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I did Uber driving a while ago. I just called Uber support and they told me that my pay in the Bay Area is now 68 cents per mile and 29 cents per minute. In Nov
by auber 8y ago
I did Uber driving a while ago. I just called Uber support and they told me that my pay in the Bay Area is now 68 cents per mile and 29 cents per minute. In November it was 99 cents per mile and 18 cents per minute. I’ve randomly pulled up a ride I gave in November in which I took a guy 3.8 miles taking 17 minutes. Back then I was paid 8.5 and if I did it today I would have been paid 9.1. Shorter trips would of course not fare so well. But short trips suck even with higher pay per mile because short trips rack up dead miles — the unpaid miles between trips.
Before, I prioritized miles. Getting the most miles in the shortest amount of time seemed like the best thing to do although I never sat down and thouroughly worked out what strategy would pay the most. There are lots of subtleties that make the calculation difficult. But with this new pay scheme it might actually pay off to go slowly. This would make rides safer overall but might increase incidences of missing an exit when your fare is lost in instagram.
Maintaining a Toyota Corolla costs roughly 20 cents per mile, especially if you do your own oil changes. And that includes depreciation.
If anyone from Uber happens to read this, I have to say that paying for dead miles would do a lot of good. I would happily give up tips for paid dead miles. Eliminating dead miles would allow drivers to drive anywhere and change the equation in a way that would be very beneficial to Uber overall as a service.
Also add a tiny fee for people who cancel ride after ride looking for the shortest eta. On average a driver wastes 20 cents every time someone does that, probably. So charge 20 cents for cancelling even if it’s immediately. The small group of people who like to treat Uber like an eta slot machine can do so, drivers won’t sit and wait for several minutes to trigger the cancelation fee and the vast majority of riders who don’t do it will only see a small improvement in service quality with no increase in price.
- mnm1 8y agoI think the cancellation fees uber in particular charges are bullshit and I always dispute them with the credit card if uber doesn't give me credit. Every single one has been for a driver taking a trip that's way too far away, estimated wait time of two to three minutes becoming ten to fifteen minutes or more. If the driver who knows they are taking this trip and won't get there for over ten minutes but the eta is three minutes, why should I pay a cancellation fee when I finally cancel after waiting five minutes? That is total bullshit. Often the driver hasn't even finished his previous trip. I don't know whose fault it is, the driver's or uber's. The software should not allow a driver to take a trip with a short eta knowing that it'll take four or five times longer, sometimes before he even finishes his previous trip, but since it does, the driver should be aware of how far away he is and not take a trip he knows he's going to be way over the eta for. In this scenario, everyone loses.
- sdfsdfsdfsdf3 8y agoUber hasn't banned your account after a credit card chargeback? (Chargebacks cost money/penalties to the merchant)
- user5994461 8y agoMaybe something is wrong with you for thinking you can get a ride anywhere anytime in less than 5 minutes. Uber is assigning the rides, consistently incorrectly showing 3 minutes away and with a ride to finish sometimes.
- wasdfff 8y agoIts a pretty regular occurance to see plenty of cars orbiting on your map, then the one that snags your request is 5 miles away going the wrong way on the highway with another fare, and you sit on your hands. Drivers tap rides without even looking at them just to get it first and have a fare ready, regardless if it makes sense timing wise. I’ve seen it from the passenger seat.
- mnm1 8y agoYeah, something is wrong with me for believing the app. Even after I request the ride, the time estimate actually goes up instead of down and clearly, that's my fault too. I bet when an uber crashes, that will somehow be my fault too by your incredibly stupid logic.