RIDEGURU
Leonard Girsh (LG-PA)
Ride Apprentice from Southampton, PA
810 DriverActivity
Posts by LG-PA
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How low is too low (Passenger rating)
Had a Lyft request last night for a long ride. As I was pulling up to the train station in … -
Rideshare Insurance for Drivers
In time for the Thanksgiving I want to share with all of you my Rideshare Accident Checklist.I put this … -
Lyft’s scheduled ride passenger no show cancellation fee or lacke thereof
Second time in 2 weeks I scooped up a scheduled ride, was sent the ride. I arrived 5 minutes prior … -
Do lower ratings for drivers come predominantly from Pool/Shared rides vs. regular or spread is about the same
Any drivers able to pinpoint a trend of which type of rides hit drivers with lower ratings? i suspect pool/shared … -
Is anyone experiencing and issue wuth Uber not reimbursing drivers for all tolls?
Hi, Three times in the past three weeks I had to call Uber to complain that I was not reimbursed … -
Never ending Phone Mounts
Hi, Not sure if other drivers are blowing through phone mounts as frequently as I did, so I decided to … -
Driver survival Kit
What essential items do drivers have in the cars to help make rideshare driving easier?
Featured Answers by LG-PA
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On Uber platform Drivers have to rate passenger right away when ending the trip, so no way for the driver to know if passenger tipped or will tip, thus no ral way to penalize passneger for not tipping. On Lyft passenger can be rated up to 24 hours after the trip. If passnger did not tip on a long ride I usually go in and rate them 4 stars or less if they did something crazy like brough a child and did not bother buckling them in or bit their nails and left clippings on my floor
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Also, many students from Rider University go home on Fridays, so if you hang out by campus right off 295 you will most likley be shuttling them to Hamilton Train Station and that is not a bad ride on the highway,
even if you have to run right back to the university to grab more.
After Rider runs dry up, after your last drop off at Hamilton, head over to Love's Travel Stop in Bordentown, Friday is when long distance truck drivers go there (because of new regulations where they can only drive so many hours), park their rigs and often need rides home which could be miles away, and Bordentown in General has some riders. Hope this helps for Friday planning
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on Lyft there is a Scheduled Ride section (sort of like a job board) it displays avaialble scheduled rides probably with pickup somewhere within 10 mile radius of where you are at the moment of looking at that screen. On this screen you will see pickup and drop off locations and approximate fare, so that is an instance where drivers can see destination :) and of course in Destination filter mode, while you can't see destination exactly you do have an idea of general direction since ou are the one who entered the destination filter :)
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I decided to read up on this a bit.
So it looks like The FCC is aware of such problems and even set up a "Jammer Tip Line" for people to let the bureau know about people who may be selling or using a jammers.
Found here:
https://www.fcc.gov/general/jammer-enforcement
There is an app to help identify if a jammer is being used, here
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microcadsystems.serge.jammerdetector&hl=en_US
It appears to only work on Android
A quick search on line also revealed that there are Jammer detectors out there, such as on this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmXsKCEeP4o
Nipping in the ass a few of the assholes using them and reporting to FCC will hopefully help.
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When requesting pool one has to specify number of riders, driver confirms that at pick up on the screen. This enables the system to plan as to whether driver can pick up another couple or only a single passenger.
I had the happen to me. Rider requested pool for 1, but there were two of them at pick up.
I tried changing to two (system told me to make the rider add the second passenger (their friend)
it is $0.11 more for their friend, so I see why rider stated 1 initially vs. 2. (a lot of money - understandable), eventually she changed to 2, and almost immediately got an add-on passenger for a couple, since system figured I should have 2 more seats available. But for example if the same cheap passenger #1 requested pool for 2 but showed up with 3, and I did not force her to change, my next stop for the couple would not enable me to pick them up. SO it is driver's responsibility to ensure number of riders getting in matches the number Uber was told will get in the car. the screen to change number of riders is right in front during pick up.
Occasionally I may have 2 separate passengers already in the car, pool up to my next pool pick up, to find party of 4 who requested a pool, I roll down window and tell them basically I can't fit 10 pounds of passengers into my 5 pound car. I also ask them if they selected pool? knowing already they did and tried to cheat system. I ask them how many passengers they put in during request? (knowing they put in for 2 as system wuld not even let you pool as an option if you have 4 passengers in the single party. (because it would no longe be a pool if you r party of 4 took up all seats) of course the passenger claims they put in 2. Anyway I ask them to cancel, they do not want to cancel because they do not want to get hit with $3.75.
