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I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver

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Re: I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver

#31

Post by ghshephard »

Regarding ETA times - They were really, really good on the Peninsula in the bay area - over 50 or so rides, and ETA of 5-15 minutes would usually be within 2 minutes of the correct time.

Here in Dubai - they are ludicrously incorrect. I'll see a "8 minute ETA" that turns out to be 35 minutes, more often than not.

This seems to be a very solvable problem. During certain hours, traffic is very slow. I've only been here a month, but I can tell you at 3:30 - 4:30, you need to add about 15-20 minutes if you are going near the interchange at Wafi Mall - That's without even taking into account the various traffic flow indicators that I'm sure Uber has access to.

Re: I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver

#32

Post by dougabug »

dnautics wrote: post #27

I'm not sure how her back to back drives add up to only $10/hr. I drive Uber/Lyft in San Diego, routinely don't get back-to-back rides and have some long stretches of downtime, and usually make $1000 on a 50 hour on-call week (~30h of actual drive time). So that's about $20/hour. If you minus gas (~150/wk) that's a little bit less; I drive a honda insight, which gets slightly worse gas mileage than the prius, and the…

There are other costs besides gas, there's wear and tear on your car, maintenance, interest (if you financed your vehicle, say through one of Uber's subprime lenders), insurance (does your insurance company know that you are using your car for commercial transport?). Do you spend time washing/cleaning the outside and interior of the car? I would at least double the gas cost, so say $300/wk. Do you pay self employment tax? It seems like you are at closer to maybe ~$13/hr or so, with no benefits. A regular (non-exempt) employee would also get overtime if they worked 50hrs.

San Francisco also might have more competition from other drivers.

Re: I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver

#33

Post by nawitus »

dougabug wrote: post #32
dnautics wrote: post #27

I'm not sure how her back to back drives add up to only $10/hr. I drive Uber/Lyft in San Diego, routinely don't get back-to-back rides and have some long stretches of downtime, and usually make $1000 on a 50 hour on-call week (~30h of actual drive time). So that's about $20/hour. If you minus gas (~150/wk) that's a little bit less; I drive a honda insight, which gets slightly worse gas mileage than the prius, and the…

There are other costs besides gas, there's wear and tear on your car, maintenance, interest (if you financed your vehicle, say through one of Uber's subprime lenders), insurance (does your insurance company know that you are using your car for commercial transport?). Do you spend time washing/cleaning the outside and interior of the car? I would at least double the gas cost, so say $300/wk. Do you pay self employment…

Should insurance be higher or lower for commercial transport, and if so, why?

Re: I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver

#34

Post by uptown »

nawitus wrote: post #33
dougabug wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are other costs besides gas, there's wear and tear on your car, maintenance, interest (if you financed your vehicle, say through one of Uber's subprime lenders), insurance (does your insurance company know that you are using your car for commercial transport?). Do you spend time washing/cleaning the outside and interior of the car? I would at least double the gas cost, so say $300/wk. Do you pay self employment…

Should insurance be higher or lower for commercial transport, and if so, why?

Arguably yes. The vehicle is in-use for a greater percentage of the average day increasing the likelihood of being involved in an accident. Also, the vehicle is expected to be carrying more than the owner leading to additional injury claims in court.

Re: I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver

#35

Post by DanBC »

nawitus wrote: post #33
dougabug wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are other costs besides gas, there's wear and tear on your car, maintenance, interest (if you financed your vehicle, say through one of Uber's subprime lenders), insurance (does your insurance company know that you are using your car for commercial transport?). Do you spend time washing/cleaning the outside and interior of the car? I would at least double the gas cost, so say $300/wk. Do you pay self employment…

Should insurance be higher or lower for commercial transport, and if so, why?

Using a non-commercial insurance policy for a commercial-use vehicle is fraud and routinely leads to declined claims.

The vehicle driver might be aware of that and take the risk anyway, but passengers are usually not aware of this and need some protections.

Re: I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver

#36

Post by martinko »

pbreit wrote: post #24
martinko wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not true, at least according to my limited experience in Prague. The driver will see the destination I put in only after he STARTS the ride, ie after I get in the car (as opposed to seeing it before or after he accepts the ride).

In the US, at least, entering the destination is optional.

Here too, but the driver doesnt see it either way.

Re: I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver

#37

Post by ekanes »

ghshephard wrote: post #31

Regarding ETA times - They were really, really good on the Peninsula in the bay area - over 50 or so rides, and ETA of 5-15 minutes would usually be within 2 minutes of the correct time. Here in Dubai - they are ludicrously incorrect. I'll see a "8 minute ETA" that turns out to be 35 minutes, more often than not. This seems to be a very solvable problem. During certain hours, traffic is very slow. I've only been here…

Consider that Dubai might have different cultural norms as well, which could affect drivers' hurry/accuracy factor.

Re: I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver

#38

Post by roarktoohey »

"Also, considering the company’s huge profits, Uber owes it to the little guys doing their driving to provide much better software..."

Is it typical for reporters to confuse profits with revenue? None of the decks I've seen show profits, I've always assumed that my rides are subsidized by VC money.

Re: I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver

#39

Post by no_future »

pyrophane wrote: post #19

Does Uber use Apple Maps for its drivers? I would assume so, if they are on iOS. That could certainly explain why several comments in this thread mention Uber's direction finding services getting worse. My rather subjective experience with Apple Maps is that they haven't caught up with Google yet.

I remember reading somewhere that they use the Foursquare API for something.

Re: I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver

#40

Post by burger_moon »

dougabug wrote: post #32
dnautics wrote: post #27

I'm not sure how her back to back drives add up to only $10/hr. I drive Uber/Lyft in San Diego, routinely don't get back-to-back rides and have some long stretches of downtime, and usually make $1000 on a 50 hour on-call week (~30h of actual drive time). So that's about $20/hour. If you minus gas (~150/wk) that's a little bit less; I drive a honda insight, which gets slightly worse gas mileage than the prius, and the…

There are other costs besides gas, there's wear and tear on your car, maintenance, interest (if you financed your vehicle, say through one of Uber's subprime lenders), insurance (does your insurance company know that you are using your car for commercial transport?). Do you spend time washing/cleaning the outside and interior of the car? I would at least double the gas cost, so say $300/wk. Do you pay self employment…

This is a common mistake people make in hot shot driving also. (People who use 1 ton trucks to haul cars/equipment around). They think great, I'm getting $1.50/mi and fuel is only costing me $0.75/mi, I'm making money. Then you factor in truck/trailer payment, insurance, business related fees(you need that DOT sticker), wear and tear, and cash to buy a new truck every 3-4 years and suddenly you're in the hole big time and all you're doing it racking up milage on your new Dodge.
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