I am a DC uberX driver since 2013 and have SEEN IT ALL...so please, AMA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a rider asks you if you are the DCUM UberX poster would you tell the truth?

Ummm, probably not. But I'm not a good hider on things like that, so I might give it away and not intend to. But I'm still trying to keep this thing anonymous. I've told bits and pieces of all this to some passengers, especially those who ask questions and are aware that driving for uber is kind of a crazy way to make a living, but I doubt anyone would remember me specifically from a snippet like that.

We should have a code word or something, lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you drive on the 395 HOV lanes during restrictions even when there's only 2 people? I know cabs can do this (I see them on there at 8am and 5pm all the time), curious if Uber is the same.
I've thought about getting an Uber home from work (downtown to Braddock Rd) but scared we'd get stuck in traffic on regular 395.
Thanks for the terrific thread OP! I hope you are my driver some day. PS I always tip, whether it's Uber, Instacart, Postmates, etc.

And one more thing, thanks for the compliments and being a great tipper! A $2 tip on an $8 uber ride that gets you 5 miles across town is always very appreciated!

[Anonymous]

I live very close to Shirlington and I take uber all the time and I have a crush on our dear OP, and now every time I ger in an Uber I think it might be him!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. My last 3 UberBlack rides have all been Suburbans -- so I'm guaranteed to arrive for dinner in DC headachy and green with carsickness. And worse, last night the app said driver was 8 minutes away but he arrived 25 minutes later. No tip for that $75 ride. Do UberBlack drivers more expect a tip because I'm already over paying for the ride? I want to be able to select my car and driver.

No one else gets carsick in Suburbans?

I know what you're talking about. A lot of the big newer SUVs have an air-ride suspension can feel similar to drifting on a boat. It smooths out the bumps but still has some motion in the ride.

UberBLACK drivers probably shouldn't be expecting tips, especially if they were late and provided sub-par service. They're paid well enough for their time based on the current BLACK rates.

I think we all would prefer to select a car and driver, but it's just not going to happen in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, make use of the cancel feature to get choosy about your ride. (Cancelling is free if done within five minutes of requesting.)

Huh. I never thought about canceling after I get the "Gema is on his way in a Suburban" and reselect until a get a nice BLACK sedan. I'll probably just keep complaining about my $75 boat ride instead.
What about the showing up in 25 minutes when the app says the wait is 8 minutes -- is that more likely something unforeseen? Or the driver stopping for gas or something else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live very close to Shirlington and I take uber all the time and I have a crush on our dear OP, and now every time I ger in an Uber I think it might be him!!

I pick up at Guapo's all the time. Our paths may even have already crossed, lol.



I just received my uber "partner" email for last week which was shortened for me by Easter. Since AMAs are supposed to have proof, here is mine (details removed to protect the innocent):

My driver rating for the week:


My driver stats:


And my paycheck:


Raiser is uber's payment company. That deposit is split because $17-.-- was earned giving rides and the $3-.-- was guaranteed money for working 6-9am on Monday, March 21st. Uber predicted it would be busy and guaranteed drivers $30/hr (but really only $24/hr after uber's cut)...but they were wrong and it wasn't. I slow-rolled uber's minimum of 2 completed rides per hour and made ~$30-ish on the fares and another ~$30-ish in free money off uber's guarantee. These "guarantees" are a whole other game with uber that many drivers are familiar of. Still, not bad for working 8.25 hours and netting ~$210 on only a Monday morning and Tuesday evening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. My last 3 UberBlack rides have all been Suburbans ...

No one else gets carsick in Suburbans?

...
In the meantime, make use of the cancel feature to get choosy about your ride. (Cancelling is free if done within five minutes of requesting.)

Huh. I never thought about canceling after I get the "Gema is on his way in a Suburban" and reselect until a get a nice BLACK sedan. I'll probably just keep complaining about my $75 boat ride instead.
What about the showing up in 25 minutes when the app says the wait is 8 minutes -- is that more likely something unforeseen? Or the driver stopping for gas or something else?

This is simply a case of the driver taking his sweet-ass time in getting to you. He could be getting gas, taking a shit, eating lunch/dinner, whatever. Drivers NEVER turn the driver app off when they're out working...uberX, XL, BLACK, Taxi, doesn't matter. Competition is so fierce for pings that missing a good one could absolutely tank your day. I'll be in a bathroom at McDonald's and a ride request ping sound will go off in someone's pocket and three dudes will all pull out their phones and check them at the same time.

The arrival time shown in the app is pretty accurate and adjusts to be more accurate as the driver gets closer. A driver should rarely ever be more than 3 minutes later than the original ETA, unless there's something unforeseen like crazy traffic or an accident.

[Anonymous]

If your daytime 'real' job gave you a raise equal to or more than you make driving uberX, would you quit? Or would you always want more until you buy the house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your daytime 'real' job gave you a raise equal to or more than you make driving uberX, would you quit? Or would you always want more until you buy the house?

I make roughly double at my day job than what I make driving uberX. I suppose the extra uber income bumps me from "steady working middle class" to "comfortable", but I have to work for it. I could live off my day job and save the uber earnings, but it's more of a personal challenge/goal to do it the opposite way for as long as I can stand it.

[Anonymous]

When you are using Lyft do you have to put the pink mustache on the front of your car?

What candidate do you support for president and why?

What is your favorite DCUM thread of all time?