The point for me talking to them is not only to educate them, but to also milk time, so if they do not want to cancel themselves, by time I am done talking to them 2 minutes are up and I just hit NO SHOW and cancell myself, so I can collect my fee. Last thing I need is to drive to them for 5-10 minutes and not even get the NO SHOW fee, because the cheap asses were to cheap to book regular pool.
I do not do many pool rides anymore because of this hassle and dealing too much with cheap asses who request pool, do not tip (for most part), drag my ratings down (I bet the other two passengers in my car already would leave a lower rating because it too longer) and then cheapskates try to beat the system even further by trying to save $0.11 by not declaring all people in their party, find another driver :)
Oh yes all that on top of Uber paying drivers less per mile and minute for doing a pool ride vs. regular. So more work (more hassle) = less pay - makes total sense :)
You will have a much better chance of scheduling it on Lyft vs. Uber, Lyft shows the entire trip to all drivers int he are as soon as you schedule it, so a driver who wants to complete the ride will add it to their que. Uber does not show the scheduled rides, they just frantically start looking for a driver 15-20 min before. To be extra safe Schedule one on Uber and one on Lyft with 30 min apart so you can cancel the other one once car comes to get you
One other thing passengers do not realize is that in their opinion a driver rated 4.40 or 4.94 is still good.
They will think a 2.1 is a bad driver.
Any driver with a rating of 4.40 (if the platform allows them to drive) may as well be considered a 2.6, as at 4.60 drivers get canned:)
I too do not pick up any low rated passengers and obviously made up names. I had one last night come in from GoGo Grandparents, thought it was a name created by some smart ass grandpa for his account, but turns out it is a service where people without smartphones call in and that GoGoGrandparents servce orders them a Lyft obviously charging them a hefty service fee, like $15 on top of a $50 ride. few rides like that and these non smart phone folks could have paid for a cheap sart phone with all the moneys they waste in surcharges
I do not pick up any low rated pax. I would like to be able to rate the Uber pax way after the ride instead of immediately. Any lyft pax that does not tip in a 10+ ride automatically gets 1 star removed by me when I rate them a day after the ride
I think the point is, if you get on an inner city bus, or an Uber because both are much cheaper than a limo, do not expect bus driver nor and Uber driver to treat you like royalty and pamper you with free waters and snacks. As a passenger you are right to expect a good basic service to get you from point A and point B safely in a reasonably clean car. If you do not like that bus is dirty or came a few minutes late do you complain to the bus authority? As a passenger not us important to have your expectations in line with what you pay for service.
I do not expect a premium 5-star steak from a local diner!
The problem is, in our society is that when something happens, often due to user error, we try to engineer controls to combat human ignorance. It is getting to a point where if somebody decided to stick their head into microwave to dry their hair and died, microwave manufacturer will be sued for not warning user not to dry hair in the microwave and of course an added label stating that will start showing up on the next one comin off the line. I had drinks climb into my car only to be politely asked to leave as they were clearly not my passengers. Drunk people and often sober ones too will not go through trouble of reading / scanning labels if they are too lazy now to look at the license plate these days which is the easiest verification they can do.
Next time some warehouse guy cuts his index finger with a box cutter opening a box we will outlaw the use of an index finger. Country is becoming too soft and common sense is disappearing.
Great news, maybe if it was not paired with a pay cut, but these great news come with a pay cut so you will make less in the end.
One other interesting thing is Uber will have different prices for same ride depending what phone is used.
Try it sometimes, have 2 users side by side order same ride (without actually ordering) one from android and one from Iphone see if the rate is the same.
You will also find it with Lyft (as a driver) when looking at scheduled rides screens of iphone and android, same ride depending what phone you (driver) is using will have slightly different rates for the same ride.
Latly, I believe rates for rides will be different depending on what payment method you have as default in the app.
I would not be surprised if battery status has rates tied into the rates
You mean you expect the same level of privacy on a public bus or Rieshare vehicle as you would from your bedroom?
I would view it in same manner as being on a public transport. Nobody would (normally) expect a public bus or an Uber to offer similar privacy as their bedroom, so there should be no issues with dashcam. The few times I was asked if they were being recorded I said Yes, for everyone's privacy. The dash cam is in plain view. If they ask wheter I am suppose to alert passengers of recording, I tell them that by the virtue of them engaging in conversation with me (in two party consent states) they automatically give their consent. In one party consent I consent myself to record interior of my privately owned vehicle. If they do not like it or ask me to turn it off (never happened yet), next street corner is where their ride ends
Hi, Why did not you just put on a spare tire yourself?
