# First 3days of Lyft



## Jam Val (May 14, 2015)

It's not going well. Lack of drivers means 20 minutes to go get riders (which I won't do) but I will go 10-12 mins just to get acceptance rate up. Accepted 5 rides yesterday, four cancelled. I should be deactivated within the week.


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## MiddleClassedOut (Jun 11, 2015)

That bites. I have been on Lyft 2 months in Philly and love it. I could not clear $350 weekly on Uber with the same amount of time.

If you're in a good area your weekly can look like this. I didn't actually work 30 hours, really around 26. In my neighborhood, which is suburban, I don't get a lot of pings so if I'm close to hitting the bonus I just stay online Sundays. I had two short runs that mildly disturbed my Sunday afternoon:


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## Jam Val (May 14, 2015)

Nice! Do you have to go far to pick up people?


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## MiddleClassedOut (Jun 11, 2015)

Well I happen to live in Mt. Airy, which is in the Philly city limits but suburban. Close to me is Manayunk, which is full of bros and bars along the river. What invariably happens is I will get a pickup that takes me downtown and then I work there. 

If your area is spread out...and you have to take those > 10 minute requests, well...I might look for another job. I can skip a few because I know I can keep it above 90%. Ideally if your area is spread out you should be getting longer rides that compensate and thus higher tips...But you have to do the math to see if it's worth it after a few weeks. Make sure to hit the guarantee hours.


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## AshyLarry81 (Mar 2, 2015)

Sigh. I guess people in Philly are more generous than in NJ. I very rarely hit 10% or more on tips for the week. How about you?


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## MiddleClassedOut (Jun 11, 2015)

Varies a lot...As you can see my tip percentage of my fares was about 10% last week. I'd say it's around 40-50% actually tipping though - just the tips are low. Now I know to avoid pickups in the student areas (Temple, West Philly). A lot are suddenly on Lyft but they don't have money and don't tip. Sometimes if I chat them up hard it helps. But picking up groups who are talking to each other instead of you always means you're just the UberNon-EnglishSpeaking servant and you won't get a tip.


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## AshyLarry81 (Mar 2, 2015)

I feel like being in Philadelphia, it'd be very difficult to avoid student pickups. Even in my area (New Brunswick, NJ), there are a lot of the non-tipping demographic (Rutgers students, recent immigrants). Do you cherry pick and cancel certain requests based on location and/or profile pictures? The only reason I try to accept most rides within a reasonable distance is because of the end-of-week bonus. Maybe this week, I'll be a more selective and calculate if I make more per driving hour. Will report those results in a couple weeks!


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## MiddleClassedOut (Jun 11, 2015)

No, I don't...at least not yet. It's definitely more worth it to ignore requests more than 10 mins away downtown where you know it's probably going to be a short trip and save your rating for those. Or I call and ask them nicely to cancel, people usually want to be picked up within 10 mins anyway, and I feed them a line about another car coming into the area.

Often downtown people cancel if you're 10 mins away instantly. Last Saturday I had one of those, I was way down 95, I got a ping from Old City. I was < 10 mins away as I was already on the expressway, but they canceled anyway.


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## Jam Val (May 14, 2015)

I'm so scared to put on the app now if there aren't other drivers around me in fear I'll get a request far away. Most of the people cancel on me when I accept cause I think they see how far away I am. I probably have a 60% acceptance rate at this point. I'll work it more on weekend nights I think.


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## turbovator (Aug 3, 2015)

Jam Val said:


> It's not going well. Lack of drivers means 20 minutes to go get riders (which I won't do) but I will go 10-12 mins just to get acceptance rate up. Accepted 5 rides yesterday, four cancelled. I should be deactivated within the week.


I don't have any firsthand experience with Lyft or know if they treat their drivers any better than Uber, but I do know they are less known than Uber resulting in a lot smaller rider pool. They are making headway in some markets and picking up a lot of the disgruntled Uber paxs. Just stay low and do the minimum and hang around and see what develops. There is big changes coming in the TNC market within the next 6 months.


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## DrivingStPete (Jul 30, 2015)

Lyft has the same issue in Tampa/St. Pete. My limit is 15mins away. Bout to drop that to 12. 

