# Long Distance Pickups - Lyft Gives Formal Instructions on Getting Passengers to Cancel Their Rides



## elelegido

It's official - Lyft has finally given its drivers permission to cancel passenger ride requests which are far from the drivers' location. Drivers have been under the impression that they were obligated to accept and carry out _all_ Lyft ride requests, even if the pickup was 15, 20, 30+ minutes away. However, Lyft has confirmed the following to me in writing:

- The maximum distance that a rider can be from a driver and the request still be sent through to the driver is 100 miles.
- However, if a long distance pickup request comes through that is too far for the driver, the driver should:
1. Accept the request
2. Phone the passenger and ask them to cancel the trip
3. If the passenger refuses, the driver should cancel the request and then notify Lyft. No action will be taken against the driver.
- After the ride is cancelled by the driver or by the rider, the driver has two options:
a. Go offline so that no rerequest from the pax can reach the driver
-or-
b. Remain online and, if the rider rerequests and the driver receives the ping, follow steps 1, 2 and 3 above, again. Keep accepting and then phoning the rider to ask them to cancel each ride request as it comes in. Obviously, Lyft's instructions for the driver to keep accepting and cancelling requests will mean that that rider's requests will not result in a ride for that rider: the pings will end up with that driver and go no further out. End result - Not only is the customer is unable to get a ride, but his/her time will have been wasted making repeated requests for a ride that will not come. Man, would that be frustrating for a rider or what?... Oh well, I guess Lyft knows best.

But this is great news for drivers - Lyft has confirmed that we no longer will be penalised for refusing long distance pickups. The full email trail which confirms this is below:

-----
Hey Lyft! Here's a great idea! At the moment, I get sent pings by Lyft for pickup locations that are up to around 30 minutes away from my location. I have actually been sent pings for passengers who are 30, yes thirty, miles away from me. I could drive 30 miles and find out that it's just a skimpy little $4 fare. Not going to happen, Lyft! Why, just tonight I mistakenly accepted a pickup that was 15 minutes away. I got to the pickup and, yep, it was a ride on which I netted just $4. 40 minutes' total work for just $4. So, why don't you allow drivers to set a maximum pickup distance perimeter to define how far they're willing to drive to a pickup? 'Cause at the moment, you sending pings out to drivers who never in a million years are going to accept a 30 mile pickup only adds to passenger delays in the matching process. This is creating negative passenger experiences, and I would like you to improve your performance in this area please.

-----

Hi Elelegido,

Thanks for reaching out to us and I understand that it can be frustrating to receive a request that is too far from you.

Just a heads up, our Lyft system automatically pairs you with the nearest passenger.

But if you think that the ride is too far, you can always ask them nicely to cancel the ride.

If the passenger did not approve this and you really can't go, we will understand and won't take this against you. Just let us know the ride details so that we can make the necessary changes in our end.

I hope this helps!

And if you do have other suggestions, please let us know. We really appreciate your support! 

Have a great day ahead,

Maggie
Lyft Support Representative

-----

So, the correct procedure is:

1. Accept the ping
2. Phone the rider and ask them to cancel
3. If they do not cancel, then I cancel and email Lyft so it doesn't count against me.

That's hardly "seamless", is it? Or is it the other company that claims their system is seamless? You two are so similar now it's hard to tell you apart.

Anyway, there is a problem with your system above. The rider in question will rerequest a ride after his/her cancelled ride. It is likely that there will still be no other closer drivers in a 15/20/25/etc mile radius of the rider immediately after the cancel. I will therefore still be the closest driver to him/her upon the rerequest. So, according to your system, I accept the rerequest, phone the rider again to get them to cancel etc etc. Seriously? No.

The alternative would be for me to go offline immediately after the first cancel. But that would obviously make me unavailable to other, closer riders to me. My revenue would be negatively affected and any closer riders would be denied my services and thereby make their own pickups longer as the request would then go to a more distant driver. Not an optimal situation for anyone.

I don't think you've thought this "solution" through. My solution, however, has been carefully thought through - simply add a pickup distance setting in the driver app. It wouldn't be be difficult for your geeks to program and would benefit drivers and riders alike - there is no downside to it.

Sometimes the best solutions are the most simple ones...

-----

Hi Elelegido,

Thanks for getting back to us.

The procedures that you gave are correct.

We do appreciate your suggestion and we'll take note of this.

But if you are already comfortable doing the alternate way, you can do so.

As for adding a pickup distance setting in the driver app, we will also take note of this.

Just a heads up, we actually have coverage area for the ride. The distance of the ride from the passenger should not exceed a distance 100 miles total.

Thank you for your continued patience

Maggie
Lyft Support Representative


----------



## macchiato

Nah they're not going to. The system is working as intended. They want our acceptance rating to fall so we can't obtain PDB.


----------



## Tequila Jake

_"The distance of the ride from the passenger should not exceed a distance 100 miles total."_

Do they really expect any driver would ever accept a ride 100 miles away?


