If you drive 8 hours exclusively for Lyft, how many rides would you expect?

19595 Views 15 Replies 7 Participants Last post by dimwit_driver, Sep 6, 2017

Smashup

Discussion Starter · Sep 5, 2017

Just curious what expectations you folks have who drive exclusively Lyft in Seattle. How many rides per hour do you think you average in a day?

I drive for both, and since Uber rides come quicker, by the end of the day I am at least 2:1 Uber for Lyft. But maybe I should just give Lyft for of a headstart.

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

AnfieldRiot

· #2 · Sep 5, 2017

It depends on time of day and the actual day as well (weekday/end) ... and if you're doing plus or X.

X ...Weekend eve - 8 hours = 25-30 Weekday eve = 17-22

K-pax

· #3 · Sep 6, 2017

Also length of rides. You could fill a day with 10-12 longish rides.

Smashup

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 6, 2017

My question is more on the order of, if Lyft is extending one of their bullshit guarantees of $X for $Y rides, is that an average day, or an average two days?

In this case 15 rides. Is it reasonable to expect to do 15 rides in 8 hours? 12 hours? 15? 30??

K-pax

· #5 · Sep 6, 2017

Smashup said:
My question is more on the order of, if Lyft is extending one of their bullshit guarantees of $X for $Y rides, is that an average day, or an average two days?

In this case 15 rides. Is it reasonable to expect to do 15 rides in 8 hours? 12 hours? 15? 30??

Possibly.

Reactions: 1

Ballard_Driver

· #6 · Sep 6, 2017

I got their guarantee of $500 (AKA $400 after fees) for 25 rides for this week. It is tempting to just take all crappy comers until I hit that, and then do nothing but Uber. For once it seems like a guarantee that might actually work out math wise. I make more than that on Lyft most weeks, buuut if I just did that in a couple days and then did all Uber (to keep my 90% acceptance rating) I could see it actually increasing my overall take. Basically could do Lyft rides on my weeknights here, and then Uber XL it (and maybe some X if that's too slow) all weekend. The big variable would be losing out on all the Plus rides and PT over the weekend, and whether or not Uber keeps me busy enough to bring in more cash overall with the guarantee versus just doing both like usual and being hella picky.

I never do the promo stuff though, so I'll probably just end up ignoring half+ of my Lyft requests like usual and never find out if I might have come out ahead by actually taking this one for once

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Smashup

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 6, 2017

Ballard_Driver said:
I got their guarantee of $500 (AKA $400 after fees) for 25 rides for this week. It is tempting to just take all crappy comers until I hit that, and then do nothing but Uber. For once it seems like a guarantee that might actually work out math wise. I make more than that on Lyft most weeks, buuut if I just did that in a couple days and then did all Uber (to keep my 90% acceptance rating) I could see it actually increasing my overall take. Basically could do Lyft rides on my weeknights here, and then Uber XL it (and maybe some X if that's too slow) all weekend. The big variable would be losing out on all the Plus rides and PT over the weekend, and whether or not Uber keeps me busy enough to bring in more cash overall with the guarantee versus just doing both like usual and being hella picky.

I never do the promo stuff though, so I'll probably just end up ignoring half+ of my Lyft requests like usual and never find out if I might have come out ahead by actually taking this one for once

I hear ya. I was working on that one too, but other things got in the way and I never finished it. But that was my theory too, get that one, then do Uber the rest of the time (because Lyft's incentives are broken and the rational strategy is to stop Lyfting after hitting them).

I was also thinking that to hit them it makes sense to Lyft during school and rush hours when there is greater likelihood of matched pool rides.

Ballard_Driver

· #8 · Sep 6, 2017

Smashup said:
I hear ya. I was working on that one too, but other things got in the way and I never finished it. But that was my theory too, get that one, then do Uber the rest of the time (because Lyft's incentives are broken and the rational strategy is to stop Lyfting after hitting them).

I was also thinking that to hit them it makes sense to Lyft during school and rush hours when there is greater likelihood of matched pool rides.

Yeah, it is a kind of bad way to structure the incentive. It should be like an extra $10 per ride for all rides after you hit 25 in a week or something. Anything that doesn't encourage you to turn Lyft off as soon as you hit the number! Matched Line rides would in fact help you knock it out quick.

