# Countdown to deactivation....



## AshyLarry81 (Mar 2, 2015)

Now that Lyft has made changes to their power driver bonus to make it harder than ever to reach (based on number of rides instead of hours), I will start cherry picking rides like crazy. There is no incentive anymore when you live in an area with less ping frequency or if you're a part-timer. Not taking anymore rides more than 10 minutes away. I will also be calling every single pax for their final destination. If I don't estimate that to be more than $10, I'm cancelling as well. Screw this! If I don't have this as supplemental income, it's not the end of the world for me. I encourage all others in the same situation as me (the non-desperate ones) to do the same. If Lyft kicks me out as a driver, I could give two f**ks.


----------



## garrobitoalado (Jan 7, 2016)

..humm.. I don't think raiders gonna be happy to receive a call asking for destination to receive a cancel later.. be careful there..


----------



## andaas (May 19, 2015)

garrobitoalado said:


> ..humm.. I don't think raiders gonna be happy to receive a call asking for destination to receive a cancel later.. be careful there..


Refer to the thread title...


----------



## Greguzzi (Jan 9, 2016)

This changes everything for me. I made PDB every week and favored and took all Lyft rides because they were an effective 1.5x Uber ride. I'd only open the Uber app if it was surging above 2 or if I needed a fare to prevent a dead-head back from a dead area.

Here, we have to complete 75 rides in a week to get 20 percent under the new PDB rules. I have never once been able to complete 75 rides in a week, so there is zero percent chance of me getting PDB.

As a result, Uber and Lyft are now essentially equal for me: acceptance rate no longer matters, I will only drive when I'm sure of surge or PT, and I will cherry-pick every ride. More than 3 minutes or a mile away? Cancel. Don't want to tell me where you are going? Cancel. Going where I don't want to go? Cancel.

This is not a charity. I won't take unprofitable rides while paying my own expenses as an independent contractor.


----------



## tiguan (Dec 26, 2015)

Opposite for me. Morning rush hour in Chicago is an easy way to get 5-7 rides in the two hour peak window (4 this morning, but I did 8 last Monday when the wind chills were -20). Last week, I would have hit the 20% bonus in 32 hours whereas I never would have been able to devote 50 hours to driving. I figure that I can get the 10% bonus pretty consistently with less than 20 hours.


----------



## AshyLarry81 (Mar 2, 2015)

garrobitoalado said:


> ..humm.. I don't think raiders gonna be happy to receive a call asking for destination to receive a cancel later.. be careful there..


As the moderator has mentioned, please refer to the last sentence of my original post.


----------



## osii (Aug 21, 2014)

I too am looking forward to the new PDB. Now I can just work mornings 4am to 9am. If I don't have 11 rides by 9am I just go to the college and grab what I need. If I'm short on rides or peak rides, I can grab them friday or saturday night pretty quickly. Don't anticipate driving more than 40 hours a week and having plenty of time for private clients. NO MORE DRUNKS.

The PDB numbers here in PHX are 55/15 and there are two peak hours every weekday from 6am to 8am. So I need to hit 11/3 daily. Not impossible.

And btw, there are still plenty of ways to cheat this system too.


----------



## Idunno (Nov 1, 2015)

Good game plan OP, 2 thumbs up!


----------



## Fernando Espinoza (Nov 18, 2015)

I cherry pick all of the time on Uber and LYFT. Works well for me. I don't really care if I get a sad face when I let a ping go by. 
I told both uber and LYFT that I cherry pick and they have not done nothing to me. 
What can they do to me? Fire me? I don't care!!


----------



## ClevelandUberRider (Nov 28, 2015)

Greguzzi said:


> This changes everything for me. I made PDB every week and favored and took all Lyft rides because they were an effective 1.5x Uber ride. I'd only open the Uber app if it was surging above 2 or if I needed a fare to prevent a dead-head back from a dead area.
> 
> Here, we have to complete 75 rides in a week to get 20 percent under the new PDB rules. I have never once been able to complete 75 rides in a week, so there is zero percent chance of me getting PDB.
> 
> ...


75 rides per week seems to be a high hurdle to jump over!


----------



## Greguzzi (Jan 9, 2016)

ClevelandUberRider said:


> 75 rides per week seems to be a high hurdle to jump over!


Indeed. I do not even see how it's possible. Oh, well. I hope Lyft enjoys what comes from this change.


----------



## ClevelandUberRider (Nov 28, 2015)

Greguzzi said:


> Indeed. I do not even see how it's possible. Oh, well. I hope Lyft enjoys what comes from this change.


