# Why haven't I been chosen as a Lyft Mentor yet?



## femaledriver (Nov 9, 2014)

So, I have been driving for Lyft since 9/3/14, have done 73 rides and have a 4.84 rating. I live in the Inland Empire and sometimes drive to San Diego on the weekends, usually until about 3 or 4am. I have been looking forward to getting the email to becoming a mentor. I think it would just be a fun extra job to have. Anyway, my husband is a driver and has done about 10 rides since August and got the email this morning to be a mentor. I'm sure his rating is a little higher since he hasn't driven as many people and it's usually never at night. So mentors out there: what exactly are they looking for? High ratings, no cancellations....I just want to know what I am doing wrong. I received the new feedback emails and my rating is always higher than the "average" driver. I'm feeling a little unappreciated.


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## Robert420 (Aug 30, 2014)

femaledriver said:


> So, I have been driving for Lyft since 9/3/14, have done 73 rides and have a 4.84 rating. I live in the Inland Empire and sometimes drive to San Diego on the weekends, usually until about 3 or 4am. I have been looking forward to getting the email to becoming a mentor. I think it would just be a fun extra job to have. Anyway, my husband is a driver and has done about 10 rides since August and got the email this morning to be a mentor. I'm sure his rating is a little higher since he hasn't driven as many people and it's usually never at night. So mentors out there: what exactly are they looking for? High ratings, no cancellations....I just want to know what I am doing wrong. I received the new feedback emails and my rating is always higher than the "average" driver. I'm feeling a little unappreciated.


See this from Lyft Help Desk
https://www.lyft.com/drive/help/article/1484374


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## StephenJBlue (Sep 23, 2014)

Also depends on number of rides compared to other Lyft drivers.. You need to be one of their top drivers.. e.g. more trips


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## LookyLou (Apr 28, 2014)

Nobody know for sure what the Lyft algorithm is for selecting mentors, but here is what I have noticed that seems to be some of the keys.

Rating above 4.9
Receive a lot of comments, especially positive ones. Ask your pax to leave a comment if they were happy with the service.
Give a lot of comments, even though they rarely read them. They usually read them if you have given a 3 or lower rating to a pax.
Drive daytime hours. This way they know you will be available more often during mentoring hours.
Activity in the official Lyft lounges on Facebook. Make a lot of comments on posts even if they are short and simple. Make a lot of positive comments like "congratulations", "way to go", "that's super", etc. Take time to answer any questions that you know the answer to.

Rating seems to be the most important factor. Number of rides does not seem to be a major factor. I have seen many drivers get mentor invitations with under 30 rides total.


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## femaledriver (Nov 9, 2014)

Great tips, Lookylou. I'm going to try to improve my rating. Maybe I will get an invite before the year is up.


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## MiamiFlyer (Sep 22, 2014)

I got invited in to Mentor status with under 40 trips completed, a super high rating and a lot of glowing comments despite no activity in the lounges. My Uber rating is not nearly as high.

It was strange to see since I hadn't done any Lyft Rides in a couple weeks so I would narrow the biggest factors down to Super High Rating and Comments to get the auto invite as my acceptance rate was pretty poor in previous couple weeks. There could also be some notes somewhere from your intial mentor/recruiter, as I had a strong report with mine.

They also must have a need for mentors in the area before they bring on more.


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## haohmaru (Sep 18, 2014)

4.92 & 92 trips for me and I haven't been asked if that makes you feel better.


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## UberRey (Sep 1, 2014)

I get comments all of the time because I LEAVE comments all of the time. I leave comments because it reminds the pax that they really liked me when we drove together...and they are reminded that they really want to tip that guy that they liked so much.

All of the positive comments have reached the attention of the powers that be....which I assume is why I was asked to be a mentor. I could be wrong


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## DC_Uber_Lyft_Driver (Sep 2, 2014)

I became mentor after 40 rides.

I drive almost exclusively days and my rating is 4.91. I do get some nice comments but don't know if it's more than others get.


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## femaledriver (Nov 9, 2014)

haohmaru said:


> 4.92 & 92 trips for me and I haven't been asked if that makes you feel better.


Lol, it does make me feel better. Thank you for sharing


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## femaledriver (Nov 9, 2014)

UberRey said:


> I get comments all of the time because I LEAVE comments all of the time. I leave comments because it reminds the pax that they really liked me when we drove together...and they are reminded that they really want to tip that guy that they liked so much.
> 
> All of the positive comments have reached the attention of the powers that be....which I assume is why I was asked to be a mentor. I could be wrong


 I haven't been leaving comments. Only 5 stars but I'll start making a habit of it. What do you say? I tend to have great conversations with each of my pax, especially when it is just one person. Do you reference something you talk about or just say something nice. My husband says he tells them something like "you were a 5 star passenger."


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## UberRey (Sep 1, 2014)

saying anything nice is helpful however sometimes I will make a reference to a conversation that we had. Today I had a rider who is on her way for a job interview, and in my comments I told her "good luck with the interview. I know you'll crush it!"

I get tipped often. I think this is why.


