<img src="http://lyft-dfw.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Lyft-Hertz.png" alt="Image result for express drive lyft"/>

A friend of mine has been Lyfting full time for the last few months, using their express drive rental program through Hertz. When he initially signed up, the program required him to give 70 rides a week, and in exchange the rental would be free. In a city such as Denver, 70 rides is very feasible, and he reported doing so usually in about 30-35 hours.

Recently, likely due to the popularity of the program, Lyft  started implementing a tiered bonus system. After 63 rides, 28 of which have to be during 'prime' hours, Lyft would provide a bonus that would make the weekly rental cost $50.

In order to qualify for the full bonus, a person now has to give 84 rides, 42 of which are during prime time, which has made it much more difficult for @silascjgoss to attain the bonus. It's still doable, and within around 40 hours of drive time, but certainly not as easy as before.

Today, he was 6 rides away from achieving the full bonus amount as of 5pm. Silas had approximately 12 hours to complete 6 rides, a very attainable amount, but he felt tired of driving for the week and wanted to relax. 

<img src="http://modernsurvivalblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/running-out-of-time-for-preparedness.jpg" alt="Image result for time running out"/>

As someone who will soon face these challenges, as I intend to take the Lyft driver plunge myself, I thought I'd help a brother out and get him his last six rides, one after the other. He offered to Venmo the ride total amount, and off we went, attempting to quickly get 6 'rides' without leaving the house. 

We were lounging in our backyard at the time, and we decided to try these rides without ever stepping into the vehicle. He turned the app on, and I immediately requested a ride. Bing! Silas got the request, and accepted. Good to know the app won't disqualify a driver from taking a ride, even if that rider is only feet away.



This attempt at Lyfting while immobile ultimately proved unsuccessful. After accepting the ride request, starting the ride, and then ending the ride, all in the comfort of our backyard, Lyft did not count the trip. Apparently, the App requires you to move at least a block before it considers it to be an actual ride. 

At this point, it showed a driver by the name of D.J. as the one who was headed my way to pick me up, which I immediately cancelled. I'm sure D.J. didn't even have a chance to put the car into drive before I was gone from his screen.

We headed into Silas's car, and repeated the process. This time, we drove down to the end of the block, and then ended the ride. The ride total was $7.15, 4 of which would go to Silas. We would do this two more times, each time with him immediately getting the request, driving a bit, and then ending the ride. 

On the 4th attempt, Lyft began sending my request to other drivers in the area. D.J. again popped up on the screen as my incoming chaufeur. Sorry dude, I'm not for real. Ride cancelled. 

<img src="https://media.tenor.co/images/1fe49ec5c4569c5bba711e15b4e018a8/tenor.gif" alt="Image result for my bad"/>

Another attempt at pulling a fake ride resulted in another driver getting the request. Operation aborted. Three more attempts resulted in D.J. getting three more requests. I started to feel bad for the guy, as I'm sure he was probably getting perturbed by my fake hails. 

We realized that the app does not allow a driver to take the same person more than 3 rides during a given period. We would attempt this again 3 hours later, but with the same result, only this time it was someone other than D.J. who received the fake request (I assumed D.J. was long gone to another part of town by then. Either that, or he thought the app was glitching hardcore due to our shenanigans and called it a night)

My girlfriend agreed to let us pull off the trick with her phone, allowing Silas to get the $50 bonus. Because her car was parked behind his, I decided to take it just to complete the task. I was now the one driving Silas while requesting Lyft rides from Silas. Pretty ridiculous, but also a total riot.

The rides all ended up being $43, 24 of which would go to Silas. This meant that Silas would pay $19 for the fake rides in order to receive the $50 bonus, a net gain of $31. The entire operation took about a half hour, and allowed my road-worn bud to turn in for the day.

If you participate in this program, and find yourself in need of just a few more rides to get it done but don't want to hit the streets to do so, pay a friend to fake Lyft it for you. You'll probably increase your driver rating too, assuming your friend isn't a dick.