Glad to hear Mt. Airy is active. Might try a few hours when I come home for the holidays.


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## Bklyn77 (Oct 24, 2014)

DrivingStPete said:


> Lyft has the same issue in Tampa/St. Pete. My limit is 15mins away. Bout to drop that to 12.
> 
> Glad to hear Mt. Airy is active. Might try a few hours when I come home for the holidays.


How is lyft now did it get better new to lyft in st pete any pointers where to hang to get calls is it safe to pick up in the airport thanks


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## BC1045 (Oct 27, 2015)

turbovator said:


> I don't have any firsthand experience with Lyft or know if they treat their drivers any better than Uber, but I do know they are less known than Uber resulting in a lot smaller rider pool. They are making headway in some markets and picking up a lot of the disgruntled Uber paxs. Just stay low and do the minimum and hang around and see what develops. There is big changes coming in the TNC market within the next 6 months.


What is "TNC"? Yes, I'm a new applicant.


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Greetings Lyft Drivers,

The forum suggested that I use a suitable existing thread rather than start a new one. So here goes..

Yesterday was my first day as a Lyft driver. I started with Lyft to earn some extra money, part-time. Have been "on the clock" in Driver mode for about 4 hours between the two days. Received/Accepted 1 ride request..which was yesterday. Missed One yesterday. (That's a fast countdown clock!) And had one Cancel today. I live/work in the Schaumburg, Illinois area... a Chicago suburb. Lots of people.

Couple of questions...

1. Since I can only be in Driver Mode for 2 to 3 hours a day, should I also contract with UBER to get the most out of each hour? Lyft isn't generating even a part time income, LOL. Which brings me to the next question...

2. On the front window of the Android Lyft App yesterday, it said that I earned $7.63 from this one ride. My earnings report today said that I made $6.35. The Lyft website estimator says that this ride cost the guy $11.00. After dropping off a rider, what does that $$$ amount on the face of the Lyft app mean? Are there some kind of taxes or fees deducted from that amount to arrive at the actual net pay per ride? Also, it looks like Lyft isn't paying anywhere near 80% commission.

Thank-goodness for this forum and thanks in advance for any helpful responses. I'm finding that the Lyft Driver Support website isn't detailed enough, and there's no phone support.

-Allen


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## andaas (May 19, 2015)

Hi Allen, and welcome! Here are some answers for you:

1. You may want to consider signing up for Uber as well, Uber typically does have more action in terms of rides/hour. Many drivers run both apps simultaneously and accept the first ride that is sent on either.

2. The website estimator is exactly what it says - an estimate. That estimate may not have used the same route that you drove or may have included additional waiting time due to traffic. The app shows the amount of the actual fare (it's actually a running total, so your 2nd fare that day will be added to the total); in this case, the rider was charged $7.63 + 1.85 (Trust/Safety/City Fees). The fare was $7.63, and your 80% cut of this fare was $6.35 (which is actually a little more than 80% on my calculator).

Note that I am not sure if the website estimator tool factors in the trust and safety fees - although I would guess that it does. So the passenger would have been charged $9.48 before tip.


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## DieselkW (Jul 21, 2015)

Hi Allen, and welcome.

It is very common to run both apps at the same time. Just accept the ping, and turn off the other one because you don't want an Uber ping with a Lyft pax in the car, they never want to go to the same place.
$7.63 is the fare. Add the trust and safety fee to that ($1.55) and that's what the pax pays. The estimator estimates, it's not accurate. You get the fare minus 20% commission to Lyft. 763*0.8=610.4
Lyft does not pay 80% commission, you pay Lyft a 20% commission. Subtle but important tax difference.

You want to make part time money, stop wasting your time watching the app do nothing for hours and hours during weekdays. Forget weekdays.
Leave it off all day tomorrow. Take a nap after dinner. Turn it on at 10pm Friday, not a minute before. You'll take lots of young people to bars. Nothing makes me feel older than having to take a nap to be awake enough to drive young people who are just STARTING their night at 10pm.
Go home for a couple hours, watch TV, answer a ping or two if it happens.
At midnight or 1am, head back to the bars and take them home safely. Thank them for not driving. Be respectful to drunks and they'll respect you, mostly. Be an authority to those that challenge you, but don't push them into a confrontation - you will lose time and money arguing with drunks and having to sort it all out with cops. Not worth it. Go home when the bars are closed.