[Anonymous]

You mentioned you check as a rider to see where the other drivers are in surge time. Can you have both apps running at once, or does it make you not available to drive when you start the rider app?

I was in downtown Frederick, MD during the business day a few days ago. I checked Uber just for fun, and every time I checked it was surging and nearest driver was 8-10 minutes away. Was this a rare thing, or do areas sort of on the fringe end up surging a lot? Is there some kind of strategy there like to hang out in Frederick other similar place like this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You mentioned you check as a rider to see where the other drivers are in surge time. Can you have both apps running at once, or does it make you not available to drive when you start the rider app?

I was in downtown Frederick, MD during the business day a few days ago. I checked Uber just for fun, and every time I checked it was surging and nearest driver was 8-10 minutes away. Was this a rare thing, or do areas sort of on the fringe end up surging a lot? Is there some kind of strategy there like to hang out in Frederick other similar place like this?

I can have the uber passenger app, the uber driver app, and the lyft driver/rider app all open and running at the same time in order to make better decisions on what rides I should accept and/or where I need to be heading or to stay put.

On the "fringe" (like Frederick, Purcellville, Culpeper, Fredericksburg, southern Maryland, etc.) there is likely only one, maybe two drivers working and available. There are probably a few requests on the fringe in this ten-mile range that's covered by maybe a single driver, so this causes surge to kick in, in the hopes that another local driver will notice and sign in real quick so all requests can be covered, that's in theory at least.

I wouldn't be hanging out in Frederick much if I could help it, lol, but I would be driving out of Frederick south on 270 five mph under the speed limit in the hopes of catching a long ride close by that goes into DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you are using Lyft do you have to put the pink mustache on the front of your car?
I used to a long time ago when lyft first got started. Oh the things I've done in this town for money . It got to be a pain taking it on and off so I tossed it. Lyft uses a glowing neon pink mustache in the dash currently, I'm sure you've seen them around town. Uber is way easier with just the sign on the passenger rear window.

What candidate do you support for president and why?
Gary Johnson...Minimum Government, Maximum Freedom.

What is your favorite DCUM thread of all time?
No favorites really, but I do find the many threads with couples making $250k+ and "struggling" quite entertaining. And all those sex-starved wives over in Relationship Discussion...I can't imagine how that'd ever be a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain the pool rides more? Do I have to do them if I'm a driver and if so how do you get around it? You seem to have a nice system going. I'm in LA, is uber good to drive out here as well?

Pool rides are almost half of the volume on uberX now. You have two choices: drive pool rides and earn pennies for the effort OR reject pool ride requests until you get an uberX/surge request. If you want to actually get paid somewhat fairly for your time, the latter option is the best choice BUT uber will sit you in a "time-out" ranging from ten minutes to an hour out of the driver app if you cancel too many ride requests. Uber does this to force drivers into accepting all rides, pool or uberX, no matter what. Drivers who are new to the game don't realize that there is a choice and will accept any ride that comes them (and I gladly let them). So to make the most of your time, choose wisely.

LA is a top-5 uber city along with DC. If I could pick an ideal area to drive, it'd be a place with millions of people spread across a wide area who have above-average incomes, like LA and DC.

Anonymous wrote:PP again- If I want to drive, should I stick to fri/sat nights? I have a FT job.

The 62 hours between Friday at 5pm and Monday at 7am are all great times to drive.

Anonymous wrote:Would you ever drive when it's not surge?

Not if I can help it. Surge is too easy to game if you know where it's going to be as it pops up around the city in cycles based on the day/time. If it's not surging with regularity when expected, business is not going to be brisk that day at all and I'd probably just go home.

[b]

LA poster again- Thanks so much, this was really helpful! One last question, how many times can I reject pools until I get a timeout? And during the timeout I'd just drive lyft then right?

[Anonymous]

LA poster again- Forgor to add that tonight just for fun on my commute home through west Hollywood and Beverly Hills I checked the app and saw all the surge areas. It was kind of exciting! I'm only 3 miles from the strip/Beverly hills so I'm hoping to start my drive tomorrow. Thanks again!!

[Anonymous]

OP, as others have said, you're awesome! Thanks so much for this.

Two quick questions/confession/mortification:

1) I have never tipped an Uber driver, largely because I've read press saying they weren't allowed to take tips (obviously not true). Just talked to DH and he also has never tipped drivers nor does he know anyone who has. I'm resolved to change, if that's a standard -- would you say 5% cash? 10%? Part of the problem is also that I don't see the total fare before I get out of the car...

2) I recently called an Uber to get two adults, two kids from a suburb to a major metro area (I no longer live in DC but am out west). When the driver got to our house, I hopped in the (littered) front seat and others got in the back. My DC (10) who was in the middle back seat discovered that the seatbelt didn't work. The driver tried to fix it but couldn't so he canceled (at my request) -- and then charged the cancellation fee. I've got to deal with that but I also want to report my dissatisfaction. If I report this on "Uber Feedback," though, I'm concerned that the driver will 'suss out it's me (how many others would have had this seatbelt thing....) and he 'knows where I live.' I'm not normally paranoid, but given that my brother and the two kids we had with us all had bad vibes about this driver from the start, I'm just a little anxious. Thoughts on best next steps, OP?

Thanks again for being forthright, witty, and by all appearances/writing wise, a really nice guy with integrity. I wish you all the best.