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 :)
Thank you for the detailed response
I suspect you drive full time or a big chunk of time for good incentives. From what I can tell Uber will send incentives to all drivers but fine tune them to the match driver’s performance in terms of qty of rides given. I for example do not do many rides and my incentives that are sent out by Uber every Thursday are around $15 for completing 12 rides, and $5.50 for consecutive rides. That is what I get because I do not drive much and I do not do pools for all the reasons you outlined in such great detail. If I was indeed chasing incentives as I occasionally do, such as one I described above and all I need to get the $15 bone is one or two rides, I will take a pool and hope they get an add in passenger as every added passenger is consider a separate ride ;)
If passengers are stuck in a surge zone, does map on passenger app show what area is in surge and which is not?
If it does show surge map like it does for drivers and you absolutely need to get to where you are going fast.
And you checked both Lyft and Uber are surging
And for example you need to be driven 20 miles. Go ahead and order a Lyft or Uber (not pool/shared) as many drivers ignore those, to pick you up inside the surge (if you can't just walk out of it) and drop a destination pin just outside the surge. So this way the driver will drive you for the 2 miles to area outside surge at surge rate. Then you order another car form the now non surge zone to your ultimate destination.
Judging from a handful of driver responses here the picture is becoming pretty clear.
Not only do we drivers get paid less for doing more work on pools, we also have a higher risk of being deactivated due to unjust low ratings from such rides.
The 5 Star rating system where 4.6 (92%) is a failing grade is pretty stupid.
not sure I would like my tests be graded on such scale. “Imagine a 5th grade teacher announcing to class. The test you are about to take has 5 questions so every questions has a weight of 20 %, but if you get even half of only one answer wrong you fail, by the way we will have students from another school district that does not have same curriculum grade your tests” what a marvelous system.
Numbers speak for themselves
my retiree uncle just got canned by Uber for low ratings which I suspect were due to a combination of him being new and pool/shared rides which he undoubtedly screwed up a few times being new.
had to pay $49 to take useless online class to get reinstated. I told him no more pools or shared rides unless it is a 45+ min shared ride from uber or he is is in destination filter heading home at end of shift. Will see if that helps. He was at 4.23 when got sacked on Monday, slowly creeping up now at 4.29 ( nothing to brag about I know) lol.
hopefully by eliminating 95% pools and shared rides his ratings will go up
Sounds good!
thank you for the tips
By the way, start filling up in NJ if rides take you that way, their gas is cheaper ;)
Excellent!
sounds like it is time to get EZpass
i net it was JayZ/Beyoncé concert. I drove one of that concert organizers Monday night from Trenton Train station to Newtown.
i hate going to NY (especially to Brooklyn/JFK) as then it is almost 45 minutes to get out of NY if want to go free via one of the tunnels, otherwise on hook for expensive Verrazano bridge.
i am surprised you got tolls covered both ways as typically you get about $20 worth of tolls.
always have enough gas to cover 150 miles ;)
you got a ping on Lyft within NY? I never get them on Uber or Lyft in NY (uber even has red banner on screen that car is not registered to pickup in NY) I would love to grab passengers on way from Ny on destination filter back to NJ/PA.
on way back you should have hung out by Newark airport with Lyft destination filter on to PA and could have grabbed someone to at least Princeton, works 3 out of 5 times ;)
how are you always getting great tips from passengers, I need to learn that from you lol
Pool is not forced on drivers, it can’t be turned off like Uber eats, but you can decline every single pool ride, like I do, unless I am on destination filter heading home, then I do not care if it is a pool or regular as I am just trying to subsidize my trip home ;)
eats I just turned off.
I heard putting stories like yours on twitter when it brings negative publicity to Uber (in your case a legitimate complaint) which they refuse to fix helps.
Depends how many hours one plans on driving on a given day and how many days a wek one drives.
You do not want to make a sandwich diet 7 days a week :)
For example, when I go out on Fridays 17:00 - 2:00 I will have a small container with ice packs to cool several sandwiches with turkey/mayo on rye bread, 2 bottles of water, 2 apples and banana, mints.
neatly stored away in the trunk. Can eat inside car while waiting for rides or from trunk.
Stay away from too much coffee as that means more frequent bathroom breaks and stay away form convenience food stores, as that is wasteful spending of your hard earned cash. Some pack hot soup in a thermos on colder days
It is possible to make between $18.00 - $25.00 per hour before expenses.
taxes are not an issues as deducted miles will show a higher loss on paper.
rideshare was not designed to be a full time gig, though some people make it so.
all depends what one is switching from.
if one is making $7.50 per hour then rideshare is not a bad choice but always strive to find something better.
