Good riddance
I've never used or worked for either so legitimate question for anyone who has worked with such, what's the split on a ride between the app owners and the drivers? I should hope that the driver takes the majority since they're the one taking the risk, time, maintinance, stress and all that. My general understanding is that these services tend to be cheaper than a traditional taxi but less regulated so I get there's contention there.
Basically I'm hoping that the drivers aren't in one of those 'living off the tips' situations like servers in resturaunts while the companies vacume up all the fees.
In the beginning when Uber moves into a new region, they pay drivers well to get drivers onboard, and charge riders little to get riders onboard. This also makes competitors like taxis less attractive and makes Uber really popular, making it hard for the city to push back.
So drivers might be getting more than riders are paying, with Uber subsidizing the entire thing! If your city is in this phase, it's great for riders and drivers.
Once they're established though, and the competitors have been pushed out, and people learned that Uber is awesome and cheap compared to taxis, they start raising prices and reducing driver pay. To keep enough availability they need to hire new drivers, which means their quality standards drop, and they use increasingly creative strategies down to debt slavery (desperate drivers lease/rent their car - which can be their only vehicle and which they may need to get to work or exist in general in a car centric area - from Uber, at "very favorable" rates. But then they have to keep driving for Uber or lose the car.)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/05/uber-loan-program-debt
They also exploit that most people don't realize the true cost of a car. They only look at gas, not the wear and maintenance of the car. And if you look at what Uber pays, deduct only gas, and consider the rest income, it looks like a good deal, while in reality they might be selling their car to Uber one kilometer at a time and working effectively for free.
As I understand it there isn't a direct share of the ride price or anything like that. The amounts Uber pays to drivers and charges from riders are decoupled to the point where even way it's calculated (e.g. actual distance vs. scheduled distance) could differ between driver and rider. The driver side fare system is different per city/region.
Generally the driver gets the majority of the ride cost, but their earnings vary a lot by region/time. If you're just asking if it's a good job, then the answer is a resounding no. I did it for a few months a couple years ago, and I have a friend who has done it as his full time job for the past 6 years or so. No change that Uber/Lyft makes is ever designed around benefiting the driver. You can safely assume that any new policy is going to make you earn less than you were before.
At the end of the day, you are not fairly compensated for vehicle wear and tear, fuel consumption is not factored properly for all rides, certain arbitrary locations pay more or less and require unpaid relocating to actually land rides, etc. The best is when you take a 2 hour trip only to find out after drop off that you aren't allowed to pick up new rides in that area and that you need to spend nearly the same amount of time getting back to an area you're qualified to drive in. I think that one at least has been mostly resolved since I drove years ago, but you get the idea...
So sounds a lot like the world of a pizza driver, which I have done that. No personal interest in doing so since I have a solid thing already but the concept of the freelance 'work when you feel' being more prevalent is I figgure a net good for some people. Particularly I think of the retired and board, or someone who wants a couple extra bucks for holidays, things like that.
"Not allowed to pick up/qualified to drive there"? That just seems bizzare and pointless...
I don't know if it's changed since my last attempt at it, but there were two separate reasons for not being able to pick up at specific areas. I was limited to my state for pick-ups, but could drop off anywhere. I also live about 20 minutes from a major city in a neighboring state... so you can see how that breaks the system instantly. It was probably a related to a local law, but that's just how shit worked.
The other reason was due to an airport agreement that I'm sure has since been undone. An airport about an hour north of me only allowed regular taxis. Lyft and Uber were not allowed to operate within about a 15 minute radius of their location. This, of course only affected pick-ups, so dropping someone off there resulted in about 30 minutes (15 getting out of the congested drop off area and 15 actually driving) of unpaid time. And that's assuming that you can find a ride the instant that you breach the barrier. Which you won't...
Good.
it's time for a decentralized unionized taxi app
The mayor will unfortunately veto this legislation.
The joy of the big company moving into a limited matked, subsidise the loss until the competition leaves/folds and the people are left with the only game in town. Unfortunatly nothing new there, that's pretty well the M/O of every big chain. In my state it seems there has been a Dollar General popping up in every other small town doing the same thing.
They won't, unfortunately.
Companies that threaten to leave as an attempt to influence legislation should be immediately seized and liquidated
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