# Switcharoo's - why?



## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

What is the reason behind Lyft doing a switcheroo on you?

Past 2 days, this is happened a number of times, and it feels like more often than not, it ended up being an undesirable ride for one reason or another. Maybe it's just selective memory on my part.

The last one I remember last night was switched to a group of FIVE young hoodrat girls who kept insisting they can all fit in this 5 seater sedan. I won't even take 4 let alone 5. "WEEELL *YOU* CANCEL DEN AND GIMME MAH MONEY BACK


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

I'm wondering maybe switcharoo's are the result of other drivers canceling on the pax? Would explain a lot


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

Lyft has advertised that the [aptly named] switcharoo is an effort to reduce wait times for passengers, as well as reduce pickup times for drivers.

In principle this feature of the app could be useful, or only slightly annoying, if it truly performed its stated function. In practice it is very annoying. Lyft no longer makes a sound when the switch occurs. You have to be staring at your phone to notice the switch. Naturally this is a safety issue, and it can actually extend wait time and pickup times when drivers navigate to where they think there pax is, only to find out that their swapped fare is across town.

Lyft also forgets to inform the driver if the swapped in fare is a LONG TRIP. I think the only way to disable the switcharoo is to turn on LAST RIDE as soon as you accept the trip. Others on this board have stated that anyway.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

I've had switcharoo's on non-queued "fresh" pings too. Says in an annoying robotic voice "Lyft pickup changed"


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

The Lyft app is squirrelly when it comes to audible notifications. Yesterday I got an audible on a new ride being queued up for the first time in eons.


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## nosurgenodrive (May 13, 2019)

When a passenger selects express pickup for $20 more, Lyft reroutes nearby drivers, punts other passengers, and pockets the $20.

Neat, huh?


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## Bork_Bork_Bork (May 20, 2019)

Bet you wish Uber hadn’t deactivated you all, eh? Now you’re forced to work only for Lyft.
Poor things.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

Not deactivated, yet. Going through a lengthy background check pending game, like so many other drivers on this forum already have.

I'm starting to wonder if this is intentional, so you can get a taste of how terrible Lyft is and not take Uber for granted so much, and learn to appreciate Uber more.


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

I have argued back and forth with Harshit over this. According to Harshit, you get the switcheroo when you are "not making sufficient progress toward your rider regardless of circumstances" or a trip appears to which you are "closer" (or words similar). I informed Harshit that this does not address my major problem in that I have no choice as to whether I accept or decline this job. Of course, Harshit informs me that I can "cancel any trip that I do not want to service." When I remind Harshit that if I do that half as often as Gr*yft* pulls the switcheroo, I will be de-activated, he will not respond or if he does, it is the same, old cookie-cutter, scripted e-Mail that does not address the problem. 

This is obviously a lie (surprise!). I lost count of the times that I have been pulled off a job from which I was two or three blocks for another one ten minutes or more from me. Before the pandemic, often I was pulled off regular Lyft jobs for Shareds. I do not accept Shareds on Lyft. If Lyft ever brings back Shared, I will SEVERELY curtail my Lyft work. I am not going to run a Shared that I had no choice on accepting or rejecting. In fact, I am not going to run almost any job ab out which I had no choice.

My usual response is a no-cover, but, as Original Poster mentioned in another topic on this Board, I got a nastygram from Harshit about my cancels and no-covers. My response to this is not to accept anything from Gr*yft* that is more than two minutes from me, unless I am trying to work a streak. If I am trying to do that, I set a long destination filter to somewhere in the Metropolitan Area that I will work. Gr*yft* then sends trips that get me partially there, even if they often go out of the way. Still, generally I can avoid parts of the Metropolitan Area that I do not want to work.

Back in the days of Prime Time multipliers, I do not know how many times I got pulled off a 2X Prime Time or better from which I was two blocks to get a switcheroo to a base rate Line that was fifteen minutes from me. Unless I am in the further out suburbs or exurbs, I do not accept anything more than five minutes from me.

F*ub*a*r* used to have this feature, as well, but quietly dropped it.


