Has Lyft Secretly Updated Their Driver Algorithm?

As a Lyft driver, have you suddenly been getting less rides? It may be due to a recent change. It appears that Lyft may have secretly updated their driver algorithm. This has the potential to impact your Lyft driver earnings and how many trips you get in 2021. In this video, RSG contributor Chris covers the details of this. This video on Rideshare and Lyft has been produced by The Rideshare Guy.

Intro 0:00
Lyft’s Algorithm 0:21
The Email 2:14
Why this makes sense 4:58
What this means 7:07
Outro 10:57

We received an anonymous tip recently from a self-proclaimed Lyft employee that Lyft is pairing their drivers to passengers differently…and Lyft hasn’t informed drivers of the change. Before we get into the claim, naturally we wanted to verify that the tipster was in fact a Lyft employee, but he/she was hesitant to provide proof.

In the email though, the ‘anonymous Lyft employee’ even went so far as to say they created a new e-mail account and ran the message through a ‘text-changer’ so it wouldn’t be traced back to them. Paranoid? Maybe, but we decided to hold off on publishing until about a week later when this post popped up on Reddit that detailed the same things we were told via email.

Note: We did reach out to Lyft for a comment, but they declined to comment as of the time of publication. We will update if and when we do hear back. If the claim was false though, it seems to me that it would be pretty easy for Lyft to refute it in an official statement. I’ll let you be the judge though…

We reached out to Ed Walker, our resident insurance expert and also VP at USI Insurance Services, who said something like this wouldn’t be unexpected. According to Ed:

“If this is what they are indeed doing, it would not be without reason. In fact, one can only expect to see more and more techniques like this implemented as the industry evolves. Many traditional means of reducing accidents in large fleets have shown minimal impact or are rendered useless altogether by the unique, uncontrollable attributes of the standard ridesharing model.

While sometimes restrictive, the increasing level of accidents and settlement sizes present today continue to place a heavy emphasis on operators of all sizes to search out and implement new and progressive means of managing their exposure.”

Basically, rideshare companies like Lyft and Uber want to reduce claims in order to keep operating. Too many accidents mean it’s more expensive to insure Lyft (and Uber) drivers. That makes sense.

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About The RideShare Guy:

I'm Harry, the founder of The Rideshare Guy. I started driving for Uber and Lyft in 2015 and eventually quit my day job as an aerospace engineer to run The Rideshare Guy full time.

These days, I'm a trusted media expert on all things rideshare and have a number of contributors across the country who are all driving for Uber and Lyft and other gig companies like Instacart, Doordash, and Postmates.

The RideShare Guy has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, CNBC, NPR, 60 Minutes on CBS TV, The Washington Post, Wired, Forbes, SFGate, and hundreds more.

The RideShare Guy has interviewed top gig economy leaders and reporters such as

• Executive Director Automotive Research Stanford, Dr. Stephen Zoepf, PhD MIT
• Senior Tech Policy Reporter at Ars Technica Tim Lee

Tags

#Lyft
#Lyftdrivers
#Lyftdriverearnings

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[aleckazamproductions]

I stopped ridesharing in February. Its not worth the toll it takes on your car, even if they doubled the pay.

[jorgeb]

I drive in Washington, DC. I 41 years old. I drive a 2018 Hyundai, Elentra. I have an iPhone 12 Pro Max. Never take incoming calls, or mess around with my phone while driving for Lyft. Never been into an accident. I have and added rideshare car insurance full coverage with USAA. I do get a lot of rides with Lyft lately I’ve noticed.

[brandynbetton]

Wait. They can tell if you touch your phone during rides? That’s crazy.

[red]

Lyft never had enough riders or drivers to be jacking around with dispatch. I quit Lyft years ago

[Butrcup]

I drive Lyft in CA for 2 yrs...However for 5 months now I have been stuck in "updating background check" status. 5 months. Courts are closed. The company ChekR apparently has humans go into courthouses to research. What is this 1970? Ive gone to the hub 4 times about this now & same thing. They said 30% of their workforce is pending still. 2 guys ahead of me were there for the same reason. Maybe u can research this pls. I've 3 1099 jobs. 2 completely gone due to covid & state shutdowns. I always thought I'd be ok cause of lyft. NOT... by the way uber uses the same background check co. so I can't drive for them now either...

[bobno]

Lyft is stupid it makes more sense than match the closest person to you instead of me driving 20 minutes away for 5 minutes drive drop off

[RideShareConfessions]

I drive in DC
I am over 40
car Suburban
phone android
rides 7000+
drastic decline on rides in the last 2 months

[cherieknighton]

I quit Ubering this week. There is so many “shady” things about both platforms. I have 4 years with Uber and 3 with Lyft. Bye rideahare. This video confirms that it’s the right decision. Come on, having a better phone helps LOL for the love of God!

