Lyft has introduced a waiting time fee. In other words, charges incurred when the Lyft driver has to wait at the time of pickup. The ride-sharing platform has not had one since 2016, even though its main competitor, his Uber, has been offering it. Lyft’s waiting time charges occur 2 minutes after arrival on time for standard rides and 5 minutes after arrival for Black and Black XL, by the minute.
Wait time charges will not apply if you arrive early for your pickup until the driver waits after your originally scheduled pickup time. Also, it does not apply to certain types of vehicles, such as shared, access, assist, and child seats. Also, if your ride is cancelled, you don’t have to pay a waiting fee (you just pay a cancellation fee if you cancel on your own accord).
This isn’t a surprising change from Lyft and has brought consistency to drivers operating on both platforms. But Lyft is giving up one of his remaining differentiators from competitors on the rider side.
