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)
Your questions are hard to answer because we have no idea what area you're driving in, the demand for rideshare there, the rates charged/earned, and city specific demographics.
9-5 could be difficult in that you miss the morning rush and only clip the evening rush, and because mid day is usually S-L-O-W.
FWIW, I was told that driving during the day was a bad idea, but I do OK overall. (working early to mid mornings, M-F) The question is: How much is "making enough?"
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Edit to add:
As a very general comparison:
Mon 4a-10a
Tue 4a-9a
Wed 4a-7a
Thurs 4a-10a
Fri 4a-10a
Drove 26 hrs between Uber and Lyft during early morning and morning rush, with gross earnings of $1002.
Find your market niche and find a way to make it work with your schedule. It's not great, but semi part time job paying ~$50k a year isn't too bad.
Week to date: (Mon - Thurs)
Work Hours: 20 hrs (time frome when I backed out of my driveway until the time I arrived back home)
Uber Rides: 36
Lyft Rides: 10
Earnings: $734
2.3 runs /hr
$36.70 /hr gross
1.) Learn the city you work in. (AGREED)
2.) Listen to your customers rather than blindly following a machine's directions. (MANY CUSTOMERS ARE ABSOLUTELY CLUELESS. Learn your city and ignore the backseat drivers)
3.) Cultivate your own clientele. None of these companies are your employers. You're running your own business and can do a better job if you're not hampered by middlemen. (That may work for a taxi, but it's strrictly forbidden for TNC drivers)
4.) Don't use dedicated bike lanes as if they're your curb to idle in for minutes at a time. It's elementary to demonstrate some minimal human decency in sharing the roadway. (Agreed. I just wish they learned to use their own damn lane and stayed out of mine)
5.) Treat the job as a job rather than some "fun" side gig to earn a few extra bucks. It's a very difficult way to make a living even if you're good at it but a complete disaster for the amateur. (DISAGREE. If you aren't enjoying it, you're better off finding another career that you can get excited over)
6.) Light a candle each night for self-driving cars to arrive and free all of us from the nightmare of driving. (Self driving cars are a techie pipe dream and won't be around for many, many years. When I was a little girl we were told aboout miraculous Jetson's style flying cars tat would one day come, but eventually reality set in and people moved on. Someday, so shall you)
Barring all the aforementioned options, you also have the option of buying him a car and allowing him to drive to/from school. Probably not the response you were looking for, but it's still a viable option considering his age.
Lyft Line was re-named Lyft Shared approx 2 weeks ago, (Seattle) but I'm not sure if the change was implemented in all markets. Same bad product, just a new name. The tiers are now called:
Lyft Shared
Lyft
Lyft XL
Lux
LuxBlack
Lux Black XL
Some of the posts in this thread would lead one to believe that driving for Uber/Lyft makes one emotionally unstable and in need of therapy. Such is just not true.
Being a rideshare driver really isn't that bad, but YMMV depending on the area you work in, familiarity with traffic patterns and knowledge of the city. Is driving 60+ hrs a week necessary to make ends meet? That depends largely on what your income requirements are. I average ~$30 /hr, (Mon-Fri mornings, NO NIGHTS/WEEKENDS) which is a perfectly livable wage in some places.
How much downtime do you have? With the exception of dead miles after a morning airport dropoff, it's rare to go more than 5 minutes between runs. Maybe it's area specific?
So am I the only "Bird charger" in these forums?![frown]()
Do you envision these cars driving 24/7/365? I work 25-30 hrs a week, and put approx 45k miles a year on my car. If that car ran 24/7/365, we're probably looking at 200k miles per year on vehicles, effectively making each obsolete and in need of replacement every year. If you spend $50k for that vehicle and need to pay it off in 1 year, your vehicle purchase cost is approx $1,000 PER WEEK, and that's not even considering gas expenses and maintenance costs. How much do rideshare drivers make right now? All things considered, prices would need to increase exponentially in order to even come close to being a viable primary form of transportation for cities containing millions of people.
As a driver, in 6 hrs of driving I have passengers trash the inside of my car, stashing trash in every crevice, sticking gum on seats and oozing disgusting bodily fluids on the upholstery. And that's with me sitting in the car! How much worse will things get when there is no driver to monitor things inside the car cabin? Who will discover and clean messes left by sick drunkards after last call, and who will know when mechanical problems arise causing dangerous operating conditions? As I drive through a major metropolitan area, I have to dodge numerous distracted pedestrians crossing streets while playing with their phones, and I often have to improvise when roads are closed, when driveways are blocked, and when traffic accidents happen. Technology can't do that. EVERY DAY I lose cellular signal when driving through tunnels, etc, losing navigation and dealing with "Google Maps gone wild." I can work around that, but a car relying on dynamic internet based maps can't. What happens then?
Autonomous vehicles may seem cool, but they'd pose many challenges that just don't make them viable without totally turning our world upside down. The future isn't letting technology drive, the future is allowing technology to help us improve how we drive.
Ok, so women are more likely to engage in distracted driving activities. I'd guess that younger drivers are also more likely to engage in distracted driving. Men are more likely to speed and drive at unsafe speeds. It's all just averages, and the different risk factors that can be attributed to each group.
I find freedom in having a car, (I have 4, 2 strictly for work, and 2 for personal use) because it allows me to go where I want, when I want, without having to rely on 3rd parties. If I want to grab something from the store, I get in the car and go, then get back in and return home. No playing with an app, waiting for a filthy vehicle to pick me up, waiting at the store for another vehicle to stop by, and paying multiple fees for it.
