Upfront pay
With upfront pay, you’ll see a ride’s route and total earnings before you choose to accept the ride. By seeing all of the ride details and pay in advance, you can decide what works for you.
With upfront pay, your earnings are based on a number of factors, which can include:
- Estimated time and distance to complete the ride.
- Travel to the pickup point.
- Volume of ride requests in the area.
Since you see what you’ll earn up front, your earnings are no longer based on your rate card after the ride is complete. Because pay is informed by real-time factors, you may notice some variation in your earnings from day to day.
Upfront pay is available for the following ride types:
- Standard Lyft rides
- Extra Comfort
- Black
- XL and Black SUV
Skip to:
How it works
When you get a ride request, you’ll see all the details up front, including:
- The amount you’ll earn.
- The pickup and drop-off locations.
- The estimated time and distance to complete the ride.
- A map view of the full ride.
If you accept the ride, you’ll earn the amount shown unless there’s a significant change to the ride. Your earnings will adjust based on your rate card.
If a rider cancels before you get to the pickup point, the standard cancel policy applies.
Once the ride is complete, you’ll receive the earnings you saw up front. You’ll also receive any tips, tolls, and multi-ride bonuses you earned.
You can find a breakdown of each ride’s earnings in your Dashboard.
To see your earnings for a specific ride:
- Open the main menu, then tap 'Account.'
- Tap 'Dashboard,’ then tap ‘Driving history.’
- Select the ride you want to review.
Waiting at the pickup point
If you have to wait for your passenger at the pickup point, you’ll be paid for that time as well. These earnings are in addition to the ride earnings you saw up front. Once the ride is completed, you can view a breakdown of your ride's earnings in your ride receipt.
For Standard Lyft, Extra Comfort, and XL rides, you’re paid for time at the pickup point after you’ve waited for the rider for 2 minutes. After 5 minutes, you can choose to either cancel the trip or continue to wait.
For Black and Black SUV rides, you’re paid for time at the pickup point after you’ve waited for the rider for 5 minutes. After 10 minutes, you can choose to either cancel the trip or continue to wait.
Trip changes
With upfront pay, you'll always receive the earnings you were shown up front, unless there is a significant change to the ride. This isn’t common, and these adjustments occur rarely.
Some examples could be if your passenger adds or removes a stop in-app, or if the ride ends up being considerably longer or shorter than expected.
In cases like those, your earnings are adjusted after the ride is complete. Earnings adjustments are based on your rate card.
After the ride is complete, you can view your ride details in the Dashboard. You’ll see your earnings for the ride and any adjustments. Beneath the total amount you earned for a ride, you’ll also see an explanation of why the final amount changed.
To view your ride details:
- Open the main menu, then tap 'Account.'
- Tap 'Dashboard,’ then tap ‘Driving history.’
- Select the ride you want to review.
See also: