RIDEGURU
I heard from multiple drivers that things were better under Travis. Is this a common perception held by drivers?
Some of the comments I heard were that Travis understood what rideshare was about and how Dara is all about the IPO and turning a profit.
Is this a "grass is always greener" phenomenon? or is there some validity behind this?
Comments
I think in the beginning Travis had everyone at heart including the drivers and of course, once he realized the potential, that quickly began to change. Profitability (which Uber has NEVER experienced) was thrown to the wind in exchange for growth. And it worked in that Uber's popularity grew like crazy. Not to say it wouldn't have grown exponentially anyhow as it is a wonderful service and word of mouth alone could have made it wildly popular even at the higher prevailing rates of 2 years ago. Unfortunately nearly every cent that has has been invested has been spent, and every driver makes less than 1/2 today than they did when the company started.
Now that Dara is at the helm, his focus is entirely on making a profit to look good for an IPO, and increasing the overall public perception through marketing efforts. But the truth is, how this actually translates for the drivers is that Uber is now averaging about 50% on the majority of rides o…
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I think in the beginning Travis had everyone at heart including the drivers and of course, once he realized the potential, that quickly began to change. Profitability (which Uber has NEVER experienced) was thrown to the wind in exchange for growth. And it worked in that Uber's popularity grew like crazy. Not to say it wouldn't have grown exponentially anyhow as it is a wonderful service and word of mouth alone could have made it wildly popular even at the higher prevailing rates of 2 years ago. Unfortunately nearly every cent that has has been invested has been spent, and every driver makes less than 1/2 today than they did when the company started.
Now that Dara is at the helm, his focus is entirely on making a profit to look good for an IPO, and increasing the overall public perception through marketing efforts. But the truth is, how this actually translates for the drivers is that Uber is now averaging about 50% on the majority of rides once you weigh their share versus the drivers share, and the original 80% for the drivers will perhaps never be seen again.
I anticipate we may see customer rate increases in the future, most likely hidden under the guise of "guaranteed trip price" while Uber takes ALL the increase and shares nothing with the drivers. (They're doing that already but to a lesser scale)
At some point, one of the big news shows such as dateline or 20/20 etc... will actually have the intestinal fortitude to step up and do driver interviews and actually break out how poorly it pays - which will become a real awakening for those that have considered but never actually signed up to drive. At this point Uber and Lyft spend a few million on advertising, so I'm confident that keeps the possibility of the news story from happening since everyone (including the major networks) are driven by profitability which comes primarily through advertising dollars.
Once the news is out (some day, some way) the constant flow of new drivers will drastically slow, and then, and ONLY then, Uber will be forced to deal with driver pay and finally provide a more reasonable share of the income.
I don't doubt that Uber needs to make money - of course - that's why any company exists, but it's unreal that to operate a computer system (a dispatch system) can require MORE than 25% of the revenue just to break even. And yet, to date, with the exception of the quarter where they sold off their China operations, there has NEVER been a profitable quarter and they have lost BILLIONS of dollars. Mindblowing!
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Your drivers were correct. I think many drivers have turned on Dara pretty quickly for a few reasons. Dara has emphasized on customer service as part of improving the image of the company. This sounds noble but he did this with the sacrifice of the drivers.
Our pay has gone down and surges are no longer as reliable. It is as difficult as ever o know how much we are making or about to make. So many games and "incentives" and all of that.
I miss the days where I basically knew by the miles driven how much I was able to make.
My daughter took an Uber XL with some friends a few months ago. Normally the trip runs between 28.00/37.00. She was headed home and called to see if I could get them as her ride home was 122.00. I went on my drivers app to see what the surge was because normally at that time of night in that area its maybe a $10/$15 surge. On my app it was showing 10.00. So at most ride should've been $38/$57. Where was the rest of the money going? Not to the driver they were getting the normal price plus $10 surge. How can we trust Dara? All these so called pro rewards are geared towards the driver accepting 85% or higher and not cancelling rides. The rewards are not even that great most of them drivers will not even use. You want to send me to college pay for a Community College at least not some online college. How are they going to send high rated drivers to the diamond riders (or whatever platinum riders) without increasing wait times? Average driver rating is said to be 4.80. My …
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My daughter took an Uber XL with some friends a few months ago. Normally the trip runs between 28.00/37.00. She was headed home and called to see if I could get them as her ride home was 122.00. I went on my drivers app to see what the surge was because normally at that time of night in that area its maybe a $10/$15 surge. On my app it was showing 10.00. So at most ride should've been $38/$57. Where was the rest of the money going? Not to the driver they were getting the normal price plus $10 surge. How can we trust Dara? All these so called pro rewards are geared towards the driver accepting 85% or higher and not cancelling rides. The rewards are not even that great most of them drivers will not even use. You want to send me to college pay for a Community College at least not some online college. How are they going to send high rated drivers to the diamond riders (or whatever platinum riders) without increasing wait times? Average driver rating is said to be 4.80. My rating is 4.94 /4.95 as a driver. My trip requests range from 4.39 to 4.90. If I get 5 star rider its because they are new to platform or dont use it much. There are still sketchy things going on with fares. I dont see how we can trust either company.
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Are we basing this question on the CEOs or just whether Uber is better or worse than it was in the past?
I hear drivers all make crap money now, so purely based on that, I'd think most drivers are hating on Dara. (and missing Travis) I had the impression that drivers liked Dara and his style, but I am not a driver, so I will reserve my comments.
Does it matter whether we are judging the CEOs, their styles, or the company performance and trend? I think it's all semantics. CEOs' performances and policies are based on company performances and policies. It's all the same.
Fast up, fast down . it doesn't matter what element is put into the box, Uber is self destructing itself and cannot be repaired.
Travis as a founder of Uber had a dream of making rideshares be for everyone. He made gig-economy a thing. You work when you want to, you pay what you want to, and the rest will be taken care of by economics and community. He created a concept and an app that was easy to use, and made it accessible to anyone with a smartphone.
Dara? Just another big company executive who is about money money money. It really shows, and it is very sad.
So, yeah, drivers and others who believed in the concept of rideshares and its gig-economy idealism, we really don't like Dara and we wish it was back under Travis' realm. Sure he had his own issues and he did questionable things against opposing forces (like competition and regulations), but at least his goal was noble and it aligned better with those that were originally involved. (including the drivers.
TBH I don't really care as long as I am getting paid. Waht pisses me off is when they lower rates and both have done that so...