A woman is calling out rideshare platform Lyft after facing multiple incidents in Toronto where drivers asked her to e-transfer them directly instead of getting paid through the app.
Over the weekend, the woman posted an emotional video to TikTok, detailing her experience with the rideshare service during a night out downtown.
“It’s three o’clock in the morning and I want to go home,” she said tearfully in the video.
On Wednesday, Now Toronto spoke to the woman, who said she doesn’t want to be publicly identified due to privacy concerns.
She described the experience that led her to posting the video on Saturday night as “extremely frustrating,” especially since it was the second night in a row that a Lyft driver had asked her for money directly.
After requesting a Lyft ride from Toronto to Whitby on Friday night, the driver who pulled up complained about only receiving a total of $18 in pay from the company from what would have been a $62 ride, the woman recounted.
Feeling sympathetic for the driver and out of desperation to get home as soon as possible, she decided to cancel the ride and e-transfer him the full amount. But moments later, she began fearing for her safety after noticing the driver becoming hostile, and cancelling the ride via the app meant there would be no proof of the ride ever happening.
“The minute I did that, he started acting weird,” the woman said to Now.
“He stopped the car for a moment to wait for the e-transfer, which could take up to 30 minutes to come through. Then as he begins driving, he’s going slowly and asking me questions about if I sent it, what bank I’m with, and I can see that he’s paying attention to his phone. And at this point, it’s past midnight. I don’t want to be parked in your car.”
She eventually did get home safely, but says she instantly regretted paying the driver outside of the Lyft app.
The following evening, she went out for a birthday party and was faced with the same issue yet again. This time, the woman got out of the car instead, refusing to be taken advantage of by the Lyft driver for another consecutive night.
“I’m paying accordingly. You don’t get what you like out of that, that’s a conversation between you and Lyft. I can’t help you,” she said.
As her friends who accompanied her got into separate rideshare vehicles, she says she was outside and alone for a total of 45 minutes before getting into a Lyft that would be willing to go the distance to Durham Region at 3 a.m..
LYFT’S POLICY ON PAYMENT OUTSIDE OF THE APP
Now Toronto reached out to Lyft for comment on the situation and it referred to the company’s policy, which states that drivers are not permitted to ask for additional compensation and have the potential to be deactivated for that behaviour. Unlike typical taxi services, rides on Lyft are intended to be cashless with fares automatically charged to the passenger’s payment information on file. There should never be an instance where cash exchange between drivers and riders happens outside of the service, and riders are encouraged to report any incidents of that nature that occur, the policy states.
The woman said she reached out to Lyft’s internal support to report the encounters and the service said they will take action to look into it further.
After reflecting on the incident, the woman says she completely understands underpaid drivers wanting a fair wage, but still doesn’t believe that responsibility should fall on the rider.
“If a driver is only getting a fraction of what’s being paid, and it’s not even enough to cover like their gas, I get it. You’re going all the way to Whitby, and maybe you won’t get a rider on the way back. So, then you were only paid $18 to travel for over $100 worth at that point. That is garbage,” she said.
“But at 3 a.m. in the morning, I think that it’s irresponsible for a Lyft driver to say ‘either pay me directly or get out.’ In a perfect world, I would want them to not be able to do that at that hour, because at that point it’s a big F-U to my safety.”
