the way wrong car if you aren't making money. I wrote off 65,000 miles last year. I work my ass off in Chicago though.


Chicago is a rare beast... Trust us the rest of the country, save a few spots, are getting the shaft on the daily... The massive surge pics I've seen Gio post on his YouTube channel "DO NOT HAPPEN" In the rest of the country. Yes we get surge but it's few and far between...

Ride that wave in Chicago as long as you can. Wish We had opportunity like that here in Memphis... I'm not asking for a handout, I'm willing to work for it but when the deck is stacked against you it makes it hard to be successful.


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

2kwik4u said:


> You still haven't explained how knowing their take rate affects your profitability? You're paid on a per-mile and per-minute basis. You are not paid based on what the customer pays. The customer could pay $125/ride, and you would still get the same per-mile, and per-minute pay. They customer could have a coupon for a free ride as a promotion, and you still get your per-mile, and per-minute pay. The cash out of customers pocket is independent of your pay. Therefore the percentage between what they pay, and what you receive is independent to your profitability. You should know the costs of doing business, and be able to quickly ascertain if a ride is profitable or not. When they stop being profitable on average, then stop doing business with them.
> 
> Do you expect Lyft to not make money? Do you have another source of clients to give rides to? Until the answer to either of those questions is yes, you will have to make the decision for yourself if you continue to do business with Lyft. It's at the core of being an independent contractor.


In order for Lyft to not be an employer of drivers, it would have to only take a flat fee or flat percentage of fares and not have any control over rides themselves.

Lyft originally released info to help drivers believe they were independent contractors. Given how Lyft now charges pax whatever they want, and now even hides that info from drivers, it's crystal clear that drivers are employees now more than ever.


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## mrpjfresh (Aug 16, 2016)

Not that Lyft actually gives a rat's arse about laws, but how is it that they can hide their take come tax time? We're supposedly independent contractors who pay them an unknown and totally arbitrary amount per ride, which is tax deductible of course, but they are not going to tell anyone what that is until the 1099s get issued? LOL. That is some brazen shit, I must admit. Things must be even more dire than we realize...


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## Dekero (Sep 24, 2019)

mrpjfresh said:


> Not that Lyft actually gives a rat's arse about laws, but how is it that they can hide their take come tax time? We're supposedly independent contractors who pay them an unknown and totally arbitrary amount per ride, which is tax deductible of course, but they are not going to tell anyone what that is until the 1099s get issued? LOL. That is some brazen shit, I must admit. Things must be even more dire than we realize...


Oh they won't hide it then...

It doesn't hurt them to show a TOTAL of all your rides.. but it does hurt them to show you ride by ride where you are able to gripe each time they screw you... This is their goal... To reduce daily complaints about them robbing us. Taking the "Take" screen away accomplished this perfectly and sadly in another month you and all the other drivers will have forgotten you ever had access to it and continue to drive like good little ANTS.. if nothing else you have to commend them on how big their balls are...


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## BeansnRice (Aug 13, 2016)

This RS business is truly the bottom.

What a sesspool.

What a dump.

So unhealthy.


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## lubi571 (Nov 26, 2015)

2kwik4u said:


> While it's nice to have that clarity, I still haven't seen a good explanation for how that information will effect a drivers decision making, or profitability.


With Lyft's new rate structure or pay cut (paid to pick up) this data was invaluable. It helped me determine how and if it would be profitable for me to continue to drive for LYFT. 
Fortunately for me I used the breakdown after every ride once the pay cut started. The good news is I figured out how to make more on some rides. You have to pick and choose wisely.
I wouldn't be surprised that this feature was eliminated so drivers can't figure it out.


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## 2kwik4u (Aug 27, 2019)

lubi571 said:


> With Lyft's new rate structure or pay cut (paid to pick up) this data was invaluable. It helped me determine how and if it would be profitable for me to continue to drive for LYFT.
> Fortunately for me I used the breakdown after every ride once the pay cut started. The good news is I figured out how to make more on some rides. You have to pick and choose wisely.
> I wouldn't be surprised that this feature was eliminated so drivers can't figure it out.


