# Zero Lyft pings today



## Jostnyc (Dec 10, 2015)

I was online for 5 hours with both apps today and I did not get a single Lyft request. It was pretty strange. I use 2 phones one with each app so when I get ping on one I turn the other off. I don't pay for 2 phones I use an old phone with my daughters wifi hot spot in the car. I even switched the apps from one phone to the other and still no Lyft requests. Was there an issue with them today? I have used both apps only twice before and both times got similar pings on both apps. It's pretty lucrative for me. But today only Uber was pinging. Anybody else have a problem today. I do Lyft in New Jersey.


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## txtim1982 (Jan 5, 2016)

The way that Uber and Lyft ping their drivers is different. Uber, it is the person who can get to the pax the soonest gets the ping. Simple, easy and reliable. Lyft does it in a rotating fashion. Within a certain radius, it gives priority to those who have been waiting for a fare the longest. So, everytime you got a ping from Uber and went out of Lyft Driver Mode, you reset your clock. The only way to make real money on Lyft is to do Lyft exclusively. In the past, I've used Uber primarily with Lyft as a back up, but due to recent... um... issues with Uber in the D/FW market (removing cancellation fees, drops in prices, increase in Uber fees, sending out texts to #UberOn during a storm that spawned 9 tornadoes, etc.), I'm committing to Lyft exclusively for January. We'll see how it goes.


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## ATL2SD (Aug 16, 2015)

txtim1982 said:


> The way that Uber and Lyft ping their drivers is different. Uber, it is the person who can get to the pax the soonest gets the ping. Simple, easy and reliable. Lyft does it in a rotating fashion. Within a certain radius, it gives priority to those who have been waiting for a fare the longest. So, everytime you got a ping from Uber and went out of Lyft Driver Mode, you reset your clock. The only way to make real money on Lyft is to do Lyft exclusively. In the past, I've used Uber primarily with Lyft as a back up, but due to recent... um... issues with Uber in the D/FW market (removing cancellation fees, drops in prices, increase in Uber fees, sending out texts to #UberOn during a storm that spawned 9 tornadoes, etc.), I'm committing to Lyft exclusively for January. We'll see how it goes.


Wow, I never knew this. I thought Lyft was similar to Uber, in that the nearest driver gets the ping. Thanks for the info, how'd you discover this?


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## andaas (May 19, 2015)

It's on the Lyft website...

https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/214584737-How-Drivers-and-Passengers-are-Paired


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## txtim1982 (Jan 5, 2016)

andaas said:


> It's on the Lyft website...


Specifically the 2nd paragraph.


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## ClevelandUberRider (Nov 28, 2015)

txtim1982 said:


> The way that Uber and Lyft ping their drivers is different. Uber, it is the person who can get to the pax the soonest gets the ping. Simple, easy and reliable. Lyft does it in a rotating fashion. Within a certain radius, it gives priority to those who have been waiting for a fare the longest. So, everytime you got a ping from Uber and went out of Lyft Driver Mode, you reset your clock. The only way to make real money on Lyft is to do Lyft exclusively. In the past, I've used Uber primarily with Lyft as a back up, but due to recent... um... issues with Uber in the D/FW market (removing cancellation fees, drops in prices, increase in Uber fees, sending out texts to #UberOn during a storm that spawned 9 tornadoes, etc.), I'm committing to Lyft exclusively for January. We'll see how it goes.


If indeed these are the way Lyber's ping algorithm is coded (which I think it is, judging from posts here at UP) then it is interesting to see the two main players in the rideshare market slowly differentiating themselves further, in the process giving consumers (riders) and suppliers (drivers) increasingly more choices. In this (ping issue) Lyft seems to encourage loyal, exclusive drivers (for long term steadier supply of drivers). While Uber seems to prioritize the minimization of ETAs (good for riders and hustling drivers). Like all reasonable market options each will get its drivers -- Lyft their mostly exclusive drivers (who usually qualify for their PDB), and Uber drivers who hustle every day, doing Uber, Lyft, and in coming years, Amazon, food and other delivery gigs.


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## ClevelandUberRider (Nov 28, 2015)

Other than physical distance (straight line distance) and available road distance, ETAs may be affected by how long a driver has been waiting in the area. Think about this: which of these two drivers are generally expected to arrive faster to PU point: both are along the same road, the little town's Market Street, but (A) a driver who has been dreaming of his pings at/near a diner's parking lot for the past half an hour whose location, both straight line and road distance, is about 200 feet from rider's dropped pin on the curb in front of the little town's one of six Starbucks, and (B) a driver who has just ended his trip two seconds ago, 400 feet from the dropped pin? Clearly, driver B is all pumped up, ready to go. Driver A? Best case scenario, he quickly transitions from whatever he was doing in his car (Netflix, phone chatting, texting, whatever), accepts, and spends 10-30 seconds maneuvering out of the parking lot. Worst case scenario, driver A is inside the diner half way thru his quick lunch or bathroom break. Over the long run, driver B can be expected to arrive quicker at PU point than driver A, even though B is twice further from dropped pin, distance-wise. 

