Why (Platform Name Here) Is Bad For Drivers

 I drive for Lyft as well as Uber, and they both have serious flaws for drivers. Let's get into it.

Lyft

> Dangerous and annoying switchoffs. Lyft likes to switch the passenger on the driver for long pick ups, which leads to an awful lot of last-second direction changes for the driver. (And yes, I'm experienced enough to not just do whatever fool thing the GPS tells me to do, but it's still a situation where you've got to suddenly change lanes and course, or risk more unbilled time.)

If you are inexperienced or prone to just following the dictates of the GPS, this can be a serious lack of chill... but there's something else involved that's a real drag here.

> Your time is not your own. Lyft actively tries to prevent the driver from knowing where they are going, or how long the ride is going to be, regardless of whether or not the driver has earned the right to know that information through high status and performance. Those switch-off rides give the driver a passenger that could be a completely different direction and time duration, so planning to do anything in a shift other than give your entire life over to Lyft... really isn't a thing. Which leads to...

> You are going to drive in many more unfamiliar neighborhoods. As a rideshare driver, I like to know my area as much as possible. The roads in central New Jersey are not great and there's a very large amount of deer in the less developed areas. Parts of the state have heavy industry and trucking, and knowing where those folks are going means I can get out of their way a lot faster. If I know a road and the patterns of where the deer come from, I'm just safer -- especially when I'm driving at night, which is my preferred work time. Drive for Lyft, and you're going to take more bridge tolls, dodge more deer and trucks, and feel much less in control.

> You're going to have to play (and eventually lose) Lyft Roulette. Lyft incents the driver with streak bonuses that require the worker to complete each ride that is given to them to qualify -- even if that ride takes them hours out of their way late in the shift. Which is exactly what happened to me the other night when my final passenger of a 3-ride shift took me two hours due west into Pennsylvania Amish country, where I got to manage a flash flood and horses and buggies plodding around in the middle of the night. Oh, and an uncompensated toll road back. I've had worse times doing ride share, but not recently.

> More outlier people. Lyft passengers are friendlier, until they are really not. Lyft passengers tip more, until they really don't, and use you for multiple stops and de facto personal servant work. Lyft passengers chat more, until they engage in wildly over the top personal drama where you'd just wish they'd go back to praying to their phone. Lyft passengers ask for chargers and masks more, and I don't carry every type of charger known to humanity, or always have masks in stock for short rides to folks who don't seem likely to tip...

You are getting some folks who really want to be conscious consumers. You also get some folks who have been tossed off the market leader. There's way less middle here.

Uber

> Super long connect times. The downside of the lack of Lyft switch offs is that Uber is much more likely to give you 15 to 25 minute drives to get passengers. There's some pittance money involved in those rides, but it's really not worth it.

> Bonus dependence. Whether or not you have a good week with Uber is mostly dependent on whether or not you activate the Quest bonus, and those Quests are call your shot levels that... can go right out the window with bad weather, other priorities, a long drive or two, or those super long connect times. I've had days where I knew I wasn't going to make a mark and just regretted doing any work at all for them.

> Highly deceptive and discouraging surge zones. If I activate in a surge zone, I rarely wind up with a ride surge that was what was advertised, or in the area. Usually, it's less than half. So you feel like a chump for being there, or that other drivers must be getting the better treatment. It's extremely distracting and frustrating.

> Single state coverage. As a New Jersey driver who lives ten miles from the state border with Pennsylvania, I get pulled over the line fairly often... and with Uber, that means I'm just being taken into a massive dead zone where the only thing I can do is put my tail between my legs and dead drive back. It doesn't exactly lead to a great service experience for the passengers, either. Lyft lets me work PA. (Now, whether I want to... see that road to the Amish above.)

> Wildly frustrating destination mode. I work nights, locally, and will chase bonuses all the time... which means that keeping my acceptance rates high enough to see time and distance is a very high challenge. It's really easy to have a lot of unlucrative hours with this platform.