It is tempting... And if I wasn't XL I think I would definitely bite on it... But I'll probably pass. I'm sure I'll end up having a horrible week and end up regretting not taking the easy money! LOL

Fabio the legend

· #9 · Sep 6, 2017

Smashup said:
I hear ya. I was working on that one too, but other things got in the way and I never finished it. But that was my theory too, get that one, then do Uber the rest of the time (because Lyft's incentives are broken and the rational strategy is to stop Lyfting after hitting them).

I was also thinking that to hit them it makes sense to Lyft during school and rush hours when there is greater likelihood of matched pool rides.

Im currently working on my lyft weekly guarantee as well ($925 minus comission for 60 rides). Whenever im more likely to get short rides (when im in cap hill for example, and the traffic is not too crazy, i go for the lyft rides, and when im more likely to get longer rides i go for uber).
As far as trips per hour, it varies widely. I ve got as many as 6 trips in 1 hour and single trips that lasted over 2 hours... you need to play the probability game based on time of the day and location.

dimwit_driver

· #10 · Sep 6, 2017

I'm apparently getting the ass end of Lyft's Power Driver Bonus guarantees: $ 90 for 50 rides/inc 30 peak with 90% acceptance, $ 185 for 80/35 and $ 270 for 110/45. I never make anything with a 90% acceptance rate. I guess they don't love me the way they love you.

Fabio the legend

· #11 · Sep 6, 2017

dimwit_driver said:
I'm apparently getting the ass end of Lyft's Power Driver Bonus guarantees: $ 90 for 50 rides/inc 30 peak with 90% acceptance, $ 185 for 80/35 and $ 270 for 110/45. I never make anything with a 90% acceptance rate. I guess they don't love me the way they love you.

Thats interesting, i didn't know pdb offers were different to each driver. I actually like yours $185 for 80/35. Mine are $60 for 20/30, $175 for 75/40 and $270 for 110/45. Getting those peak rides is a ***** sometimes.

Smashup

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 6, 2017

dimwit_driver said:
I'm apparently getting the ass end of Lyft's Power Driver Bonus guarantees: $ 90 for 50 rides/inc 30 peak with 90% acceptance, $ 185 for 80/35 and $ 270 for 110/45. I never make anything with a 90% acceptance rate. I guess they don't love me the way they love you.

Yours are better, aren't they? Lyft is guaranteeing you a real payout.

What I get are "guaranteed weekly amounts". If I drive X rides, Lyft guarantees I make Y dollars. But that Y requires that 90% acceptance rate AND EVEN INCLUDES TIPS! So basically, Lyft has their actuaries, market pukes, and mathematicians figure out statistically what would be the number their average driver would make and then guarantees that to us more or less.

Their goal is to get drivers on the road driving for them, not Uber, to get drivers to pick up all rides even those far away, and to pay zero.

When they send me their guarantees, I read that as, "my best guess is that if I drive for Lyft and hustle, I will make Y dollars in X rides and Lyft will pay me nothing." If I think I would likely earn less than Y, I take them up on their bet and drive, but because of the 90% acceptance requirement, if I make the X and Y combo, the rational strategy is often to turn Lyft off and Uber, to turn the paper gain into a real gain while earning through Uber.

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K-pax

· #13 · Sep 6, 2017

Never once gotten the PDB. Closest I've ever come is halfway there on the peak rides (I almost always do over 50 in a week)

NHDriver

· #14 · Sep 6, 2017

Never any PDB in my area. I am lucky to get 3 requests a day and lucky if at least 2 are closer than 15 minutes lol.

K-pax

· #15 · Sep 6, 2017

NHDriver said:
Never any PDB in my area. I am lucky to get 3 requests a day and lucky if at least 2 are closer than 15 minutes lol.

It's a lot busier than that (I usually make slightly more on lyft each week than Uber (though the xchange lease payment is part of the reason), but the peak hours would force you to work a specific schedule to reach. I prefer the power zones. So far, they haven't seemed to saturate things too much.

dimwit_driver

· #16 · Sep 6, 2017

Re-reading this all a bit more closely it sounds like we're all getting entirely different types of offers. We must be part of one of their experiments. I've never made a single bonus they've ever offered me. I never hit their quantities, especially of the so-called peak variety, and my acceptance rate doesn't ever hit 90%. I consider their bonuses a joke. I don't think they're designed for me to make them. OTOH my rating has now recovered to 4.9 after the beating it took from some jerks a while back.

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