The math of being a Lyft driver

Lyft says drivers can make $35 an hour. Our own Tim Lee put that to the test.

[secondaryactons]

Instead of driving around for three hours wouldn't it be smarter to be stationary in a highly populated region for until a rider requests you? You don't actually have to be in the car to run the app, just ready to pic some one up.

[MorganPhillipsPage]

so basically, no maths involved in this video. just being a lyft driver

[John-qpm]

In linguistics, creaky voice (sometimes called laryngealisation, pulse phonation, vocal fry, or glottal fry) is a special kind of phonation[1][2] in which the arytenoid cartilages in the larynx are drawn together; as a result, the vocal folds are compressed rather tightly, becoming relatively slack and compact. They normally vibrate irregularly at 20–50 pulses per second, about two octaves below the frequency of normal voicing, and the airflow through the glottis is very slow. Although creaky voice may occur with very low pitch, as at the end of a long intonation unit, it can also occur with a higher pitch.

[angelopaolo]

you don't have to drive around looking for passengers, that's a waste of gas. pull over and wait until someone requested you. look for any gas stop or 7-11 and just chill for awhile. I average driving in LA for lyft about $150-200 Saturday nights, sometimes more during promotions.

[UnderTheBridge]

If you're driving around for 3 hours and don't get a single ride, you are an idiot

- Full time Lyft driver

[KalStorch]

When I first heard about Uber/Lyft the appeal for drivers was that it was a great way to make supplemental income. None of the drivers that I've chatted with did it full-time. I realize that things have changed since then and both companies are pushing as many people as possible to drive as much as possible to grow their market share... But damn, I miss when it was so much simpler.

[theBraxil]

I was expecting real math, how many drivers in what area with so many customers with likely trip distances and good / bad destination concerning the next fair.

[pseudonym]

Pardon my naivete but why were you driving around when you didn't have a customer? Doesn't the app notify you when a customer needs a ride? So it's not like you're a regular taxi trolling for street fares, right? Seems like a waste of gas, so I assume I'm missing something.

[JoeJenkins]

this guy just tryna make some quick lyft money while being paid more money to make a video

[austingulotta]

The $35/hr is a bit of a trick. EARN (meaning how much you bring in, before any deductions) UP TO (meaning in a great hour with solid tips). so take off 25%, then another 35% for taxes (with a 1099 you should expect this, but know that many only pay 5-15%), then about $0.65 per mile for all car expenses. then you get reimbursed $0.54 per mile for taxes. bear in mind this is only while you have passengers. If you drive smart, you should get reimbursed around $0.40 per mile while driver mode is on. Tips are not reduced, so it's hard to count for that in all of this, but if you're great and drive a few groups to a club on a Saturday night and get tipped $5 each group, you can expect to profit $6/hr before tips. I assumed that you drive at about 15mph with waiting (how it is where I am). Giving you around $21 profit per hour at best. That's a Lyft estimate though. sometimes you'll make much more and sometimes much less. Also, I didn't account for prime time.
That's how you use math to analyse Lyft profit.

[omairbhore]

I drove Uber for over a year. You make no more than 15 dollars an hour after taxes and gas... Car depreciation is a major factor as well. Uber and Lyft draws in drivers by providing a quick money way out. You need a job and some money, your in between jobs, you need extra cash on the side... They target that audience by providing quick cash... In the long run it is not worth while for drivers... Try to get out of this industry as soon as you can... Don't stick around.. It will burn you.

[peterwonaprize]

Full time Lyft driver here, and I have to say a lot of variables come into play. Demand greatly depends on the neighborhood you're in..it just takes a little trial and error to find the sweet spot. I used to spend about 40 hours/week to make around $600 (before gas expenses). I've since shaved it down to ~25 hours to make the same amount. Drivers can also double or triple their income by marketing the Lyft app to new drivers ($150 to $750 each) and passengers ($10 each).

[shaququ]

there are many other costs associated with a car that you didnt take into account.

fuel is not the only thing  you have to pay for, you have to service your car and fix it when it breaks or when you have a car accident, clean it, antifreeze, oil, deprecation of the value of the car because of adding mileage, pay tickets and fines, have a bigger data plan on your phone, insurance, and other variable and fixed expenses as well as the time spent doing all these things and wasted time to wait for customers ( while you could be doing something else, opportunity cost)

Take all of those into account over a longer period, and you would probably make MUCH LESS.

[JulieHerrick]

I drove Uber and Lyft for a short period of time in 2015. I did some math, the percentage cut taken by the company, a percentage set aside for income tax, fuel costs, and average wear and tear on my car. After all those things, I was taking home $3-5 /hour... so I quit.

One thing that killed me was the fuel cost for all the miles with no passenger. I get a request, drive (unpaid) to the location of the customer, drive (paid) to their destination, and then drive (unpaid) from their destination to a populated area where I'm likely to get another passenger. I think this dynamic is worse in the suburbs where everything is spread out and each of those unpaid drives could be long.

[bossjaycross]

I can verify these figures. As a 4.9 driver with years of driving experience I thought I was in a good position to make extra $ driving both Uber and Lyft. Uber has twice the ride demand that Lyft does in my town, which is a very busy tourist destination. Factoring in tips I can confidently tell you my average pre tax and pre expense net is $13 per hour.  I average 1.6 rides per hour. Do NOT buy a new car to drive Uber/Lyft!! If you are looking for part time income and own a nice used car you don't mind racking miles on this is a good opportunity for part time money.

[youbidoubidou]

A magical car with no wear & tear, depreciation, insurance, etc. Only needs fuel and will run for ever & ever! "Math" LOL.

[centsmedia]

Working with lyft you have to not just drive but also plan your day. People that just drive with lyft don't make any money and actually lose money.

[MiguelMiguelRamos]

if you didn't get any passenger on sunday is because you didn't know where to go, there are some areas where you should go and depends on the time too,

[KuraIthys]

My mother was a taxi driver for a while. That was way before services like this existed.
But the fundamental problem and uncertainty about income is the same either way.
You never know if you're going to get 100 customers in a 12 hour shift, or 10...
So your income is equally unpredictable...
(with traditional taxis you also have to note that, at least in the places I know of, the driver gets 50% of the profits, and the owner of the car the other 50%, and the driver also pays 50% of the fuel costs. - the net effect of this is that average wages tend to be below minimum wage on all but the busiest of days...)

[Jorge-xydo]

That's why this is a good for side money tbh Its great if you have another job with hourly pay