Then I take another nap until 8am. Time for the walk of shame deliveries. Don't call and ask "What color house is it?" they won't know. Sprinkled in with the walk of shame girls are the guys that left their car somewhere. They are un-showered and bad breathed, but grateful you're awake. They often offer to buy me breakfast. I tell them to tip me breakfast, I'll get it later.

Both the walk of shame and the 'take me to my car' crowd appreciate mints. I buy the big bag at Costco of individually wrapped Wintergreen Lifesavers. Less than a penny each and I like them anyway, so they're good to have in the car.

If you need some sleep, get it now. You're going to do the same thing Saturday night/Sunday morning except you'll be starting a little earlier to catch the going to dinner and drinks crowd.

You have to be where they need you. No one needs you Tuesday afternoon, so just use weekdays to get your hours up. I'm full time and Mon-Thurs weekdays are worth 40% of one weekend, so just work the weekends. The pings will be there if you're in the right place at the right times. You don't see taxi cabs in driveways of private homes - you see them at the airport, you see them outside hotels, you see them at the bar scene late at night.

Don't sit at home waiting for a ping.... you have to be where they are. Pings are by proximity.



BC1045 said:


> What is "TNC"? Yes, I'm a new applicant.


TNC is transportation network company. Uber and Lyft and a few others are TNC's.


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

andaas said:


> Hi Allen, and welcome! Here are some answers for you:
> 
> 1. You may want to consider signing up for Uber as well, Uber typically does have more action in terms of rides/hour. Many drivers run both apps simultaneously and accept the first ride that is sent on either.
> 
> ...


,Andass, thank-you very much for taking the time to answer each of my questions. Even though I choose Lyft over Uber, due to reading so many negatives about the overall Uber experience, I'll start the Uber application process tomorrow and hope for the best. Since I'll only have the applications in "driver mode" for approx. 3 hours each day, I should be able to complete 2 to 3 rides daily. Sounds good for picking up some extra money for Christmas. This Lyft-Only method hasn't netted me enough for wrapping paper.

Also, thank-you for doing what the Lyft Driver Support website failed to do, by breaking down for me how the revenues, fees, and income reporting functions work, and how these items relate to each other. Have a great remainder of the week, Andass.

Appreciatively,
-Allen in Chicagoland


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

DieselkW said:


> Hi Allen, and welcome.
> 
> It is very common to run both apps at the same time. Just accept the ping, and turn off the other one because you don't want an Uber ping with a Lyft pax in the car, they never want to go to the same place.
> $7.63 is the fare. Add the trust and safety fee to that ($1.55) and that's what the pax pays. The estimator estimates, it's not accurate. You get the fare minus 20% commission to Lyft. 763*0.8=610.4
> ...


Hey DieselkW....thanks for confirming what Andaas said regarding the compensation, combining Lyft/Uber... and for sharing your successful strategy for generating maximum revenue in the shortest time-frame. The little courtesy items are a good idea too. I watched a YouTube video where a Mentor said to keep suckers and water in the car. I have the water, but not the suckers yet. The mints are a good idea for the adults. Will add that to my list.

I was wondering about the proximity thing. Was a little disappointed when my first/only ride involved a 15 mile round trip.. took an hour.. yet netted me only $6.35.. This is yet another issue that's not addressed on the Lyft driver support site. I guess the best way to keep this from happening again is to pay closer attention to where the rider is located...and to do so very quickly, before the count-down timer reaches zero.

Rather than ask more questions, I'll read more posts from experienced drivers like yourself. In addition to following some of your advice, I'll learn what the Peak/Off-Peak, Guarantee Weeks, etc.. are in this area. Don't want to work full-time, but don't want to leave money on the table either. Thanks again! 
-Allen


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## andaas (May 19, 2015)

Yeah, another (mostly) Lyft-specific problem, especially when working in the suburbs, is you sometimes (fairly frequently, actually) receive trip requests that are not close to your current location. I've received requests from passengers 20 miles away.

