# How much does a Lyft driver keep on a minimum fare ride?



## Muki (Oct 15, 2015)

Subject line says it all.


----------



## macchiato (Sep 29, 2015)

A min fare trip. This one had a tip though.









So -$2 = $3.20.

Edit: this is a min fare in LA. Your mileage may vary.


----------



## andaas (May 19, 2015)

Depends on your market, but as macchiato posted, the typical markets with a $4 minimum fare, drivers keep $3.20. (Drivers on 25% commission schedule would keep $3.00).


----------



## Muki (Oct 15, 2015)

So Lyft drivers keep more of their minimum fare than Uber drivers, generally?


----------



## andaas (May 19, 2015)

I would think so, Uber keeps nearly 50% on minimum fares in most markets.


----------



## macchiato (Sep 29, 2015)

If you do the power driver bonus, you keep all of it.


----------



## ClevelandUberRider (Nov 28, 2015)

On the driver's side, in regard to each trip, while some of our costs are variable in nature, incurred either on a per-mile basis (fuel, wear and tear, etc.) or on a per-minute basis (our time etc.), some of our costs are fixed per each trip, no matter the number of miles or minutes within that trip. For example, avg amount of time and distance to PU point, avg amount of time waiting for pax to grace us with their majestic, grand royal arrival, amount and effort of greetings and some chatting (I know many of us, including me, actually enjoy convo and interactions with our pax, but for the purpose of this discussion let's assume that drivers' such efforts should be compensated, just like any other front line workers do), and amount of record keeping that many TNC drivers do (from the minimal of taking a screenshot after a trip, to the most careful driver who uses an actual pen to write down on his actual physical notebook the exact odometer reading at PU point, full address of PU pt, day and time trip started, odometer reading at arrival, full address of arrival, and day and time of arrival, all as a part of paperwork for tax purposes), etc. 

In the commercial airline industry, as per each trip, there are variable costs per mile (fuel is a big one), and there are fixed costs (baggage handling, airport ground staffing, airport head tax, etc). When the LCCs (low cost carriers) first arrived, they concentrated all their firepower on the short-haul market, eschewing the long haul segments of the market at first. They first started by invading the (regional) commuter segment of the market (people flying to work, think New England to NYC). Once they owned that market, they moved slowly to longer and longer flights. Because when they first started, the LCCs saw that the inefficiencies found in the legacy airlines are much bigger in the fixed cost area. Since fixed costs disadvantage for the traditional airlines diminishes the longer a trip (because they get to spread that fixed cost disadvantage over more miles), the legacy airlines' short-haul ticket (fare) prices present much bigger rooom/margin for LCC to compete against. LCCs' profitability drops as their avg length of trip increases, because there is less fat in the old airlines' fare price to cut. Especially in Europe, many LCCs fly out of smaller, underused airports, avoiding the congestion and huge inefficiency of the largest airports (airports recoup some of their costs, therefore inefficiencies, from taxing the pax).

In the TNC market, the reverse is true. Per each trip, TNC drivers actually endure higher fixed costs than their legacy competitors (cab drivers). For example, for the traditional cab drivers, they have lower time and distance to PU pt (cab drivers often refuse those high-ETA trips, also, street hails entail almost zero time and distance to PU pt, not to forget airport and other cabs that are waiting for their next pax in the designated PU area whom TNCs are also competing against) and lower record keeping time and effort (to a large extent, there is no need for cab drivers to write down those trip details mentioned earlier). The TNC drivers, unlike the LCCs, which grabbed a big chunk of the short-haul market from the old-time market players (and making more money than the latter in the process) due to their lower fixed cost hence short-haul competitive advantage, TNC drivers not only do not have a short-trip competitive advantage, we actually are burdened with higher fixed costs, hence short-trip competitive disadvantage!

Within city limits (think Lower Manhattan) with their fare structure, cab drivers can make money for both long- and short-trips. With TNC fare structure in most cities, TNC drivers, with higher per-trip fixed costs, we are at a very severe disadvantage when it comes to the short-trip segment of our PC business.


----------



## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

ClevelandUberRider said:


> On the driver's side, in regard to each trip, while some of our costs are variable in nature, incurred either on a per-mile basis (fuel, wear and tear, etc.) or on a per-minute basis (our time etc.), some of our costs are fixed per each trip, no matter the number of miles or minutes within that trip. For example, avg amount of time and distance to PU point, avg amount of time waiting for pax to grace us with their majestic, grand royal arrival, amount and effort of greetings and some chatting (I know many of us, including me, actually enjoy convo and interactions with our pax, but for the purpose of this discussion let's assume that drivers' such efforts should be compensated, just like any other front line workers do), and amount of record keeping that many TNC drivers do (from the minimal of taking a screenshot after a trip, to the most careful driver who uses an actual pen to write down on his actual physical notebook the exact odometer reading at PU point, full address of PU pt, day and time trip started, odometer reading at arrival, full address of arrival, and day and time of arrival, all as a part of paperwork for tax purposes), etc.
> 
> In the commercial airline industry, as per each trip, there are variable costs per mile (fuel is a big one), and there are fixed costs (baggage handling, airport ground staffing, airport head tax, etc). When the LCCs (low cost carriers) first arrived, they concentrated all their firepower on the short-haul market, eschewing the long haul segments of the market at first. They first started by invading the (regional) commuter segment of the market (people flying to work, think New England to NYC). Once they owned that market, they moved slowly to longer and longer flights. Because when they first started, the LCCs saw that the inefficiencies found in the legacy airlines are much bigger in the fixed cost area. Since fixed costs disadvantage for the traditional airlines diminishes the longer a trip (because they get to spread that fixed cost disadvantage over more miles), the legacy airlines' short-haul ticket (fare) prices present much bigger rooom/margin for LCC to compete against. LCCs' profitability drops as their avg length of trip increases, because there is less fat in the old airlines' fare price to cut. Especially in Europe, many LCCs fly out of smaller, underused airports, avoiding the congestion and huge inefficiency of the largest airports (airports recoup some of their costs, therefore inefficiencies, from taxing the pax).
> 
> ...


Tbat was a very long speech but didn't answer the poster's question.

How many trips have you taken?


----------



## ClevelandUberRider (Nov 28, 2015)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> Tbat was a very long speech but didn't answer the poster's question.
> 
> How many trips have you taken?


Which poster? Which question?

See my response to Michael earlier.


----------



## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

$3.20


----------



## BostonBarry (Aug 31, 2015)

Lyft doesn't include their T&SF in the fare so driver share of minimum fare is minimum fare - commission only.


----------



## ClevelandUberRider (Nov 28, 2015)

UberX for most cities are quickly becoming the cheapest of the cheap options. Lyft a little higher. UberX will serve the lowest cost pax, driven by the lowest paid drivers imaginable. It's all about market positioning. There are pax who need and want this barebone, the most basic service. And some drivers amazingly are willing to drive at those low rates. Unless we want to be the lowest paid drivers in the country, we should avoid X-only and either switch to Lyft or do Select also. The fares may very well be brought up a little in coming months due to huge drops in drivers' hours, but going forward UberX-only drivers will continue to be the lowest paid drivers, one of the lowest paid workers in their respective cities, at about or even below minimum wage.


----------