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## 4848 (May 16, 2019)

The switcheroo makes sense for Lyft as it gives them a flexible supply of drivers and arrival times. Lyft can then charge rider accordingly. 

If would make sense for driver if they added bonus money for extending the pickup distance/time driver has to travel. 

Will never forget the time a pax opened door and was about to sit down when Lyft pulled a switcheroo. We were both like WTF.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

I miss Uber so much .... 😢


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## Bork_Bork_Bork (May 20, 2019)

Just as a general reminder, especially for the noobs that claim they’re veterans……NEITHER Lyft, nor Uber, will EVER do anything that doesn’t first benefit them. Ever.
Literally every single thing they do, is designed to maximize their income. They don’t care how much you do, or don’t, make. As BOTH CEOs have said, drivers are a necessary evil at this time. But don’t worry, they’re doing all they can to eliminate them.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

Bork_Bork_Bork said:


> NEITHER





Bork_Bork_Bork said:


> EVER





Bork_Bork_Bork said:


> BOTH


Stop yelling at me. I'm sensitive 😢


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## Bork_Bork_Bork (May 20, 2019)

NewLyftDriver said:


> Stop yelling at me. I'm sensitive 😢


Have you tried more lube? It’ll make it easier on you, ass.
Oops, meant your.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

Can't afford it. Will have to settle with spit.


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## Bork_Bork_Bork (May 20, 2019)

NewLyftDriver said:


> Can't afford it. Will have to settle with spit.


May the odds be ever in your favor.


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## NicFit (Jan 18, 2020)

Just turn on Uber and don’t go to the switch, lyft will get the hint when you stop going to rides that are switched. Let the rider cancel and just ignore it. Lyft likes to just give my ride to another driver if I get caught in traffic and leaves me with nothing. I don’t drive again for Lyft until they give me my cancel fee, usually around the third or fourth time I complain I get it


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

I thought Lyft cancels you if you"aren't making enough progress" towards pax or something, not anymore?


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## NicFit (Jan 18, 2020)

No clue, haven’t driven in a while. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, but if they cancel you it doesn’t count towards your cancel ratings. If they say anything then just say traffic wouldn’t move and I couldn’t do anything


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## Grand Lake (Feb 27, 2018)

NewLyftDriver said:


> I thought Lyft cancels you if you"aren't making enough progress" towards pax or something, not anymore?


They try to use that same bullshit excuse for not paying you cancel fees.


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## NicFit (Jan 18, 2020)

Grand Lake said:


> They try to use that same bullshit excuse for not paying you cancel fees.


Yeah, I hate when they try that excuse, I just say what was I suppose to do? Usually it’s at a big event and I tell them nothing could be done, after the third or fourth time I submit a help request they normally give me the cancel fee


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## Atom guy (Jul 27, 2016)

One day I was switched several times in a row, and ended up with the original passenger again. Another day the poor passenger messaged me "please don't cancel, I'm late for work" and I was switched off her 5 seconds later. It's crazy. I'll be almost to the pick up, then get switched to a trip further away. I had a passenger complain about it last week. They see it happening on their end, and assume it's us canceling.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

I just got Gold rewards, which is nice but... Will they still switcheroo on you on rides accepted with trip info?

Say you accept a ride only based on it going NW 20min, but then Lyft does the "Lyft pickup changed" and the pax you pick up is going SE 6min... Does that happen?

You should be able to decline a switched pax without penalties.... Otherwise makes the gold rewards really frustrating and half useless


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

NewLyftDriver said:


> I just got Gold rewards, which is nice but... Will they still switcheroo on you on rides accepted with trip info?
> 
> Say you accept a ride only based on it going NW 20min, but then Lyft does the "Lyft pickup changed" and the pax you pick up is going SE 6min... Does that happen?
> 
> You should be able to decline a switched pax without penalties.... Otherwise makes the gold rewards really frustrating and half useless


Yes

I don’t actually know but I would be shocked if the answer was anything but yes.

I had this argument with Rohit-9000.

I want the cancel removed… I would never have accepted a ping that far away from me or from a passenger rated that low…

“you can cancel anything”…

And get I still got a warning for canceling too many already…


seriously if it wasn’t for the broken high garantee I got to come back it wouldn’t be worth doing at all.