In these situations, you can still make the decision to cancel *after* you accept the request. Typically what I will do is contact the passenger directly, I will explain that Lyft has matched me to their request and that I am 30 minutes or more away from their location. Many times they will not want to wait that long and will cancel the trip - other times, if they are still interested in a ride, I will ask how far their destination will be - if it is a short (<5 mile) hop, I will be very apologetic and will explain to them that I cannot justify driving 20 miles/30 minutes for a few dollar fare - and I will then cancel the trip*.

* If you do this, it is important that you go offline for 5-10 minutes immediately after, otherwise you risk being paired with this passenger on their re-request.


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## corn (Oct 21, 2015)

Jam Val said:


> I'm so scared to put on the app now if there aren't other drivers around me in fear I'll get a request far away. Most of the people cancel on me when I accept cause I think they see how far away I am. I probably have a 60% acceptance rate at this point. I'll work it more on weekend nights I think.


I'm dealing with the same issue right now. Just about all my pings are 20 minutes away. I'm doing the same thing, won't go online unless someone else is online. I'll probably have a short lived lyft life myself at a %50 acceptance rate.


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## NJ_PATS FAN (Oct 23, 2015)

Same here. Yesterday when my Lyft App was on, I got three requests, all 20 or more min away. I cancelled two and the rider cancelled the third one, my acceptance rate was 33.3%--as in Lyft daily summary


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

Are these far away requests occurring because there are so few Lyft drivers available at that time? I must admit that driving 8 miles to pick up my first ever passenger, then taking him 5 miles further, and then returning 14 miles in an empty car, only to earn $6.53, threw a bucket of cold water on my Lyft enthusiasm. 

I sure wish we had access to the map that shows hourly history of Pick-Ups and Drop-Offs in our metro areas. There's something wrong when there are over 500,000 people within 5 miles of my house, I get one rider over a two hour period, and he's 8 miles away. 

Maybe Uber will deliver more volume in the 10am to 3pm time frame. Don't need a lot. But one every 2 hours is not worth carving out the time for.


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## NJ_PATS FAN (Oct 23, 2015)

It is more likely due to very few Lyft drivers in the area. Today I picked up two Lyft trips both within 5 min pick-up time. Still short trips ($7 fare), but I stayed disciplined, i.e. don't pick up requests longer than 10 min away. At the moment, I don't care about my acceptance rate because as a part time driver I won't be able to make the bonus cut anyway. I just hope that as rider volume increases, I will be able to accept more requests within my cut-off: no longer than 10 min pick-up time


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## NJ_PATS FAN (Oct 23, 2015)

From talking to riders, many of them are "duo" users of Uber and Lyft. They often turn on Lyft and don't see any Lyft drivers nearby, they would switch to Uber. Those "long distance" ones are likely new users, or random "rogue" users who don't give a damn about other people's time.

My suggestion is we all turn on Lyft whenever we can, to promote (albeit gradually) the presence of Lyft


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## ADX (Nov 22, 2015)

Where does everyone work? I drive in SF and its almost always busy.


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## NJ_PATS FAN (Oct 23, 2015)

Man, impressive driving Lyft!!


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## ATL2SD (Aug 16, 2015)

ADX said:


> Where does everyone work? I drive in SF and its almost always busy.


Nice!!!!


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## Lag Monkey (Feb 6, 2015)

ADX said:


> Where does everyone work? I drive in SF and its almost always busy.


Great numbers! Glad you can make it work! Lyft is hands down the best in a busy market when the pings are close. Power driver bonus is huge


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## DieselkW (Jul 21, 2015)

Lag Monkey said:


> Power driver bonus is huge


If you think about it, the Lyft Power Driver Bonus is like driving a 1.5x Uber surge for every single ride. Plus tips.

Why would anyone drive UberX for less money, more whining, no tips, and the worst part is making Travis richer.


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## cin90 (Nov 12, 2015)

Hi Allen -

I am new as well and live in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Like you and others, I work full-time and turned to Lyft for some extra part-time dough. Based on my schedule and home responsibilities, I typically turn the app on M-Th immediately after work for drop-offs on my way home and leave it on at home while completing my domestic duties. As expected, my pings are generally local and average about 3 per evening. The real pay off is definitely Friday and Saturday nights (based on the one and half weekends I've worked so far).