----------



## andaas

Tequila Jake said:


> _"The distance of the ride from the passenger should not exceed a distance 100 miles total."_
> 
> Do they really expect any driver would ever accept a ride 100 miles away?


I believe they are saying that the distance of any particular fare should not exceed 100 miles (e.g., this is in reference to the miles *after* you pick up the passenger). Although I'm not sure, it is just my interpretation.


----------



## AllenChicago

andaas said:


> I believe they are saying that the distance of any particular fare should not exceed 100 miles (e.g., this is in reference to the miles *after* you pick up the passenger). Although I'm not sure, it is just my interpretation.


That's how I read it too. The person a Lyft who wrote the words just did a poor job. I would take someone 100 miles if the traffic and weather were good..especially if it was a 50% or greater Prime-Time fare.


----------



## AllenChicago

April 19, 2016

Potential riders can see when they open their Lyft app that the closest driver is 20 minutes away. So why do we often times get a PING from 20 minutes away, and in less than 1 minute, the potential rider cancels the request? I can't believe that people too mentally challenged to understand what they're looking at on their map. Does something pop up on their screen showing that the little car is actually further away... like 25 or 30 minutes away, after we accept their ride request?


----------



## macchiato

More likely than not it may be that the closest driver skipped them and thus a request got to you 20 minutes away.


----------



## Slavic Riga

macchiato said:


> More likely than not it may be that the closest driver skipped them and thus a request got to you 20 minutes away.


Chances of probability.


----------



## Danz Haagen

accept. drive in opposite direction for couple of miles. hit arrive. lyft asks if the address correct. you hit, yes. sit for 5 minutes. call pax. pax picks up. you end call immediatly. cancel do not charge rider.... acceptance rate: 100%


----------



## Amsoil Uber Connect

So much easier to accept and test there IQ while your on a uber request. Hell even a High school students got it once and canceled.


----------



## Flarpy

OP, this is what I've been doing lately, except I send a pre-scripted text via the PAX Notify app saying something along the lines of "blah blah, too much traffic, blah blah, better if you cancel and re-request, you won't be charged a fee, etc." 9 times out of 10 they cancel the ride within a minute. Some dumber PAX take a few minutes.

Passengers are just afraid Lyft is going to charge them a $5 cancellation fee. Once you tell 'em it won't, they'll cancel no problem.

It's a very simple way that all drivers can legitimately decline any ride they want without it affecting their acceptance rate. There's no reason to be any lower than 100%, ever.

It also assures me that I don't make more than one trip an hour for the guaranteed hourly rates. A completely legit way of declining rides, straight from the mouth of Lyft.



andaas said:


> I believe they are saying that the distance of any particular fare should not exceed 100 miles (e.g., this is in reference to the miles *after* you pick up the passenger). Although I'm not sure, it is just my interpretation.


No, what they're saying is that if a PAX is more than 100 miles away from a potential driver, the request won't go through at all. It won't even ping you.

Kind of a ******ed setup. I can't imagine anyone is going to drive 25 miles let alone 100 miles to pick up a fare.


----------



## johny456us

"PAX Notify app" I have not heard of this before, I'd much rather text than call most PAX.


----------



## AllenChicago

macchiato said:


> More likely than not it may be that the closest driver skipped them and thus a request got to you 20 minutes away.


Usually, these requests originate in fringe suburbs of Chicago. I'm 30 miles from downtown, but these come from 40-50 miles out. When I switch to the customer/rider view, I see that I'm the closest driver. So, it's not that this ride-request was ignored by a closer driver. Unless he/she signed off to keep from getting pinged again.

Next time I get one that's 20 minutes away, I'm going to immediately call the Passenger after accepting the PING.


----------



## CatchyMusicLover

Man, and I thought seven miles Saturday night was bad...
That pax seemed to think I was close by and it took a call back from her to cancel. I logged off and saw a bunch of cars closer. Yeesh...


----------



## AllenChicago

CatchyMusicLover said:


> Man, and I thought seven miles Saturday night was bad...
> That pax seemed to think I was close by and it took a call back from her to cancel. I logged off and saw a bunch of cars closer. Yeesh...


Even though Lyft support said that each request is sent to the closest driver, I think there are additional considerations involved.


----------



## Flarpy

The rating of the driver is very likely involved. If you have two drivers and one is slightly farther away but has a better rating, I'd bet that the Lyft computers will favor the higher rated driver.


----------



## andaas

FuzzyWuzzy said:


> Nope. There's no way either company does it like that. Plus, pinging the further away driver would be a bit of a punishment, right?


Lyft does sometimes push rides to drivers that are not the closest, however, driver ratings do not come into place based on their FAQ entry.



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


> *How Drivers and Passengers are Paired*
> In order to keep drivers as busy as possible while also keeping ETAs low for passengers, requests are dispatched to the driver who will arrive soonest. When you drop off a passenger, it's likely that your next request will be close by.
> 
> *If you've dropped someone off and have been waiting for a longer period of time, the chances of your next request being further away increase. This is all in the interest of keeping you busy and maximizing earnings! Metrics such as ratings, acceptance, or cancellation rates do not factor into whether or not you receive a request.*


This doesn't explain, however, how I can sign in to driver mode, and get a request that is 18 miles away in the first 30 seconds.


