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 :)
What road did you take home? What bridge/tunnel?
Was ride to flushing the only one you did prior to returning to Philly?
How long was round trip from pickup to return to home market or until next passenger?
I sense a lot of aggravation from drivers doing pool rides in this post - why are drivers still doing them? I stopped doing all pools and shared rides months ago for all the reasons that are surfacing in this post.
My colleague who also happen to drive for Lyft told me yesterday that he drove a firefighter on pool who was describing gruesome scenes from job ( driver was only listening) they picked up a copassenger, firefighter kept blabbering, 3 min later copassenger asked for car to be stopped so he can get out early (way before destination )
Left a 1 Star to my colleague and a nasty feedback. Losers at Lyft of course contacted my friend to say something along the lines “watch what you say during ride” and now all of a sudden they are running another background check on him for now 3 weeks.
Pools are nothing but headaches and at a lower pay
I believe the stops are only available on regular Uber, it is a feature if you need to stop by convenience store to get coffee, then on to work, perhaps you need to pick up your girlfriend on the way before you get to work. That is what the stops are for.
Pool rides are completely different, you can’t schedule stop or change destination, system does it all for the driver
Some things I do as a driver when seeking out a passenger:
When I am approaching pickup location using Waze I will click on the rideshare app to bring it up to double check address. At this time I will also look on Lyft if there is an icon of yellow person that is actually GPS real time location of passenger’s phone so even if they plugged in the main address of a motel which is where GPS will take you, but they are physically on the other side of the hotel, just follow around until you get to the yellow person on the phone. If no yellow person is on the app that means either the passenger is not sharing their location (they can opt out of it) or someone ordered a ride for someone else;)
Uber has a similar icon when location is being shared and it looks like a chess piece.
When I am pulling up I will turn my flashers on.
However when passenger spots us drivers alway nice when they make it apparent, so we do not have to call and text.
I think it is worth it
On that particular ride it was worth it, because I got rear ended and at fault driver offered to pay $1,200 for repairs. Repairs cost me half of that :)
What did suck is because I had a passenger in car, I reported it to Lyft and they said, ok finish this ride and then we are disabling your account, until you send us pictures of car being fixed
So that killed my chances of getting a rider on way back. I used Uber on way back with destination filter, but learned that I can't pick up anyone in Baltimore as I am registered in PA, so then I drove back on a different road to cross over into PA faster than the highway I wanted to take.
If you plan driving correctly and know where to go for next pickup after a long ride it works out good. You spend less gas and less wear and tear on car. Must have EZ Pass - tolls are cheaper with it :)
135 miles Philadelphia burbs to Colombia MD
The minute passengers starts talking how much they make on their businesses I know no tip is coming :)
I had a few passengers who claimed to be Uber Drivers, none tipped, cheap asses.
On Lyft, open passenger app
On screen where it says 'Where Are you Going?" click on "Search destination"
Enter the Pick up location (it defaults to Start -> Current Location, but you can change it, if for example you are scheduling this for yourself or someone who needs to be picked up at a location different from what GPS picks up at the moment.
Also enter the End location
Select Lyft (not shared)
click the small calendar icon on bottom right (Schedule)
Ensure pick up and drop off locations are correct and now pick date/time for pick up - Lyft does it in 15 minute increments, Now click "Set pick up time", then click "Schedule"
in top right of your screen you will get calendar icon
you can click on it if you need to cancel your schedule ride (prior to driver being dispatched at no charge), you can also edit your time/date from this cancellation screen if you need to
remember though if you cancel after 2 minutes of driver is already dispatched or do not show up for 5 minutes once driver gets there you will get hit with $10.0 of cancellation /no show fee
Good stuff. You definitely get it!
I wish more riders were as informed as you;)
I am a driver, I never ask for tips, not complain. Like you I would feel less inclined to tip a driver who openly asks for it. I will automatically tip all waiters, drivers, passenger luggage handlers, etc. by default.
I can see drivers are doing it out of desperation since neither rideshare company actually educated the rider base, not on tipping, nor on car seats for children. Sonsrivers left fending for themselves trying to educate the general public. I however do think that openly asking for tips via jar, or verbal requests is not good for driver image.
I have a simple small one sentence sign on back of center console where vents are for rear passenger “Please rate your ride/trip in app ;)”
No mention of tipping, but by doing so I am hoping passengers will be more inclined to actually rate the trip and we all know what screen comes up next, yup the tipping one, so if the passenger already went through trouble of rating me, hopefully 5 stars, good chance they will also add me a few bucks if they feel I earned it while they are at it.
What is Uber’s and Lyft’s policy on service animals? Oh I remember, because I get bombarded with these notifications monthly to ensure we transport the emotional support poodles so they do not get sued. But minors, nah let’s put drivers at risk as all we (rideshare companies want is more riders)
For this very reason I got myself a 1 million umbrella policy. For few hundred dollars per year a very good thing to have when you are transporting people for commercial purposes
Passengers are becoming cheaper and cheaper. Yesterday I made 6 rides:
Here they are in miles: (all were Lyft)
32
52
20 (this one tipped $5.00)
70
43
12
All others did not tip. I know it is not me as my rating is 4.96 so passengers are happy with service. All rides were Lyft Regular
I was happy to give out 4 stars to each one of them, except the one who tipped, she got 5 stars
I am actually starting to see a trend with passenger ratings dropping. If other drivers are also giving out lower rating to passengers that do not tip, very soon they will start feeling the pain of long wait times as drivers one after another will start to declin low rated passengers requests.
