Longer wait times, lower pay: A tumultuous transition to ‘Shryft’

In the month and a half that has passed since USC Transportation announced its Lyft program would move to a shared-ride model starting Jan. 6, students and drivers alike have dished out their dismay at what they described, in interviews with the Daily Trojan, as issues with efficacy, safety and pay.

Students were previously permitted to take private rides through Lyft for free between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. Now, USC has reverted this policy back to its pre-pandemic shared-ride condition; students can request a ride for themselves and one other companion and are assigned to a pre-existing route — which may include strangers traveling to a different destination.

However, students and drivers have since reported issues with the shared system — or “Shryft,” as students dubbed it — that were not in play before the pandemic. A survey distributed by the Daily Trojan Feb. 4 about students’ use of Shryft garnered 183 responses. Every respondent to the survey said they face longer waiting times since the re-introduction of the shared rides policy. Sixty-four percent of respondents also said that they have had to wait upwards of 30 minutes for a booked ride.

Andrew Lutz, a senior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, said he has faced longer waiting times “every day” since Shryft was reimplemented. After working his night shifts at the Thornton School of Music, Lutz said he waits more than 30 minutes for a ride back home, by which point he often ends up walking instead. 

“USC Transportation has been working with Lyft to improve ride-pairing and wait times this semester,” the University wrote in a statement to the Daily Trojan Wednesday. “The program successfully completes more than 23,000 rides on a weekly basis. If students need a ride at night we encourage them to take Lyft rather than walk. But if they choose to walk, we recommend they go with a friend.”

USC Transportation will “actively engage with our partners at Lyft to make the program the best it can be,” the statement read. The University did not respond to questions about financial details of the shared-ride program.

In an email to a student, posted to Reddit Feb. 5, USC Transportation wrote that “no one would deny it’s been a transition going back to the pre-pandemic shared model, for both riders and drivers,” but that long wait times have “not been the norm according to the data from tens of thousands of rides performed weekly during [January].” The Daily Trojan was able to independently confirm the authenticity of the email. The user who posted the email, a graduate student studying computer science, requested anonymity citing privacy concerns.

With 98% of students saying that they request less rides since the introduction of the shared rides policy, over two-thirds say that their alternative is to walk home instead. Yet, crime in University Park hit a decade-high peak in October, after which the reintroduction of the shared model had Diya Thapliyal, a junior majoring in computer science and engineering, echoing these safety concerns.

“I don’t have the luxury of waiting an hour, two hours in order to get a taxi to one place or another,” Thapliyal said. “Sometimes that means I have to rely on being on a phone call with someone in order to feel safe [while] walking around, considering the area that we live in.”

DPS did not respond to the Daily Trojan’s request for comment on these concerns.

Lyft drivers interviewed by the Daily Trojan also expressed apprehension. One such driver, Ralph Gustave, who has been frequenting the USC area since July 2019, says that following the reversion he has commonly been unable to find rides even if he has made himself available. He said that compared to the original shared-ride model’s implementation before the pandemic, the reduction in available rides for him to serve was “huge.”

“Before [the coronavirus pandemic] … I used to just take it as a sign to just go home when I had to wait five minutes for a ride,” Gustave said. “Now, waiting 20 minutes for a ride is business as usual.”

Drivers interviewed by the Daily Trojan also said their earnings had dropped since Shryft was implemented. Gustave said that since the implementation of the policy change, his pay has diminished by about 50%.

Rachel Hernández, a Lyft driver of seven months, said that before this semester, a driver could rely on quick back-to-back rides that returned a range of $13 to $26 per hour. The shared feature of Shryft has put a “burden,” Hernandez said, on drivers who are now picking up a few more riders to marginal financial benefit. An hour of back-to-back rides today would earn her $10 to $20 per hour, she said.

“Most drivers try to avoid the area because on a normal night, it is just not worth the money or effort we have to put in,” Hernández said.

In its statement Wednesday, the University wrote that it was “offering financial incentives for drivers who participate in the USC program.” But Hernández said the incidence of these incentives is inconsistent. 

Shryft has affected the way students go about their daily lives, according to students. Mia Lima, a sophomore majoring in communication, said that while she understood the ability to request individual rides as a privilege, she feels that the administration “misunderstood” how often students were using it. 

“I found myself usually taking Lyfts with one or two of my friends either to the grocery store or around campus as a means of safety,” Lima said. “With the Shryft program, it is difficult to accomplish that not only because of the fact that you can only have one additional rider, but also because having additional rider makes the wait times even longer.”

Lima said she was concerned that the inefficiencies of Shryft may exacerbate financial inequities.

“Students that can afford to pay for an individual Lyft on a whim will pay for it if they have the ability to,” Lima said. “But for students who are not in that position, it puts them in increased demand and danger where they’re either forced to wait upwards of an hour for a Lyft or they’re forced to walk around campus at night.”

Lutz said he chooses to walk home from his night shift instead of paying for an individual Lyft as he is unwilling to pay “$15 or $20 to drive a mile and a half.”

“Because of the shared program, it has been a lot harder for me to go to the grocery store. I know I could go into the other locations on campus, but … [Ralph’s and Smart & Final] are cheaper,” Lima said. “Saving money in any way that I can, especially in groceries, during this time of inflation and increased grocery prices is really important to me. The fact that I don’t have the ability to save $10 or $20 on groceries every week is just an additional point of stress for me.”

USC raised its tuition fees by 5% for the 2022-23 year, a decision which has students like Thapliyal questioning if, why and by how much USC is saving by moving to a shared Lyft program.

“Considering how much students pay in tuition and how much money is allotted towards other programs on campus,” Thapliyal said. “Some scrutiny should be given towards the institution for this, especially considering that this was a system that was put in place last year and worked well. I don’t see why they should be increasing tuition and then taking away something from us at the exact same time.”