----------



## Flarpy

thanks for correcting me. I find it strange that ratings don't come into play, it seems like that defeats one of the reasons for having ratings in the first place.


----------



## andaas

Ratings are only there to weed out the bottom 10% of drivers.


----------



## CatchyMusicLover

I sometimes wonder if they favor newer drivers in general, to keep them happily working for a while (and/or to take the extra 5%)


----------



## Flarpy

I'm sure they do. It's just like any business which hires young blood and pays 'em nothing and tries to force out the older, more expensive employees.


----------



## AllenChicago

July 6, 2016

I'm sending a letter to Lyft HQ requesting that the company pay us the local market rate ( $ mile/ $ minute) for each minute over a certain threshold for picking up passengers. This will greatly reduce the number of long-distance ride requests being ignored by drivers.

What, in your opinion, is the proper threshold? Start paying us at how many minutes into our drive to pick up the passenger? My thought is after 9 minutes, start paying the driver. If he/she is frequently significantly late arriving at the pick-up point, rescind that person's privilege.


----------



## macchiato

This is difficult to do because every landscape in the country is different. There are also other things we need to account for, like what happens if pax cancels mid pickup? What happens if driver cancels pax upon arrival? Small things like these will have to be detailed to the letter.


----------



## AllenChicago

macchiato said:


> This is difficult to do because every landscape in the country is different. There are also other things we need to account for, like what happens if pax cancels mid pickup? What happens if driver cancels pax upon arrival? Small things like these will have to be detailed to the letter.


Yes, I agree that the scenarios can vary by region, and are more complicated than a mere xx amount of compensation after xx minutes of driving. But I want to keep the initial suggestion simply, just to see if Lyft will agree to the concept. It's like starting a bargaining session. Broad concept first. I appreciate you taking the time to give your input, Macchiato!
-Allen


----------



## MattyMikey

Suggest they cancel the power bonus for Lyft and just pay all drivers the mileage and time from the point of acceptance (or at least their estimate if nothing else) and if driver cancels then driver gets nada. If passenger cancels, driver gets the greater of $5 cancel fee or the time and mileage. Pretty straight forward.


----------



## Daniel Harbin

We can always ask that the pax give us a good tip up front to make it worth the trip. Say 10 bucks for every 10 miles, and in cash.


----------



## DSLRreel

Lyft might have given you instructions on how to cancel a ride but it hasn't formally given instructions to the rest of us. I'll go about doing what I've always done and disregard the suggestion because it's not verifiable and might be untrue.


----------



## Flarpy

AllenChicago said:


> I'm sending a letter to Lyft HQ requesting that the company pay us the local market rate ( $ mile/ $ minute) for each minute over a certain threshold for picking up passengers.


So I take it you enjoy wasting your time?


----------



## AllenChicago

Flarpy said:


> So I take it you enjoy wasting your time?


I don't enjoy it, but attempting to ask for better pay is always worth the effort. Especially when it's a simple e-mail. At any rate, I sent the request to Lyft. Received a response saying two things.. 1.) The request would be passed up to the Driver Compensation people at HQ. (I estimate that there's only a 10% likelihood of this happening.) and 2.) We should be thankful for long-distance requests, because that shows BIG DEMAND for drivers.

If there is BIG DEMAND how about being paid BIG PRIMETIME for delivering far away ride requestors to their destination(s)? That summarizes my response e-mail. Not expecting a response to that e-mail.


----------



## SuckA

This happens to me a lot on early weekend mornings. +32 mins away-17 mins away.... I don't accept them period, because when I do, the passengers never cancel.
I really don't care about my acceptance rating, if Lyft keeps sending me text/emails about missing requests I'll refer them to my lawyer........
I'm a 4.92 rated driver after almost 200+ some rides.


----------



## Kembolicous

To me, anything more than two miles should pay .45 cents a mile to cover fuel at least. I just got stuck doing a 13 mile deadhead run to county line to pick up point, then 14 miles back from their drop off point. Lost my butt on that run....


----------



## DSLRreel

Kembolicous said:


> To me, anything more than two miles should pay .45 cents a mile to cover fuel at least. I just got stuck doing a 13 mile deadhead run to county line to pick up point, then 14 miles back from their drop off point. Lost my butt on that run....


I don't understand why you drove 13 miles to the pick up. I remember the first day working uber/lyft.. .


----------



## MrEDriver

I asked Lyft support about being pinged over and over again for ride that were 15-23 miles away... Part of their response...

...don't feel like you are the only one that has this issue, I have heard from many drivers all over the USA about the same issue. A few realized that they were getting long distanced request in certain areas at certain times of day or night, so they put themselves in those areas to get be able to accept the request without an extended ETA, which has worked out for several of them they received other ride requests.