Lyft let’s drivers rate passengers within 24 hours of ride so it is easy to see next day if they tipped and if they did I change rating to 5.
Got one 45+ min request last night from a hotel where I was parked, i accepted, lady cancels, she re requests, I accept, she cancels , theee times total, bet she was looking for a female drivers so I kept accepting just to piss her off ;) as I was the only driver in the area. Eventually I just declined, but here is reverse discrimination agains drivers at work
In period 2 and 3 you would be covered by rideshare company’s insurance + deductible which is on you if you wrecked your car
in period 1 if you have no rideshare insurance it would be on you as your insurance company would most likely not cover you using car for commercial purposes. Unless you do not say to your insurance co that you had uber app on during accident then they would cover you as if you were in accident going about your daily life.
i do not see how one would ever be personally liable that is what insurance is for.
I would be very careful driving especially at night, a smany kids dress in dark clothing so potentially dangerous drivers do not spot them easier :) - you know what I mean, be very careful - with all the kids out there. This may also mean picking up passengers with kids and no bosster seats
You are responsible enough to go out of your way and buy a booster, where the parents themselves are not, very sad.
I refuse to invest into such supplies, as it is responsibility of the parent. Enough drivers refuse these rides, such paretns will scratch their heads and realize that drivers care about their kids more than they do, and hoefully will invest in some sort of appropriate seating device for the age, weight and height of their children that they can bring with them on a ride.
Yup, I am glad you too are starting to think that Pools are the culprit of lower ratings. I actually do not see a point for a part time driver to do pool rides at all unless part time consists of making 100's of rides per week where a driver actually is trying to hit a quest for a bonus. I could never hit any such quests because I do not drive anywhere close to hitting such numbers of rides. Or if a driver is starving for fares (but that just tells me the driver has no plan as to where to be and where to be to get rides). Many drivers still think acceptance rate is important - it is not! Why would a driver want to do more work for less pay (pools), why would a driver expose themselves to lower ratings? not sure.
Just for kicks I did 1 pool on Saturday night under destination filter., willingly accepted a 4.69 rated pool rider (wanted to prove my point) and it worked like a charm:)
This ride earned me 1 star, my guess is because many pool riders are so cheap that they will actually give driver 1 star and report to Uber that driver was (pick one) just to get the $6.00 fare reimbursed - cheap asses
I called Uber to see when the 1 star came in (I did not want to know who left it, as I already know) but just wanted to see if they would at least say it came this week, or last month. Uber asked me to wait 2 minutes while their checking their resources (Let me get the manager used car trick), came back on the line and said they do not ahve this information - idiots - why hold me on the line for two minutes then :) lol.
Luckily my rating is still at 4.92 on Uber so one 1 star is not draggin me down too bad, but certainly will not do any pools any more.
So any drivers out there who are hovering around 4.7 in ratings, cut out the pools until your ratings get back up to 4.8+, or better cut them out completely.
Check out this link - a requst I got the other day, which I declined of course. I would hate to be a driver trying to hit 4 rides streak for $16.00 or whatever peanuts Lyft offers and my 4th ride to complete the streak be the one on the pic:) - are they really thinking a driver will drive 30 minutes to get to the passenger, wait for the passenger to come out for additional 5 minutes and then give the passenger a 2 mile ride in traffic which will take another 10-5 minutes to get paid $3.57 at the end - gas and maintenace cost will outweigh the fare :), No wonder I have an orange banner reminding me of my low (3%) acceptance rate
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IRytIuX7fp9VoaMOUheCBCdEO-xUW8MJ/view?usp=sharing
I hope no driver out there would actually accept such a request (regardless of circumstances) :)
Hi,
I am seeing lower number of ratings on Uber report where it breaks down how mant 5's; 4's etc. seems like my number has not changed in weeks so maybe there is a glitch on Uber's end.
Cut down on pools - and see what happens:) ratings will go up
Not so sure this will actually happen.
I had never done a single Uber Eats Delivery and am pretty sure many drivers on here look at doing deliveries as enthusiastic as doing pool rides:)
Intervene = low rating from guy
do not intervene = low rating from girl
can’t win ;)
Scheduling a ride may be an option by the way uber schedule works is drivers are not pre despatched as they are in Lyft. Uber just send out a regular request to near by driver in the area slightly before pickup with banner that ride was scheduled in advance. As a driver receiving this ride request that banner is useless. A driver will think - “So what if it was scheduledb in advance” ?
On Lyft scheduled rides are posted on job board with pickup and drop off locations and cost of take home $
these rideshare a lot more sense for drivers than Uber’s version
any driver in the surge zone receiving such a request from clearly surging zone but without the surge fee will decline ;)
so if passengers do not see heat maps, perhaps they can just keep moving the pick up location pin a few blocks at a time to see if surge pricing goes away and when they find it that could be a good indicator where to be dropped off by first drive at surge rate and then order another car.
of course if a ride is short it would not make sense as they get hit with a second booking fee, etc. but if it is a 30 mile trip home from concert then 3 mile surge ride and 27 mile remainder at regular price makes sense