# New Lyft Cancellation Policy and Procedure



## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

Today, we're excited to announce an upcoming change to improve the way you pick up and drop off passengers. With a tap instead of a slide to start and end the ride, the experience will soon be more efficient for everyone.

To recap:


*Accept a request.* Tap the big button, then navigate to the pickup spot.
*Tap to arrive.* The button will turn green as you approach. When you've arrived and reach a safe place, tap it - your passenger will get a text that you've arrived.
*Navigate, greet, and go!* You can now load up navigation before the passenger even enters the car. If they haven't entered a destination in advance, just ask when they get in.
*Tap to drop off.* Confirm the ride is over, then rate your passenger.
*New Policy for No-Shows*
You're probably wondering: What happens if you tap to arrive, but see no signs of your passenger? Easy. Give them a call. Some people just need a friendly nudge.

If *three minutes* have elapsed, give your passenger a call. If you can't get a hold of them, hit "Cancel as no-show" and you'll receive $5 for your time.

http://community.lyft.com/2014/07/2...&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=61243917


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

It seems like this might put some incentive for the passenger to get their act together. The ride starts when you arrive. Also it will be nice to get the destination before they come out. You can still tap to start it before it turns green. I'm a little worried about tapping by accident. It doesn't appear that there's a confirming dialog box to start.

Demo video also at the link.


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

Also the ride length has been increased to 100 miles instead of 60.

Effective immediately, Lyft rides can now reach as far as *100 miles *with a new per-ride maximum payment of *$500*. These are up from the previous limits of 60 miles and $200 per ride.

http://community.lyft.com/2014/07/2...&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=61243917


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## LookyLou (Apr 28, 2014)

Should be interesting. The new cancellation policy is really nice.

Looks like Lyft is listening to their drivers and implementing new driver friendly features. You listening Uber????? You should be.


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## TomNashville (Jul 20, 2014)

I think it's funny how Uber just went to a slide to start and stop due to bugs with their software and Lyft is going to tap. It is awesome that we can get a cancellation fee on Lyft now without the rider having to accept the $5 charge. I've lost a mint because I had to cancel for the rider!


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

I'm not so sure about this idea. I thought starting the ride without permission was one of the big reasons drivers get 1 star ratings. Now you can accidentally just touch to start. Or, you're supposed to start the ride before they get in the car or give you their approval.


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

In thinking about this, there is another problem. When you go to the pickup point, you click you've arrived. The trip starts. Now, they call you, hey where are you? Ok, it's the 10% of rides with a wrong pin location. They're a mile or two down the road. What do you do?

If you drive to the correct location now, they're being charged and will be furious. 1 star is probably guaranteed.

Otherwise, I think you would just have to cancel and get out of there. You could cancel and have them re request when you get there but that's asking for rating trouble as well. The driver takes the blame for the mess.

I'm not sure this has been thought through. I have not seen an answer to this in the official blog even though it has been asked. Also I'm not sure how kindly riders will rate if they are charged for initial waiting time. So I'd be careful when this rolls out.


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

So maybe the safe steps should be:

Get request
Drive to request
Confirm visual of passenger or call to confirm correct location.
Hit "Arriving Now" once you are sure you are in the correct location and that starts the ride.


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

Walkersm said:


> So maybe the safe steps should be:
> 
> Get request
> Drive to request
> ...


Yeah. I was thinking this new change might just make things harder. I might just have a pre populated canned text to send that I have arrived before I press the official button. Then wait until they come out, like it used to be.

The new method seems problematic, especially when the stats show starting rides without them present and ending late are as bad for ratings as picking up the wrong person (85% chance of a 1 star). With the number of bad pins, I could see getting a 1 star every 20 rides just due to this. That would be a disaster and unsustainable as a driver required to maintain a 4.8.

If they don't come out or call or reply to the text after a couple minutes, then I could also press arriving. Wait three minutes, then call them to invoke the new cancellation process.


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

grams777 said:


> That would be a disaster and unsustainable as a driver required to maintain a 4.8.


But if it is a system wide implementation that every driver gets dinged on 1 out of 20 rides the average cut off for driver deactivation will go down with the average rating going down. Unless Lyft does not realize this and start deactivating 50% of their workforce becausee they are still using the 4.8 standard. Have a feeling they have some pretty knowledgeable people there about data that would account for this new shift in ratings.

They would still eliminate the bottom 5-10 percent although that would mean maybe the score would be 4.3 now to do that.

Although I could see drivers who work more get lower ratings faster than part timers. Could skew the number for a while until the part timers catch up with the lower ratings for missing the riders.


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

Walkersm said:


> They would still eliminate the bottom 5-10 percent although that would mean maybe the score would be 4.3 now to do that.


That might be great. If I had that much leeway in ratings, I'd still just workaround things the old way to keep my ratings up. Then I could pretty much work late night / early morning / surge-PTT hours as much as I wanted. As it is, I have to usually stop at 1 am and be cautious of surge-PTT otherwise I head to 4.80 and probably below rather quickly instead of currently 4.9+.