I had a flat once with a passenger in the car who was running late for train that was to take her to the airport. Pulled over, put on a spare, got her to the train, she even called and said "She made it"
You can always call Uber help from the app, not sure what if anything they could do, but definitely better to call them. I have them on speed dial as I call them often when they forget to reimburse me for tolls on PA turnpike
Schedule on Lyft - your chances are much better
Lyft post these rides on a virtual job board and drivers scooping up these rides know exactly where to take you and if they do not want this ride they would not add it to their que - so your chances are better with Lyft
With their track record of disabling safety features built-in by OEM (as was in the case of self driving Volvo that ran over a pedestrian) and adding a pilot driver who will be busy playing Angry Birds the Space trip may unfortunately be a one-way option only.
Same app, you can turn the delivery option off though which many drivers do not to be bothered with meal delivery requests
You can still sign up just say you need a car, which you do not have to get or rent until after you get approved
Absolutely correct observation!
Some "red flags" when not to expect a tip is when they say "I will tip you through the app"
9 out of 10 times they will not :)
Pool/shared rides do not tip.
Some cultural/ethnic groups are also known to be lousy tippers :)
Nowhere else 80% (a rating of 4) counts as a failing grade except for Uber and Lyft - idiotic system indeed!
1. On Uber a mid-ride add-on request comes in in a similar manner as a regular request so you can decline it - Yes.
2. On Lyft a mid-ride add-on request is just shoved down driver's throat with a message "Another passenger has been added to your que", there is no way to cancel these while you are in middle of the original ride, and I am not about to start tinering with the phone to try to figure out how with a passenger in my car.
So a passenger who just got off the plane and requested a ride on lyft at the airport during rain and no other drivers in sight will get matched up with a driver who is still 10 minutes away just from dropping off the original rider and about 5 additional minutes to the pick up. As a driver I will drop off the original passenger and only now I get to either cancel the ride or head 5 minutes to pick up the add-on. What would you rather happen in the shoes of that passenger? Would you rather I cancel on you and you get to wait at least another 15 minutes for another driver to hopefully scoop you up and agree to take you where you are going or be picked up by the first driver with a 4 minute pit stop after ride starts? Could a driver go get gas before the add on pick up, maybe but that is another 10-15 minutes as by time you get out of the airport after drop off and come back the passenger with screaming kids has been in the rain all this time. So there you have it, and it is just one example.
And only covers lyft regular, shared is even more likely you pick up someone on a short hop and the next shared passenger needs to go very far so you never get a chance to cancel them nor to gas up between rides.
If a have 150 miles of gas in tank left and a ride request comes in with a long ride banner, I will take it, but guess what if that ride is taking me 160 miles to drop off - I will be pulling over to get gas.
So Passengers, do not be handing out crap ratings for drivers actualluy doing you a favor, and do not forget to tip. I had passengers who still rate me 5.00 but do not tip because I stopped to gas up with them after explaining how their ride was added on and instead of making them wait 20 miuntes I got them in 10 after first drop off and now we need to get few gallons of gas. However, as drivers we feel when a lower rating is coming and may priemptively return the same to the passengers :)
Often a ride request will come in while we are still mid ride and though I may have 60 miles worth of gas when that happens which should cover most rides if after arriving at pick up I learn you are going to a destination 70 miles away I will mention that a quick pit stop will be needed. Would you rather not get picked up or picked up by a driver dispatched from 20 minutes away or a driver who was 2 minutes away when ride got added to his que? A fuel stop is no more that 5 minutes so if you feel that leaving a driver a bad rating who got you within minutes of request and is willing to take you on a seventy mile ride is legitimate, I hope those riders get crap ratings back and next time at rude request the wheel will just keep spinning while driver after driver will decline you.
Anyone can buy lighted signs, including the fake drivers. They instead need to push a bill to require passengers to verify license plate of the car they are about to get into and maybe to click a box in the app that they verified the license plate.
if scheduling in advance I recommend using Lyft, Lyft actually makes the scheduled trips visible to drivers as soon as one is scheduled, so drivers can plan and add those rides to their que. This will increase passenger's chance to actually get picked up, especially if the ride is profitable