Lyft starts charging riders who keep drivers waiting

By Trevor Mogg January 24, 2023

Don’t be late for your Lyft ride or you’ll have to cough up some extra cash.

For Lyft drivers, and the company itself, time is money, and a new rule means riders will be charged for being late and suggests the issue is a common occurrence.

“Wait-time fees help keep our platform running smoothly,” Lyft says in a new notice on its website. “Try to be on time and ready to meet your driver when they arrive at the pickup location.”

So, how exactly does the new rule work?

The ridesharing company says wait-time fees may be charged at a per-minute rate when your driver is kept waiting for more than two minutes at the collection spot (five minutes for Lux Black and Lux Black XL).

Of course, if a Lyft driver arrives early, the clock doesn’t start ticking until after the arranged pickup time.

The company says that additional wait-time charges may apply to your trip depending on how busy it is. Also, if your ride is canceled and you’re charged a cancellation fee, you won’t be charged for any wait time involved.

There are no wait-time fees for rides that are classified as Lyft Shared, Lyft Access, Lyft Assisted, and Car Seat.

Lyft adds that riders with a disability who need more time to board a vehicle can submit a waiver for wait-time fees if their disability impacts their ability to board a vehicle on time.

Lyft doesn’t say how much you’ll have to pay if you keep your driver waiting, saying only that “wait time fees vary by location.” However, Uber, which introduced wait-time fees in 2016, charges about 60 cents per minutes, so we can expect that Lyft will charge around the same.

Want to find out more about the best ridesharing apps currently available? Digital Trends has you covered.

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