Lyft’s Express Pay is finally live – and we asked drivers if they would use it

Yesterday, Lyft announced that one of its latest driver-facing features, Express Pay, is now live in the app. They originally announced this nearly 2 months ago among a series of other big announcements, including Hertz and Shell partnerships, aimed at providing more benefits to drivers. The details on how it actually works are now
out and live on the Lyft Driver App.

How Express Pay works

The concept is quite straightforward. Need money? Now you can get it the same day rather than waiting a week.If you’re a driver that’s interested in this money-in-a-pinch method you probably now there are many other daily payout options: these include Active Hours, Daily Pay, and Even.me. All of these options are fairly similar and integrate with different services. Lyft Express Pay will now be the most direct way to get a same-day payout via Lyft.

Here’s how Lyft does it: Make at least $50 after commission, tap “Get paid’ on the Driver Stats screen, and follow the prompts. Here’s are the full details from the announcement:

How are drivers reacting to Express Pay?

Many drivers have been anxiously waiting for Express Pay to be live since it was first announced nearly 2 months ago. “When’s Express Pay coming? Anyone have Express Pay yet?” have been two common questions on the SherpaShare Driver Chat.

Overall, the interest in daily payouts is gaining a lot of attention, as many see it as another added flexibility benefit. If you really need money today, you can drive in the morning and get paid in the afternoon. Some drivers question the frequency they would actually use this, cite waiting for a weekly payout to be more satisfying, and also question some of the fees associated with the daily payout.

Here are a couple threads drivers posted yesterday in response to Express Pay

Will you use Lyft express pay?…

• “In my opinion, yes when u really need the money to pay a bill etc. But other then that no because I’ll be tempted to spend it faster.”
• “Yes I will!”
• “Yup”
• “Hmm not sure but sounds easy enough to use every once in a while…”
• “Not often. Your bonus is calculated weekly, so that will still be paid on the regular pay date.”
• “No cost is .50 per transaction. I can wait.”
• “I will use it but I’ll criticize everyone here for using it… LOL.”

To Express or not to Express?

Two driver perspectives in particular highlight both sides of this question.

Brian in San Francisco says, “I will not use [Express Pay] because of two fees I don’t prefer to feed. 1) The service fee the company gets each time I use their services of $0.50 and 2) the 20% commission that Lyft takes from each passenger ride already. I prefer to work the 50 hours each week and wait to be paid. I won’t be charged fees because I am impatient and I don’t want to pay for convenience.”

On the other side, “lyftgetswole” writes via Driver Chat, “Express Pay!!!! OMG! Life changing.” When asked why, the response was, “…because the struggle is real when you’re a college student. This gives a whole new form to stress relief especially about paying bills on time when being able to work only certain days/hours around crazy studying schedules.”

Our perspective: If you need a daily payout – and it helps you meet a pay deadline or lower your financial stress – Express Pay is probably a great option for you. But try not to make a habit of it. This should not be a long term financial planning solution for you!

Want more information?

Have questions about Express Pay? Do you use other same-day payout options? Need help in trying out these new pay methods? Feel free to post them on the SherpaShare Driver Chat (for Android or iOS ).