The idea of Lyft’s “Taco Mode,” where drivers happily cart their fares to the drive-thru line at their local Taco Bell, seemed like a fun marketing partnership and useful way to save passengers craving burritos from having an awkward conversation with their drivers. No one seems to have asked drivers about this idea beforehand, though, and they’ve been having visions of “taco hell” since the program was announced.

Loose ingredients

Drivers’ first issues were with the smell and cleanliness, Food on Demand notes, with drivers discussing on message boards how terrible the promotion could get. For their seats and carpets, that is.

“Shredded orange cheese makes a friken mess in the car. It’s easily seen and hard to get up,” one driver observed. “Crunchy taco shells and all the ‘loose’ ingredients in Taco Bell’s menu items are the messiest of all the fast food chains. You simply can’t help making a mess no matter how careful you are.”

Drivers who don’t even want to activate Taco Mode because of the potential cleanliness issues have a point. Keeping the car clean is an important part of driving for a ride-hailing service, and vacuuming tortilla chips out of the rug takes up valuable time that could be spent driving fares around.

The money question

However, drivers end up losing money by just making themselves available for taco runs, especially during peak times when Lyft’s “Prime Time” fare multiplier might be on the line. Even if the passenger just picks up an order from Taco Bell on the way home and doesn’t open the bag, the problem is the act of sitting in the drive-thru.

Drivers are paid per mile when driving and per minute when idling, which makes waiting in a Taco Bell drive-thru line an unprofitable proposition. Depending on where they live and the local rate for idling, drivers might be getting paid less than minimum wage to wait in line.

Since the announcement of Taco Mode, drivers have made their opinions known on the Uberpeople.net forums and on social media.

(via Business Insider)

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