But maybe if I had accepted more than .5% of the pings lyft sent I might have done better?

yeah I seriously doubt it. In 10 minutes I would decline two 20+ minute away pings 3-5 10-15 minute pings a couple 5-10 minute pings and get a sub 5 minute ping.


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## BestInDaWest (Apr 8, 2021)

the reasons or justifications by lyft are irrelavent...this is straight up criminal manipulation


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## kdyrpr (Apr 23, 2016)

Loved getting the switch when you're on your way to a hotel where there's high probability of an airport run for a nice fare only to be diverted to some loser going 3 miles down the road.


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## Ted Fink (Mar 19, 2018)

Only drive lyft as a backup.


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## Grand Lake (Feb 27, 2018)

NewLyftDriver said:


> Say you accept a ride only based on it going NW 20min, but then Lyft does the "Lyft pickup changed" and the pax you pick up is going SE 6min... Does that happen?


Yes. Or it can be SE 80 minutes. Use your destination and time filters strategically to limit how badly they can screw you with switcheroos and auto-queued rides.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

Do queued switcheroos at least comply with DF?


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

My question is, does turning on LAST RIDE prevent the switcheroo? I think someone posted that it does. Can anyone confirm.

Lyft just granted me gold status. Being a weekend only driver most of the time I pay no attention to the various promotions, as they can never be achieved. But by some fluke I have gold, which to my amazement gives up the feature driver's have been shouting for since the beginning; dest. info.

And as NLD alluded to, after finally offering a worthwhile feature, Lyft instantly shoots itself in the foot by continuing with the switcheroo. If it wasn't a blind switcheroo that would be OK. Throw up the request, including the dest. info, and let the driver decide to accept or reject the switcheroo, and then Lyft may have a decent incentive to drive for them. Especially since the Uber take rate (at least in CA) is now equal to or greater than the Lyft take rate.

Let drivers examine the switcheroo. And let drivers examine any queued rides. Show the dest. info for both types. I actually had a triple-switcheroo today all in one stream. Ran me from one end of town to the other, twice. And empty. Stop it!


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## Grand Lake (Feb 27, 2018)

_Tron_ said:


> My question is, does turning on LAST RIDE prevent the switcheroo?


It doesn't.


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## Grand Lake (Feb 27, 2018)

_Tron_ said:


> Let drivers examine the switcheroo. And let drivers examine any queued rides. Show the dest. info for both types.


Add "let drivers set their own fare multipliers" and you would actually have a system by which otherwise money-losing garbage trips might actually be accepted, instead of pax being repeatedly canceled on by drivers whose time has just been wasted by Lyft's hide-the-ball tactics.


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## #1husler (Aug 22, 2017)

nosurgenodrive said:


> When a passenger selects express pickup for $20 more, Lyft reroutes nearby drivers, punts other passengers, and pockets the $20.
> 
> Neat, huh?


I’ve experienced this..Grfyt will pick kick regular ride pax to the curb for express ride pax..so instead of picking up Joe College from the dorms I get re routed to get Visting Prof from Marriott for airport run…at times this works out for me


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

So I have confirmed through multiple instances that turning on Last Ride will not prevent a switcheroo even on a non-queued, "first" ride. If anything it seems like it's almost better to get to the pickup location, and turn on last ride just as you passed the arrive button, rather than turning on Last Ride as soon as you accept the ride.

In the last few days, after turning on Last Ride immediately after accepting the ride, I have gotten some crazy switcheroos. Either going in a complete opposite direction then I was expecting and wanting, or a long trip instead of the 4-minute trip that I was going for (earnings guarantee bonus)


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

How can we better prepare ourselves to prevent the unwanted surprise destination switcheroo, without costing us a cancellation mark?

I guess do like @kingcorey321 and drive away in an opposite direction, but even then that costs time, mileage, and who knows what secret stats and punishment awaits in the future...


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

I know of no way. Lyft used to not track time to pick up. I know from experience. But at some point they started scolding for taking too long to pick up, and it is now a derogatory mark on the driver, which leads to... who-knows-where.