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## DC_Uber_Lyft_Driver (Sep 2, 2014)

UberRey said:


> saying anything nice is helpful however sometimes I will make a reference to a conversation that we had. Today I had a rider who is on her way for a job interview, and in my comments I told her "good luck with the interview. I know you'll crush it!"
> 
> I get tipped often. I think this is why.


I have never left a comment and my ratio of tips to non-tips is low. Starting tomorrow, I'll try adding nice comments and see what happens.


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## ChrisInABQ (Oct 21, 2014)

DC_Uber_Lyft_Driver said:


> Starting tomorrow, I'll try adding nice comments and see what happens.


Yep, me too. I left comments early on, but stopped so I could get my app back on quickly. If there's a chance of increasing tips, I'll give nice comments a try.

Question though...do these comments come through before they rate and pay? I wasn't ever sure how that worked and if they even saw the comments I left, or more importantly, when.


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## femaledriver (Nov 9, 2014)

UberRey said:


> saying anything nice is helpful however sometimes I will make a reference to a conversation that we had. Today I had a rider who is on her way for a job interview, and in my comments I told her "good luck with the interview. I know you'll crush it!"
> 
> I get tipped often. I think this is why.


That's genuine. I didn't think that they saw the comments, only the Lyft staff. But if they really do that's definitely something all of us should do. It really rounds out the experience. I know I like see the rider comments about me.


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## CLAkid (Oct 23, 2014)

UberRey said:


> I get comments all of the time because I LEAVE comments all of the time. I leave comments because it reminds the pax that they really liked me when we drove together...and they are reminded that they really want to tip that guy that they liked so much.
> 
> All of the positive comments have reached the attention of the powers that be....which I assume is why I was asked to be a mentor. I could be wrong


Great way to get tips


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## BlkGeep (Dec 7, 2014)

They are racist, they only choose white males for that. Lyft also pays white drivers more I heard.


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## UberBlackPr1nce (Dec 28, 2014)

BlkGeep said:


> They are racist, they only choose white males for that. Lyft also pays white drivers more I heard.


Negative. They asked me to be a mentor on my 3rd week


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## UberBlackPr1nce (Dec 28, 2014)

Is the original poster still active on the boards? I wonder what ended up happening.


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## BlkGeep (Dec 7, 2014)

UberBlackPr1nce said:


> Negative. They asked me to be a mentor on my 3rd week


You must be light skinned then.


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## Rubyson&sme (Dec 1, 2014)

What is offered to you as a mentor?


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## Rubyson&sme (Dec 1, 2014)

UberBlackPr1nce said:


> Negative. They asked me to be a mentor on my 3rd week





BlkGeep said:


> They are racist, they only choose white males for that. Lyft also pays white drivers more I heard.


That's incorrect, my mentor was hispanic, and well...I guarantee I'm not making more money than anybody. Plus I'm...well...old...ish.


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## UberBlackPr1nce (Dec 28, 2014)

Rubyson&sme said:


> What is offered to you as a mentor?


35 bucks per session.


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## BlkGeep (Dec 7, 2014)

Rubyson&sme said:


> That's incorrect, my mentor was hispanic, and well...I guarantee I'm not making more money than anybody. Plus I'm...well...old...ish.


Think your sarcasm detector is broken Rube.


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## Rubyson&sme (Dec 1, 2014)

BlkGeep said:


> Think your sarcasm detector is broken Rube.


Look who finally woke up and smelled the dung heap?


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## Crownan (Jul 28, 2014)

The Lyft Mentor program is almost a Catch 22 situation. In new markets a lot of >4.9 drivers are made mentors as they build their recruiter base.

Once the recruiter base is built, however, they have no need of you anymore. In fact, Recruiters tell new drivers to cancel their Mentor ride if the Mentor is not them. This is the pervasive corruption in the Lyft community and if you speak out about it you will get removed from community groups. Fact is, Recruiters can make $100-$250 from each new driver while Mentors only make $35. Recruiters do everything they can to keep new drivers from using Mentors, so the need for Mentors in most markets is almost nil.

The sad fact is this corruption of Lyft is exactly why bad drivers get on their system. Recruiters get paid for recruiting, regardless of whether the driver is good or can even speak English. Mentors get paid (a token amount compared to Recruiters) whether they pass or fail a new driver.


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## RockinEZ (Apr 29, 2015)

From Lyft:
Mentors are our top drivers in each city.
With your score, you are not one.


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## squirtlekip (Jul 19, 2015)

Seems like there is actually a bias for choosing mentors in their early weeks (probably because it's easy to pull straight 5's on a small sample size), as well as a predisposition towards day drivers, and even more likely if you are an early driver for your region.

I'm 1008 rides deep and currently have a 4.94 rating (I had a perfect 5 for a week, but have had 3 bad ratings since) and have yet to be asked to join the mentor program. I do drive nights mostly though.


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## THIRDEYE (Jul 2, 2015)

333 rides with a 4.98. I often get comments from pax and tipped 50% of rides. Still no Mentor invite...
I'm thinking it probably doesn't help that I'm in Long Beach and it's considered Orange County market by Lyft, rather than Los Angeles.


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