Hypothetically, if a driver drives 70 hours a week, putting in 10 hours a day, in your city's market condition, is that driver likely to surpass that 75 trips threshold?


----------



## Greguzzi (Jan 9, 2016)

ClevelandUberRider said:


> Hypothetically, if a driver drives 70 hours a week, putting in 10 hours a day, in your city's market condition, is that driver likely to surpass that 75 trips threshold?


Yes. I'm not going to drive 70 hours, though.


----------



## ClevelandUberRider (Nov 28, 2015)

Greguzzi said:


> Yes. I'm not going to drive 70 hours, though.


At the current low rates though, many drivers will have no other options but to do it.


----------



## Greguzzi (Jan 9, 2016)

ClevelandUberRider said:


> At the current low rates though, many drivers will have no other options but to do it.


That is depressing but likely true. The sadder fact is that their reward for working longer will likely be losing even more money while wearing out their car even faster. If it's not profitable to drive, the more you drive the more you lose.


----------



## ClevelandUberRider (Nov 28, 2015)

Greguzzi said:


> That is depressing but likely true. The sadder fact is that their reward for working longer will likely be losing even more money while wearing out their car even faster. If it's not profitable to drive, the more you drive the more you lose.


To each his own.


----------



## Greguzzi (Jan 9, 2016)

ClevelandUberRider said:


> To each his own.


Yes. Fortunately for my market, we're still at $1.35/mile and 0.24/minute. Even with those rates, it's just above barely worth the time, wear, and effort to drive, if you truly consider all the costs.


----------



## ClevelandUberRider (Nov 28, 2015)

Greguzzi said:


> Yes. Fortunately for my market, we're still at $1.35/mile and 0.24/minute. Even with those rates, it's just above barely worth the time, wear, and effort to drive, if you truly consider all the costs.


Right. You are lucky with those rates because a driver can easily beat minimum wage with those rates.


----------



## AshyLarry81 (Mar 2, 2015)

After having a very disappointing week in terms of tips (5 out of 28 pax this week and 0 out of 10 yesterday), which brought my overall tip rate from 48% last week to 41%, I've decided to put up a sign on my front dash that reads "Tipping not required, but greatly appreciated for excellent service." I will report my findings to you guys periodically until my quit date of 2/26. I will also let you know if I get flagged or deactivated.


----------



## macchiato (Sep 29, 2015)

75 trips isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I can hit it by Saturday night. Drive mode a little shy of 40 hours.


----------



## BostonBarry (Aug 31, 2015)

I'm very happy with the ride count format.


----------



## AshyLarry81 (Mar 2, 2015)

I wish I could say the same. I live in an area of my city where I'm not getting a ton of requests. That part of town is a good 35 minutes away. Not worth going all the way out there and I don't have the patience to sit in my car for hours and hours at a time everyday. Even if it means I make less money, I'd much rather take requests from home. That's why I don't particularly care for the new PDB system.


----------



## BostonBarry (Aug 31, 2015)

I live 30 minutes from Boston. This is work. Some people commute 1.5 hours to sit in a cubicle all day with no freedom of movement/activity. I'll take this over that any day.


----------



## Djc (Jan 6, 2016)

New PDB is great I will hit 10% every week in my city and sometimes 20% depending on lyft vs uber skew of rides given all part time at 30 hrs a wk. Before I hit 10% PDB twice only and hitting 20% was impossible. If lyft showed primetime rate on ping I would prob have 90% of my rides on lyft but I'd rather have guaranteed 1.8x plus on uber when busy than gamble on lyft too many times the prime time was only 25% or sometimes none at all.


----------



## Jack Pavlov (Nov 7, 2015)

It's 80 rides in Bay Area and very doable in less than 50 hours. I make an extra 150-200$ in conpleting bonuses. A 35 hour workweek earns me between 800-1000


----------



## grayspinner (Sep 8, 2015)

I'm finding the # of rides to be very doable in my market too. I wish they would put a few peak hours in the evenings during the week though. This is a big University area & the college kids go out on Tuesdays & Thursdays just like the weekends. The only peak hours on weekdays are 7-9am, only Fri & Sat nights have peak hours. I'm not sure if I can get enough peak hours if I only work nights & don't work both Fri & Sat. 

I'm disappointed by the 2011 vehicle requirements. My husband wants me to start driving his car in March (2011 Chrysler 200) instead of my 2008 Hyundai Elantra. I've got to run the numbers though & figure out the real cost per mile of the Chrysler first


----------

