A San Francisco man who calls himself an entrepreneur is reportedly trying to turn Lyft Line into an (involuntary) Tinder. As Leigha Beckman writes on Medium and shares with SFist, a man she has since identified but chooses not to expose reportedly selects long routes with female co-passengers in order to hit on them.
Lyft Line, that ride-hailing company's carpooling service, matches strangers with similar destinations. But according to Beckman, her co-rider didn't necessarily have a real one, and perhaps often doesn't.
Has this desperate, disrespectful dude not heard of real Tinder? Or does he simply prefer to force his presence on women who didn't sign up for it? Beckman doesn't speculate on that subject, but instead tells SFist that his tactic is something to watch out for.
She shared her encounter with the man, whom she gives the psuedonym Max, in a Medium post. Though unaware of the serial nature of his behavior, she was nonetheless put off.
“I’m an entrepreneur,” Beckman recalls Max telling her, "I have my own company.” For details of his labored flirtations you can read the original story. Suffice it to say that he even points out how suave he thinks he is to the driver as if Beckman weren't there. He also adds her on Facebook later that day.
In her followup story, Beckman found herself once again riding in the Lyft that had driven her and Max, and the driver finally clued her in to his schtick.
“So, that guy literally uses this as a dating app,” our driver explained. He clearly could not wait to spill the beans. “That girl you saw before he got in your ride — she was from another Lyft ride. He said he’s gotten with 25 girls through Lyft Line so far.”
"Maybe it's not a common tactic, but others could easily be doing this," Beckman reasoned when reached by phone. "That's definitely a take-away, that this is a thing that could — did — happen. "
Lyft recently made it easier for passengers to connect with their fellows through the introduction of profiles for riders. Beckman isn't opposed to that, saying that "the alternative" to her encounter "would be it happening organically. But when you're not seeking it out..."
"The point," she continues, "is that it should be a word of caution — I don't want to say to just women, but to anyone in a ride — to be wary of who you're talking to. You don't have to feel pressured to indulge someone's advances."
Cheekily, and with her privacy and that kind of predatory behavior in mind, Beckman has since tweaked her Lyft profile. Now she shows up as a turtle. In fact, she'd like you to do the same.
It would make me really, really happy, if everyone reading this changed their Lyft profile picture to a turtle. It can be any kind of turtle you want. A sea turtle, a snapping turtle, a box turtle, whatever. You can edit your picture in the sidebar of the app — there’s three little dots you can click in the upper left corner of the app to edit your profile.
Previously: SF Woman And Boyfriend Assaulted By Fellow Lyft Line Passenger