----------



## Daniel Harbin

Damn that's a stupid reply from Lyft. I change the areas to be where I want to be. To change the area to not get long distance pings. We get the pings no matter what and if they changed the area to the ld ping then they would get pings from the area they left.

Bottom line is Lyft said "suck it up buttercup".


----------



## 4736353377384555736

MrEDriver said:


> ...don't feel like you are the only one that has this issue, I have heard from many drivers all over the USA about the same issue. A few realized that they were getting long distanced request in certain areas at certain times of day or night, so they put themselves in those areas to get be able to accept the request without an extended ETA, which has worked out for several of them they received other ride requests.


LOL thanks my Indian friend


----------



## Ms.Doe

I will only accept things that are 4 minutes or less


----------



## Daniel Harbin

MsDoe interesting 4 min or less. I imagine a lot, maybe half or more, are longer than 4 minutes. Different market different requirements. Sometimes in Vegas, near the strip, just trying to get across the street takes 10 min or even to get out of the casino property. And then off the strip takes at least 5 min or more.


----------



## Xylphan

I probably wouldn't mind LD pings IF I knew it would be worth my time. As it stands, an LD ping means your most likely going to be screwed.

If they send you an email saying "We've noticed you've been missing a lot of pickups lately," just give the standard Office Space response of "I wouldn't exactly say I've been missing them Lyft."

If they aren't going to provide any sort of payment for getting canceled halfway to a 30 minute ping, I don't see why drivers should have to go and pick them up.


----------



## CatchyMusicLover

I said it before, had Lyft (and Uber) just made some manner of charge for pickup distance from the get go this wouldn't be an issue. But it's way too late for that.
What I don't quite get is why Lyft doesn't just soften whatever requirements for their system to apply prime time, that'd surely reduce the long distance pings as people wouldn't request until cars are closer by anyway to save money.


----------



## Xylphan

They have the data on cars and drivers. They have the data on cancellations. They have the data on costs. If they can't work out a plan to make it lucrative for LD pings, then they'll just continue to bleed until they fold.

Shame really.


----------



## macchiato

Since they don't fix it I'm going to assume they don't have all the info or don't know how to interpret data.


----------



## Ubernomics

elelegido said:


> It's official - Lyft has finally given its drivers permission to cancel passenger ride requests which are far from the drivers' location. Drivers have been under the impression that they were obligated to accept and carry out _all_ Lyft ride requests, even if the pickup was 15, 20, 30+ minutes away. However, Lyft has confirmed the following to me in writing:
> 
> - The maximum distance that a rider can be from a driver and the request still be sent through to the driver is 100 miles.
> - However, if a long distance pickup request comes through that is too far for the driver, the driver should:
> 1. Accept the request
> 2. Phone the passenger and ask them to cancel the trip
> 3. If the passenger refuses, the driver should cancel the request and then notify Lyft. No action will be taken against the driver.
> - After the ride is cancelled by the driver or by the rider, the driver has two options:
> a. Go offline so that no rerequest from the pax can reach the driver
> -or-
> b. Remain online and, if the rider rerequests and the driver receives the ping, follow steps 1, 2 and 3 above, again. Keep accepting and then phoning the rider to ask them to cancel each ride request as it comes in. Obviously, Lyft's instructions for the driver to keep accepting and cancelling requests will mean that that rider's requests will not result in a ride for that rider: the pings will end up with that driver and go no further out. End result - Not only is the customer is unable to get a ride, but his/her time will have been wasted making repeated requests for a ride that will not come. Man, would that be frustrating for a rider or what?... Oh well, I guess Lyft knows best.
> 
> But this is great news for drivers - Lyft has confirmed that we no longer will be penalised for refusing long distance pickups. The full email trail which confirms this is below:
> 
> -----
> Hey Lyft! Here's a great idea! At the moment, I get sent pings by Lyft for pickup locations that are up to around 30 minutes away from my location. I have actually been sent pings for passengers who are 30, yes thirty, miles away from me. I could drive 30 miles and find out that it's just a skimpy little $4 fare. Not going to happen, Lyft! Why, just tonight I mistakenly accepted a pickup that was 15 minutes away. I got to the pickup and, yep, it was a ride on which I netted just $4. 40 minutes' total work for just $4. So, why don't you allow drivers to set a maximum pickup distance perimeter to define how far they're willing to drive to a pickup? 'Cause at the moment, you sending pings out to drivers who never in a million years are going to accept a 30 mile pickup only adds to passenger delays in the matching process. This is creating negative passenger experiences, and I would like you to improve your performance in this area please.
> 
> -----
> 
> Hi Elelegido,
> 
> Thanks for reaching out to us and I understand that it can be frustrating to receive a request that is too far from you.
> 
> Just a heads up, our Lyft system automatically pairs you with the nearest passenger.
> 
> But if you think that the ride is too far, you can always ask them nicely to cancel the ride.
> 
> If the passenger did not approve this and you really can't go, we will understand and won't take this against you. Just let us know the ride details so that we can make the necessary changes in our end.
> 
> I hope this helps!
> 
> And if you do have other suggestions, please let us know. We really appreciate your support!
> 
> Have a great day ahead,
> 
> Maggie
> Lyft Support Representative
> 
> -----
> 
> So, the correct procedure is:
> 
> 1. Accept the ping
> 2. Phone the rider and ask them to cancel
> 3. If they do not cancel, then I cancel and email Lyft so it doesn't count against me.
> 
> That's hardly "seamless", is it? Or is it the other company that claims their system is seamless? You two are so similar now it's hard to tell you apart.
> 
> Anyway, there is a problem with your system above. The rider in question will rerequest a ride after his/her cancelled ride. It is likely that there will still be no other closer drivers in a 15/20/25/etc mile radius of the rider immediately after the cancel. I will therefore still be the closest driver to him/her upon the rerequest. So, according to your system, I accept the rerequest, phone the rider again to get them to cancel etc etc. Seriously? No.
> 
> The alternative would be for me to go offline immediately after the first cancel. But that would obviously make me unavailable to other, closer riders to me. My revenue would be negatively affected and any closer riders would be denied my services and thereby make their own pickups longer as the request would then go to a more distant driver. Not an optimal situation for anyone.
> 
> I don't think you've thought this "solution" through. My solution, however, has been carefully thought through - simply add a pickup distance setting in the driver app. It wouldn't be be difficult for your geeks to program and would benefit drivers and riders alike - there is no downside to it.
> 
> Sometimes the best solutions are the most simple ones...
> 
> -----
> 
> Hi Elelegido,
> 
> Thanks for getting back to us.
> 
> The procedures that you gave are correct.
> 
> We do appreciate your suggestion and we'll take note of this.
> 
> But if you are already comfortable doing the alternate way, you can do so.
> 
> As for adding a pickup distance setting in the driver app, we will also take note of this.
> 
> Just a heads up, we actually have coverage area for the ride. The distance of the ride from the passenger should not exceed a distance 100 miles total.
> 
> Thank you for your continued patience
> 
> Maggie
> Lyft Support Representative