Since I'm about 20 miles from the 'happening' spots, I often get long distance requests. My strategy as of late (nothing new or original) has been to hang out where the drop-off is for 5-10 minutes. In no time, I will get a ping for either local drop-offs or further - could be anything from the foothills to the desert to the beach, the valley or the OC. I've experienced all in my 3 weeks of Lyfting and most have been on said 1.5 weekends. Just when I think a PAX has brought me back closer to home, I will get another welcomed ping. I am learning so, rather than getting that 3 a.m. call if I'm tired, I will turn the app off.

In response to your first question: I give props to those willing to 'double dip' as my BF calls it, but personally, I don't see a need as this is extra money and I am fine with the way things are going for now. I'm thinking if I feel I must make more money, I will head to the busier side of town and work there. If you are trying to maximize and have a set goal for your part-time income (sounds like it), you may consider double-dipping. If you do, more power to you!

Wishing you much success!



AllenChicago said:


> Thursday, November 19, 2015
> 
> Couple of questions...
> 
> ...


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## Shannon01 (Sep 16, 2015)

Anyone looking to try uber as well, if you use my promo code you can get the new driver bonus ShannonH2143UE, right now there is a bonus of $600 for the SF area! I'm looking to try lyft myself, so if anyone has a referral code, I would love to use it!


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## NJ_PATS FAN (Oct 23, 2015)

Shannon01, you are welcome to use my Lyft referral code RICHARD455986. Best


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## DieselkW (Jul 21, 2015)

Folks - putting your referral code on a public forum means that anyone that works for Uber or Lyft now knows who you are by simply cross referencing that unique alphanumeric they use to pay you for referrals with your driver account.

Be very careful what you say going forward, and if you don't want Lyft/Uber reading what you have already posted, start deleting right now.


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

cin90 said:


> Hi Allen -
> 
> I am new as well and live in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Like you and others, I work full-time and turned to Lyft for some extra part-time dough. Based on my schedule and home responsibilities, I typically turn the app on M-Th immediately after work for drop-offs on my way home and leave it on at home while completing my domestic duties. As expected, my pings are generally local and average about 3 per evening. The real pay off is definitely Friday and Saturday nights (based on the one and half weekends I've worked so far).
> 
> ...


CIN90, thank-you for that eloquent and detailed Introduction and Welcome. I'm totally bummed out right now, because I've only been able to do 2 Lyft rides after 8 hours on the clock. The second one was $20 for a 45 minute round trip, which was nice. But they are too few and far between here in the Chicago area. Perhaps because Lyft is headquartered in California, residents are more familiar with it, and you get more "pings" per hour.

In fact, I had not heard of Lyft before doing the part-time job search 2 weeks ago. I was familiar with Uber because it gets more press (good/bad) here in the Chicago market. But various blogs and posts stated that Lyft was better because it paid more $$$ per ride given. What I didn't know..and there was no way to find out, is that Lyft riders are relatively scarce in this market. Now I have to decide if I add UBER, or get some other kind of driving and/or delivery job where I can set my own hours. Would be great to earn that $35 per hour that Lyft advertises, but I have yet to see one person do that consistently. Maybe Lyft is using one of the 50 mile rides for the $35/hour claim, and ignoring the "average" earnings. In my industry (Insurance), we get fined and/or do jail time for lying to the public. Maybe the Feds should better regulate these companies at the Corporate level.

At any rate CIN90, it seems that you've found your niche for staying busy and earning the part-time income you need. Congratulations! I'll be striving to achieve your level of satisfaction these next few weeks. Happy Holidays!

-Allen in Chicago


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## AllenChicago (Nov 19, 2015)

ADX said:


> Where does everyone work? I drive in SF and its almost always busy.


I've only been "on the clock" about 12 hours in the last 30 days and have given 5 Lyft rides. One of them was a guy going to Ohare airport. He lived in San Diego. Said that everyone out in his area used Lyft because the quality of the drivers is higher. Don't know how true that is, but I'd love to be able to give 3 or 4 rides, close to home here in the Chicago suburbs, during the 2 hours I'm on the clock, for 3 days each week.


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## Lag Monkey (Feb 6, 2015)

ADX said:


> Where does everyone work? I drive in SF and its almost always busy.


Nice bread..if I ever get another car I'm Lyft only in SF..


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