After the drop-off – Should I stay? Or should I go?  I suggest heading towards a PRIME AREA.

While I recognize that there is no wrong or right way to ride-share, I do believe there are ways to get more bang for your buck.  Once you hit that ONLINE button, a ride request could arrive immediately, or you might be forced to wait a while.  It largely depends on your location, the time of day or both.

Nevertheless, I thought I’d share what I’ve found to work best for me.  My methodology is based on a simple principle – go where the fish are!  So, whenever I drop a passenger off, I locate the nearest Prime Area and start driving towards it.  What do I mean by Prime Area?  I define it as an area with a large volume of potential riders.  Over time, I have assembled a list of Prime Areas that I target as I drive around the Bay Area.

While navigating with the Uber app, I keep Google Maps running in the background and switch to it after dropping off a passenger.  I then simply start typing the first few letters of the nearest Prime area and, assuming I have cell coverage, Google Maps will usually find it immediately.  If the Prime area is less than 10 minutes away, I start navigating to it immediately.  This allows me to drive decisively out of a tightly wound residential area and towards the nearest Prime Area with the most potential riders.

Here is my list of PRIME AREA Targets:

Drop off	PRIME AREA Target(s)
Alum Rock Park	Eastridge Mall
Berkeley	Downtown Berkeley, Comal (a passenger told me this is one of the best Mexican restaurants in Berkeley – bring a date!)
Burlingame	Caribbean Gardens (very close to SFO – set a destination ride to South Bay from here and you might get lucky with an airport ride home!)
Campbell	El Guapo’s, Downtown Campbell
Downtown Oakland	Blind Tiger, Late night hotspots – Parliament, Radio
East San Jose	Eastridge Mall
Los Gatos	Los Gatos Bar & Grill
Milpitas	The Great Mall, San Jose Airport
Mountain View	Castro Street
Palo Alto	Sushirrito, Wahlburgers, Stanford Mall, Stanford University
Redwood City	Downtown Redwood City
San Francisco	Monarch (I often set this as my destination when targeting the city from south bay), AT&T Park, LATE NIGHT – DNA Lounge, Temple Night Club, Harlot (Sunday late night), Condor Club, Castro Theater, Roxie Theater, Bissap Baobab
San Jose Downtown	San Pedro Market Square, San Jose Airport, Late night – M Asian Fusion, Café Stritch
San Mateo	Ajisen Ramen (one of my favorite ramen places!), Downtown San Mateo
Saratoga	Big Basin Café
Willow Glen	Aqui Willow Glen

I believe this strategy will make it easier for the Uber or Lyft system to find you a ride.  While I fully recognize that you can choose to park immediately after dropping off a passenger and wait for a request.  However, I think this strategy simply brings you closer to the largest number of passengers.  I especially enjoy when a request arrives from the location I set as my target.   It’s as if I predicted where my next passenger would come from.

So, what do you do when you arrive at the Prime Area Target?  Just find a convenient spot, park, turn off your engine and wait.  Your ride request should arrive in no time!

What’s your strategy?  I’d love to hear your opinion and get feedback on my suggestion.  Let me know what you think!  Please share your own suggested Prime Area Targets in the comments below.

Given that I drive part-time, I have no idea what type of incentives Uber and Lyft might provide to their full-time drivers.  Hence, I can’t know for certain whether it makes sense for them to split their time between the two ride-sharing platforms.  It’s possible that Uber or Lyft will make it worth their while to stay committed to one platform; though I’m highly skeptical.  Nevertheless, I believe many of my Top 10 Reasons will apply to all drivers.  I would love to hear from some full-time drivers from either of the two platforms to get your take.

Here are my top ten reasons why I believe part-time drivers should drive for BOTH Uber and Lyft:

1.  You can choose the best promo offer of the week

One of the reasons why I have driven mostly for Uber (greater than 75% of the time in the last year) is because of their weekly promo incentives.  Uber was the first to offer short-term bonus incentives based strictly on the number of rides you give.  For example, they might offer me the chance to earn $110 on top of all my fares if I can give 40 rides between Monday and Thursday.  These rides can be given at any time of day or night within that period and I would qualify.  Lyft eventually caught on and began sending me occasional text messages to give 50 rides before a certain date to receive a bonus.  So, having both apps allowed me to choose the best promo to pursue for a given week.  Or if time permits, I might pursue both promos.  Why not give yourself the freedom to choose the promo that will best reward you for your time?

It’s also possible that you may receive an offer requiring too high of a time commitment.  Both Uber and Lyft like to slowly increase your required volume of rides to hit their incentives.  For example, I might need to give 60 rides to get the Uber promo within a period of Friday to Sunday.  Meanwhile, Lyft might offer me a guarantee for only 45 rides between a period of Monday to Sunday.  As a part-time driver, I can choose which promo is most obtainable within my limited schedule.

2.  Destination Rides – the more, the merrier

Uber offers drivers two destination rides within a period of 24 hours.  This allows you to filter ride requests in the direction you need to go.  But with only two destination rides, you want to be careful to use them optimally.  Given that I live in the South Bay, I might purposely set a destination to take me towards SFO or San Francisco.  When I’m ready to return home, I would use the other destination ride to get me back to Santa Clara with a passenger.  With both apps, I double my chances of finding riders for destination rides.  I also gain extra opportunities to use them to navigate where I want.  For example, I might want to get back into San Francisco after crossing into Sausalito; I’d much rather have a passenger cover that Golden Gate Bridge toll.  (It’s always preferable to have a passenger in the car when you are crossing a bridge or taking a toll road; they automatically cover the toll in addition to the fare.) As you can see, those extra destination rides provide me greater flexibility and control over where I choose to work.