[designhubcustomapparel]

I don't know what's going on with Uber but it isn't so worth it anymore. I believe Uber changed their algorithm as well. I am going to stop turning on the Uber App. They want to send me 19 mins away for $3.75, and then ding me on my acceptance rate cause I don't want to be used like that no more. I'm sick of them.

[idreamoffairrideshare]

Good video Chris 👍 I think that is some of it. My ride requests in general are down about 50% on Lyft. I do have an IPhone but it does sit on a wireless charging pad which does cause the phone to move. Yesterday I had a Lyft rider tell me that they waited for an hour and half for a ride while I was in that area for at least an hour (gave 2 uber min fare rides but not one on Lyft).I think there is also some changes that have been made with the algorithm on both platforms which is due to Prop 22. That is my driving hours (passenger requests and rides) have gone down dramatically. The last 3 weeks I have only been hitting about 14 engaged hours on both platforms. I know you say how. Last week on Lyft, I did a 3 hour unicorn ride Monday morning and still only hit 14.25 engaged hours on Lyft. This wasn’t from declining rides, this was from lack of requests. I had the same scenario happen on Uber the week prior. Another thing to note is before these changes, I was averaging about 20 engaged hours on Lyft and 28 engaged hours on Uber. I think they have made these changes so they don’t have to pay out the benefits of prop 22 (this is why I was/am/have been against it all along since they still have all of the control points). Happy Holidays bud

[matthewdixon]

I drive in Texas. I have a fairly high number of rides but don't drive fairly often anymore. I have an Android phone and am younger and have noticed further decline in the number of rides

[pseudohumor]

I drive primarily Los Angeles and her sister cities.. Driven 4.5 years, exclusively for Lyft, 7, 200 + trips. The biggest difference that I have noticed is that the distance to pickup the pax has increased dramatically. I assumed that there were less drivers on the road because of COVID 19. Also, most of the time, I have a pax waiting for as much as 15 minutes while I have someone in the car.. No one ever complains about the wait, which really surprises me. I am swamped every day that I drive. Stacked rides and non-stop..
I do not think that a decrease in rides for a driver can be attributed to any one factor at the current time. Everything is in chaos -- shutdowns, lack of money, unknown future, fewer drivers on the road.. Example - are there fewer rides because people are not working and have no money and no where to go ? -- or -- Are the current drivers very busy because there are fewer drivers on the road because of COVID19 ?
Too many variables in that equation.. This also may be Lyft's way of phasing out poor drivers. Drivers that perform poorly, cherry pick their rides, cancel alot , have alot of pax complaints, etc. IN Calif., their operating expenses will be increasing.. I expect to see many changes on Lyfts platform.

[designhubcustomapparel]

Yes I am getting more rides, I am in my mid 40's, I have an IPhone, have a great driving record, never touch my phone while I am driving or with a customer in the car, done about 16000k rides, 4.98 rating, no tickets in about 20 years and my insurance is kind of high to me..Well I pay about $166 for a 2015 Hyundai Sonata.

[gardezian]

That is exactly what happen to me I use to get so many rides then all the sudden in November something happened
and I wasn't getting many rides by the way my rating is 5 stars so I stop driving!

[ginoavedisian]

I live in LA, CA. I'm a driver have done over 10, 000 rides I use a Samsung I have a 5 star rating and I'm am on platinum status and I've noticed a change even tho I put in the hours I make less and it usually happens after a a pervious day were I have made a lot of money so maby these companies pull back the rains on drivers that make a lot just a thought and my own opinion

[christopherlarivey]

This has been going on since last summer. I got deactivated randomly late 2019 after driving only a few months and this is basically exactly it.

[Rbl]

Both Lyft and Uber want drivers to work for $15 an hour minus gas, insurance and depreciation. I URGE ALL UBER AND LYFT DRIVERS TO QUIT!!

[antoniobossmansantana]

My problem is that I get requests from over 20 minutes away. Also adding rides to your present ride while driving without the chance to reject or cancel.

[a.s.neuman]

I’m in SoCal, drive a 2007 Prius, have an iPhone, have a perfect driving record, am 47, have a 5.0 star rating, and don’t touch my phone much while driving except to check upcoming turns on Waze. I’ve done a bit over 3700 rides since I started almost 6 years ago, but most of my rideshare driving was for Uber before the virus. Since returning to the platform at the beginning of June I’ve driven almost exclusively for Lyft and have been non-stop busy everyday...rides queued before I’ve dropped off my passenger almost every ride.

As to your iPhone question, studies have shown iPhone users are typically more nerdy, ie intelligent and safety minded, than android users.

[meso]

android here, i have notice a lot of pings for lyft." even far away pick ups " i only have 318 total rides . i have 5star rating and a lot of good customer reviews on my driving! and how clean my car is! i berely touch my phone while on the move, but during a complete stop, at the light, i do get on my phone.