Yesterday I started turning on Last Ride right after accepting. Hard to remember! But I think the switcheroo is unavoidable. I can say it actually worked for me yesterday. I went online and snatched a ride 1 minute away, taking it from a driver coming from 10 minutes away. Hope he was watching his app.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

I'm just trying to snag rides that are ideally 10 minutes or less in duration, and short pickups, for the first 48 rides of the week for an earnings guarantee bonus.

Each ride works out to $18.75 a piece regardless so I want the strategy that gets me the 48 rides finished as quickly as possible, leaving me as many hours as possible for the remainder of the week to make more money.


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## Skiballs (Feb 18, 2020)

Quit Lyft over this issue and the changing of scheduled pick ups. Absolutely unacceptable.
Uber can’t even tell me what city I’m in, despite my sending screenshots of the few rides I’ve done since switching cities. I like ride share driving but I will not deal with either of these incompetent and criminal enterprises.


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## #1husler (Aug 22, 2017)

NewLyftDriver said:


> So I have confirmed through multiple instances that turning on Last Ride will not prevent a switcheroo even on a non-queued, "first" ride. If anything it seems like it's almost better to get to the pickup location, and turn on last ride just as you passed the arrive button, rather than turning on Last Ride as soon as you accept the ride.
> 
> In the last few days, after turning on Last Ride immediately after accepting the ride, I have gotten some crazy switcheroos. Either going in a complete opposite direction then I was expecting and wanting, or a long trip instead of the 4-minute trip that I was going for (earnings guarantee bonus)


Last ride often means last ride (or even 2nd to last ride) in queue..even if pax cancels (& u have last ride on) it will still add another ride till u complete that “last ride”


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

Okay, but that wasn't my point of contention.


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## Drivincrazy (Feb 14, 2016)

Currently, I do two Lyft rides per year. The pay is below abysmal.


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## NewLyftDriver (Sep 10, 2021)

Thanks for sharing.

Currently, I eat Italian shaved ice an average of 1.4 times per year and the average price I pay per hot dog is around $1.65. that price includes a fountain soda with free refills, although I seldomly get the refill.


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## #1husler (Aug 22, 2017)

Drivincrazy said:


> Currently, I do two Lyft rides per year. The pay is below abysmal.


 And "the community" (AKA, the illustrious and much admired Lyft ridership) is sad.


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## Diamondraider (Mar 13, 2017)

NicFit said:


> No clue, haven’t driven in a while. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, but if they cancel you it doesn’t count towards your cancel ratings. If they say anything then just say traffic wouldn’t move and I couldn’t do anything


Only when they have another driver ready.


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## Sam D (May 15, 2017)

NewLyftDriver said:


> What is the reason behind Lyft doing a switcheroo on you?
> 
> Past 2 days, this is happened a number of times, and it feels like more often than not, it ended up being an undesirable ride for one reason or another. Maybe it's just selective memory on my part.
> 
> The last one I remember last night was switched to a group of FIVE young hoodrat girls who kept insisting they can all fit in this 5 seater sedan. I won't even take 4 let alone 5. "WEEELL *YOU* CANCEL DEN AND GIMME MAH MONEY BACK


Lyft does not consider drivers only passengers lyft is a full blown crap company . they treat us liek garbage stick with uber - which I admit is not great either , But they sure are better than Lyft I can never get a coversation with them with Lyft no one is competent in the chicago market they are a joke


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## Macydog1 (Sep 18, 2018)

NicFit said:


> No clue, haven’t driven in a while. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, but if they cancel you it doesn’t count towards your cancel ratings. If they say anything then just say traffic wouldn’t move and I couldn’t do anything


Wow, you actually get to speak to a person??....lol


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## Macydog1 (Sep 18, 2018)

Stevie The magic Unicorn said:


> Yes
> 
> I don’t actually know but I would be shocked if the answer was anything but yes.
> 
> ...


The answer is Yes. Have had it happen to me a lot in the Detroit market at platinum. But since I've "seen the light" (with help from my fellow drivers online), I don't care about the levels anymore. In fact, after over 9300 rides with Lyft, I don't give a F... about Lyft. I'm doing fine with uber.


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