RIDEGURU
Angela Taylor (RedANT)
Ride Scholar from Seattle
1072 Rider DriverActivity
Posts by RedANT
No posts found.Featured Answers by RedANT
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The Uber driver app in the Google Play store has a rating of 4.4/5 stars. I posted a comment/rating on Google Play:
Me: "If drivers have a 4.4/5 star rating, Uber calls us failures and deactivates us. Why is this rating acceptable or different?"
Uber: "Hi RedANT. This doesn't sound right. We want to take a closer look into this for you. Please send a quick note to t.uber.con/drivercontact so we can connect."
(Needless to say, I did NOT contact them with my real information)
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Old system:
$25 trip @ 2x surge = Passenger pays $50 (driver made approx 65% of the total = $32.50, and Uber/Lyft made approx 35% of the total = $17.50)
New system:
$25 trip @ 2x surge = Passenger still pays $50 (Driver makes 65% of $25 = $16.25 + a $2.50 fixed "surge" = $18.75 earned by driver. Uber/Lyft collect the balance of $50 - $18.75 paid to driver = $31.25 = approx 63%) Driver pays for 100% of their car payment, insurance, gas, and maintenance. Uber/Lyft does nothing but change policies and adjust app settings to increase their share. Passengers get fleeced.* Please note that all numbers are approximate, and will vary greatly depending on the area you're in.
** Driver pay was previously paid based on a per minute rate + mileage rate + surge multiplier.
Pay is now based on a per minute rate + mileage rate + a flat surge fee that is a fraction of the former multiplier payout. This change effectively increases Uber and Lyfts share of the fares significantly, taking money out of driver pockets and increasing company revenue. Regardless, I'd bet that Uber and Lyft will still post huge Q1 losses as they head into their respective IPOs.
This is why drivers are pissed. (And rightfully so)
They all know we're under paid, they just choose to ignore that fact because it benefits them.
X rates here are still $1.11 /mile + $0.1875 /min, and the vast majority of my runs are 25-30 miles on the freeway doing 70-80 mph. Car is paid for, oil changes are free, and my biggest "expense" is vehicle depreciation of approx $34 /wk.
Who can possibly believe that drivers are over paid?
I regularly calculate my gross earnings, but don't do stringent calculations on net earnings very often because net earnings vary depending on stuff like need for maintenance, gas price swings, seasonal market variations and even my mood/attitude/stress level.
My net per hour is in the $20-26 range. I can live with that.
The rideshare companies don't care how cuts affect drivers as long as they continue to have an overabundance of drivers willing to work at those crap rates. Don't agree with it? Stop driving Lyft and move to Uber. If everyone stood up and walked away at the same time, they'd backtrack as fast as they did with the stupid ass Taco Bell "taco mode" idea.
Rideshare companies need to go back to the basics and figure out how to run a business successfully. There's no need for huge, obnoxious billboards on our cars, and if you want to be fair, you need to pay drivers a real PERCENTAGE of the net advertising proceeds rather than a "do 40 runs a week for $51" gimmick. What you're doing is no different than how Uber and Lyft rake drivers over the coals while trying to spin it as a "win" for drivers.
Your billboard may sit on our cars 40+ hrs a week, but reality says that for many/most drivers, removing it will be difficult/impossible, which turns their cars into 24/7/365 advertising platforms. That considered, you're actually paying $200 to advertise an average of approx 727 Hours, or $0.275 per hour to convert our personal vehicles into permanent billboards.
Some of us see through your scam, and it disgusts me more than what Uber/Lyft do because your "solution" is on all the time. You claim to hate Uber, but let's face it, what you're doing is worse.
I know how much advertising costs. You're probably charging advertisers a hefty price for local advertising, but paying drivers a touch over a dollar an hour to drive around with that huge sign on their car. (AND decreasing their gas mileage through additional vehicle weight and drag/wind resistance)
Just another money making scheme targeting ignorant rideshare drivers. No thanks.
LOL @ putting a big ass electronic sign on top of our cars and driving 40+ hrs for a $200 "bonus." Ya' gotta do better than that.
I'd gladly welcome Travis back if Uber ditched Dara.
When Travis left, I was getting 80% of ride fares, and collecting REAL surge to boot. Under Dara the pay structure changed, driver rates were cut, incentives went down, and "surge" is a joke.
Yeah, Travis was an asshat, but he was an asshat that allowed me to make a hell of a lot more money than I currently do. Bring him back!