Lmmfao! You just can't fix stupid!



MattyMikey said:


> Suggest they cancel the power bonus for Lyft and just pay all drivers the mileage and time from the point of acceptance (or at least their estimate if nothing else) and if driver cancels then driver gets nada. If passenger cancels, driver gets the greater of $5 cancel fee or the time and mileage. Pretty straight forward.


Amen! What is so hard about that!


----------



## DrivingForYou

elelegido said:


> It's official - Lyft has finally given its drivers permission to cancel passenger ride requests which are far from the drivers' location. Drivers have been under the impression that they were obligated to accept and carry out _all_ Lyft ride requests, even if the pickup was 15, 20, 30+ minutes away. However, Lyft has confirmed the following to me in writing:
> 
> - The maximum distance that a rider can be from a driver and the request still be sent through to the driver is 100 miles.
> - However, if a long distance pickup request comes through that is too far for the driver, the driver should:
> 1. Accept the request
> 2. Phone the passenger and ask them to cancel the trip
> 3. If the passenger refuses, the driver should cancel the request and then notify Lyft. No action will be taken against the driver.
> - After the ride is cancelled by the driver or by the rider, the driver has two options:
> a. Go offline so that no rerequest from the pax can reach the driver
> -or-
> b. Remain online and, if the rider rerequests and the driver receives the ping, follow steps 1, 2 and 3 above, again. Keep accepting and then phoning the rider to ask them to cancel each ride request as it comes in. Obviously, Lyft's instructions for the driver to keep accepting and cancelling requests will mean that that rider's requests will not result in a ride for that rider: the pings will end up with that driver and go no further out. End result - Not only is the customer is unable to get a ride, but his/her time will have been wasted making repeated requests for a ride that will not come. Man, would that be frustrating for a rider or what?... Oh well, I guess Lyft knows best.
> 
> But this is great news for drivers - Lyft has confirmed that we no longer will be penalised for refusing long distance pickups. The full email trail which confirms this is below:
> 
> -----
> Hey Lyft! Here's a great idea! At the moment, I get sent pings by Lyft for pickup locations that are up to around 30 minutes away from my location. I have actually been sent pings for passengers who are 30, yes thirty, miles away from me. I could drive 30 miles and find out that it's just a skimpy little $4 fare. Not going to happen, Lyft! Why, just tonight I mistakenly accepted a pickup that was 15 minutes away. I got to the pickup and, yep, it was a ride on which I netted just $4. 40 minutes' total work for just $4. So, why don't you allow drivers to set a maximum pickup distance perimeter to define how far they're willing to drive to a pickup? 'Cause at the moment, you sending pings out to drivers who never in a million years are going to accept a 30 mile pickup only adds to passenger delays in the matching process. This is creating negative passenger experiences, and I would like you to improve your performance in this area please.
> 
> -----
> 
> Hi Elelegido,
> 
> Thanks for reaching out to us and I understand that it can be frustrating to receive a request that is too far from you.
> 
> Just a heads up, our Lyft system automatically pairs you with the nearest passenger.
> 
> But if you think that the ride is too far, you can always ask them nicely to cancel the ride.
> 
> If the passenger did not approve this and you really can't go, we will understand and won't take this against you. Just let us know the ride details so that we can make the necessary changes in our end.
> 
> I hope this helps!
> 
> And if you do have other suggestions, please let us know. We really appreciate your support!
> 
> Have a great day ahead,
> 
> Maggie
> Lyft Support Representative
> 
> -----
> 
> So, the correct procedure is:
> 
> 1. Accept the ping
> 2. Phone the rider and ask them to cancel
> 3. If they do not cancel, then I cancel and email Lyft so it doesn't count against me.
> 
> That's hardly "seamless", is it? Or is it the other company that claims their system is seamless? You two are so similar now it's hard to tell you apart.
> 
> Anyway, there is a problem with your system above. The rider in question will rerequest a ride after his/her cancelled ride. It is likely that there will still be no other closer drivers in a 15/20/25/etc mile radius of the rider immediately after the cancel. I will therefore still be the closest driver to him/her upon the rerequest. So, according to your system, I accept the rerequest, phone the rider again to get them to cancel etc etc. Seriously? No.
> 
> The alternative would be for me to go offline immediately after the first cancel. But that would obviously make me unavailable to other, closer riders to me. My revenue would be negatively affected and any closer riders would be denied my services and thereby make their own pickups longer as the request would then go to a more distant driver. Not an optimal situation for anyone.
> 
> I don't think you've thought this "solution" through. My solution, however, has been carefully thought through - simply add a pickup distance setting in the driver app. It wouldn't be be difficult for your geeks to program and would benefit drivers and riders alike - there is no downside to it.
> 
> Sometimes the best solutions are the most simple ones...
> 
> -----
> 
> Hi Elelegido,
> 
> Thanks for getting back to us.
> 
> The procedures that you gave are correct.
> 
> We do appreciate your suggestion and we'll take note of this.
> 
> But if you are already comfortable doing the alternate way, you can do so.
> 
> As for adding a pickup distance setting in the driver app, we will also take note of this.
> 
> Just a heads up, we actually have coverage area for the ride. The distance of the ride from the passenger should not exceed a distance 100 miles total.
> 
> Thank you for your continued patience
> 
> Maggie
> Lyft Support Representative


