Did My Lyft Pass Save Me Money?

By Nicole Dieker April 18, 2017

Yes. Also, I want another one.

Photo credit: Daniel X. O’Neil, CC BY 2.0.

So my Lyft Pass ended at the beginning of April, and I didn’t realize it right away because I was so used to having it, but now that I am no longer paying reduced Lyft prices, let’s look at how much money I saved.

First, let’s recap how the pass worked:

Doing the Math on the New Lyft Pass

1. You pay $20 up front to get access to “the pass.”

2. At that point, the first 20 “regular” Lyft rides you take between March 1–31 will be capped at $12, not including tips paid to the driver.

3. If your ride costs more than $25, you pay $12 plus the amount over $25. So, if your ride cost $40, you’d pay $27 ($12 plus the $15 difference between $25 and $40), as well as the tip to the driver.

In March, I paid $20 for the pass and then paid $189.45 total for eleven individual rides. Two of those rides fell below the $12 threshold; six of them cost $14 exactly ($12 plus a $2 tip). One $12 ride didn’t include a tip, for some reason—I hope I didn’t forget—and when I tried to add one using the “add a tip to this ride” button, Lyft told me “sorry, we do not allow tips for this ride!” (I’m really curious about this.)

That meant only two rides fell above the $25 threshold—and they were, of course, the rides to and from the airport. These rides would have cost $44.60 and $54.21 pre-discount; I paid $31.60 and $41.21 including tips.

Lyft also told me how much money I saved on each ride, thanks to my pass. I spent $20 on the pass and saved $64.41 on the rides, earning me a total savings of $44.41.

I would buy this pass again if I could. I don’t know how it affected drivers’ payouts, but I hope they didn’t lose money as a result of my savings.

And yes, as I will continue to emphasize, using Lyft nearly twice a week is still cheaper than owning/maintaining/parking a car.

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