Wow. A Year Driving Lyft (Express)

Over 1900 rides with 4 different cars.

Lyft Driver Dashboard. 1900 rides at the one year mark. Note the earning per ride.

Starting in the San Jose area, I’ve gone as far as Sacramento, Madera, Oakley (the back way through the hills 😬), Woodacre (middle of nowhere retreat center), Santa Rosa, and Watsonville.

This is not what I want to be doing, especially since it barely pays bills. Why am I still doing it? It gets me out of the house. I get to explore the Bay Area. If I look deeper, I’m probably running from success.

Here’s the thing, ridesharing is straightforward:

1. Receive ride request
2. Find and pick up the rider
3. Get to the location safely and in a timely manner
4. Repeat

Getting a job, not so much. In no particular order:

• Network
• Show you can do the job and show that you have done the job before
• Be vulnerable, as long as the vulnerabilities aren’t a possible detriment to the job
• Be a generalist to adapt to different situations, but be a specialist in something to be considered for anything
• Know what you want
• And so on…

Instead of going down a vicious downward spiral, this is what I’m looking for:

• Product Management: I’m an observant non-technical product manager that’s looking for opportunities to help small teams find product-market fit. When I’m not driving around, you’ll find me at the Lean Product Meetup hosted at Intuit or working on a PM Certification from the 280 Group.
• User Research. I’m focused on ethnographic and usability studies, with formal training from SJSU and UCSC-Extension
• Informational meetings with people in those roles
• Photography: Events, automotive, and lifestyle assignments. Some of my photo work is here on Smugmug.

Lessons Learned

• Don’t blindly follow the maps. Google Maps is notorious for routing to the back of a building, instead of the front lobby. Sometimes a simple safe U-turn will save tons of time. And sometimes the map recommends a (barely) legal, questionably safe U-Turn. Finally, the built-in maps don’t take into account you’re carpooling.
• Riders, please don’t wait at bus stops. Police have been actively ticketing drivers who stop at bus stops. Also, as a driver, I can’t tell if you’re waiting for the bus or a ride share.
• Speaking of buses. Don’t get in front of a VTA 522, they take “express service” seriously. Don’t get behind the VTA 22, they stop for everything and aren’t in a big hurry.
• Costco has the cheapest, but generally good quality gas. They’re also good to take a break.
• Ambient and/or classical music. Can’t please everyone, and these music styles are mostly neutral.
• Best video for driving smoothly. Don’t let the age fool you, the techniques are still valid. https://youtu.be/IZw7ZnxWKjs