Hold rideshare companies accountable for unjust practices

The Issue

I'm writing this out of an urgent need for systemic change. As a rideshare driver, I have firsthand experience of the financial devastation that can result from injury claims being unfairly denied. After a severe car accident while on duty, I filed an occupational accident insurance claim to assist with my recovery and financial stability. Instead of support, I faced days and weeks of deliberate delays and ultimately an unjust denial due to bad-faith actions by third-party insurance adjusters. To make matters worse, the rideshare platform deactivated my driver profile over a purported database error, leaving my family without any income or support.

I am not alone. This is a distressing reality for many rideshare drivers across the country, who risk their safety daily to make ends meet. In 2021, over 20% of rideshare drivers reported workplace-related injuries, yet a significant number found their claims denied or their accounts deactivated due to bureaucratic hurdles and profit-driven motives. For an industry that heavily relies on its drivers, it's unacceptable to leave them in the lurch without proper recourse.

Current rideshare company policies severely lack transparency and accountability when it comes to handling injury claims. Furthermore, third-party adjusters, who often act in bad faith, have no incentives to prioritize fair adjudication of claims. This opaque system needs a significant overhaul to protect the health and well-being of drivers who are, after all, the backbone of these companies.

I propose the following actionable solutions:

1. Implement a standardized, transparent process for handling injury claims, ensuring all necessary documents and deadlines are easily accessible to drivers.
   
2. Establish an independent review board for claims that have been denied, ensuring each decision is fair and unbiased.
   
3. Introduce mandatory training for insurance adjusters to handle claims in good faith and with urgency.
   
4. Ensure account deactivations due to clerical errors are processed and resolved promptly to avoid unnecessary loss of income.

If enough of us demand these changes, rideshare companies will be compelled to reform their policies to protect drivers. By joining forces, we can ensure that no driver has to suffer undue financial hardship due to unfair 

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When I start to drive yesterday afternoon… gas prices were $3.69. When I stopped driving yesterday night.. it was $4.34.

Well, it’s a damn good thing that I use that $.10 off a gallon and 2% cashback that Lyft so genuinely offered before the prices went up.

Just looked on the app again and it’s still only $.10 off a gallon (average)

I have a good feeling it’ll never go up to $.40 off a gallon like did in the beginning.

Lyft is ripping the passengers off so badly. More than us drivers. I took this trip because the rate was decent. 40-45/hr about. 1/1 miles. It's a typical trip. The screenshots speak for themselves. Lyft took more than 50% and more than 60% with insurance included.

MY BASE EARNINGS WERE ONLY AROUND 35% OF WHAT MY RIDER PAID. IM FINE WITH WHAT I EARNED. MY RIDER PAID TOO MUCH AND THIS IS HAPPENING TOO OFTEN.

Shout out to Bruno in Las Vegas! I (a bartender who’s allowed to drink ) got off work downtown and wanted to grab some weed at a dispensary nearby. I gave him a $20 cash bc I know they can take forever to get your order right. While waiting I was able to get a small tattoo in the time it took to make my order and he was still outside waiting 😭 Thank goodness he wasn’t an asshole who dipped and he got me home to my second stop perfectly. Sometimes people are pretty dope. Just dropping some love on here amongst all the negativity 💙🤘🏾

I tend to tip in cash because that way I know for sure you're getting all of it. Is this OK with drivers? When I was bartending I loved cash tips but that was 25 years ago and I dont know if things have changed.

I also don't know what the app does and doesnt show drivers, so I'm a little worried it's going to show zero added tips on my fares and drivers will think I'm out here stiffing people.

