[Zume]

Day 1 Summary:

12 rides
1 cancelled ride
Passenger Miles 60
Dead Miles 70
Gross Income (including tips) $90
Net after expenses $50
Net Hourly Rate $7.5

I am thinking that if I cut back on the dead miles, I might net the same since the car won't always be re-positioned for "immediate" pings.

I plan on booking 225 rides over the next couple weeks to get the bonus and can't see this going much further unless I still can't find a day job.

My biggest complaint would have to be the en route stops. I experienced 3 of them last night out of 12 trips. One was to a food mart on the way for cigarettes, another was fast food (line was long and slow 25 minutes to drive 5 miles), AND the third was a liquor store.

I don't mind a 2-3 minute stop en route, but something should be done on the platform to charge riders a premium if their en route stop takes more than 4 minutes.

By charging a premium LYFT would benefit three ways (1) fairly set both rider and driver expectations (2) increase revenue AND (3) more income for LYFT and driver.

What are your thoughts on the dead mile and en route issue?

BTW, at times it seemed LYFT had more drivers on the road than regular drivers.

 

[Juggalo9er]

Day 1 Summary:

12 rides
1 cancelled ride
Passenger Miles 60
Dead Miles 70
Gross Income (including tips) $90
Net after expenses $50
Net Hourly Rate $7.5

I am thinking that if I cut back on the dead miles, I might net the same since the car won't always be re-positioned for "immediate" pings.

I plan on booking 225 rides over the next couple weeks to get the bonus and can't see this going much further unless I still can't find a day job.

My biggest complaint would have to be the en route stops. I experienced 3 of them last night out of 12 trips. One was to a food mart on the way for cigarettes, another was fast food (line was long and slow 25 minutes to drive 5 miles), AND the third was a liquor store.

I don't mind a 2-3 minute stop en route, but something should be done on the platform to charge riders a premium if their en route stop takes more than 4 minutes.

By charging a premium LYFT would benefit three ways (1) fairly set both rider and driver expectations (2) increase revenue AND (3) more income for LYFT and driver.

What are your thoughts on the dead mile and en route issue?

BTW, at times it seemed LYFT had more drivers on the road than regular drivers.

If you are willing to move I know a few places in indianapolis hiring...starting between $17 and $22

 

[Zume]

Fortunately we have those jobs here too.

Undecided about the next step.

In the meantime, I have to crack the monthly nut.

Something tells me LYFT will provide the clarity I need in short order. lol

Back to the En Route issue.

I am sure they did their cost/benefit analysis and struggled with the column in the spreadsheet concerning rider retention.

Before driving, I always rode the least expensive platform and tipped the driver.

So in this case, LYFT may fear drivers with stops will jump over to the cheaper platform.

As it's been said before, this is a race to zero.

It will probably get worse before better.

 

[fairsailing]

Day 1 Summary:

12 rides
1 cancelled ride
Passenger Miles 60
Dead Miles 70
Gross Income (including tips) $90
Net after expenses $50
Net Hourly Rate $7.5
...

Love to see flint eyed newbies. You have it exactly right. You are driving for your bonus. Can't speak to the Miami market, but if you carefully pick your hours after bonus so you can only take high PT rides, you can do a bit better. But even so, $15/hr after real car expenses, for limited hours, is probably all you can expect. At least in this market, this kind of cherry picking runs about a 10% acceptance rate or less. Hopefully the new driver bonus does not have an AR requirement.

Honestly, if you are still within your first 30 days, opt out of mandatory driver arbitration. One long term driver reported getting a class action settlement of $1,200, I believe him. Although the attorneys soak up the vast majority of these payouts, they really do need a few drivers who have opted out of mandatory arbitration, and almost no one does, so there are usually very few drivers to split whatever makes it down through the lawyers. With the new TOS update, I am pretty sure a bunch of plaintiff law firms, that specialize in this area, are smelling blood.

And look what I just found, lol:

https://gizmodo.com/lyft-slapped-with-new-class-action-lawsuit-the-first-s-1825951263/amp

 

[Zume]

I plan to opt-out after the bonus is paid. I don't want to draw unnecessary attention to myself.

Fortunately, there is no acceptance rate requirement.

 

[fairsailing]

I plan to opt-out after the bonus is paid. I don't want to draw unnecessary attention to myself.

Fortunately, there is no acceptance rate requirement.

Excellent on the AR. Probably wise to wait, just watch the 30 day clock, probably figure that they started counting as soon as you sent in your application, not when they approved you, which would be typical of them.

No retaliation is in the TOS, and their lawyers actually have to watch this, as it is an ethics issue for them professionally. The only issues I have heard about are when the clueless send in their opt out of the TOS, and then are deactivated soon after.

 

[I_Like_Spam]

70 dead miles out of 130 total isn't bad. You might be able to reduce the percentage to 50% or maybe even 45%, but probably not below that.

 

[Uber Crack]

$68.90 claim on taxes @ 53¢ a mile...

 

[Zume]

$68.90 clam on taxes @ 53¢ a mile...

Absolutely.

However, I am more concerned with the pre-tax net that goes into my pocket after paying hard costs, since mileage is not a refundable tax credit, but rather a deduction.