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Destination filters. Do they work?

5K views 48 replies 12 participants last post by  Agent99 
#1 · (Edited)
Been using the Lyft destination filter since it began. Turn it on all over the area and at different times--airport, eastside, Lynnwood, etc.

Not one ride yet.

It's now arrived on my Uber account and I'm curious if anyone has had any success with this?

I'm thinking the only benefit could be in using it near hotels, ferries, and cruise ships when I want a long fare to airport, etc. Could be especially useful @ places/events with lots of people such as stadiums/arenas.

Anyone use it?
 
#13 ·
Can the destination filter be used for faraway places and do you get people wanting to go that route along the way?

I mean, if I want to go generally south from Seattle, could I put in Olympia and get anybody generally heading southward to pick up and drop off along the route? Or would it only pair me with people specifically trying to Lyft to Olympia?

North = Bellingham
South = Portland

That would be sweet to Lyft from Seattle to Portland!
 
#16 ·
1. Lyft has a $200 base limit. So Portland is not possible from Seattle.

2. One-way long distance runs at base rates are money losers.

3. I am only talking about using this technique during times of high Surge/Prime.

4. Pick a location that is reasonable for your crowd.
 
#26 · (Edited)
I tried the Destination thing for the first time today, and it worked really well. I got a non-Destination ride from the airport to Snoqualmie. Set the filter for the Space Needle, and caught a ride from Snoqualmie to Bellevue Square. I set it for the Needle again and caught a ride from Bellevue to Cap Hill. Pretty useful, I think.

A question for those more experienced with this: How would you set it up to catch a long surge at closing time? You have to turn on the app to access the feature, don't you? And if you are on-app, how do you get the destination entered without pings coming in to interrupt the process?
 
#27 · (Edited)
You can set up a destination off-line. The Uber app will ask you if you want to go on-line after it accepts the destination you provided.

All this is different from Lyft, which requires you to go online while setting up the filter.

I like the Uber filter. I cannot comment on how well it works for getting long surge rides. The risk (surge and non-surge) is you get a trip of just two miles going in the same direction as your destination which is 15 miles away.
 
#28 ·
You can set up a destination off-line. The Uber app will ask you if you want to go on-line after it accepts the destination you provided.

All this is different from Lyft, which requires you to go online while setting up the filter.

I like the Uber filter. I cannot comment on how well it works for getting long surge rides. The risk (surge and non-surge) is you get a trip of just two miles going in the right direction of a destination which is 15 miles away.
Really? I'll give it a try tomorrow. Thanks.
 
#36 ·
So just to throw in my 2 cents in things I've noticed.

Lyft:

I think Lyft is definitely TOO selective. I live in Ballard. If I set it for home from Cap Hill lets say it seems to literally only give me pickups that are VERY close to the route that Lyft auto populates on the map with the filter on, and also that have destinations very close to the route. This means I've only ever received a few pings, but when I did they were pretty solid.

Uber:

Uber is far more useful in that it has a wider range it will shoot you stuff in. There are pros and cons to this, but mostly I like it.

Most are pickups that are only a couple minutes from wherever you are, but I have had it send me 5-7 minutes "off route" to do pickups. One time coming back west off of I90 this was a pretty decent jump to SoDo, but I went with it to see how it worked as that was the most "off route" thing it had ever sent me. That ride, and other ones where it was a semi far away pickup, all ended with me SOMEWHERE closer to home than where I started, but of course getting paid for it. Sometimes the end destination after a "far away" pickup was only a BIT farther along than where I started, but I was getting paid, and am still a bit closer to home, so I find this acceptable. That one from SoDo ended me up on Western or Elliott right near Denny. Not a huge step in the right direction compared to just jumping onto the 5 from I90, but I made a few bucks so it was ok.

Sometimes it will send you to places that aren't necessarily right along what might be the most preferable path either. For instance I was in Cap Hill or Downtown or something and got a ride to the U District. Technically I was fewer miles and fewer minutes away from home than where I started, but going to the U to get to Ballard from where I had been was not exactly the most direct route. But once again I find it acceptable.

That said I've also had it give me rides that LITERALLY took me not but 4-5 blocks away from my house, which is SUPER AWESOME.

So IMO it's pretty cool, but not perfect. I almost never do Uber X rides because I have an XL vehicle. With the destination filter I switch to "take everything" mode at the end of the night and get a ride almost 100% of the time. An extra $5-20 bucks to get closer to home beats nothing, and is certainly better than Lyfts too stringent system that rarely gives you anything.
 
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