Dean Valencia
Lyft Driver,
independent contractor
www.lyft.com/signup (to request him one must use the app)
Age: 47
Years in business: One year as a Lyft driver and three months in Pahrump.
Background: “I do this to fill the down period in the winter months. I am an HVAC technician and repair refrigeration units and air conditioning and so when the summer months end I usually need to find extra work, although Pahrump is getting to be pretty busy for me even in the off-season. I have done HVAC work since 1985. I have lived in Pahrump since 1989.”
Personal: “To relax I work in my garden or work on the house.”
First Job: “My first job was with a fast-food restaurant, Del Taco.”
Business Climate: “At the moment there are about 12-13 Lyft drivers out here. I will tell you now there isn’t much competition out here, but there soon will be. Taxi drivers hate us and they have been known to try to trash our vehicles. So much so that at the airport some drivers remove the Lyft sign so they don’t know who we are. But out here if you need a ride $15 is the highest you will pay. Usually, it is around $8. How it works is you download our app. We can’t pick you up if you hail us. It must be through the app. Again, we are a lot cheaper than cabs.”
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