Lyft Line is NOT optimal when pairing and routing passengers...

1702 Views 10 Replies 6 Participants Last post by macchiato, Sep 9, 2017

Markeezee

Discussion Starter · Sep 7, 2017

Yes, I did Line tonight, two actually. Been out of town for a week, and wanted to loosen up and get some rides going. I haven't done Line for about 3 weeks or so because my area doesn't offer it in Orange County, CA but once I pass LA County , all bets are off.

Two (2) observations I've noticed tonight that I have either haven't realized when I would accept Line calls OR something that Lyft has just been low-key integrating "assertively".

1) First Line ride: Picked up Passenger A who lives on, let's say, Jersey Ave. Lyft adds Passenger B having already tapped "Last Ride" before passenger was added. Okay no biggie...Passenger B also lives on Jersey Ave should be a smooth transition.

Route looks like this via Lyft:
Pick-up "A" --> Pick-up "B" --> Drop "A" --> Drop "B"

Headed north on Jersey Ave., and Passenger "A" keeps pointing on the street, directing me as to where to his house would be. I let Passenger "A" know that we have to pick-up "B" and it should have alerted him on his app as well that we are en route to pick up another passenger. Passenger "A" asks that I pull over to the house he was pointing at. I stopped and obliged.

Turns out Passenger "A"s house was BEFORE Passenger "B"s!!!

Lyft wanted me to pick up Passenger "B" heading north on Jersey Ave., AND THEN double back to drop off Passenger "A" going south again when clearly his final destination comes BEFORE Passenger "B"s. This route was completely ridiculous because it would have been better to have this route sequence instead:
"A" --> "A" --> "B" --> "B"

Mind you...they live on the same street! That route given to me by Lyft was wholly inefficient.

2) Picked-up passenger "A". Learned my lesson and tapped "Last Ride" and also went on airplane mode to stop Lyft from stacking pings. 10+ mile ride, and as I was nearing Passenger "A"s final destination at 2-miles out, I turned off airplane mode to have phone data back on GPS.

Stopped at a red light and literally 0.7 miles away heading west to final destination when Lyft notifies me "route updated", thinking Passenger "A" changed address. Turns out Lyft, stacked another passenger on my queue (at 0.7 miles away to final destination!) and wanted me to pick-up Passenger "B" one-mile north of where I was at!!!

And since the call just came in, navigation map shows street towards Passenger "B"s destination going northwards was already well passsed behind me at the other light. And Lyft wanted this route sequence "A" --> "B" --> "B" --> "A".

Tapped Passenger "B"s profile icon, tapped on the "X" to cancel picking-up Passenger "B" and Lyft had the ****ing audacity to warn me saying that cancelling on Passenger "B" will "affect my acceptance rate on this Line ride"!!!

First of all, why would I inconvenience my first passenger who was literally 0.7 miles away from her home to go another mile northwards to pick up another passenger who will then be dropped off first and my initial passenger being last?!?!?!

I cancelled on Passenger "B" simply because the route was NOT EFFICIENT AT ALL!!! Isn't this the whole point of Line?! To maximize and optimize the best possible route from the initial passenger to those successive ones thereafter?!?!?

If I didn't cancel on "B", "A" would have rated me low out of principle. Furthermore, Passenger "A" wasn't even notified of the added passenger from her end. Her phone didn't go off about the new passenger nor did she brought it up. It only alerted me from my end and as a consequence, Lyft wants me as the driver to mitigate whatever inconvenience may follow in picking up another passenger outside from the initial one that is already in my car.

This is incompetence and shady practice Lyft...and not only that, it is wholly inefficient from the whole point of what Line is suppose to be as marketed and touted by you. I'm not making more money from each successive passenger being stacked but financially it is in your best interest that I do so because of the booking fee(s) you incur which I don't get a cut of. Furthermore, you are inconveniencing your passengers with routes that doesn't benefit all passengers..

Lyft...you guys are dirty...for real.

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macchiato

· #2 · Sep 7, 2017

Mine was brutal.
Pickup A on sunset and hype.
Pickup B on Virgil and melrose.
Drop off B on Virgil and 6th.
Pickup C at Hollywood and Vine.
Drop off A on 2nd and new hamshire.
Drop off C near LAX.

So those who don't drive in LA, the route goes south, south, northwest, south, and further south.

Why on earth would Lyft add the Hollywood pax is beyond me. Of course I got low rated.

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DrivingForYou

· #3 · Sep 8, 2017

macchiato said:
Mine was brutal.
Pickup A on sunset and hype.
Pickup B on Virgil and melrose.
Drop off B on Virgil and 6th.
Pickup C at Hollywood and Vine.
Drop off A on 2nd and new hamshire.
Drop off C near LAX.

So those who don't drive in LA, the route goes south, south, northwest, south, and further south.

Why on earth would Lyft add the Hollywood pax is beyond me. Of course I got low rated.

Not sure why you're complaining because you are paid for every mile you drove here.