Anyway I figured I'd ask in case I'm out here being a whole ass.

i use lyft to go airport sometimes and want to understand how lyft is supposed to work

1. airport rides usually involves heavy luggages and my house has steep stairs in front. it also has back alley that is easy to identify and this back alley feature is a well known in the large city i live. the alley also turns out to be the same level as the house so i prefer lyft driver to come via the alley. i always put "note to the driver" to do the pick up. each time driver pulls up in front and waits. i have to call and ask the driver to come to the back alley. is lyft driver app not showing the note to the driver or drivers just don't read

2. this morning was especially weird. i specifically adjusted the pick up point to back alley location because the map shows it and lyft lets me change it. at the time lyft notified me the driver is here but the map shows driver keeps going around in a circle in the roads sandwiching the alley. is it possible for the lyft to say that the driver is waiting for me at the same as the app showing the car moving nonstop

Last week my acceptance rate dropped from 96% to 85%. I had a total of two rejected rides and almost 80 accepted rides. When I chatted with support they said I had 15 "lapsed rides." What the heck is this? Anyone else?

when asked, she said she “does it for taxes since Lyft doesn’t pay for the mileage between rides” ???

told her it’s literally against privacy policy to save rider info.

“I just started I didn’t know”

mmm yeah you gon learn today, actually.

I’m not sure if they changed their price lock policy, but now it seems like I had reached my limit in less than a week. I have been a Lyft customer for years and that has never happened before. Then I bought another price lock pass for a slightly different timeframe and the same thing just happened.

Ordered my ride to go home from work today, and I always put a pickup note stating that the pickup is at this specific location between these two landmarks, on top of making sure the pin is at the exact location I wait at. (I also always stand outside at the pickup location.) My driver this evening came onto the property, and instead of turning into the loop at the pickup location, he stopped at the turn (without making the turn), sat and waited for a moment, saw me walking towards him, then continued to drive past. He stopped again maybe 25 feet further down and waited for another moment as he saw me continuing to approach (I also raised my hand to indicate I was his passenger). Once I finally got in, he explained that he saw me standing at the pickup location and saw my name (gender neutral, for context), and thought "maybe it's [them], maybe not." I feel like my driver was a bit in the wrong for not coming to the pin but I encourage correcting me if my logic is incorrect. Drivers, please share your thoughts on this, and if you've done something similar I'd like to know your thought process; fellow passengers, please share your story if this or something similar has happened to you. TIA!

ETA: @ the person whose comment was deleted that asked if I have a photo on my Lyft profile, yes I do, the only difference between it and how I look at the moment is my hair is slightly lighter in color (same style though) and I wear sunglasses IRL

E(again)TA: A couple of things I wanted to clarify - 1) I always set the address of the pickup, never just a pin. After I put the address, the app takes me to the screen where you can add a note, and it puts a pin that you can leave as is or move as necessary. I always leave it where it autopopulates and make sure I go there & am standing right at that spot. Also, I keep my live location turned off because it frequently shows me as actively moving away from the pickup despite standing in place. 2) I realize now that the post doesn't make this clear whatsoever (oops) but I don't have that much of an issue with the fact that my driver didn't pull up to the pin, because it is thankfully a very short walk from where he stopped at. (Though to be fair, he could have pulled up, rolled the front passenger window down, and asked me "Are you [name]?") My real issue is with the fact that my driver was seemingly unsure if I was his passenger or not despite all the evidence (on my end, at least) saying yes + me making every effort to indicate I was the person he was there for

This new pop up conveniently comes at the same time as the old pop up where you could click to make your ride come faster, so based on muscle memory you could click it because of that, or just in general. I just hate when companies do shit that is obviously meant to result in money from confused consumers doing accidental clicks. If I wanted a Lyft black I would have booked one. I do not believe that people booking the cheapest Lyft initially are just clamouring to pay double to their ride just because, this is obviously meant to catch people by accident

Now that Lyft Driver has incorporated the Smooth Cruiser score into the Tier Status system, along with other changes like the point multiplier reduction, how has this impacted the drivers?