typical lyft support moron.

The "ride length" is set at 100 miles max (and terms of service state you will not be penalized for dancing a ride over 100 miles). She seems to be confusing this with pick up distance.


----------



## Frisco85132

If Lyft had done what Uber does...give a "Long Trip Advisory"...I would be a lot more willing to accept longer pickups. I had one last night that was 11 miles away, but I called the pax and they were going to Scottsdale on a PLUS trip. It was 39 miles, so that was worth it. But if it had been a 1 mile trip to a local bar, then I would have been smoked.


----------



## JimKE

A couple of comments:

With the frequency of Lyft cancellations (mine typically run in the neighborhood of 35-40%), I never take any Lyft ping more than 10 minutes away. They don't pay you if the pax cancels en route like Uber does, and Lyft itself cancels quite frequently.
When I do accept a Lyft ping, I leave Uber online because I know Lyft is likely to cancel before pickup.
On the instructions to accept the ride and then call the rider and ask them to cancel -- that is "cherry-picking!" If you did exactly that, but rejected the ride because it was _too short_, they would DEACTIVATE YOU!


----------



## Frisco85132

In any case, New Years Eve is my last night on the rideshare platform. I have a person who has ridden with me a couple of times that wants to hire me and my van to drive a group exclusively from 8pm until 3am for a nice chunk of cash...so if that pans out...screw Lyft/Uber. I am driving this Sunday, and next Sunday, then NYE...and done with rideshare. I have made the money troop needs for their trip, so buh bye.

Before anyone says "Oh my gawwwwd, you can't do that"....yeah, I can. Yeah I will.


----------



## Sacto Burbs

This thread was from 2016.


----------



## The Uber Boomer

About the LD pickups. I went 25 minutes to pick up for Lyft and a cancellation came through just as I reached the address. Later, another 25-mile pickup on Uber, I called the customer to be sure she was comfortable waiting for 25 minutes. She didn't want an Uber at all. I was her second call from an Uber driver. Seems that all she wanted to do was see how much it cost but she triggered rides. Whoever posted they telephoned the customer thank you. You saved me a lot of time.


----------



## Ubernomics

The Uber Boomer said:


> About the LD pickups. I went 25 minutes to pick up for Lyft and a cancellation came through just as I reached the address. Later, another 25-mile pickup on Uber, I called the customer to be sure she was comfortable waiting for 25 minutes. She didn't want an Uber at all. I was her second call from an Uber driver. Seems that all she wanted to do was see how much it cost but she triggered rides. Whoever posted they telephoned the customer thank you. You saved me a lot of time.