Some tips:
must have car that is good on gas
doing basic work on own car is a plus (brakes, etc)
finding good deals on tires is a plus (craigslist often has good deals on almost new tires)
Find a car wash with free vaccums momof4 - Street rd & Knights (wink, wink)
was car once a week or more often if needed
keep car clean in and out
pack your lunches instead of eating out
do not drink too much coffe or will need more bathroom breaks
do more longer rides if possible to use less gas and put less wear on the car.
learn where to be and when
have a plan
Hi, I drive for Lyft (based in lower bucks)
You definitely want both apps up.
Yes, lyft tells you about 45 min plus rides via big pink banner which is actually much more visible than the Uber's version. Lyft Shared pays drivers same as Lyft regular, unlike Uber pool where we take a financial hit for doing more work.
since I started 2 years ago I did 8 Uber rides to 2 Lyfts, now if flipped where I do more Lyft rides than Uber.
Lyft passengers tend to be better tippers. Destination filters do not work as good, but you have 6 on Lyft, though they expire every 20 minutes if you have no passengers.
However, if you have destination filter set on Lyft and it is far, Lyft will even alert you about 45 + min ride on the destination filter where Uber does not, at least from my experience (using Uber's destination filter)
As far as Lyft's acceptance rate messages go you need to text word STOP to 46080, then send number 2 back to that number after their response. This will stop messages from Lyft about acceptance rate.
Good luck
We had a thread in this subject on this forum a few months back. It has to do with whether passenger can expect privacy while in our cars similar to levels they would expect in bedrooms of their home, answer to that is no.
most states require only singlenoarty consent
12 I think need two party, by virtue of passenger engaging in conversation with driver though in those few states consent is assumed, so I think there is no neee for mentioning about recording to passengers. If you are in public bus they have cameras in use too
4.7 is not under 4.7 so majority of drivers will not pass you up. Many drivers though will not take any pools and shared rides so if that is the type of ride you request typically and are not located in an area with many drivers it may be the reason for longer wait times.
tip a few drivers in cash before exiting the car for next few rides and your score will jump up in no time
that's better :), I guess frequent passengers (commuters) would need to analyze a few months of their monthly spend and future projections to see if it makes sense. I am certains that the ones that rely on rideshare quite a bit and especailly that in some markets they tend to use Lyft more than Uber already as Lyft appears to be chaper it would make very good financial sense
exactly, makes no sense. Uber in Philly has Uber Philly Pass, people snatch them up within minutes because it actually makes sense for those who take Uber daily
4.89 is a very good rating, so You will have no issues getting drivers to accept your requests
Did anyone actually ask you "Is this what you studied in college?"
I would say "Yes" just to see expression on their faces, lol
I get plenty of "Is this your full time job; What else do you do besides driving, etc, - but never with an ending "to make ends meet?" :)
I bet questions like these, paired with "to make ends meet" most often come form low lifes who do not even have a car, or got their licenses suspended for DUI while driving their rusty 1993 S-10 Blazer in 2018 :)
My uncle, 76 just started driving for Uber/Lyft not to make ends meet, but for the fun of it, not to sit at home. He has a construction company that he recently had his son take over, so money is not the main motivator for ridesharing for him or for many of drivers, especially those that are retired:) Funny that some drivers out there pay more money in taxes than the low lifes that try to degrade us earn per year, and most often we drivers have much nicer cars then them :)
I am guessing if one was promote with their driver code then they would just cashing in on the referral bonuses:)
I feel the reason degrading remarks are most likely to come from some simple minded (unsuccessful passengers) is because they do not value nor understand that we drivers, regardless if we drive full time or part are business owners, as drivers weare considered self employed, do and pay our 1099 taxes, determine deductions, we calculate mileage, maintain and clean our car, pay insurance, adjust our strategies to make more$, drive them safely, look for them in hard pick up locations, listen to their stories, etc. They do not get it that we make most money when they sit home in their asses drinking beer or on way to bars. (We make most money when everyone is going out and having good time) so we give up our time with our families. yes, rideshare is not an extremely high paying job, but it is fun for those that stick around, considering how many drivers quit within 6 month on the job.
higher class pass passengers understand value of hard workand what I listed above including our and dedication and thus are more appreciative that we came to pick them up.