# for Lyft drivers help plz, what does "closed for pick up" hours mean for a driver?



## Lyfty (Jul 26, 2014)

Hello everyone I just started working with lyft about a week ago, and there are many things that are very confusing and really not explained at all by lyft.

First of all if I can drive whenever I want why do I need to schedule hours? What difference does it make? 

I have scheduled my hours for the next week, and now I notice that on the calendar it says that some hours are closed for pick up, does that mean that I can't drive at all in these hours? I'm very confused and lyft are not explaining anything.

Also for some reason my phone never gets a request if the screen is off, I have done so many experiments and I realized that ! Any help there? 

I would appreciate any feedback and advice guys !
*fist pumps*


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## LookyLou (Apr 28, 2014)

Where are you located Lyfty?

It is easier to get better answers if everybody knows where you are. Please go into your profile and add your city.


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## Lyfty (Jul 26, 2014)

LookyLou said:


> Where are you located Lyfty?
> 
> It is easier to get better answers if everybody knows where you are. Please go into your profile and add your city.


Thank you for the tip, done
I live in Charlotte, NC
I have another question if you don't mind, do you think the airport is a good place for pickups? I'm at CLT airport now which is considered very busy, there are currently no lyft drivers here, and I have been waiting here for an hour with no requests. What do you think? 
Sorry for all the questions I'm still new to ride sharing services
Thanks


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## Jeeves (Apr 10, 2014)

Airport pickups can be one of the most lucrative rides in my experience. However, you must check with your local authority and rideshare drivers to see how the airport is handling pickups and drop-offs. If it's unclear, as it's a new market, you might want to remove the stache, and make sure the rider sits in the front. In some cities, it's just not worth it as cars have been ticketed and even impounded. I'm not sure if there are other drivers on here from Charlotte? Welcome to the forum Lyfty.


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## NorthDallasDriver (Jul 28, 2014)

I got an email at one point that explained the system. As a driver you can reserve hours. If the number of drivers who reserve those hours reaches some determined limit, no more drivers can reserve those hours.

This works in conjunction with a second part of the system. If at any time the system determines that there are too many drivers working, then only drivers who have reserved time in the current time slot can go into driver mode.

I do suspect that right now this part never comes into play. I never reserve my hours.


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## LookyLou (Apr 28, 2014)

NorthDallasDriver said:


> I got an email at one point that explained the system. As a driver you can reserve hours. If the number of drivers who reserve those hours reaches some determined limit, no more drivers can reserve those hours.
> 
> This works in conjunction with a second part of the system. If at any time the system determines that there are too many drivers working, then only drivers who have reserved time in the current time slot can go into driver mode.
> 
> I do suspect that right now this part never comes into play. I never reserve my hours.


I believe this is correct. As far as I know Lyft does not limit the number of drivers at any time in any market anymore.

The scheduling hours can be a help just as a reminder to yourself of what you plan to do, but it doesn't really effect anything. Just turn on the app when you are available and off when you are not.


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## Nautilis (Apr 16, 2014)

When I started with Lyft, I attended an online "Q&A" meeting with Blair and Paul from Lyft HQ (they are the two that do those funny "5-star Feedback" YouTube videos). Anyways, during that meeting, they said that Lyft has done away with reserving hours and the Reliability Rating (Lyft used to track the % of the reserved hours that drivers actually worked) and have strictly gone to You-Work-When-You-Want-To system. The reason the whole hours thing still shows up on the driver's log in screen is it's now used a tool for drivers to plan/estimate their pay.










The chart gives you the estimated hourly earning based on your market and what other drivers earn on average during that hour (after commission, if applicable). Let's say you are looking to make $200 this week. You can select the hours you are available and the system will predict what your earnings are likely to be (not guaranteed, just a good guess based on their data). Looking at the chart above, you'll see that you'd probably make half as much working at 5AM on Tuesday than 5AM on Saturday.

The other benefit of this system is that Lyft will send you an email reminding you the day before you signed up for a shift. You can always Work-When-You-Want-To. Drive more than you planned or drive less. Planning your hours online does not give you any special priority in receiving ride requests, nor is the estimated hourly earnings on the chart any guarantee of what you will actually earn.


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## Nautilis (Apr 16, 2014)

Here's the announcement regarding the end of the Reliability Rating:
http://community.lyft.com/2014/03/18/so-long-reliability-rating/


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## Crownan (Jul 28, 2014)

This may be a market thing and not apply everywhere. You reserve your hours so that you will be able to log in during those hours no matter how many drivers are on-line. If you do not reserve your hours, you may find you are unable to go on-line if the system determines the number of drivers currently active is sufficient.

I had a conversation about this with Lyft. I argued that the amount of drivers could all be centered around one hotzone in the coverage area and if I wanted to go on-line in an under served area the system should allow me in. But I was told the system isn't as granular as that, and only counts drivers in the entire coverage area.

So yes, reserve your hours. If you don't, you may find the system rejects your request to go on-line. You can still pick up other hours maybe, but also be aware that the system will only let you drive 10 hours a day.

As a side note, our hours screen looks nothing like what was posted earlier. Again, this may be a city by city thing.


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## TomNashville (Jul 20, 2014)

On the airport rides, I have heard in some markets that riders cannot request a ride from the airport due to local restrictions. Your market may be one of them.


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## Nautilis (Apr 16, 2014)

Crownan said:


> As a side note, our hours screen looks nothing like what was posted earlier.


Can you post a screen shot of what yours looks like? I'd be curious to see what the differences are.

It's too bad that there is differing information out there about the reserving hours thing. The guys who did my Q&A meeting work for Lyft HQ and there were Lyft drivers from all over attending (it was an online Google Hangout video chat). They mentioned in the meeting that Lyft did away with the reserving hours thing back in March of this year. Before that it was exactly as you described in your earlier post


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## Lyfty (Jul 26, 2014)

Thanks for the info everyone, 
I understand what happens now, for me airport pick ups are the worst (I have been to the airport 4 times, 3 hours waiting average). so far I have only gotten one pick up request. I also notice that not many lyft drivers are there at the airport, mostly 2 or 3 drivers on average.
My friend who works with uber on the other hand says he gets many requests from there, and told me that the airport is packed with uber drivers.
I guess Charlotte airport is more for uber then? ...


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## Grace A. (Jun 30, 2014)

Lyfty, there are some nosy Lyft drivers in Charlotte who think you cannot wait there. They will tell you that you can't work there. That's part of why you don't see anyone there.


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## Emmes (Aug 27, 2014)

Indy Uber driver here and I asked Uber about pickup/drop off at the local airport and they told me drop off's are allowed .. but pickups will get you a ticket. Your results may be different.


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