IMO, self driving vehicles will usher in a new era of technology dependence, and the end of personal freedom. Regardless, self driving cars are a very long way off, and certainly won't ever take hold during my lifetime.
If you're going to deliver, do yourself a favor and just drive for Domino's or Pizza Hut. More consistent pay and far less headache. If you really want something app based, I've found Door Dash, Postmates and GrubHub to be infinitely better than the horror known as Uber Eats. (Tell me how much I'll make BEFORE I agree to take the order)
Paying drivers fairly isn't the problem, it's their deluded pricing structure that tries to increase profits by lowering their rates and cutting driver earnings.
If the city bus system is losing money, they don't lower the bus fare, they INCREASE it. WTF is Uber and Lyft thinking?
They're cutting their own throats and sucking drivers down a black hole in a game of one upsmanship vs. Lyft. If either of these companies had half a freakin' clue, they'd increase their rates 25% and move into the black before trying to IPO next year.
What are they trying to imply now... that we're REQUIRED to transport people in our privately owned vehicles even if we find them offensive?
Can we cancel before arriving? Sure.
Can I throw them out enroute if they offend me? Yup.
How is this any different?
There is only one reason for them to carry around those hats... to make a political statement and piss off people that don't share their political views. They accomplished what they wanted. They pissed someone off. Now they can find another ride.
* Safety first before picking up people that set off your spidey senses.
* ALWAYS HAVE A DASHCAM IN YOUR CAR RECORDING PASSENGERS.
* Learn self defense.
* Know the location of all local police and fire stations.
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If a passenger tries to sexually assault you, drive to the nearest police or fire station and scream for help. If he tries to stop you, kick his ass or make sure to inflict wounds to his face, etc. to prove that sex was NOT consensual.
As a last resort, if you're being assaulted and in imminent danger, remember: YOU'RE THE DRIVER. Hit your accelerator and ram a telephone pole or other object. The impact should deploy your airbag, and will probably disorient your attacker long enough for you to escape.
SAFETY FIRST
The trade dress is supposedly required in Seattle too, although I don't generally use it if just Ubering around town. I will, however, make sure to put them in the windows when dropping off/picking up at the airport, because the port police can be dicks and will issue BIG tickets for not complying with airport regulations requiring them.
They're ugly and annoying, but a ticket for a couple hundred bucks isn't worth it.
Nothing but Chicken Little "the sky is falling" paranoia.
These people all believed that rideshare was the future. These same people all swear that autonomous cars are coming soon. They're all fools and scammers who can't see the plethora of problems just past first base, and are trying to draw attention to "technologies" that will end up going nowhere. (But that can boost their investments significantly if they can hype it enough)
Are scooters neat? Sure. It does not, however, mean that people are going to commute 10 miles in sub freezing temperatures, dodging cars in the dark, navigating wet, icy roads, going up hills at 2 mph in the snow, just to save a few bucks to get to their destination. If they're too cheap to pay $5 for an Uber car ride, what kind of profit could theses companies turn on scooters? Smoke and mirrors.
The issue of profitability runs deeper than just driver retention. Passengers do have a choice, and in many cases, that choice is based on price and availability of drivers. If Uber pisses me off, I turn off their app and drive exclusively for Lyft. Fewer drivers on the road means increasing surge, and passengers moving their business to Lyft. In that case, Uber loses both a passenger and a driver.
Beyond that, drivers are capable of doing immeasurable damage to Uber in the form of passenger conversation. How many times have passengers asked you about the difference between Uber and Lyft? "Which do you prefer?" I hear that question often, and if Uber is screwing their drivers, I make sure the passengers hear about it. Mad driver = really bad stories about Uber, resulting in passengers moving to Lyft and losses that negate all the BS feel good Uber ads on TV, etc. Also, Uber forgets that not only are we drivers, we're also riders on occasion, and I'd sooner feed business to Lyft than help Uber profit. We may be drivers, but we also have families, some of whom use rideshare on occassion. Have you ever talked to your family and griped about Uber? Again, unhappy drivers = horrible advertising for Uber, resulting in more Uber losses.
In the end, Uber needs to decide what they value more... $12.50 /wk from a passenger desperate for transportation, or $175 /wk from a driver who can go from co-worker to professional competition in the time it takes to close an app.
The only reason crap like this persist is because rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft *always* believe passengers, and give no credit (or respect) to drivers. Al a passenger has to do is whine about something and their fare is refunded, no questions asked, and without input, rebuttal, or presentation of evidence by drivers. I've had claims made against me, and even though I had dashcam evidence proving my innocence, Uber didn't want to hear my side, because it was easier to svoid confrontation, refund monies paid, and penalize me without question.
What amazes me most is how these companies think that the riders are the key to their business, when in reality, they benefit much, much more from the efforts of their drivers.
A recent article on BusinessInsider claimed that the average amount spent on rideshare in the local market was $55 per month to Uber, and $53 per month to Lyft. In comparison, THIS WEEK ALONE, with me working just 17 hrs on the Uber platform, Uber made $187 off of my efforts. Riders aren't the key to profitability, keeping your drivers happy is.
A few months ago I purchased a 2016 Altima for $12k. (was previously a dealer loaner car with 15k miles) I has the windows tinted for $175, installed fog lights for $100, added a spoiler for $175, and upgraded to HID lighting for $190. The car runs like new, and after two years I'll have a 4 year old vehicle with ~100k miles worth $5-$7k. Did it depreciate? Sure. It will have lost approx $5k in value, however in that time period I'll have made $80-90K, which, for me, was a worthwhile, tax deductible business expense. YMMV