Former Drivers Given Incentives to Get Back on the Road

We all know that Uber and Lyft have been giving BIG bonuses for new drivers—especially since the country has been opening back up since the pandemic closures. But what about former drivers? What about long-term drivers?

Lyft Offers Former Drivers a Big Bonus to Return

Lyft is ahead of the curve on this one, it seems. They are offering bonuses for former drivers or at least ones who haven’t logged in for a while. My husband Adam and I recently decided to test it out.

Adam started driving again this past week, and I haven’t driven for Lyft in almost 2 years now.

Adam was able to send me a referral and it worked. I clicked on the link sent to me and I am now eligible to start receiving my referral guarantee.

The real question mark for me is if I can get it done in the allotted time frame. I am being given 30 days to complete 180 rides. That may not seem like much, but I have a full-time job, plus writing for RSG and… we’re busy packing our apartment up because we’re in the middle of buying a house.

So, fingers crossed over the next 30 days to keep my sanity.

What are the Incentives for Returning Drivers?

You, as an active driver, could be offered an incentive similar to what my husband received. If I complete my 180 rides in 30 days (offer differs by market), Adam will get $750.

As for me? As the referred “former” driver, if I complete my task, I have a guaranteed earnings of $2,900. That means, as long as my rides don’t average more than $16 each, I will get enough money to reach the $2,900 guaranteed earnings.

So, basically with this referral, I will be guaranteed to average $725 a week. The guarantee will be paid out if/when I complete the tasks required.

How to Send Someone You Know a Referral

If you’re an active driver and know of a former driver who wants to participate, all you have to do is go into your Lyft driver app, click on the three bars in the upper left corner and click on “Refer a Driver”.

Under that tab, if it’s available in your market, you’ll see a section called “Former Lyft drivers”. Next to that, you should also see what your bonus as a referring driver would be. In my market at the time of writing this article, that is $750. Click on “Former Lyft drivers” to get access to your invite code to start referring to former drivers.

If you want to see just how many rides the other person needs to give, click on “How it works” to learn the details of your offer.

Once I clicked on the referral link sent to me by Adam, I got a notification in my app that the code was successfully applied.

While this says I can start driving now, there are a few more steps I need to take as the former driver. I do not have all of my documents in place. If I had planned it right, I would have had those ready to go as soon as Adam referred me so I could get on the road as quickly as possible.

It shouldn’t take terribly long to get it all together, but it is an extra step I hadn’t really thought of at the time of accepting the referral. So, now I might lose a day of driving to get my papers in order.

What About Current, Active Drivers?

The real sticking point with a lot of drivers is that new drivers are getting all of the monetary rewards for getting on the road. But what about rewarding people who stuck it out through the pandemic and have been loyal all along?

This referral system sort of addresses it, but not enough. Some of the active drivers are receiving weekly bonuses that may be more than what they were used to before the pandemic. If they refer former drivers, they could bank on a bonus. However, a lot of drivers don’t want more people on the road because it drives down their profitability by possibly oversaturating the market.

It would be a good gesture on Lyft and Uber’s part to recognize in some way the drivers who did weather the storm and continued driving during the drought. But for now, at least drivers who have stepped away can possibly get back out there and make some worthwhile cash.

Drivers, have you received an incentive like this in your market? What kind of incentives are you being offered?

-Paula @ RSG