Why are you taking 25 minute pickups?! Let them slide right by. ..Keep ignoring. 350% more 400% more ok I get it but not regular rate.

If your doing 25 minute you need to spend some time reading this forum it will save you serious aggravation.


----------



## The Uber Boomer

Yes, you are right Ubernomics, thank you. So, you just let them slide and pretend you didn't see the ping, or do you say "No Thanks"?


----------



## New2This

The Uber Boomer said:


> Yes, you are right Ubernomics, thank you. So, you just let them slide and pretend you didn't see the ping, or do you say "No Thanks"?


On both Uber and Lyft let them expire naturally. The X button helps Uber and Lyft by decreasing the wait time to get to another driver. 4 drivers letting it time out is another minute, which is an eternity to a millenial. It could also, admittedly in a minute way, drive up surge.

Acceptance rate means nothing on Uber, and on Lyft if you aren't going for PDB.


----------



## Ubernomics

The Uber Boomer said:


> Yes, you are right Ubernomics, thank you. So, you just let them slide and pretend you didn't see the ping, or do you say "No Thanks"?


Let's just put it this way, I have a 5% "acceptance rating".
There are different levels of intensity 
each driver is willing to undergo. For some the apps threatening messages from lyft/Uber will make you think your about to get deactivated but that's not true, you can accept only what you want to accept. Just don't get in the habit of canceling, canceling is bad news...maybe keep it to 1-2 cancellations a week.



Ubernomics said:


> Let's just put it this way, I have a 5% "acceptance rating".
> There are different levels of intensity
> each driver is willing to undergo. For some the apps threatening messages from lyft/Uber will make you think your about to get deactivated but that's not true, you can accept only what you want to accept. Just don't get in the habit of canceling, canceling is bad news...maybe keep it to 1-2 cancellations a week.


I never, rarely if ever, drive for regular rate. The rate is not high enough for a wage and eventual vehicle replacement. It depends on your circumstances though. I have serious flexibility in winter so I can be more choosy with my rides.


----------



## New2This

Ubernomics said:


> I never, rarely if ever, drive for regular rate.


*^^^^^^^^^^^^ *I wish I could 'like' this more than once. It should be pinned to the upper right corner


----------



## Ubernomics

Sacto Burbs said:


> This thread was from 2016.


Doesn't matter when it was from threads are ongoing forever and always get reawakened by a visitor.



New2This said:


> *^^^^^^^^^^^^ *I wish I could 'like' this more than once. It should be pinned to the upper right corner


Thanks bro! Lol



The Uber Boomer said:


> Yes, you are right Ubernomics, thank you. So, you just let them slide and pretend you didn't see the ping, or do you say "No Thanks"?


Doesn't matter if you hit x or not, eventually after ignoring far away rides your going to see that they are trying to bully you into unprofitable rides "App intimidation" and they only care about their own self interest. Once this happens you will understand truly that they do not respect your "independent contractor status." Then you will become aggravated and angry and be seeking advice and that's why you will come here the "treasure trove" of driver experiences.


----------



## Trump Economics

Tequila Jake said:


> _"The distance of the ride from the passenger should not exceed a distance 100 miles total."_
> 
> Do they really expect any driver would ever accept a ride 100 miles away?


I stopped reading when it said they pair you with the nearest passenger.


----------



## Ubernomics

Ubernomics said:


> Doesn't matter when it was from threads are ongoing forever and always get reawakened by a visito


----------



## Juggalo9er

9% acceptance rate on lyft.... Most of the pings I refuse are either bad neighbourhoods, or long pick ups...


----------



## Gary275

2 years later still get LD pings nearest driver my ass. Lyft must be real cheap to hire good programmers


----------



## Jo3030

20+ min pings make me laugh.


----------



## luvgurl22

elelegido said:


