It's a nice narrative, Uber drivers have disappeared because of some kind of enlightenment after close to a decade of operations, but it's likely just untrue.
Uber drivers have declined because Uber riders have declined dramatically due to the global pandemic. All that's happening now is that demand is starting to grow again as parts of the U.S. get vaccinated and the demand is growing faster than the rate at which Uber drivers are returning.
A few anecdotes here and there about a driver who quit Uber over wages or work conditions definitely sounds nice, and absolutely you can find sincere drivers who decided to call it quits over legitimate concerns, but it's a small minority and unlikely to really have much of an impact in the long run.
I had no idea this was an issue until my sister (a rider not a driver) mentioned it a couple days ago. It makes sense:
But he was exhausted from the daily stress of driving, after taking passengers on more than 15,000 trips over three years. And he was frustrated over being nickel-and-dimed, seeing his wages steadily decrease. The added risk of contracting the coronavirus was enough to convince him to log off in a panic in March 2020, quitting cold turkey after he dropped a passenger off near a hospital.
Now vaccinated and in search of good work, Gregg says he is in no hurry to return to Uber or Lyft. He said unemployment tided him over during the pandemic and a recent move to Modesto, Calif., from the San Francisco Bay area had lowered his cost of living.
I started following this subreddit which offers an interesting window into the trials and tribulations faced by Uber drivers:
Related: last week was the first time in years that I actually drove to the airport and parked because it was significantly cheaper than Uber or Lyft. What was a pretty standard $30-35 trip has now grown to close to $60, before tip. I'm really curious to see if ridership demand will actually meet these new prices.
Uber started out as Ubercab, a black limo-only service in SFBA, with the price of a generous tip already included in their all-in price. It was an extremely convenient, high-end service designed for the wealthy, and it wasn't for several years until they went downmarket with uberX and cannibalized their own high-margin thing.
I hope Uber Black (what the original Ubercab limo service got rebranded into) survives all this relatively unscathed. The high end service, nice cars, and surge pricing (meaning that you could always get a ride if you were willing to pay current top-of-market rates) was awesome for those of us not price sensitive.
uberX is cool too, but the high volume race to scale/race to the bottom made a pretty crap service for riders and a not great situation for drivers (although one that was better than not being able to be driving for Uber, otherwise drivers wouldn't have done it). It only continued to exist, in my view, because taxis and every other option sucked way, way, way more, and had for decades.
Of the last dozen times I took Uber Black or so, I had:
Drivers who didn't know where we were going and had to ask me directions (the airport -- seriously?), who got lost, missed turns, had trunks full of stuff so barely fit my not-especially-large luggage, drove very badly, didn't understand basic English...
Sure it's better than nothing, but... Not much better? Quality has gone down hill so much compared to a few years ago.
Used to love the original Uber. It reduced the complexity of having a car service or to call a proper towncar and still kept good quality and good drivers. UberX is almost as bad quality as normal taxis, just slightly better etiquette in most cases because you’ll be rating them after
I have no idea why you are getting down voted; you words couldn’t be more true.
I loved it when Uber was a high-end service. I was more than happy to pay extra for the knowledge that I was guaranteed a ride.
I remember using Uber to take my girlfriend to dinner, then straight to a club and then home again while it was raining on a Saturday night. An impossibility with a cab.
The truth? In Massachusetts at least 70% of the drivers working for Uber and Lyft were doing it illegally thanks to the loose background check and because these people were willing to accept being ripped off by these companies. Once they tighten up the sign-up process and disabled those accounts, the ones left were mostly Americans and other people with work permit. What Uber and Lyft didn't expect was that these drivers are neither working 10-12 hours a day, nor willing to risk contracting the virus. They'd rather stay home and collect their checks from the government.
I’ve been complaining about this for a few months now. It’s horrible. Used to be easy to get a ride. Or UberEATS. Now eats is unavailable basically every time I load the app and drivers are nowhere to be found for riding. Someone across the country anecdotally said it’s the same for them too. What is odd is Uber just had a record quarter and claimed more rides than ever.
Lyft has been better but it’s been downhill lately too.
Sounds pretty ideal to me. It wasn't worth it for the drivers, so some of them left, driving up wages and decreasing demand. Supply and demand working exactly as it should. I'm sure if more people start to take Ubers again, wages will go even higher and more drivers will sign on.
As long as drivers are aware of the total costs they are incurring driving for Uber, I think it is pretty awesome how it works.
I've been wondering about this too! With record high earnings for the remaining drivers, it seems like its more than enough to pay for the elevated prices of used cars (or your rental, if you are sneaky)
Readit News
Uber drivers have declined because Uber riders have declined dramatically due to the global pandemic. All that's happening now is that demand is starting to grow again as parts of the U.S. get vaccinated and the demand is growing faster than the rate at which Uber drivers are returning.
A few anecdotes here and there about a driver who quit Uber over wages or work conditions definitely sounds nice, and absolutely you can find sincere drivers who decided to call it quits over legitimate concerns, but it's a small minority and unlikely to really have much of an impact in the long run.
But he was exhausted from the daily stress of driving, after taking passengers on more than 15,000 trips over three years. And he was frustrated over being nickel-and-dimed, seeing his wages steadily decrease. The added risk of contracting the coronavirus was enough to convince him to log off in a panic in March 2020, quitting cold turkey after he dropped a passenger off near a hospital.
Now vaccinated and in search of good work, Gregg says he is in no hurry to return to Uber or Lyft. He said unemployment tided him over during the pandemic and a recent move to Modesto, Calif., from the San Francisco Bay area had lowered his cost of living.
I started following this subreddit which offers an interesting window into the trials and tribulations faced by Uber drivers:
https://old.reddit.com/r/uberdrivers/
I've been seeing a similar sentiment in the Kitchen Confidential subreddit:
https://old.reddit.com/r/KitchenConfidential/comments/n7v01b...
But the Empire is already striking back:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/05/08/republic...
I hope Uber Black (what the original Ubercab limo service got rebranded into) survives all this relatively unscathed. The high end service, nice cars, and surge pricing (meaning that you could always get a ride if you were willing to pay current top-of-market rates) was awesome for those of us not price sensitive.
uberX is cool too, but the high volume race to scale/race to the bottom made a pretty crap service for riders and a not great situation for drivers (although one that was better than not being able to be driving for Uber, otherwise drivers wouldn't have done it). It only continued to exist, in my view, because taxis and every other option sucked way, way, way more, and had for decades.
Drivers who didn't know where we were going and had to ask me directions (the airport -- seriously?), who got lost, missed turns, had trunks full of stuff so barely fit my not-especially-large luggage, drove very badly, didn't understand basic English...
Sure it's better than nothing, but... Not much better? Quality has gone down hill so much compared to a few years ago.
I loved it when Uber was a high-end service. I was more than happy to pay extra for the knowledge that I was guaranteed a ride.
I remember using Uber to take my girlfriend to dinner, then straight to a club and then home again while it was raining on a Saturday night. An impossibility with a cab.
It’s a pity they traded quality for volume.
The perfect storm.
Lyft has been better but it’s been downhill lately too.
As long as drivers are aware of the total costs they are incurring driving for Uber, I think it is pretty awesome how it works.