# Request for Power Driver Bonus Ineligibility



## Certain Judgment (Dec 2, 2016)

I just submitted this to the Lyft help desk:



> It is a well-known fact that the Lyft app algorithms work against a driver who is eligible for power driver bonuses in several different ways. Here are a couple:
> 
> 1. Deprioritization: as a power driver bonus eligible driver, the Lyft app deprioritises me during peak hours to ensure that I will never reach the number of peak rides required to hit the bonus, and will prioritize drivers with cars older than 2011 who are not eligible for power driver bonus during those hours.
> 
> ...


I can't wait to see what they say!


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## Mista T (Aug 16, 2017)

Ha, good luck with that.


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## thatridesharegirl (Jul 7, 2016)

Support bots aren't gonna help you much there.
Might try a hub.
But methinks its correlated with the year numerical value of the car on your account. It may not be possible?


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## Certain Judgment (Dec 2, 2016)

thatridesharegirl said:


> Support bots aren't gonna help you much there.
> Might try a hub.
> But methinks its correlated with the year numerical value of the car on your account. It may not be possible?


My car is a 2017, so yes that is part of the problem. But there is no Lyft Hub in Milwaukee because they are cheap and have not set one up.


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## thatridesharegirl (Jul 7, 2016)

Certain Judgment said:


> My car is a 2017


Good luck with that.
What kind of car?


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## Certain Judgment (Dec 2, 2016)

thatridesharegirl said:


> Good luck with that.
> What kind of car?


Dodge Grand Caravan. I would much prefer the ability to cherry-pick than have to fight against app algorithms due to being eligible for an unobtainable PDB.


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## Certain Judgment (Dec 2, 2016)

thatridesharegirl said:


> I have PDB and Cherry Pick just fine.
> Think you might be reading too much into 'the algorithm'.
> View attachment 208328


Are you able to see the destination before you accept the ride on your app?


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## thatridesharegirl (Jul 7, 2016)

Certain Judgment said:


> Are you able to see the destination before you accept the ride on your app?


Lol. No.


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## beezlewaxin (Feb 10, 2015)

I speak Lyftbot. Here is what they will think you are wanting help with:



> eligible for power driver bonuses?


That is the question they will answer, imo.

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Also, your email is missing the question mark on your question, which is buried near the end of what reads like a very long rant.

Try asking your question by itself as the first line and if you want to provide details or explanation go ahead but dont rely on Lyft taking the time to read it:



> Hi,
> 
> I was wondering if it would be possible to disable power driver bonus eligibility on my driver account?
> 
> ...


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## dctcmn (Sep 21, 2017)

beezlewaxin said:


> I speak Lyftbot. Here is what they will think you are wanting help with:
> 
> That is the question they will answer, imo.
> 
> ...


This is great advice. I've found that asking one simple question per email and providing details though screenshot attachments works best. If you don't get a direct answer to your question, ask it again. Don't move on to another question until you get a response to the first one. Think of it as an attorney cross examining a witness during a court case.

I've had email chains of 15-20 emails, just to get a simple question answered properly, but I do get my answer.


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## Friendly Jack (Nov 17, 2015)

Certain Judgment said:


> I just submitted this to the Lyft help desk:
> I can't wait to see what they say!


You already know what Lyft is going to say, don't you?...

"We hope you are having a wonderful day today and thanks for reaching out to us! We wish that all Lyft drivers were as concerned and dedicated as you are. Your fantastic star rating shows that you always care to provide a quality experience to your riders. We hope that you will continue to accept as many rides as possible so that your acceptance rating will remain high and your earnings will increase. Thanks for taking the time to reach out to us and thanks for being an important part of the Lyft community!"

(sigh...)


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## Adieu (Feb 21, 2016)

thatridesharegirl said:


> I have PDB and Cherry Pick just fine.
> Think you might be reading too much into 'the algorithm'.
> View attachment 208328


It's a nice face, for sure, but you really might want to consider hiding it...

Lyft has a contract clause that allows them to mess with you if you speak ill of them in public forums


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## Skepticaldriver (Mar 5, 2017)

Certain Judgment said:


> Are you able to see the destination before you accept the ride on your app?