> It's official - Lyft has finally given its drivers permission to cancel passenger ride requests which are far from the drivers' location. Drivers have been under the impression that they were obligated to accept and carry out _all_ Lyft ride requests, even if the pickup was 15, 20, 30+ minutes away. However, Lyft has confirmed the following to me in writing:
> 
> - The maximum distance that a rider can be from a driver and the request still be sent through to the driver is 100 miles.
> - However, if a long distance pickup request comes through that is too far for the driver, the driver should:
> 1. Accept the request
> 2. Phone the passenger and ask them to cancel the trip
> 3. If the passenger refuses, the driver should cancel the request and then notify Lyft. No action will be taken against the driver.
> - After the ride is cancelled by the driver or by the rider, the driver has two options:
> a. Go offline so that no rerequest from the pax can reach the driver
> -or-
> b. Remain online and, if the rider rerequests and the driver receives the ping, follow steps 1, 2 and 3 above, again. Keep accepting and then phoning the rider to ask them to cancel each ride request as it comes in. Obviously, Lyft's instructions for the driver to keep accepting and cancelling requests will mean that that rider's requests will not result in a ride for that rider: the pings will end up with that driver and go no further out. End result - Not only is the customer is unable to get a ride, but his/her time will have been wasted making repeated requests for a ride that will not come. Man, would that be frustrating for a rider or what?... Oh well, I guess Lyft knows best.
> 
> But this is great news for drivers - Lyft has confirmed that we no longer will be penalised for refusing long distance pickups. The full email trail which confirms this is below:
> 
> -----
> Hey Lyft! Here's a great idea! At the moment, I get sent pings by Lyft for pickup locations that are up to around 30 minutes away from my location. I have actually been sent pings for passengers who are 30, yes thirty, miles away from me. I could drive 30 miles and find out that it's just a skimpy little $4 fare. Not going to happen, Lyft! Why, just tonight I mistakenly accepted a pickup that was 15 minutes away. I got to the pickup and, yep, it was a ride on which I netted just $4. 40 minutes' total work for just $4. So, why don't you allow drivers to set a maximum pickup distance perimeter to define how far they're willing to drive to a pickup? 'Cause at the moment, you sending pings out to drivers who never in a million years are going to accept a 30 mile pickup only adds to passenger delays in the matching process. This is creating negative passenger experiences, and I would like you to improve your performance in this area please.
> 
> -----
> 
> Hi Elelegido,
> 
> Thanks for reaching out to us and I understand that it can be frustrating to receive a request that is too far from you.
> 
> Just a heads up, our Lyft system automatically pairs you with the nearest passenger.
> 
> But if you think that the ride is too far, you can always ask them nicely to cancel the ride.
> 
> If the passenger did not approve this and you really can't go, we will understand and won't take this against you. Just let us know the ride details so that we can make the necessary changes in our end.
> 
> I hope this helps!
> 
> And if you do have other suggestions, please let us know. We really appreciate your support!
> 
> Have a great day ahead,
> 
> Maggie
> Lyft Support Representative
> 
> -----
> 
> So, the correct procedure is:
> 
> 1. Accept the ping
> 2. Phone the rider and ask them to cancel
> 3. If they do not cancel, then I cancel and email Lyft so it doesn't count against me.
> 
> That's hardly "seamless", is it? Or is it the other company that claims their system is seamless? You two are so similar now it's hard to tell you apart.
> 
> Anyway, there is a problem with your system above. The rider in question will rerequest a ride after his/her cancelled ride. It is likely that there will still be no other closer drivers in a 15/20/25/etc mile radius of the rider immediately after the cancel. I will therefore still be the closest driver to him/her upon the rerequest. So, according to your system, I accept the rerequest, phone the rider again to get them to cancel etc etc. Seriously? No.
> 
> The alternative would be for me to go offline immediately after the first cancel. But that would obviously make me unavailable to other, closer riders to me. My revenue would be negatively affected and any closer riders would be denied my services and thereby make their own pickups longer as the request would then go to a more distant driver. Not an optimal situation for anyone.
> 
> I don't think you've thought this "solution" through. My solution, however, has been carefully thought through - simply add a pickup distance setting in the driver app. It wouldn't be be difficult for your geeks to program and would benefit drivers and riders alike - there is no downside to it.
> 
> Sometimes the best solutions are the most simple ones...
> 
> -----
> 
> Hi Elelegido,
> 
> Thanks for getting back to us.
> 
> The procedures that you gave are correct.
> 
> We do appreciate your suggestion and we'll take note of this.
> 
> But if you are already comfortable doing the alternate way, you can do so.
> 
> As for adding a pickup distance setting in the driver app, we will also take note of this.
> 
> Just a heads up, we actually have coverage area for the ride. The distance of the ride from the passenger should not exceed a distance 100 miles total.
> 
> Thank you for your continued patience
> 
> Maggie
> Lyft Support Representative


Lies.I tried that one day because I was trying to get the elusive PDB and Lyft continuously blasted my email & phone with calls and texts for a good hour warning me about their precious pax "not being able to rely on the system" due to my contacting them to cancel their rides. It's a trap because I've come to realize they also monitor any contact you make with pax.


----------



## kcdrvr15

You all are working it too hard... if the ride request is more than 10 min away, just let it ping thru to another driver. Acceptance rate means nothing, my acceptance rate goes from 100% to 20% every week. I do premium unless it is PT at least +100%. If we as a group of drivers start refusing long pickups of 10min or more, unless lyft offers a PT bonus on the trip.



AllenChicago said:


> July 6, 2016
> 
> I'm sending a letter to Lyft HQ requesting that the company pay us the local market rate ( $ mile/ $ minute) for each minute over a certain threshold for picking up passengers. This will greatly reduce the number of long-distance ride requests being ignored by drivers.
> 
> What, in your opinion, is the proper threshold? Start paying us at how many minutes into our drive to pick up the passenger? My thought is after 9 minutes, start paying the driver. If he/she is frequently significantly late arriving at the pick-up point, rescind that person's privilege.


At the rates they are paying drivers, they should pay from the time you move your car to go get the pickup to pickup, then to destination.


----------



## Skepticaldriver

They send ld pings to try and rob you of your pdb. Period


----------