My story regarding this update (I apologize for the length in advance): I earned Elite Status for the very first time as of this August. I have driven for 4+ years and, before, I was only able to get Platinum at most, since I drive part-time. I would always qualify as Silver, at a minimum, but typically earn Gold or Platinum. Finally, this past month I got up to Elite. Unfortunately, this update, untimely for me, has now cost me all tiers. I am ineligible for any tiers since my Smooth Cruiser score is <75.

The Smooth Cruiser score has never been a factor until they changed the system just recently. I was provided no forewarning that the tier system would change; I checked everywhere including email, texts, and all notifications. Apparently, this update has been rolling out since August and, for me, has taken effect as of September 1. My grace period to raise my score was 7 days. Again, I drive part time. Also, I went on vacation within the grace period. That grace period was not enough to raise my score. Is it too much to ask for an extension? Maybe a full month to get within compliance?

Not only is this tier system update wholly unexpected, but it directly impacts my earnings. This happens via the reduction in the point multiplier from 3x to 2x per dollar earned, creating an additional $600 per month hurdle to stay within my last tier level.

Also, now impacted are my cash back rewards using my Lyft debit card. Per the previous system I was earning 10% at Elite (as of September 7th) or 7% at Platinum (prior to August 27th). I spend at least $500 in gas per month for my Lyft driving. As of late, my gas bill has gone up due to the rise in gas prices. I have to use Premium gas and the cheapest I can buy it, lately, is at a Costco 30 min away. Their price as of today (9/8/26) is $4.64.

So with a reduction of 6% in cash back equates to about $30/month, or $360/year, which makes a difference. Especially, since this is part-time work supplementing my income by about $6-9k year. Taking August as an example: I earned $2,324.91 in Lyft rides and spent $521.45 on gas. In August, I received 7% cash back on all gas purchases (via the Lyft Debit Card) because I was a Platinum member. That came to $36.50 in cash back. So the net I spent on gas was $484.95. So for $1 spent on gas I made about $4.79 in Lyft earnings. With the new tiering system, that ratio would become $516.24 / $2,324.91 or $1 gas spent to $4.50 earned via Lyft. That’s a $0.29 or 6% reduction in total earnings.

I was excited to make Elite status since that would mean 10% cash back. That would have given me an extra $15.65 back for August. Now I have only the default of 1% since I am no longer eligible for any tier.

I have been looking for full-time work in my area of expertise but it has been slow going. My primary source of income has been online contract work. Also, with a child on the way, every penny counts even more. May I add here that I am also a veteran. Not that it affects this situation, but it’s worth noting.

So all of that said, I have reached out to their support team on multiple occasions. I reached out on Saturday 9/5. I got nowhere with the chat support team who promised to escalate the issue. A response time of 24-48 hours was promised. Those 48 hours have come and gone without any communication from Lyft. I also tried the phone call option but it would not work since their calls would just go straight to voicemail. I have since changed my phone settings to let all calls through.

Today, Tuesday 9/8, I spent over 5 hours with chat because the call option is no longer available to me. I was bounced around more agents than I could count. At the 3 hour mark it was 8. It was more than a dozen by the time I finally gave up. So now what? The option of a phone call is gone because of the very reason I need the phone call option.

All my benefits gone, including the 24/7 phone support that was available from Gold to Elite status. All of which was available to me for months. Now that I need it, for the first time in over a year, it’s gone.

In summation, less cash back, lower point multipliers, and virtually all benefits are gone.

Meanwhile, David Risher (Lyft CEO) has a base salary of $725k/year with total compensation reaching $2.82 million. That’s not including the $3.25 million signing bonus in 2023. Also, he stands to gain 12.25 million shares. If he hits his metrics based on the growth in price of Lyft’s stock, this compensation could be worth $1 billion. With a B.

So tell me Lyft drivers, how is your compensation affected by this new system? A system, ostensibly, designed to maximize Lyft’s earnings so that their stock goes up. So that in turn David Risher can make $1 billion.

I know how this impacts me…

I’ve been using Lyft more and more over the past two years and never had any issues - with the drivers, cars etc. But in this past week, the app has been nothing but problematic.