What formulation were you using to determine your profitability? The cost to consumer shouldn't be in there at any level.

Have they removed other data as well? That might be a different story then......I just checked the Lyft Driver App. Still shows my time and mileage breakdown, as well as my tips. I can see how far I drove, how long it took, and what I got paid. You don't need any other information to determine if it was profitable or not.

Again, just to be clear, this is not about if we're employees, not about what kind of a shitty company Lyft is or isn't. This is about how to determine if you're making money or not. As far as I'm concerned (and I'm sure others feel differently), all I need to know about a fare is how far it's going, and how far it is to get there to determine if it's a money maker or not. I give zero craps how much Lyft is charging the rider, that isn't part of my deal with Lyft.

Also.....to be clear.....This is EXACTLY how sub-contracting works. In construction. In Software. In Engineering. You get asked "what's your fee to perform a set of tasks". The person working with the contractor might or might not mark up your services however the hell they feel like it. That's how it works. You don't get to specify the resell price. The ONLY difference here, is that your rates are decided ahead of time and you can "take it or leave it". That is the piece of the puzzle you don't control.


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## lubi571 (Nov 26, 2015)

2kwik4u said:


> What formulation were you using to determine your profitability? The cost to consumer shouldn't be in there at any level.
> 
> Have they removed other data as well? That might be a different story then......I just checked the Lyft Driver App. Still shows my time and mileage breakdown, as well as my tips. I can see how far I drove, how long it took, and what I got paid. You don't need any other information to determine if it was profitable or not.
> 
> ...


I'm sorry you didn't understand my post. If you get the rate cut maybe you'll understand. You asked how this data helps you determine profitability. I tried to show how it helped me and without the data that would not be possible.
What the customer pays is irrelevant. After the pay cut I was able to determine what I received before and after the same ride it's as simple as that. What LYFT made before and after the pay cut is also valuable information. The piece of the puzzle I control is which ride to accept and the data that was taken away helped me determine that. PAY CUT, PAY CUT don't forget that we got a pay cut on most rides, and some rides are more profitable. The data helped me figure that out.


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## jlong105 (Sep 15, 2017)

2kwik4u said:


> While it's nice to have that clarity, I still haven't seen a good explanation for how that information will effect a drivers decision making, or profitability.


An overcharged customer is less likely to tip. I have seen this several times when they complain about the rate, you don't get tipped.


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## 2kwik4u (Aug 27, 2019)

lubi571 said:


> I'm sorry you didn't understand my post. If you get the rate cut maybe you'll understand. You asked how this data helps you determine profitability. I tried to show how it helped me and without the data that would not be possible.
> What the customer pays is irrelevant. After the pay cut I was able to determine what I received before and after the same ride it's as simple as that. What LYFT made before and after the pay cut is also valuable information. The piece of the puzzle I control is which ride to accept and the data that was taken away helped me determine that. PAY CUT, PAY CUT don't forget that we got a pay cut on most rides, and some rides are more profitable. The data helped me figure that out.


No I completely understand. The original post was concerning the fact you can no longer see what Lfyt's take percentage is. You can still clearly see the amount paid to you and the breakdown of that payment.



jlong105 said:


> An overcharged customer is less likely to tip. I have seen this several times when they complain about the rate, you don't get tipped.


That I can agree with, and is honestly the first good answer.


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## BeansnRice (Aug 13, 2016)

2kwik4u said:


> What formulation were you using to determine your profitability? The cost to consumer shouldn't be in there at any level.
> 
> Have they removed other data as well? That might be a different story then......I just checked the Lyft Driver App. Still shows my time and mileage breakdown, as well as my tips. I can see how far I drove, how long it took, and what I got paid. You don't need any other information to determine if it was profitable or not.
> 
> ...


