Have you ever thought of becoming a Lyft Driver? My sister, Becca Davis, has been thinking about it for a while and decided to give it a try in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  Here is some useful information about becoming a driver for a ride share company and some of her stories from her rides.

If you like this post and would like to hear more memoirs of a Lyft Driver, be sure to leave a comment below! If we get enough positive response we will add a section to this website. Be sure to check back next week for part two of Memoirs of a Lyft Driver. –Beth Henry, Cloud Surfing Kids

: Memoirs of a Lyft Driver: by Becca Davis*

I’m always looking for ways to stay busy and make some extra cash, so I decided to try out being a driver for Lyft during the early morning, evenings & weekends. Here are some things that I didn’t know and think you might be interested in. Also, I’ll tell you what some of my passengers are like, to thrill anyone curious. Be sure to scroll to the bottom for discount and reward links if you want to become a Lyft passenger or Lyft or Uber driver. 

Lyft vs. Uber

Most of my Lyft passengers tell me that they’ve tried Uber and prefer Lyft because it feels safer and they enjoy the experience more. Lyft does a national background check on all of its drivers. Uber only does a state background check. Unlike Uber, Lyft gives the opportunity to tip through the app, so drivers will have no cash on hand, which seems safer to me. Both Lyft and Uber take 25% of the trip charge, the driver get the rest and gets to keep 100% of their tips. The trip rate is calculated by miles and time but most trips come out to be about $1/mile. Both companies have opportunities to rent cars if you don’t have your own or if you don’t want to put the wear and tear on your car, or my biggest fear – have your car vomited in. Both companies have great referral incentives for the passenger and the driver. If you’re downloading either app for the first time, make sure to find a promo code. I will gift you discount codes in links at the bottom of this article.

Airport rides are my favorite and safest! So, I’ll start my passenger summary with my favorite ride.

Passenger 1: Airport

I picked up a man from work and found out we were headed to the airport. He was on his way to Nebraska with his fiancé to plan their wedding. I shared parts of my wedding and honeymoon that I loved or regretted as he asked for my advice and told me what their plans were so far. They plan to get married this time next year so they’re way ahead of me, as I only took 6 months to plan my wedding. He was so nice and easy to talk to; it was like giving a friend a ride to the airport. He gave me a $5 tip.

Good to Know: The rider gets charged for the airport toll through the app and the app reimburses me.

Travel Tip: Make sure you have a plan for safe seating if you’re bringing a child. Drivers most likely will not have a booster or car seat and you are required to follow State laws regarding car seats.

Don’t worry, I was parked!

Most of my rides are very comfortable. I’ve met a lot of really nice people and it’s been fun to get to know them a little bit. I’ve picked up students from school to take them home, picked up people from work and dropped others off at work. I’ve picked up a man in a wheelchair, which disassembled and fit perfectly in my trunk. I’ve taken a father and daughter to an Oktoberfest and I took a couple to the State Fair of Texas for a concert. Unfortunately, I’ve also encountered a sketchy ride.

Passenger 2: Sketchy Ride

I knew I shouldn’t have accepted the ride because it was about 15 minutes away. I usually try to accept rides 7 minutes away or less. Driving to their pickup location is on the driver’s dime, so you don’t want to drive far just to start the trip. The passengers smelled like marijuana, they asked me for a bigger discount because they didn’t have much money, they asked to smoke in my car, they said they were so desperately needing this ride to “drop off a friend’s wallet”, the destination was in a bad part of town – just a few red flags warning me about how this would turn out. They changed the location to farther than originally planned during the drive, and then asked me to take them back home after their transaction. I quickly learned this was probably some type of drug deal. Again, being too nice, I waited for over 20 minutes at the destination (a gas station) for the guy to return to the car. He never did and I finally told the girl to get out of my car, the trip was over. I did make sure that she found him. He wasn’t happy that I was leaving without them, but my heart was racing the whole time I was waiting and it took me that long to finally stand up for myself and leave the unsafe situation.

You never know who you’ll get when you arrive to the pickup. You also don’t know where the final destination is until the passengers are in your car. This is what I don’t like about driving for a ride share app. I learned a lot from that last ride. Now I know can put my foot down and kick people out of my car if I don’t have a good feeling about it. I have decided not to drive after about 8pm. I have also decided to try to do most of my work at airports. Drivers need an extra permit to  pick up at DFW and Love Field airports, and I will be working towards attaining one. Drivers do not need a permit to drop off at the airport, but you never know if a ride will be headed towards the airport.

Good to Know:  Sometimes a driver can’t find the passenger and needs to call them or a passenger is taking longer to get ready and need to text the driver to wait. The app encrypts both phone numbers, so no contact can be made after the ride.

Travel Tip: Remember to check for discount codes out there for Lyft. Discounts vary by city. Try searching Google or Instagram to find the discounts.

(Disclaimer: links will give you a discount as well as give the author, Becca Davis, a bonus. Cloud Surfing Kids founder, Beth Henry, is not being paid for this post and makes no profit from the links in this post.)

Discounts

If you are using lyft for the first time, you can get $50 toward your next rides by using this link.

Interested in becoming a Lyft Driver? Click the photo below and receive a $100 bonus after giving 50 rides within 30 days!

If you think you’d make the Uber world better by being a driver, you can use this link:

Thanks for reading! Comment with any questions you have about Lyft or Uber, either for riding as a passenger or as a driver. We’ll do our best to answer your questions. If you enjoyed reading Memoirs of a Lyft Driver, we would love it if you comment and/or share this post. If we get a good response we will continue to post stories of Becca’s Lyft driving experiences.

*Becca Davis lives near Fort Worth with her husband and adorable little puppy, Leo. When she’s not driving for Lyft, she keeps busy with her job at Samsung, working out in the gym, working at Cheerful Heart Gifts & Boutique in Glen Rose, walking her dog, and playing with nieces and nephews, and taking Hip Hop dance classes. In her “spare” time she shares videos on YouTube to help others with busy lives find ways to eat well and stay fit. You can follow her adventures on Instagram.