I’d like to share one additional detail about destination rides – there is a slight difference in how Lyft and Uber manages them.  With Uber, you get two destination rides per day, but they are not counted until you receive an actual ride request.  If you fail to find a rider, you will still have both of your destination rides available to you.  With Lyft, you get up to 6 destination ride requests per day.  However, each request is counted whether you find a passenger or not.

3.  You can choose the best surge

Both platforms offer special premium rates when there is an increase in demand within a specific area.  However, these surging areas are not always the same for both apps.  Sometimes Uber might offer a 2x surge in an area where Lyft is offering standard rates and the vice-versa can also occur.  Having both apps will allow you to choose which platform is most attractive for a given time and place.

4.  Stay busy and get more requests

There are times when you might find yourself waiting a significant amount of time for a ride request.  Regardless of whether I’m chasing a promo within one of the platforms, I might choose to go online in both apps and take the first available ride request to get me out of that slow zone.  Once I arrive at my new location, I can go back to using one platform if I am trying to reach a goal or I can continue to run both apps to take the first available ride.  When things are busier, I often receive my next ride request before my ride is complete.  That’s a good tactic used by both Uber and Lyft to keep riders from switching to other platforms.  If they are keeping me busy, I don’t have to consider going online on two apps.  But it’s nice to have the option if either app goes dry on you.

5.  You don’t need two phones to drive for both Uber and Lyft

I’ve seen some drivers use one phone for Uber and the other for Lyft.  While that seems conceptually ideal, I believe it is overkill.  On the iPhone, when I’m running both ride-sharing applications, there is a blue band across the top of the phone:

(See an example pictured below:)

When I touch it, it takes me directly to one of my two driving apps – Uber or Lyft.  Each time I touch that band, it toggles between the two active apps.  When I receive a ride request, I usually accept the request first, then I touch the blue band at the top of the screen and it brings me to the other app so I could go offline.  Once done, I hit the blue band again to return to the active driving app.  On a few rare occasions, I might receive two ride requests at the same time.  When that occurs, I simply choose the better ride option.  It’s completely manageable using one phone.

6.  Being active on both apps protects you against unforeseen downtime

You never know when an unexpected issue with a passenger or something as simple as a background check renewal could lead to a temporary suspension of service.  Having the ability to toggle between both applications will buffer you from that risk.  I’ve met drivers who have had extended delays in getting their Uber or Lyft accounts back online for various reasons.  It’s comforting to know that you don’t have to be sidelined by such an issue.  The likelihood of both apps being down at the same time is very low.

7. Minimize the time you spend in the Airport Queue

For those who like to pick up passengers at the airport, you might have to wait in the airport queue to receive your ride request.  When there are several riders ahead of you, you might have to wait long for your request.  Having both apps will allow you to go online with both and simply choose the first Airport Ride Request that comes through.

For those waiting for rides at San Jose Airport, here is a special hack I will share with you.  Are you aware that there are several business establishments located within the Uber / Lyft Queue area?  So this means you do not have to wait in the cell phone waiting area to obtain an airport request.  You can go to the Casino Matrix, park your car, use the restroom, or even grab a bite at the 24 hour sports bar while waiting for your turn in the queue.  This has been a wonderful discovery for me.  I often start my evenings by going to the casino, having dinner at the restaurant and waiting for my first airport ride.  There is also a Starbucks, Chipotle, Pho Bel-Air restaurant (my favorite), and a few others that are all within the airport queue.  So be sure to take advantage of this nice feature of SJC.

8. Referrals, Referrals, Referrals!!!!

This might be my number one reason why part time drivers should drive for both Uber and Lyft.  But I buried it here as a reward for those who are taking the time to read my first blog for BAULERS.net.  One of the best reasons to be active on both platforms is to be able to make referrals.  Uber offers $500 for every driver you help activate; you receive this money as soon as they give 100 rides.  With Lyft, you’ll earn up to $2.83 for every ride your referral gives in their first 30 days, up to $680.

I believe the best people to refer are existing drivers who are only using one of the two platforms.  You can forward them this blog article to convince them to use both platforms and provide them with your referral code.  It’s not a difficult sell.  In fact, when I travel for work, I purposely call Lyft rides so I can speak with the drivers about adding Uber.  I prefer the Uber referral promo because it doesn’t expire within 30 days like the Lyft promo does.  This has the true potential of earning you some decent passive income on top of what you accomplish by driving!

9.  Free music with Uber / Pandora app

One of the nice features of the Uber app is the integrated Pandora feature.  You can use this feature to stream music during your drives and delight your passengers with some nice tunes.  You can create multiple styles of music channels as well.  Since this feature works even when you are offline, you can stream this music while also driving for Lyft, or while jogging, or while studying.  It’s free Pandora courtesy of Uber.  So this is another good reason why Lyft drivers should also be active on Uber.  Why not make good use of this nice feature?  Here is a screenshot of this feature on the Uber dashboard:

10.  More Premium Rides

This last reason applies to those who are driving with premium vehicles that qualify for Uber SELECT and Lyft PREMIER.  Given that premium rides are quite rare, it is nice to have the option of receiving them from both platforms.  So when you are driving Uber, you can filter Lyft requests to only send Lyft Premier requests.  If driving Lyft, you can filter Uber to only send SELECT requests.  It’s simply nice to have these options available to help you maximize your returns when you are on the road.

Now I’d love to hear from you.. Do you agree with my list?  Are there other reasons why part-time drivers should drive for both platforms?  Please post your comments below!

Hopefully, I have given you enough good reasons to  add the OTHER platform.  If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly through this site or reply below.  If you are ready to go, please use one of my referral codes listed here: (Click either graphic to enroll).  For those who choose to use one of my referral codes, you also get me as a personal resource.  I’ll gladly help you get started.  Thanks for reading my article and please check back for more new content I plan to publish in the coming weeks!