TLC Rentals Driver’s Guide for Lyft and Uber Drivers in NYC

With New York City being the second major city after San Francisco to have Uber drivers, today around 85,000 Uber and Lyft drivers are working in the Big Apple. Despite the numbers, this may be the best time to use TLC cars for rent and join Uber or Lyft in NYC. The market is only expanding and the more you know about how to get around the city, the better. The time is right for TLC car rentals & leasing.

What follows is a basic driver’s guide for Uber and Lyft ridesharing services to maximize their profit potential.

Best Times

To maximize your potential for picking up passengers, you will need to be operating at a time when travel is at its highest.

- Weekday Morning: 6am – 10am
- Weekday Evening: 5pm – 8pm

This means you need to be near locations such as the East Village, Grand Central Terminal, Pennsylvania Station, the Upper East and Upper West Sides, and Midtown along with the Financial Districts.

During the weekend, the most opportune time changes to Friday and Saturday evenings after 9pm. Here, you can travel to places such as the East Village, West Village, and Lower East Side to maximize your ridesharing potential.

Locate the Areas of Greatest Demand

There are several places in NYC that demand more Uber and Lyft services compared to the rest. When you know where to be at the right time, you can maximize your ability to pick up passengers quickly. Such areas include the following:

- JFK
- LGA
- Barclays Center
- Citi Field
- Madison Square Garden
- Yankee Stadium

As you can see, four of the busiest locations have to do with games or sporting events. So, you will need to keep up with the local sports schedule and time your arrival accordingly. JFK and LGA are far more regular in their demand for ridesharing services.

Do not forget colleges and universities, such as Fordham during the school semesters as many college students need ridesharing services during that time.

Use the Right Tools

Getting around NYC means having the right tools to locate traffic jams and get past them. One of the best is Gridlock Sam’s Twitter Feed. This puts out official alerts to indicate jams, detours, and road closures along with parking changes that may affect your drive. Google Maps is another great tool to help you get around.

Find Shortcuts

The faster you can get around the city, the more rides you can pick up. This means doing the following:

- Avoid Central Park around rush hour
- Take the FDR when going downtown. It’s longer but with less traffic
- If traffic to JFK is bad, go through Brooklyn

With TLC rentals or leases, you can drive the right type of vehicle around NYC to maximize your profit potential with Uber or Lyft. Knowing your way around the Big Apple helps, but when you rent a TLC car for Uber & Lyft, you provide yourself with additional advantages that can help with your ridesharing service.