Are you able to see the destination before you accept the ping?


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## New2This (Dec 27, 2015)

Certain Judgment said:


> I just submitted this to the Lyft help desk:
> 
> I can't wait to see what they say!


All that effort for what?

Just cherrypick like the rest of us


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

Certain Judgment said:


> I can't wait to see what they say!


You will be waiting a long time even to receive your totally off-topic non-response.


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## Adieu (Feb 21, 2016)

And then 1 week later he'll get escalated to Maria who'll delete his car off the profile, subtract a few vehicle classes, knock his 4.9 down to 4.62, and file an unknown sender "speeding allegation" to Trust & Safety against him for arguing with her


Based on a true story btw

PS don't ask that person "are you high?" When they screw everything up....else you'll get suspended for a week, also a true story


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## hulksmash (Apr 26, 2016)

The PDB is just a way for them to make you their beach. Either decline that 20 min Line ride or lose your bonus. It doesn’t make sense mathematically. The very high end only pays $2 a ride, at least some of your hours are mandated, and you must accept every 9/10 rides, no matter how sucky.

Uber quests aren’t that much better on a per ride basis but they are much more obtainable even when you’re not actively chasing them. Ride counts are lower and have no acceptance or peak hour requirements. Only advantage with Lyft over Uber is that all ride types count as do all trips, even those outside your home market. Still doesn’t outweigh taking far away base fare rides when you’re in the middle of a hot pink area. And even if you drive a premium category that you would have no problem accepting 100% of requests, there aren’t enough of them to meet your quota.


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## Leo1983 (Jul 3, 2017)

Certain Judgment said:


> I just submitted this to the Lyft help desk:
> 
> I can't wait to see what they say!


It's not the app. It's the 80% of drivers declining those rides in and around the prime time location. So the rest of the calls have to be picked up by someone. And unfortunately PDB get the brunt end. 
So the only way to get control back from these companies is to the opposite of what they want you to do. 
You'll make less but at least you've stuck to your morals and standards. Activism isn't easy. No matter the scale. 
Lyft and Uber are about one thing and one thing only expand as fast as possible and market share. 
There is no room for the human factor. So it's up to us to bring it into the conversation.


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## Lpcrooks (Dec 2, 2017)

Everybody is forced into the power driver bonus even though I have a 2008 vehicle 

because it is a bad deal for the driver and a good deal for Lyft

they try and force you to accept all rides but I completely ignore it


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## DragoonRampage (Feb 21, 2018)

I have no problem reaching the PDB and I do not accept every ride. I will at times if things are slow accept some of the rides that make you go out a little further. However, as long as you aren't declining everything then the PDB is not that bad to get. I do not believe there is an algorithm that is intentionally pushing you out.


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## Goduckies (Mar 23, 2017)

Lyft sends rides multiples at 25% when you are in a 300% zone, also sends rides 38 to 45 mins away all the time.... no, they suck.


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## DragoonRampage (Feb 21, 2018)

Goduckies said:


> Lyft sends rides multiples at 25% when you are in a 300% zone, also sends rides 38 to 45 mins away all the time.... no, they suck.


In my experience though if you just ignore that ping then you end up getting the a better ride right after. It is as someone has said before that the reason you are getting that is someone else has already rejected it so it is going to the next closes person. I doubt it is intentionally picking you because you are trying to get the PDB.


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## hulksmash (Apr 26, 2016)

DragoonRampage said:


> In my experience though if you just ignore that ping then you end up getting the a better ride right after. It is as someone has said before that the reason you are getting that is someone else has already rejected it so it is going to the next closes person. I doubt it is intentionally picking you because you are trying to get the PDB.


Yes but the point is that you have to mess up your acceptance rate to do it, which jeopardizes your PDB. Even if you save your rejections for situations like this, it doesn't take that many crap requests ignored to go below 90%. Plus all those times they send you those same pings back to back count as 2 missed requests. They sure won't send a 300% back to back if it's ignored.