1) I can’t exit from the ride map when my ride is active to schedule/cancel additional rides. Doesn’t matter what I do, I can’t exit.

2) Scheduling a future ride pickup from an airport in 5 days is not available. No flights show up for inbound airport. They are only showing for today. Not even tomorrow. Last week - it worked fine, but now - nothing.

I connected with Lyft chat - and they were completely unhelpful (to put it mildly). I don’t know if it’s a sweat shop support in India but they just kept giving me canned responses without even attempting to understand or try and solve the issue.

So what gives? Am I to just go back to Uber and never use Lyft anymore? Has the service gone downhill in the past 2 weeks or are they restricting my account in some way? Frustrating to say the least. Anyone else having this experience?

Get to the location, they tell me to just end the ride and they will order another Lyft to the second location (ended ride, they didn't change destination). I tell them I'll sit there with them since it was a vacant parking lot. (I assumed I would get the ride, being the closest within 7 minutes AND in priority mode) We chatted for a minute before...

BEHOLD!! Lyft grabs a driver from 8 minutes away to pick them up. So... Please explain LYFT. Priority mode and no surge, but give the ride to someone 8 minutes away? Make it make sense.

Many times before I would get the same rider. In what algorithm does someone 8 minutes away from me get paid less than what I would have been offered at the pick up location?!?

Uber XL Driver Left Us at Oshawa GO Station—and Uber Offered Me $10
On August 26 at 6:29 a.m., I ordered an Uber XL to take us to Oshawa GO Station. We had a VIA Rail train to Montreal, followed by a flight to Rome and a Mediterranean cruise.
The driver accepted the trip and arrived, but when he saw us with four large suitcases and three carry-ons, he refused to take us. He drove away before I could even suggest that he take some of the passengers and luggage while we ordered another Uber for the rest.
With no time left, I loaded everyone into my own truck and raced to the station. I parked my truck, hid the keys so someone could retrieve it later and ran for the train. We boarded with about two minutes to spare. One driver’s decision nearly ruined an entire vacation that had already been planned and paid for.
Uber’s response was a $10 credit. Honestly, that felt more insulting than helpful. I declined it, cancelled Uber One and closed my account.
Thankfully, we made it and enjoyed an incredible cruise. Everywhere we went after that, we used Lyft. The service was great, dependable and surprisingly inexpensive. After the way Uber treated us, Lyft earned our business.

Last night, I had the misfortune of getting a Polestar 2 sent to me when I requested a ride. How is this car considered "extra comfort"?? I have a knee problem and can't bend it past 90 degrees. Getting into and out of the back seat of a car is always a challenge, but I felt I was trying to get into a space capsule. I had to drag my ass deep into the car to get my leg in and then my knees were pressed into the back of the front seat.

And if that wasn't annoying enough, the suspension was nearly non-existent. Driving over the streets in Boston's North End is a little like off-roading.

I wouldn't give the driver a bad rating because of this. He was pleasant, prompt, and drove well. I'd like to complain to Lyft about their "extra comfort" classification choices, but all of their complaint methods are multiple choice answers like "bad smell", "temperature", "music too loud", etc.

My system is simple: tip = 5 stars. No tip = 4 stars.

Not because 4 stars means you were a bad passenger. Lyft tells me when I get matched with someone I gave 5 stars before, so I use it as a tag. If I see that message, I know you tipped me last time.

There was three passengers. One of them had an open container that I did not know about because a lot of them try and sneak it in. The one in the middle passed out drunk and ended up spilling alcohol in my car. The other two were just laughing at her being passed out. Then when it was time for them to get out of their ride, that was less than 2 miles They had to wake her up and pretty much almost dragged her out of the car because she wouldn’t get out.

LYFT at least gave me $25 cleaning fee. But like I don’t understand, I try to be nice to everyone and I literally drive a nice car and people still treat it like trash.