I drive LA, and all the pax on your trip were going generally west. You went a mile out of the way to pick up a Hollywood pax and then went 14 miles southwest. I'd think the base on that ride would have been over 25.

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macchiato

· #4 · Sep 8, 2017

My complaint is with the pax I picked up first because she was complaining the whole trip on why I needed to pickup additional pax.

Sorry I can't deal with pax who don't know how Line works.

But imagine it from the pax perspective. You get pickup and your destination is south but the driver starts south to pickup and goes about halfway to your destination and then the driver hops on the freeway to get to HW and Vine. Completely in the opposite direction of your stop.

Some Line rides are broken. Oh and she starting cursing out the second pax I was supposed to pickup but he canceled because this girl was shouting out at him from inside the car saying "get in or I'll smash your balls."

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DrivingForYou

· #5 · Sep 8, 2017

macchiato said:
Some Line rides are broken. Oh and she starting cursing out the second pax I was supposed to pickup but he canceled because this girl was shouting out at him from inside the car saying "get in or I'll smash your balls."

Wow. Order her out of the car, click drop off, give her one star, and tell support she threatened another passenger on a line ride. Maybe even click the "call me" button.

Take screenshots, and take a pic of her if you don't have a dashcam.

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macchiato

· #6 · Sep 8, 2017 (Edited)

Already done, but doubt Lyft will do anything.

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Dropking

· #7 · Sep 8, 2017

The thing to understand is that Lyft makes more money on Line rides when multiple passengers are in the car. The driver theoretically makes about the same as if the miles covered were all one ride. The more they can double and triple up passengers, collecting duplicate and triplicate fairs, the more money Lyft makes. Now it all makes sense.

They ARE in fact pairing riders together who do not really belong together, something that did not begin happening until a couple of months ago. My passengers comment on the problem, and I've noticed myself, starting sometime this summer. Grumpy passengers in the car who are rightfully feeling inconvenienced lead to a poor ride, lower ratings for the driver, and less tips. And way many turns in congested areas leads to a poor driver experience.

The driver theoretically makes the same money on a line ride, but I'm not seeing pay for the time and distance circling around to pick up the second passenger. Lyft seems to consider this unbillable time and miles, just as they do for picking up the first passenger. I use to accept line rides. Now after too many experiences criss-crossing Market Street, looping around, returning again, back and forth for new passengers, and finally getting out of downtown SF, I've learned to refuse them under most circumstances. I will occasionally accept line rides in rural areas or lazy afternoons when ridership is slow.

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ROTA

· #8 · Sep 8, 2017

Only take lyft line if its prime of 75% up.
at least the 1 star rating you will def get will worh it.
NEVER EVER get a line whiout prime

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Dropking

· #9 · Sep 9, 2017

I disagree with this sort of calculation. There are other reasons to accept Line rides.

When I'm trying to get home from the city, using destination filters, I actually prefer line rides. Why? Because when I am with the first passenger who is only going 10 miles toward my home, I increase my chance to collect a second passenger going even further toward my home. I have a greater chance of getting multiple passenger to go all 40 miles.

And as mentioned, there are lulls in the day and there are far away places where any ride is better than none.

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Jennyma

· #10 · Sep 9, 2017

I didn't listen to my own rules about not taking Line if not prime but it came through the destination filter and I wanted to not deadmile all the way back. It was a mistake. Will never do it again. I had pax A, B, & C. Somehow A canceled and I got B and then C, it dropped off C first but when I went to drop off C, the App dropped off both B & C. I asked B to call for another ride and said it would be all sorted. She refused. I said it's not a legal ride to unless you call for another, it will be me, we will have it all straightened out with Lyft and you won't get charged twice or I cannot drive you, if we got into an accident we wouldn't be covered. She said she wasn't getting out. What was I to do, I turned on an GPS and dropped her off at her destination she told me as I didn't have it anymore.
,
It was 2.80 for both pax, I messaged Lyft and the credited me the full ride because my destination filter was still on and tracked the ride but the next day I got a notice that I broke TOS for trying to drop someone off in unsafe area. I wish I knew how to screen cap it for ya but she left a comment with her
**** and below, that because I made a mistake and ended her ride too soon, I asked her to get out in a dangerous area. Said it was the worst ride she ever had. I gave them the reference number of when I contacted lyft about it to say this is my side.

NEVER LINE AGAIN. Unless it's 100% PRIME

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macchiato

· #11 · Sep 9, 2017

Only reason I took mine was because it was 300%. I never take Line, but figured I'd make more and wasn't certain I'd get another request with that high pt (as a Plus driver, Plus rides are prioritized over regular Lyft so sometimes I end up with no requests in a hot zone even though other regular Lyfts are getting requests.)

Sad thing is we don't know what the pt of the other rides were as it is not even disclosed per ride at the driver summary page.

Grossed $90 for this ride so while it was a worthwhile ride, it was not worth the drama and low ratings.

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