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## jlong105 (Sep 15, 2017)

Dekero said:


> Oh they won't hide it then...
> 
> It doesn't hurt them to show a TOTAL of all your rides.. but it does hurt them to show you ride by ride where you are able to gripe each time they screw you... This is their goal... To reduce daily complaints about them robbing us. Taking the "Take" screen away accomplished this perfectly and sadly in another month you and all the other drivers will have forgotten you ever had access to it and continue to drive like good little ANTS.. if nothing else you have to commend them on how big their balls are...


Not to mention it gives them plenty of time to make shit up.


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## 2kwik4u (Aug 27, 2019)

BeansnRice said:


> None of the rides you take are profitable to the driver.
> 
> Some you will lose less than others which makes them ....palatable but NOT profitable.
> 
> ...


I disagree. If I was spending money to drive I wouldn't be doing it. Income - Expenses = Profit.......Either your income is too low or your expenses are too high.


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## Truelytcufrebu (Oct 9, 2019)

Cold Fusion said:


> Lyft is confident your protest will be to accept the next ping
> 
> problem ain't Lyft


Run along now Troll.


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## tmofog (Sep 19, 2019)

I live in the NYC suburbs and I know that they surge ALL Manhattan rides especially during rush hour. Since I hate Manhattan rides anyway I now refuse ALL rides there and I could care less about my cancel rate. How dare Lyft profit over my misery of the heavy traffic, and long, empty return rides and NO tip since the passenger got gouged. Let the ants take them there for the crumbs they pay us.


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## Cold Fusion (Aug 28, 2019)

Truelytcufrebu said:


> Run along now Troll.


........Accept that ping Ant ?✔


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## I will crack Lyft hacks (Aug 5, 2019)

Imagine if a real estate brokerage tells the IC real estate agent don’t worry about the sales price! You get paid say 5k for a sale regardless of value. Yea sell multimillion dollar homes, don’t worry seller pays 5% fee. You go ahead with what we give you and don’t question your value.
Well if the real estate agent knows the sales price and the fee, then they could determine if their value is being degraded and if they need to change brokers.

Well I also want to know if my value is being degraded, so I can make the business decision to continue or leave.

If I am being paid say 25$ and Lyft takes 100$, then I know my value is not being fairly compensated and I can then choose to not be a part of Lyft rideshare.

By knowing the sale price, the IC can see if they are being compensated fairly based on market value.

Lyft does not want us to know our market value and the value of the service we provide.
The outrage would be too significant if drivers see the real market value of their services compared to what Lyft compensates!


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## Markisonit (Dec 3, 2014)

#professoruber said:


> What will kill Uber and Lyft is autonomous vehicles. Why? The technology will not be proprietary to them and once car makers start selling them to the public, it will reinvent the rideshare wheel and Uber and Lyft will once again have the same ants operating and maintaining those vehicles.


Autonomous vehicles will be ubiquitous about the same time as solar or wind powered commercial jets. Until they perfect this technology (probably not for many, many years to come) petroleum powered vehicles will rule.


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## BeansnRice (Aug 13, 2016)

Markisonit said:


> Autonomous vehicles will be ubiquitous about the same time as solar or wind powered commercial jets. Until they perfect this technology (probably not for many, many years to come) petroleum powered vehicles will rule.


The use of petrol is a different issue.
We don't need it.
There have been several designs created up to 100 years ago that would rid our need for petrol or "gas" for most motor vehicle applications.
But for some reason the inventors are scoffed at , then go missing or end up mysteriously dead soon after going public.

Autonomous has issues for sure but we dont NEED gas but it's status quo like you said.


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## SurgeMasterMN (Sep 10, 2016)

#professoruber said:


> He/she is saying ants are a big part of the problem by accepting rides and the current rates.
> 
> If 30% of drivers logged off Lyft, they would be in a corner and have to raise the rates or offer bigger bonuses to keep drivers on the road. Desperate ants do desperate things and think $20 an hour is good money but fail to realize $10 of that is true operating expenses.


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