Is driving from 9-5 a pipedream for an Uber driver?

Here's an advice.  To be a good rideshare driver, you have to be mindful of the demand of people's travel. At first, you have to do this consciously.  Check your local Amtrak schedules, look up local events, when and which restaurants are busy.  You have to do this while also gauging the *supply*, ie other drivers.  

The good news is that you will quickly learn and go into a routine.  You will just naturally know, and it becomes a part of your shift.  

Further advice: here are the hot times, at least wher eI am, and usually in urban areas:

• 6:00AM to 10:00 - People going to airports or for work.
• 12:00PM to 1:30PM - People going to lunch
• 4:00PM to 7:00PM - People going home and to dinnesr, etc.
• 10:00PM to 2:30PM - People going home from bars (especially weekends - infinite demand)
• Plus any other times when there are local events

Keep track of your hot and popular times!

Good luck!

Like others have said, finding a lucrative time driving rideshares takes an art form. You have to continue tweaking the hours you work, look up local events, and look and plan for anything that may spike the demand in your favor.

Most drivers do learn that you can make 2x 3x money during certain hours, so they focus on those. This is usually early morning (before traffic increases efficiency), Mondays/Fridays when transportation hubs are busy, and on weekends, when people are out.

It really is difficult to do regular business hours.

As an Uber driver you are kind of running your own little business. If you want to succeed in business, you gotta use your head. When are you going to get the most rides? It might vary in your area. But you gotta figure that out on your own. Go ahead and try the 9-5 thing for a little while. Then try working evenings and late night. See which earns you more money. Drive drunks around for a while, see how they tip.

Do your own market research.

Don't chase surge but learn where they will appear.

Don't focus on one specific mall.  Try those streets where there are a bunch of stores and stripmalls.  Evey city has one, small or big.  The mix of stores is diverse enough that they seem to provide different demand at different times = constant pings.  At lunch time, there are restaurants.  Late afternoon, there are car dealerships, etc.

Remember this mantra of being an Uber driver:

You make money by driving the rush or driving the drunks.

@Ella.  This depends on the market and where you work.  but in any market, there should be areas where you can benefit.  People do have to get around all hours of the day. 

Try to find out where people need the ride the most.  If you work during the day (not hitting those rush hours or airport traffic, e.g. early mornings), you'd have to look out for shopping malls, 

Talk to other drivers.  There are definitely drivers who only work 9-4 or 9-5.  It's all about the lifestyle.  If you don't mind making a bit less, but want to keep a regular "normal person" lifestyle, sure, by all means, you should do it.

You will make the most money when people need rides. People don't need rides as much during 9-5. Simple as that.

When you drive 9 to 5, you miss the rush hours where you make good amount of money.  See, the busy times (when you make money) is when people are *aren't* working and are going somewhere.

Your schedule should be the reverse of what everyone else is doing.

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?"

********

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.

Your better off working for a company with your stated hours and days. Uber destroyed the taxi business but cov19 and cheap passengers are their downfall. 

Sorta. Driving for Uber basically requires you to work more than the normal 40 hours a week. It isn't constantly a busy job during the day. We get downtime between the fares, and if you took any 8 hour period from 9 to 5, you would definitely have a few hours just waiting. 

So, you are basically expected to work more than 8 hours just sitting around.

Try signing up for Lyft as well. Opens up opportunities and cn hit different customer demographics, say like school kids and younger generations.

At least there are no traffic mid -day. life style A+. i do suggest you try driving just a few early mornings and weekends. Just to compare.

He thought you were joking because 9 to 5 is possibly the worst times for drivers to drive. It's the times when the public is working, stuck in an office or job somewhere, and they aren't running around on Ubers.

I have no idea if he was mocking you though.

Ah, so naive.  She thinks this is a normal job.