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How much does a Lyft driver earn?

brent-noorda.blogspot.com

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Re: How much does a Lyft driver earn?

#41

Post by brent_noorda »

pbreit wrote: post #38

This is poor analysis. The writer takes an artificially high number ($9100), divides it by an artificially low number (12,000) and then multiplies it by an artificially high number (30 mph) resulting in just about the highest number possible. Take a $15,000 car with a nice warranty and good mileage. $3 or so per hour for gas. $200/month for registration, insurance, etc. Maybe you'd get to $10 and hour in costs, but I…

At $10/hour expenses (your estimate) and $26/hour income (the original article's estimate) the Lyft driver is now netting $16/hour.

Re: How much does a Lyft driver earn?

#42

Post by abalone »

pbreit wrote: post #40
abalone wrote: post #29

Oh give me a break. He's basing his entire analysis on the assumption that it costs $22.80/hr to operate a vehicle. They way he comes up with that is by including the up-front cost of the vehicle. That's not quite the right logic. Most people do not go out and purchase a vehicle just to become a Lyft drivers. Certainly that's not what you should do. A better economic analysis is to look at Lyft as a way to make your…

> Most people do not go out and purchase a vehicle just to become a Lyft drivers. But that's a likely direction. And if you're trying to make much money from Lyft, you're probably driving it much more for Lyft than for yourself already.

Still counts. As long as you would have bought the vehicle for your own use anyway, it's a sunk cost. Whether or not it's profitable to rent it out via Lyft depends solely on the incremental costs of the extra driving -- not how much extra driving you do. And if it is profitable, then driving more is more profitable, not less.

Re: How much does a Lyft driver earn?

#43

Post by vilhelm_s »

brent_noorda wrote: post #33

Nice feedback on my blog post, y'all. Thanks. Estimating exactly how much a driver receives from Lyft, versus that driver's expenses, is really difficult. So I took some shortcuts with easily searchable published data and ended up with just $3.45/hour. In a G+ discussion it came up that if you could externalize most ownership expenses (e.g. driving your dad's car), it would be reasonable to get up to $17/hour with al…

> how they can be cheaper than cabs while simultaneously (if their advertising for drivers is to be believed) paying their drivers a lot more than typical cabbies.

The capital cost of buying a taxi medallion?

Re: How much does a Lyft driver earn?

#44

Post by brent_noorda »

vilhelm_s wrote: post #43
brent_noorda wrote: post #33

Nice feedback on my blog post, y'all. Thanks. Estimating exactly how much a driver receives from Lyft, versus that driver's expenses, is really difficult. So I took some shortcuts with easily searchable published data and ended up with just $3.45/hour. In a G+ discussion it came up that if you could externalize most ownership expenses (e.g. driving your dad's car), it would be reasonable to get up to $17/hour with al…

> how they can be cheaper than cabs while simultaneously (if their advertising for drivers is to be believed) paying their drivers a lot more than typical cabbies. The capital cost of buying a taxi medallion?

Good point. I hear an SF medalion can go for 300K.

Re: How much does a Lyft driver earn?

#47

Post by yid »

fleitz wrote: post #17
yid wrote: post #3

> I’m just guessing that I’ll average a speed of 30 miles/hour while I’m doing my Lyft job. So my expenses will come to about $22.80 per hour. You're implying that you will driving 30 miles each hour, on average. That is a ridiculous overestimation for the type of urban driving Lyft will involve. I'd guess closer to 15-20 in off-peak periods, and perhaps something close to 10 miles on average. That brings maintenance…

Urban driving incurs a higher cost per mile driven, and unless you're driving a hybrid increases fuel costs.

Which is why UberX was originally advertised as being "hybrid uber". As for the higher cost per mile of urban driving, I genuinely would love to see a source.

Re: How much does a Lyft driver earn?

#48

Post by wikwocket »

FaceKicker wrote: post #2

> According to this Consumer Reports article, “the median car costs more than $9,100 a year to own” over the first five years of ownership driving 12,000 miles a year. That means the median cars costs about 76 cents per mile driven ($9100/12000). I’m just guessing that I’ll average a speed of 30 miles/hour while I’m doing my Lyft job. So my expenses will come to about $22.80 per hour (0.76*30). Doesn't that $9100 a y…

The $9100 number skews the analysis for several reasons. First, it does include fuel, depreciation, interest, insurance, repair, maintenance, and tax - see the linked Consumer Reports article for details.

Second, $9100 is the median number, not the mean or "best price available." The article lists other cars that have numbers closer to $5000-$7000, and all the numbers are lower if you keep the car for longer than 5 years.

Finally, the article says that "Depreciation is the largest cost factor by far," and that it contributes about half of the cost of ownership. Buy a 1-2 year old car, and your cost of ownership will drop considerably.

Re: How much does a Lyft driver earn?

#49

Post by fleitz »

yid wrote: post #47
fleitz wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Urban driving incurs a higher cost per mile driven, and unless you're driving a hybrid increases fuel costs.

Which is why UberX was originally advertised as being "hybrid uber". As for the higher cost per mile of urban driving, I genuinely would love to see a source.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/PowerSearch.do?action=noform&...

Hey look at that, car use more fuel when driving in the city. Who knew?

Same thing with oil, if you drive on the highway you don't have to change it that often.

Brakes, in the city you stop much more often requiring more frequent brake changes (braking also happens to wear out your tires faster)

Every time you step on the gas you're applying force to metal, this means things more twisting force slowly fatiguing the metal.

Transmission, every time you shift you wear out the clutch a little.

Idling is also hell on your engine, you idle far more in the city than on the highway.

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