Aviously

I tried Lyft Line the other day, and I am less than impressed.

Lyft Line is the ride-sharing car-pooling version of Lyft where you share the car with other people.

The problem that I have is that they give an estimate on your arrival time, based on not picking up any more people. But as soon as more people get added on it jumps 10-15 minutes, and continues to do that as the time grows.

Now I understand that this will happen as they bring more people into your ride, but I feel the estimated time should be more precise.
For example, if it’s going to take 20 minutes to get to my destination, tell me it’ll take 30-40 to take into account any pickups you may add. No one will complain if you get there too early.
Instead they tell you 18-23 minutes, and then it just starts jumping until you get there 40 minutes after the original estimate.

In New York City their algorithm clearly needs to be replaced. Whereas in other cities they may add in people within a 1/2 mile of your current route, in NYC that is equivalent to a 10-20 ride difference.
New York needs to be handled as a time difference. If it’s within 7-15 minutes of your route they add it in.
This would allow them to give a more accurate estimate of arrival before your trip.

While this method may not be good for their bottom line, neither are unsatisfied customers who can’t work on the assumption that “my 20-minute estimate is now an hour once you’ve driven me one mile in the wrong direction (which is 25 minutes in NYC)…”