I definitely wouldn't put it past Lyft that they would create an algorithm to send the undesirable rides while in a surge zone to those chasing PDB first, especially if you are close. Either take the crumbs or lower your acceptance rate to where you have to make up extra rides past the original quota to get the bonus. Ive also heard stories to where they throttle your pings when you are close until they find a ping going a long distance in the wrong direction that leave you less time to finish.

All that BS plus the fact you can't just do it by accident the way you can with an Uber quest with no acceptance requirement.


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## DragoonRampage (Feb 21, 2018)

hulksmash said:


> Yes but the point is that you have to mess up your acceptance rate to do it, which jeopardizes your PDB. Even if you save your rejections for situations like this, it doesn't take that many crap requests ignored to go below 90%. Plus all those times they send you those same pings back to back count as 2 missed requests. They sure won't send a 300% back to back if it's ignored.
> 
> I definitely wouldn't put it past Lyft that they would create an algorithm to send the undesirable rides while in a surge zone to those chasing PDB first, especially if you are close. Either take the crumbs or lower your acceptance rate to where you have to make up extra rides past the original quota to get the bonus. Ive also heard stories to where they throttle your pings when you are close until they find a ping going a long distance in the wrong direction that leave you less time to finish.
> 
> All that BS plus the fact you can't just do it by accident the way you can with an Uber quest with no acceptance requirement.


It might just be easier in my area or something is why I am not experiencing it that bad. Usually if I reject a request then it takes a few minutes to get another one. I have had occasions where it sends them constantly obviously. Plus where I am most people at the time that I drive are centralized to the city. My city also has an interstate that circles that city so you can easily get from one side of it to the other. If I reject a bad request it usually is just that request.


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## NJAudiDriver (Oct 16, 2017)

Stop chasing the bonus and cherry pick. That's really all there is to it. The whole bonus BS is abuse. F that.


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## beezlewaxin (Feb 10, 2015)

It is all just random. People quickly and publicly blame the bad scenarios or missed bonuses on Lyft's algorithm.

These are the same people that might congratulate themselves for their hard work or think it was last-minute luck when that same Lyft algorithn works out in their favor.



Spoiler: Experiences



I have been 2 rides short of getting a bonus and received a Lyft Line ping at 4:59 am that had 2 added rides and resulted in me getting my bonus.

This type of thing happens to me all the time when I am at the edge of receiving a bonus..

I used to cancel long rides if I still needed multiple rides and a deadline was fast approaching. I have found that just as often the long rides to the wrong part of town end up working out better anyway for getting the bonus.


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## Certain Judgment (Dec 2, 2016)

DragoonRampage said:


> I have no problem reaching the PDB and I do not accept every ride. I will at times if things are slow accept some of the rides that make you go out a little further. However, as long as you aren't declining everything then the PDB is not that bad to get. I do not believe there is an algorithm that is intentionally pushing you out.


You clearly do not drive in Milwaukee, where even the lowest tier bonuses are unattainable due to lack of business and ever-increasing thresholds. I gave up on all PDB chasing 10 months ago and am a very happy cherry-picker. But I think the fact that I am still PDB eligible causes the algorithm to either not send me rides or send me mostly crappy ones.


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## hulksmash (Apr 26, 2016)

beezlewaxin said:


> It is all just random. People quickly and publicly blame the bad scenarios or missed bonuses on Lyft's algorithm.
> 
> These are the same people that might congratulate themselves for their hard work or think it was last-minute luck when that same Lyft algorithn works out in their favor.
> 
> ...


Perhaps, but what is certain is that it manipulates your driving patterns to Lyft's benefit and to your detriment. It's to get you to accept rides you wouldn't take otherwise and work hours you may not wanna work to keep fares low, all for $2 a ride at the highest tier. They keep increasing thresholds every time enough drivers learn to work it to their advantage.

As far as their algorithm goes, what I know is one of the rare weeks I got a guarantee, I got a longish ride out of the USC campus, at a time when the area is chop full of short Line rides. Like if they knew what I was up to since I never go there otherwise. It killed my chances of maximizing the guarantee payout so I just went about my normal selective strategy.


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## Adieu (Feb 21, 2016)

DragoonRampage said:


> I have no problem reaching the PDB and I do not accept every ride. I will at times if things are slow accept some of the rides that make you go out a little further. However, as long as you aren't declining everything then the PDB is not that bad to get. I do not believe there is an algorithm that is intentionally pushing you out.


