Nycholas Boenzi
- A San Francisco-based Lyft driver said Waymo's self-driving taxis have made the job more competitive.
- He also said the growing number of ride-hailing drivers has made it more difficult to make money.
- The expansion of self-driving services in San Francisco has come under heightened scrutiny.
Nick Boenzi, a part-time Lyft driver in his 40s, said the competitive nature of ride-hailing has made it difficult for him to make money. And it’s not just his fellow drivers in San Francisco who he has to contend with.
That’s because hundreds of self-driving taxis from the Alphabet-owned Waymo are also picking up riders in San Francisco — Boenzi sees the distinctive white vehicles several times an hour while driving. He said these taxis aren’t only competing with him for riders — but infringing upon his most effective ride-hailing strategy.
“Self-driving cars in San Francisco are taking the most profitable rides which have the highest pay-per-mile,” he told Business Insider via email. “The short rides.”
If a driver wants to make the most money as fast as possible, Boenzi said long rides are the way to go. But if they want to be profitable, he said shorter rides are better because they tend to pay more per mile, making them more lucrative once driving expenses like gas, depreciation, and maintenance costs are considered.
Boenzi said a ride is only worth it if it pays at least $1 a mile, including any miles spent relocating to a busier area after a ride ends. He’d rather make $14 in an hour driving four miles than $25 in the same hour driving 32 miles.
The problem, according to Boenzi, is that riders tend to turn to Waymo taxis for shorter rides — in part because these vehicles aren’t allowed on the freeways just yet. When he can’t find short rides to his liking, he often heads to San Francisco International Airport, where Boenzi said he typically finds the most profitable “longer rides.”
But he said the airport has also become increasingly competitive as more drivers turn to it for customers.
“The airports usually can guarantee business — when it gets slow, that is where people will go,” he said. “But there have been over 200 drivers waiting all day every day it seems. And it is getting harder every day.”
More drivers, ride challenges, and self-driving taxis make ride-hailing competitive
Getty Images
When Lyft has “ride challenges,” which incentivize drivers to complete a certain number of trips by a deadline to earn a bonus, Boenzi said the competition can get even more intense.
The week of October 16 to 22 — when Boenzi said there was a ride challenge in effect — he earned $217 before Lyft took its cut in 15 hours of booked time, according to a document viewed by BI. Roughly a month before, when he said there wasn't a challenge, he earned nearly $1,400 in 43 hours of booked time. Despite only having roughly three times as many booked hours, his earnings were over six times higher than the challenge week.
Boenzi is one of several ride-hailing drivers who’ve told BI that an increase in drivers has contributed to fewer available — and lower-paying — trips. In November 2023, Uber announced it had a record 6.5 million active drivers and couriers. This came after the number of global Uber drivers increased by over 30% in 2022 to a record five million. In the fall of 2022, Lyft said it had its highest number of active drivers in over two years. Lyft didn't respond to BI’s question about the growth of drivers in recent years.
Many drivers say the rollout of Uber and Lyft’s “up-front fares” features — which have provided drivers with more information about trips before they accept them — have also resulted in lower pay. Some drivers say this has impacted their earnings more than the competitive driving landscape.
Boenzi said he isn’t sure how much more competitive Waymo’s taxis have made ride-hailing, but he thinks it could be a big reason some drivers are seeing less demand in the city and crowding at airports. Waymo didn't respond to BI's question about competition.
A Lyft spokesperson told BI via email that the typical US driver is earning over $30 per utilized hour, including tips and bonuses, and that the company has a healthy business in San Francisco. In an email, Uber told BI that its drivers remain busy, their earnings are strong, and more ride-hailing customers are on the platform than ever before.
In 2023, Boenzi earned nearly $22,000 after Lyft fees across roughly 1,700 trips and 25,000 online miles, according to a document viewed by BI.
Lyft has a self-driving partnership with the riderless technology company Motional in Las Vegas, which has led to the completion of over 100,000 self-driving Lyft trips.
Uber has two self-driving partnerships — one with Waymo in Phoenix and the other with Motional in Las Vegas. The company said it has not seen any significant impacts on drivers’ earnings in these cities.
Driverless cars have come under scrutiny in San Francisco
Before last August, Waymo and Cruise, majority-owned by General Motors, collectively had over 500 self-driving taxis operating in San Francisco. But they were only allowed to offer trips in certain parts of the city during certain parts of the day.
But an August ruling by the California Public Utilities Commission opened the door for these companies to provide 24-hour service to the entire city, excluding freeways. However, the rollout was bumpy.
One week following the ruling, Cruise agreed to cut its driverless fleet in half following two reports of crashes. In October, San Francisco banned Cruise from operating in San Francisco after it failed to disclose video footage of a woman being pinned under one of its vehicles.
Waymo’s rollout also hasn’t been perfect. On Saturday, a San Francisco crowd set a Waymo taxi on fire. No one was injured, and the motive for the incident is unclear.
But unlike Cruise, Waymo continues to operate in the city. The company told BI it has a couple hundred self-driving taxis in its San Francisco fleet.
Driving full-time can lead to burnout
Boenzi said he started driving for Lyft in 2023 because he wasn’t making as much as he used to by renting out his vehicles through the Turo platform — and he needed extra income to help pay off his substantial amount of credit card debt.
He said he tries to drive several days in a row if he can but that he sometimes has to take multiple days off because driving can be draining, particularly when he has to sit in a lot of traffic.
In addition to looking for shorter trips, Boenzi said he’s had success pivoting to food delivery platforms when ride-hailing is slow — he said these sometimes pay more per mile than ride-hailing.
Going forward, Boenzi said he’d like to start another passive income business, such as a car wash, laundry mat, or vending machines business. He used to work as a financial analyst and said returning to a similar role could be another option.
Once he gets another income stream, he said he’ll likely reduce his Lyft hours.
“My driving days will soon be just a couple hours a day, or I will take a break from driving until it is more profitable,” he said.
Are you a gig worker willing to share your story about pay, schedule, and tipping? If so, reach out to these reporters at jzinkula@insider.com.