Also, it seems that in many markets, whether by its original intelligent design or by daily market evolution, Lyft has differentiated itself in this regard such that on average their rides may tend to be longer than Uber's, especially rides that have larger ETAs. Assuming this is true, shouldn't Lyft's algorithm be giving low ETAs trips to Driver B and direct high-ETA trips to driver A? This will, on average, increase driver A's paid miles and minutes, hence increased fare take. Of course, if this algorithm coding doesn't bring in more fare take for A, Lyft can change their "pinging codes" to try to bring in more fare to A versus B. Because, it is in Lyfy's long term interest to make BOTH driver A and driver B sufficiently happy and not quit on them. Because if either of them quits, Lyft loses money in drivers' recruitment.


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## vesolehome (Aug 2, 2015)

I run both apps and there are very few Lyft requests in my market.


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## DieselkW (Jul 21, 2015)

Since Lyft is now charging new drivers 25% commission, should we expect new drivers to get more pings?


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## vesolehome (Aug 2, 2015)

DieselkW said:


> Since Lyft is now charging new drivers 25% commission, should we expect new drivers to get more pings?


Good point. 
I don't see many Lyft pings but I get 2 or 3 that are 25-30 minutes away each week. I pass on them and have a horrible acceptance rate with Lyft. But I'm not driving 30 minutes to drive someone 10 minutes.


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## MikesUber (Oct 23, 2015)

Been doing Uber for over 2 months and Lyft just recently, about 2 weeks. Pittsburgh, PA market here.

So far it's been pretty even but that's really only weekday nights. Some nights I get many more Lyft requests other nights I do more Uber requests.

When it comes to the weekend however it's no contest, it's Uber all the way. Typically I just log off Lyft during bar close time because they cannot touch the pricing that Uber offers from surge.


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## Sakkasie (Jan 7, 2016)

I drove the length of the SF Bay peninsula yesterday (San Mateo to San Jose) and zero pings. I know SF is littered with Lyft drivers but I was hoping it might be a bit better in the South Bay.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

ClevelandUberRider said:


> If indeed these are the way Lyber's ping algorithm is coded (which I think it is, judging from posts here at UP) then it is interesting to see the two main players in the rideshare market slowly differentiating themselves further, in the process giving consumers (riders) and suppliers (drivers) increasingly more choices. In this (ping issue) *Lyft seems to encourage loyal, exclusive drivers* (for long term steadier supply of drivers). While Uber seems to prioritize the minimization of ETAs (good for riders and hustling drivers). Like all reasonable market options each will get its drivers -- Lyft their mostly exclusive drivers (who usually qualify for their PDB), and Uber drivers who hustle every day, doing Uber, Lyft, and in coming years, Amazon, food and other delivery gigs.


I've tried to verify that doing Lyft only. *No, it doesn't work.* More drivers only means less fares overall for everyone online. My hourly nets on Lyft are pathetic, because of the request rotations/distributions, regardless of how much exclusive time I devote to them.

Just too many driver mouths to feed.

It works the same way with Uber. If the streets are flooded with drivers, which they usually are, even aggessive hunting will not produce as much. Every driver is doing the same thing. There are just so many fares to be had. When there are more drivers it just means less business for all of them.

I can watch both pax apps and see that Lyft drivers are just meandering around, waiting for their turns.

Same with Uber. You just have to watch the pax apps to see what's going on. If they are just milling around and not disappearing, there isn't much to be had.

The popcorn is either popping, or it ain't. You can watch the pops on the app, or not watch it pop. Same thing. For example, if you watch busy times, drivers will be flashing in and out continually. That means everyone is busy. If they are just sitting around or milling around and not disappearing, there isn't much biz.

Simple observations. I do it from my living room when assessing whether any given day is worth it. And this is only one evaluation method of many.


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## ATL2SD (Aug 16, 2015)

scrurbscrud said:


> I've tried to verify that doing Lyft only. *No, it doesn't work.* More drivers only means less fares overall for everyone online. My hourly nets on Lyft are pathetic, because of the request rotations/distributions, regardless of how much exclusive time I devote to them.
> 
> Just too many driver mouths to feed.
> 
> ...


Good post! I do the same when I'm @ my 9-5 & bored as hell.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

ATL2SD said:


> Go post! I do the same when I'm @ my 9-5 & bored as hell.


My criteria for driving has not been met since the end of the week before Xmas. And I won't til my criteria is met.


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## Jostnyc (Dec 10, 2015)

The first time I used both apps together I got an equal number of hits. But Lyft wasn't left behind like many people say. I don't drive all the time it must have been a busy day. I'm still looking for my sweet spot. I went out again with both apps and this time got 2 Lyft requests as opposed to Uber 9. I don't want to leave the app on while on an Uber ride and vice versa. But if their coding works that way I may have to take my chances. I'm gonna go out on a "busy" day and see what happens. I'm still gonna turn off the app though.


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## txtim1982 (Jan 5, 2016)

Jostnyc said:


> The first time I used both apps together I got an equal number of hits. But Lyft wasn't left behind like many people say. I don't drive all the time it must have been a busy day. I'm still looking for my sweet spot. I went out again with both apps and this time got 2 Lyft requests as opposed to Uber 9. I don't want to leave the app on while on an Uber ride and vice versa. But if their coding works that way I may have to take my chances. I'm gonna go out on a "busy" day and see what happens. I'm still gonna turn off the app though.


Turning off the app is the only way to really do it. When I was running two phones, it was easier for me to go back online on the other when I was getting close to the destination.


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