I take it you're not on one of the 165 ride plans....

Old 10% pdb took a long day, 20% a whopping 2 long nights. And would DEFINITELY try to disqualify you by sending you 40 minute away calls and 70 mile base fares that'd put you >100mi from home come Sunday...

I ****really*** don't see Lyft dialing down the devious after we stopped watching...


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## DragoonRampage (Feb 21, 2018)

Adieu said:


> I take it you're not on one of the 165 ride plans....
> 
> Old 10% pdb took a long day, 20% a whopping 2 long nights. And would DEFINITELY try to disqualify you by sending you 40 minute away calls and 70 mile base fares that'd put you >100mi from home come Sunday...
> 
> I ****really*** don't see Lyft dialing down the devious after we stopped watching...


The ones here are 35, 50, 65, and 95 rices. With that being $40, $75, $115, $205.

I will agree though that the 10 and 20% was much better and easier to get. The only person benefiting more from the change is the person doing the 35 rides for $40 one from what I can tell.


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## Jo3030 (Jan 2, 2016)

Power Driver Bonus is for suckers.
They will send you a 30 min ping just to spite you.


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## Chapar Kanati (Mar 10, 2018)

Started working last year here in NYC on my brand new 2017 Camry Hybrid. Started with all the available companies. Uber, Lyft, VIA, GETT and Juno. Of course Gett is no more. Anyway. Since day one I never even bothered looking at the PDB twice. I didn't know a lot of people actually attempt to do it lol. I just made a couple of my own rules and stuck to them. No rides more than 5 minutes away. If it's late night and no traffic then maybe 6 minutes that is if I am in the mood. Pick up every ride from any of the one app that throws at me. Go offline on the rest. No this PDB, Quest BS. Though I usually attain the Quests unintentionally.

I used to pick up Lyft line but after seeing my rating take a hit. Going down from 4.88 to 4.71. I noticed this happened on the nights I was picking up mostly Line. On the nights it was regular Lyft my rating would stay the same or actually go up. I immidiately knew it was line so decided to stop taking it. Guess what my rating is 4.95 now and holding strong.

One thing I've noticed recently is Lyft sending me rides 25, 30 and even 45 minutes away. I've to reject all of them of course. But at times they do that constantly during busy hours and mistakenly while using another app like Uber or Juno I've tapped yes for that 30 min Lyft line ride. Imagine going to pick up someone who's a line just going 5 blocks lol. Naturally I cancel. However they have started warning me about my cancelation rates so I am going to be extra careful now.

I don't understand how in NYC I am getting bombarded with 35 min pings lol. Anyway I never bothered with PDB nor ever will. I work 7 to 8 hours a day. Make between $195 to $225 in that time and then I am on my way home. Most of the time I start late night around 10pm or 11pm and work till 6am or 7am. Can't complain with what I make on weekdays.

I am a very laid back driver. You can add another $50 to $100 on top of what I make on weekdays on weekends. So in total if I am averaging Sunday to Thursday $200 per night. And about $550 Friday and Saturday combined then I think $1550 a week is awesome for a guy working 7 - 8 hours a night. Especially the worst hours on weekdays . Now you tell me why would I bother chasing the scam called Power Driver Bonus.

I spoke to Lyft about my falling ratings from Line. All they did was remove all one star ratings without any descriptions and just told me to be extra nice and ask the passenger about what routes to take. Why the hell would I also the passenger on Lyft line about routing. On Line I strictly follow GPS. In case another line passenger gets added and I don't realize. Has happened to me twice where the other passenger was giving me directions and I actually had to pick up someone else. Now my ratings would get a slight boost when Lyft would remove the one stars which I couldn't figure out why I got in the first place since Line passengers barely spoke to me. But sooner or later more one star ratings from Line passengers would bog down my rating.

So I told Lyft I will not pick up any more Lines in the future and if they could stop sending me Lines. All they said was they couldn't stop sending Lines but I was free to refuse any pings I didn't want hurting my acceptance rate of course. Since then I have just declined any Line ping I get.


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