Lyft Brings Back Hourly Guarantees for Halloween
[Update – Uber responds by extending their guarantee for their drivers]
[Update 2: Further clarification on qualification requirements for the hourly guarantee.]
[Update 3: Be mindful that there were outages with both Uber and Lyft system last night. Read here about the Uber 30 minute worldwide outage, and here for the Lyft 2 hour Halloween Outage.]
Earlier this week, Uber came out with their hourly guarantees in many markets. They varied from only $25 an hour to up to $40 an hour. Some of them started on Thursday nights whereas some other markets started on Friday nights and the timing varies by market.
Just this afternoon, Lyft drivers across the country got emails about Lyft’s Hourly Guarantee which usually matches Uber’s Guarantee. In the Boston market, Lyft is adding an extra day and extra hours compared to Uber, so Lyft drivers can earn more than Uber drivers this weekend.
Here are some guarantees from across the country (usually Lyft matches Uber’s offer but dates/times differ):
- Boston – $40/hr (Lyft started Thursday, Uber starts Friday)
- San Francisco – $40/hr
- Nashville – $40/hr
- Los Angeles – $35/hr
- Phoenix – $35/hr
- DC: Lyft $35 Friday and Saturday 5pm-3am (Uber $27 for earlier hours, $35 for graveyard hours)
- Austin – $25/hr
- Orange County – $25/hr
- Nashville – $25 for both Lyft and Uber
- Honolulu – None from Lyft but Uber $20/hr
- San Antonio – $20/hr
Here was the email I received:
Ready for a supernatural boost in rides? Halloween brings tricks, treats, and a ridiculous spike in demand. Drive this weekend and earn $40 an hour, guaranteed by Lyft.
Times to Drive for $40/hr
Thursday 8 p.m. – 1 a.m.
Friday 5 p.m. – 3 a.m.
Saturday 5 p.m. – 3 a.m. Fine print: You must give at least two rides per hour and have a 90% acceptance rate to qualify for the guarantee. Lyft will pay the difference for any hours where hourly guarantee is not met. Payment will be issued on or before November 10, 2014.
Costumes encouraged, but not required.
The fine print has me a little worried. 2 rides an hour with such a high guarantee? I am not quite sure if I’ll get that many rides tonight. I will be emailing Lyft about the criteria if I don’t hit the mark and I’ll do my best to head back into the hot zones to ensure that I get the guarantee.
[Update: Here is the clarification of the 2 rides per hour rule]
No shows still qualify as one ride
If you straddle an hour, it’ll depend on when the ride started (as long as it is completed), and will count for that hour in which it was requested in. Historically, Halloween is our second-busiest time of the year; we have no doubt you can reach that 2 ride minimum. You do not have to drive all of the hours to qualify.
For example, I did 1 ride between 5pm and 6pm, then 2 rides between 6pm and 7pm. The driver will only get the guarantee for times between 6-7pm. Note that if the 2nd ride ended at 7:05pm, it would still count for the hour between 6-7pm, as long as it was requested before 7pm.
You do not need to be in driver mode for a full 60 minutes in order to qualify. As long as you give two rides and keep a 90% acceptance rate for that hour, you’re good to go.
For example, if you log in to driver mode at 8:15 p.m., get two ride requests, and complete both of those requests at 8:45 p.m., you can log out of driver mode and still receive the guarantee.
Have any other Lyft Drivers received their guarantee in their local markets? What are yours? Comment on your city!
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