7 mile average? Where did you get that number from, because I average 22 miles per run.
If I get pinged to drive 8 minutes to pick you up, wait 4 minutes for you to get in the car, and spend 3 minutes to drive you to your destination, I just spent 15 minutes + gas money (which is still $3.25 /gal) to make $2.62.
Assuming I could do three of those runs per hour, (not likely) I'd be making $7.86, use $3.25 in gas, leaving me with $4.61 per hour to pay for my car payment, car insurance, mortgage, vehicle maintenance and feed my family. Considering that McDonalds in this city starts at $15 /hr, I'd effectively be working for less that 1/3 of what fast food workers make.
WOULD YOU WORK FOR THAT?
UberPro is nothing more than a ploy to trick drivers into accepting more rides and boosting their acceptance rates. Outside of seeing direction of the ride requests, (which is useless if you have to accept the ride anyway to keep that benefit) the program is useless. Unfortunately, way too many ants chase that magical status that gives them nothing except worse rated passengers, short trips and more pool rides.
When I neared the 600 point threshold for gold qualification, I turned off the Uber app and stuck with Lyft until after the end of the qualification period. Count me as a proud blue level driver who doesn't get the annoying messages, etc anymore.
Turn on the Uber and Lyft apps, see which is cheaper, then order the ride. That Howard Johnsons that you're at is directly across from DTW, so there shouldn't be a shortage of drivers in the area.
You CAN pre book a ride on Uber, but all that does is order the ride automatically a few minutes before. If you pre order on Lyft, a driver will be assigned, but there really aren't any advantages unless you're requesting the ride during a peak travel period.
$216 trip + $50 tip = $266 for an 8 hr workday. That averages out to $33.25 /hr gross, which is probably better than what he usually makes or a regular day in that market.
IMO, if you're an "UberPro," you get worse rated passengers than "partners." It's assumed that as a "Pro" you've got more skin in the game and are stuck in the chase to keep up your accept rates, so you're forced to take the badly rated passengers. Partners get better rated passengers to entice them to keep driving.
I absolutely agree with 14+ years in prison for killing someone while on your phone.
I actually think that in addition to this, getting caught texting while driving should carry a mandatory instant 90 day drivers license suspension + required SR22 insurance.
My advice: TALK TO HER.
When you see her parked, pull up and talk to her. Find out what she's up to. Maybe you can work out a "your side of town/my side of town deal if you're both online.
AFAIK, there is no rideshare, greyhound or train service to/from Darrington. There *MAY* be a rideshare driver in the area, but it's VERY doubtful. Considering your location, most drivers aren't going to drive out there due to the long commute to and from. (Approx 1 - 1.5 hrs each way from Everett) WAY too many dead miles. The closest taxi is probably in Arlington, but again, it's questionable if anyone will drive that far to pick you up.
Your options are limited to catching a Snohomish County Community Transit bus from Darrington to Arlington and then to Everett Transit Station at Smoky Point, then transferring to a bus headed to Seattle and catching the light rail from near UW to SEATAC. (That commute will take approx 5-6 hrs, one way, and you'd be limited to leaving Darrington on the 7:33 am bus. (the 7 pm bus departure would arrive too late)
Rideshare would be stupidly expensive. My "private" rate to pickup in Darrington and dropoff at SEATAC would be $150 on a Monday. (I live in Snohomish County, WA)
How do you go on vacation if you can't drive? Will road trips be gone forever? Will camping trips be a thing of the past? Should we shutter all National Parks and recreational areas in the country?
There are so many things we do that are absolutely dependent on cars, and would be near impossible for the average Joe to afford via rideshare.
Am I going to park my BMW 535i, Lexus RX350, Nissan Altima and Sentra, and Jag Type X after spending tens of thousands of dollars to purchase them? HELL NO.
If you're afraid of driving or so addicted to your phone that you can't dedicate a few minutes to safely commute, there are already options for you... the bus, taxis, rideshare, etc.
It's another safety issue. Such cars would need to be absolutely reliable and perfectly maintained. How many people do you know that have perfectly maintained vehicles and NEVER have any type of failure? Anything short of 100% isn't good enough, as one problem can cascade into multiple issues as it works its way through the system. FWIW, I believe it was Uber (or maybe Waymo) that stated that no private ownership will be a mandatory goal. (and insanely profitable when billions of people need to use the service daily)