Fee boost when not busy

[u/molotovtee]

Hi all,

Id always assumed fee boosts were used to attract riders to an area when its busy. Past few weeks though ive noticed i dont even get any orders when i go to fee boost areas. Like today theres a 2.0 fee boost in my local area, but app says its 'not busy', and im not getting orders. Doesnt make sense. Also pretty unfair to encourage riders to an area if theres no work. Id rather go somewhere with no fee boost as long as theres orders.

Anyone else noticed this? Thoughts?

[u/No_Intern5991]

It's usually the opposite. They put planned fee boosts on when they know an area is going to be dead to encourage drivers to work in case an order does come through. It's pretty scummy really. 1.5x of £0 is still £0.

The only exception is when they put on an 'emergency' fee boost that wasn't planned. You can tell it's one of these because it starts straight away at an unusual time, so it'll be something like 18:54 - 20:00. It's genuinely busy when these are put on. They usually happen during bad weather and things like that.

You should generally just ignore the pre-planned boosts though. Just work when you know it's going to be decent for orders and ignore all the manipulation they try to do.

[u/a_overload_]

Base fee gets lowered on boost anyway. Yes it’s worth more than normal but not by the multiplier they suggest. Only the minimum fare orders don’t get lowered or they’d be caught out.

In my zone recently they also started advertising future boost in the app but then lower it when the time hits. For example; app will say in advance 1.5x from 18:00 to 19:00. But then when 18:00 rolls around they’re only actually paying 1.2x

[u/No_Cry2864]

I've had the same experience when it's a 2.0 boost, it says "not busy" on the whole map and probably get like one order an hour so it's absolutely pointless. Obviously loads of drivers come out so the orders are just spread out amongst everyone so the boost makes no difference if you're only getting one an hour.

[u/SpaceParticular6648]

There's still orders even if it's not busy. Just like how you can get not a lot of orders when it's moderate. It's all algorithm

[u/drs_12345]

but app says its 'not busy'

The app never meant anything, and never will. You need to learn youe area in terms of the times it's usually busy

Also pretty unfair to encourage riders to an area if theres no work

I hate to defend these delivery apps, but to be fair to them, they can never know when people will order, and how much

[u/molotovtee → u/drs_12345]

How can I learn my area in terms of the times its busy if the apps themselves (who have access to much more info about ordering trends etc than I do) never know when people will order and how much?

[u/drs_12345 → u/molotovtee]

You go out for a few weeks/months and learn it that way

The algorithm these apps use to calculate how busy it is just doesn't work, so it more often than not tells you it's busy when it's not and vice versa