
Lyft is offering as much as $10,000 a month to commercial drivers in NYC - zabalmendi
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-31/lyft-offers-10-000-a-month-to-lure-commercial-drivers.html
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filmgirlcw
Lyft in NYC is such a shit show. First they refused to follow the rules that
Uber was smart enough to follow (every driver has to be registered with the
TLC, and Uber often pays for that registration for Uber-exclusive drivers, at
least in the early days, mind you, Uber also maintains its own livery
companies for its drivers to be under, Hinter, Weiter, Schlinkel, etc.), then
they finally do a mea culpa, but realize very quickly that they didn't have
enough licensed drivers (Uber smartly partnered with existing liveries for the
black cars early on while it built out its Uber X line).

THEN they launch, but have no cars, have insane surge pricing - you can't
apply a free trip to a the tip pricing, the app doesn't make it clear how much
extra you'll pay with the surge stuff.

Oh, and the drivers from what I'm hearing (and my one experience) are
seriously lackluster.

Fail. Total fail. Uber FTW.

~~~
boredinballard
Very interesting. My experience with Lyft in Seattle has been far better than
my experiences with Uber/UberX. I've yet to have an Uber driver be nearly as
nice and friendly as a Lyft driver. I do think the price can be lower on Uber
sometimes though. Also Uber cars seem to be available more often. I still try
Lyft first though.

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potatolicious
Better late than never I suppose - IMO the NYC launch was not very well
executed. I didn't end up taking any rides opening night, but watched on the
app throughout the night.

Supply basically vanished immediately - whether that's from extreme demand or
insufficient drivers (or both) I'm not sure, but by about 8pm literally zero
available drivers were in Lower Manhattan. You could not get a ride on Lyft on
opening night - whatever the cause this is a pretty extraordinarily poor user
experience.

Surge fare also kicked in, which IMO should've been turned off during the
launch period. It also wasn't clearly communicated - on the NYC subreddit
numerous people complained about "mandatory tipping" without realizing this is
analogous to Uber's surge fares (which are well-known locally).

Overall the opening week was a poor showing for Lyft. Maybe this new program
will turn it around, but at this point IMO they're playing PR catchup -
anecdotally public interest in Lyft is pretty low around here.

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eob
So if drivers pooled together, using the same account from Lyft's perspective,
they could pull off a $6,666 / month guaranteed salary for 40hr weeks. I.e.,
four accounts working 60 hour weeks are staffed by six people working 40 hour
weeks. (I doubt the terms of service would smile upon this activity)

~~~
_delirium
Sorta but lower than that if you want to compute a salary equivalent— this is
guaranteeing pre-expense revenues, i.e. prior to gasoline, vehicle
maintenance, commercial insurance, etc.

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joelcollinsdc
The word "offer" is used misleadingly here. Its a guarantee that if you work
for 60 hours a week you will earn at least $10,000 a month.

~~~
rhino369
You also need a taxi or limmo license. Not sure how much that costs but it
must not be cheap.

~~~
potatolicious
Also insurance - I was chatting with a UberX driver in NYC a few weeks ago and
apparently his insurance is $7K a year. Not chump change by any means.

~~~
sjf
On the otherhand, when I was shopping for auto insurance I asked my Lyft
driver what he pays and he says he has the state minimum and pays ~100$ /
month.

~~~
pistle
Lyft covers insurance for their drivers while the fare is on. The driver's
personal insurance is normal for a personal vehicle doing personal work. Now,
if someone tries to go after that private insurance from an accident during a
fare, that private insurance company will deny the claim and they may drop the
person from the policy/raise rates if the person lied about using the vehicle
for business purposes. I'm not sure they'd get that rate if they answered
"Yes" to business purposes for the vehicle.

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skizm
Why would people in NYC use Uber or Lyft? Are they really so much cheaper than
taxis?

~~~
potatolicious
Because NYC is bigger than just Manhattan. In fact, Manhattan is bigger than
just Manhattan below 96th St ;)

In the wealthy side of Manhattan the city is swarming with cabs. In Brooklyn,
Queens, the Bronx, and even Harlem, Washington Heights, etc, cabs can be hard
to come by.

UberX is also cheaper than a cab nowadays with the recent price drop.

I disagree with billmalarky below about the experience being better though.
Uber's drivers are almost always considerably less experienced than cab
drivers. I've lost count of the number of times I've sat in an immobile Uber
while the driver futzes with some shitty GPS unit so he knows where the hell
to actually go. Also lost count of how many times an Uber driver couldn't find
his way to the Manhattan Bridge on-ramp. These are things that are second-
nature to cab drivers.

When I get into a cab I might get a surly guy who's yakking on the phone the
whole way, but I'll get to my destination quickly, and cheaply. When I get
into an Uber I'm almost guaranteed to get someone who is polite, genial, and
doesn't really know where they're going. I'll take the former, thanks.

~~~
kaeawc
Taxis are no longer cheaper in NYC, and I've never met an inexperienced Uber
driver.

~~~
potatolicious
Whereabouts do you take Ubers? I rarely have problems in Manhattan, but let's
be honest, if you can't navigate a perfect grid you probably shouldn't be
driving passengers.

In Brooklyn and Queens though Uber has been considerably worse than cabs
(green or yellow) in my experience. They just don't know the lay of the land
as well as cabbies and frequently have to resort to GPS units (themselves not
as good as a knowledgeable driver).

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oneweirdtrick
Lyft in NYC is virtually a different company from what I can tell. I guess the
sharing economy model for vehicle ownership isn't scaleable in NYC since so
few people own cars. It went from 'riding with your best friend' to riding in
a black car with a pink mustache.

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johnrob
Is there a word to describe a professional amateur driver?

~~~
jbigelow76
Not sure about driving but in college athletics they call the professional
amateurs "student athletes", no (direct) promise of 10K a month though even if
the schools get insanely rich off of it.

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NDizzle
$10k for 60 hours, $5k for 40 hours?

Here are a few choice words for Lyft:

Fuck you.

~~~
Tarang
Can someone put this into context. It sounds like a huge sum? What would
someone with a taxi license & without Lyft typically earn?

~~~
ceejayoz
As a contractor, you're responsible for gas, vehicle, maintenance, insurance,
and a taxi license. I'd imagine that eats up a surprising amount of the total.

