Uber instructions published on sabotage Lyft service

Lyft taxi operator’s suspicion of unfair competition from a larger Uber company has been largely confirmed.

The network got several service instructions for Uber employees on how to handle taxi drivers working for a competitor. The program, codenamed SLOG, includes the use of disposable SIM cards for mobile phones and temporary payment cards issued by employees to the company, with a balance in the account for traveling in a competitor’s taxi.
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Uber has already received $ 1.5 billion in venture capital investments, so it has enough money to fight with competitors.

The main objective of the SLOG operation is to sabotage a competitor, luring to its side taxi drivers who work with Lyft. A side effect of this is a certain number of false (canceled) calls, due to the desire to avoid detection by Lyft.

To work in the SLOG hire people through temporary employment agencies. Basically, they work at various events, in bars and student campuses, suggesting that others call Uber taxi. But more recently, they are assigned new tasks: to call Lyft taxis and try to recruit drivers. The instructions spelled out a specific conversation scenario, during which the driver is promised a greater amount of remuneration.



For the successful attraction of one driver, you can earn commissions up to $ 750. To create fake Lyft accounts, agents are given mobile phones and bank cards.



Uber agents should call Lyft taxis from different parts of the city, without causing suspicion. At the end of the conversation should land "in a safe place." Even with an unsuccessful recruitment attempt, such a trip is beneficial because it loads a competitor's network with useless calls, and normal Lyft customers have to wait longer for the car.

After talking with the driver, his contact information should be entered into the database so that other agents do not contact him again.



In order to coordinate the actions of the agents, a collective private chat was also created in the GroupMe mobile service. If there is a second contact, the agent is recommended to cancel the call. From here and thousands of canceled calls, about which the management Lyft.

The SLOG program operated in several US cities. At least in one of the forms for filling out 10 cities are listed. The tactics of unfair competition was accompanied by lies in the media and (probably) investors.

Note that Uber and Lyft are still working on the verge of unprofitability, using dumping and offering a large number of promotions for users.

Price comparison for expensive San Francisco, without discounts and bonuses:

Uber X: $ 3 basic fare, $ 0.30 per minute, $ 0.93 per kilometer
Lyft: $ 2.25 basic fare, $ 0.27 per minute, $ 0.84 per kilometer

In both cases, the client’s account must have an “insurance” deposit of at least $ 1.