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If you purchase the Lyft subscription do the drivers know you have it and are they paid the same as if it were any other trip?
Lyft subscription service - Do drivers know you have it? Are they paid the same?
Posted 5 years, 10 months ago
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Posted By
Robyn Bradley Wallen (RobynBradleyWallen)
148
Ride Apprentice
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The Guru Take
Just any other trip. Drivers do not know and they get paid the same.
Ah, you must be one of the lucky early-adopters who has access to the Lyft's new subscription model. How is it going?
Yes, the drivers do still get paid the same as before, and no, they are not aware that their passengers have a subscription arrangement with Lyft. It is similar to when the passengers use their free credits or referral bonuses.
With that said, drivers have mentioned that they often know just by speaking to the passengers and seeing their behaviors. For example, many riders with subscription insist that the route be less than $15, so they would not incur a charge beyond what's covered by the all-access pass. They often insist that the route not be changed even slightly, so they will remain under the threshold that they carefully tried to avoid.
For those of you who are not familiar, Lyft Subscription is something Lyft is offering in selected cities and to selected users (invite-only or at least waitlisted) where the rider would pay a recurring monthly rate and all the rides they take are either free or discounted. (For example, the all-access plan covers all rides under $15, and anything over is charged.) Here are a few articles:
- Lyft tests $199 monthly subscription plan for rides
- Lyft's All-Access Pass. Monthly subscription coming to major cities. (invitation and waitlist only)
ippei
1202
Uber Driver, CEO of TaxiFareFinder and Unleashed, LLC
Comments
We have used the subscription plan the past few months but we are those who do not insist on the ride being less than $15. We actually tend to take longer trips that we might not otherwise take. We use Uber for the smaller trips if they are way below the $15 threshhhold and try to only use the Lyft plan for trips of $15 or more. A $30 trip for $15 is a good deal all around then. In a perfect world all trips would be below $15 but that is not a real expectation.
Can riders end a trip at $14.99, step out, and then request another one, just to keep all rides shorter than $15? I can see deal seekers doing that.
That is way too much work. There is no way I can see people doing that. Nubmer one they are impatient enough if they have to share rides. As someone who has always used public transit and knowing people there is absolutely no way people are going to do this.
We (drivers) are paid the same and we do not know whether you have it or not. We generally like these passes because it's more volume for us and we get paid the same.
Yeah, I ran into a few already. Not like we had enough riders asking for super short rides. This will make it even worse.
Great. If there is an option to subscribe to long trips and those with surges, sign me up.
That'd be a neat feature and it will help your accentance rate, right? We do wait for surges, but we are always guilted into accepting any requests. Can I make it so I only get notified for surges? It should be under the screen you choose UberX vs UberSUV.
I don't mean to pass judgements, but people who sign up for these monthly fees are the cost conscious folks, right? so my next question is the tip. I feel like they may lean towards not tipping.
I don't mean to speak ill to these passengers, but in an industry where there are no set rules and no expectation on how much people should be tipping, I'd imagine people with subscription would fall on the lower end of the tipping range.
Nope, seriously doubt it. I can tell you from my own experiences doing fundraisers and from a waitress friend that those with disposalbe incomes are much less likely to tip or tip well than those who are more frugal or have lower incomes. I persaonally tip better for longer trips and because of the subscrition take longer trips as well.
Wait, sorry. Your sentence confuses me a little. Are you saying people with disposal income are less likely to tip? Less so than frugal people or those with lower incomes?
Is this really true. What an irony.
Yes this is true and anyone in the service industry can usually verify it. I used to live near a major medical center and the waitress at a popular restaurant said evey time a group of doctors came in she was lucky to get anything. Most tables of six doctors left maybe 3 dollars. Tried a candy sale in a wealthy neighborhood once for a fund raiser and no one bought anything, went to a poor neighborhood and even people who did not buy candy made donations. Rich people get rich by holding on to their money.
yep, this. This is so true, when I go out to eat with friends who are quite well off they are always the stingiest tippers!
Maybe you think they are cheap tippers, because you know how much they have and you have a false expectation that rich should tip more.
How do you figure. We used to take a lot of $5 rides now with the pass we try to make sure our trips cost $15 or more to make it worth it for us. Besides this sounds like a cab driver remark. As I once told a taxi driver you can sit around all day and wait for one good $30 trip of you can take five $5 trips every hour and make a good amount of money in a day. Honestly the pass has really made us take much longer trips. Took two $25 ones today.