I started New Year's Eve with a need for Lyft points to clear December's requirement, so the first four hours are spent on one platform, not optimizing for surge or prime areas, and... stink. Lots of rides to low density places, no surge, no tips, no conversation, and I can't wait to get to the points requirement. I think I'm there as my bladder is bursting and I'm local to my home, so I pull in, get relief and discover... nope, one point (out of 860) short. GAHHH. It clears soon after, and I pivot to two platforms...
Only to discover that Uber is also playing Screw the Driver games with surge areas that disappear on activation, using up my margins for avoiding inefficient rides, and by the time midnight rolls around, I'm staring down the barrel of nothing more than a better than average Tuesday.
After the clock strikes, my luck changes, and I find myself in a college area (short rides, high prices, full cars so I don't even really feel that bad about the surge, since they can spread the pain). After 90 good minutes of this, I'm in hailing distance of the daily goal, especially if I complete a Quest.
Uber Quests are "beat the clock" promotions where you get a bonus to complete a number of rides before a deadline. Having already completed two earlier and less profitable rounds, I'm now in the finale: 3 for $35, on top of the surge price and possible tips. In other words, nearly consulting rates. And I'm out of margin for being picky, so anything that comes down the pike is one I'm going to take. Rideshare Gods, activate! Form of... good stories for later!
The first ride takes me across the border to Pennsylvania. Leaving the app on means I won't get any fares until I get back across the state line, but I will accrue whatever surge price is happening on my way back. Which means my first ride will be, along with the second ride of the Quest, an extra twelve bucks... and it is, of course, stupid far away, and a shared ride for a single passenger, which will take me back into Pennsylvania to do the whole thing again. Joy.
I drive the 15+ minutes to Bordentown, a well-off little town south of Trenton that has a rather unfortunate police history of making sure that people from Trenton do not go there. It's not exactly my favorite place to be. I roll up on my pick up point, at which moment two male-female white couples try to enter. I have the option, at this point, to either ignore the rules and give these cheap chuckleheads what they want for less, to an area I don't want to go... or I can tell them no and cancel, while making no money. Most times, I just eat it and three-star the passenger, because the majority of shared rides are not doing so out of anything approaching eco-friendliness, but tonight... nope. I drive away as the meatiest of the guys showers me with profanity, and was I smiling to hear it? I'll leave that to the imagination.
The next fare is again 10 minutes away, but at least it's coming back 25 minutes in what's likely in state, and if I'm going to close out this quest by 4 am (gahhh), I'm going to have to be quick about it. So I roll on out to a remote home in a quasi-rural area, and get five (yes, one more than the the legal limit, and the women are going to sit on some guy, and they're all drunk) people piling into the hatchback. Joy. We roll on out as drunk people engage in comedy, because some people are like that when they drink, and they think I'm hilarious because I'm dryly adding in asides about their remarks. (OnlyFans, feet pics, artistic integrity and the like. Nothing all that novel.)
We get two minutes from the drop when the guy in the front seat announces he can stands no more, so I pull over as he expertly pukes on the side of the road. He's quick about it and seemingly not too burdened by food, so five minutes later I'm alone again, with the final ride of the Quest relatively close by, but 30+ minutes west. Two guys speaking what is I'm going to imagine is a Slavic language enter, with enough understanding of English to confirm the mission. By the time I've dropped them off, I've learned that English is the language for profanity, but not much else, and made an off-the-app second stop because they can't figure out the app to do such things. I drive back home alone for the better part of an hour on empty roads.
If you drive on New Years' Eve, this is what you can expect. Higher risks, higher rewards, and if nothing else, a lot of people getting home safe.
Final tally: 28 rides for $399, plus some progress towards a Lyft quest for the week, plus whatever tips trickle in the next day.
And, of course, the memories...
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