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## Jeff212 (Aug 1, 2014)

I have found when a pin is dropped a mile or two off of where they are, it is because there is no cars available close enough and they see your car on the map just out of range and they drop the pin as close as possible to them and wait for your call and play dumb. I called a person out on it and they admitted it and said they wouldn't mind paying extra to get a car to drive farther to get them if they had that option. This has happened a few times to me because I work in under served areas. So it would be a nice option for them and I tell them to call me right away with their actual real location and I would pick them up, they even told me to start the trip at the pin drop but I didn't, it is less then 60 cents and I am happy to help grow this market here in the Antelope Valley.


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

Well, I was driving around last night. About 11 pm, I get a message you must update the lyft app now (right now). So then I got the new update with all these new features, push to arrive etc. I found it very distracting. A simple push of the button can start the ride. Also some popup seems to comes up if you don't. It says something like, do you want to say you arrived?

I'm like what? No I don't. I'm trying to pull over and find this person. Frankly, marking I've arrived before they're in the car is inviting a rating disaster. I have seen no communication to riders about this new process. So they will think I'm ripping them off. I found the whole new process distracting. I have to be very careful switching apps between navigation. The buttons are very close to starting the ride. Maybe it will take some time getting used to.


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## dominant7th (Jun 24, 2014)

While I like the Lyft app functionality, one thing I'm confused about is the nav system. I have an iPhone5 and I have WAZE, GMAPS and Apple Maps. When I use Lyft's nav feature after accepting a request, it automatically defaults to WAZE. Not really a problem (I like WAZE) but there's a difference when I use WAZE solo as opposed to using it from the Lyft app; when I use it solo, I get the address ON the WAZE app as I get close (typically within a few hundred yards) and when I use if from Lyft's app, there's no address and I find I need to toggle back and forth between the Lyft app and the nav to confirm the address which is cumbersome and hazardous to do when approaching the location. I need to be focusing on which side of the street they're on and how to approach the address so the passenger side is closest to the user. Maybe driod has better Lyft nav functionality? 

Also, how can I change the default to GMAPS instead of WAZE (in case one is down) on Lyft's nav?


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

dominant7th said:


> While I like the Lyft app functionality, one thing I'm confused about is the nav system. I have an iPhone5 and I have WAZE, GMAPS and Apple Maps. When I use Lyft's nav feature after accepting a request, it automatically defaults to WAZE. Not really a problem (I like WAZE) but there's a difference when I use WAZE solo as opposed to using it from the Lyft app; when I use it solo, I get the address ON the WAZE app as I get close (typically within a few hundred yards) and when I use if from Lyft's app, there's no address and I find I need to toggle back and forth between the Lyft app and the nav to confirm the address which is cumbersome and hazardous to do when approaching the location. I need to be focusing on which side of the street they're on and how to approach the address so the passenger side is closest to the user. Maybe driod has better Lyft nav functionality?
> 
> Also, how can I change the default to GMAPS instead of WAZE (in case one is down) on Lyft's nav?


For Lyft on the iphone, click the three dots in upper left. Click view profile. Click navigation. Select between waze, apple, and google.


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## dominant7th (Jun 24, 2014)

grams777 said:


> For Lyft on the iphone, click the three dots in upper left. Click view profile. Click navigation. Select between waze, apple, and google.


Thanks Grams


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## OriginalGeek (Aug 4, 2014)

grams777 said:


> In thinking about this, there is another problem. When you go to the pickup point, you click you've arrived. The trip starts. Now, they call you, hey where are you? Ok, it's the 10% of rides with a wrong pin location. They're a mile or two down the road. What do you do?


I don't see this as a problem, it incentivizes putting the pin in the correct location.


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

OriginalGeek said:


> I don't see this as a problem, it incentivizes putting the pin in the correct location.


At the expense of your ratings? See:
https://uberpeople.net/threads/new-lyft-cancellation-policy-and-procedure.1371/#post-11923


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## JUAGAMELO (Aug 19, 2014)

grams777 said:


> In thinking about this, there is another problem. When you go to the pickup point, you click you've arrived. The trip starts. Now, they call you, hey where are you? Ok, it's the 10% of rides with a wrong pin location. They're a mile or two down the road. What do you do?
> 
> If you drive to the correct location now, they're being charged and will be furious. 1 star is probably guaranteed.
> 
> ...


I'd just cancel it..and go offline for awhile and move to a different area.


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## Jimmy D (Jul 4, 2015)

grams777 said:


> Today, we're excited to announce an upcoming change to improve the way you pick up and drop off passengers. With a tap instead of a slide to start and end the ride, the experience will soon be more efficient for everyone.
> 
> To recap:
> 
> ...


HOW DO YOU CANCEL FOR A NO-SHOW? I can cancel but that counts against me. How do you cancel for a no-show?


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## andaas (May 19, 2015)

Jimmy D said:


> HOW DO YOU CANCEL FOR A NO-SHOW? I can cancel but that counts against me. How do you cancel for a no-show?


You just have to wait at the pickup location long enough *after* you confirm arrival . The original post says 3 minutes; but I've been waiting ~5 minutes. After that point, when you select to cancel the ride, it will ask why you are cancelling and you can select "Passenger No Show" or something.

*** MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ATTEMPTED TO CALL OR TEXT PASSENGER ***
They will not give you a cancellation fee if you just show up, wait, and leave, without attempting to contact them.


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## Jimmy D (Jul 4, 2015)

I do hit "cancel" and it just tells me that it will count against me. There is no mention of why I'm cancelling. What should I look for beyond just cancel?


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