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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Uber dude, for being so generous to answer questions.

I have an odd one. Please don't judge.

My oncologist says there is either a medical Uber or a medical rate for an Uber. I have never heard of this and I take Uber to the hospital 3x/week.

Have you heard of this? Or is my dr living in an alternate reality?

I'm not cheap. But cancer is an expensive disease so I'm trying my best to mitigate that expense.

Thanks in advance for answering my question.

NP here. This may not be helpful, but you generally can use HSA or FSA funds to pay for travel expenses associated directly with treatment, and in some situations insurance will cover it (not likely since it's local but worth asking). Wishing you the best.

[Anonymous]

So glad to see this thread bumped. I just read this article the other day and was wondering what you (OP) thought about it.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/02/technology/uber-drivers-psychological-tricks.html?_r=0

Here's an excerpt:

"And yet even as Uber talks up its determination to treat drivers more humanely, it is engaged in an extraordinary behind-the-scenes experiment in behavioral science to manipulate them in the service of its corporate growth — an effort whose dimensions became evident in interviews with several dozen current and former Uber officials, drivers and social scientists, as well as a review of behavioral research.

Uber’s innovations reflect the changing ways companies are managing workers amid the rise of the freelance-based “gig economy.” Its drivers are officially independent business owners rather than traditional employees with set schedules. This allows Uber to minimize labor costs, but means it cannot compel drivers to show up at a specific place and time. And this lack of control can wreak havoc on a service whose goal is to seamlessly transport passengers whenever and wherever they want.

Uber helps solve this fundamental problem by using psychological inducements and other techniques unearthed by social science to influence when, where and how long drivers work. It’s a quest for a perfectly efficient system: a balance between rider demand and driver supply at the lowest cost to passengers and the company."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP! Welcome back!

Have you driven around any famous (or, rather, DC-famous) people before? Would you ever drive Uber Black?

Ben Stein, Matthew Klesko, Kris Humphries, a Caps player I couldn't pin, John Wall's barber (he just had to tell me, lol), a local news anchor and a weathergirl that I recognized from tv but didn't know their names and can't remember them from the app, and TONS of people who think they're "DC" famous or important.

And nope to uberBLACK. My costs nowadays are gas, oil changes and tires, and not much else. I plan on driving my car until the day it dies so I'm trying to get the best bang for my buck with the bare minimum in expenses while keeping the income as high as possible for as long as I can. I don't know how anyone turns a profit in a $60,000 gas-guzzling Suburban, even if the rides are a $25 minimum. Also, those uberBLACK drivers sit for hours waiting on a single ride...I'd rather keep the wheels rolling.

I didn't know Uber Black waits so long between rides, nor about the $25 minimum! Re: the bolded -- any particularly egregious stories (names redacted, of course)?

It's the people I pick up at Russell/Hart, Rayburn, or a fancy K Street address who sit in the back yakking away either on their phone or with their friend(s) along for the ride about things that probably shouldn't be mentioned outside their offices or a SCIF. Since I'm just a lowly uberX driver, people must assume I'm a partly-deaf nobody. 99% of it goes in one ear and out the other and it's completely forgotten once the ride is over, but still, you never know who may be listening if you make zero attempt to be discreet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop parking in the friggin' bike lane. I mean I can sort of understand it in places and at times where there are hardly any cyclists - but some of the more heavily used bike times and places are just when and where the most Uber/lyft drop offs and pick ups are. And of course drivers don't just make their drop and drive away - they stay there, sitting in the bike lane while checking their phones (for the next passenger, I guess) which means in some blocks multiple cars in the bike lanes, constantly. To the point where I, a rider happy to ride in the lane, door zone and all, just have no choice but to take the general travel lane (which I imagine drivers are not thrilled with - I am not a real fast rider) The more ubers there are, the worse this problem seems to get to the point where the only useful bike lanes are the protected bike lanes.

Bikers are assholes, take an Uber rather than waste an entire lane. -DC resident

+1000

Yeah, f*ck the environment!

DC can be a very walkable, bikeable, and driveable city for all with a little more tweaking, but don't forget that we're all in his together so everyone has their own part to play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So glad to see this thread bumped. I just read this article the other day and was wondering what you (OP) thought about it.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/02/technology/uber-drivers-psychological-tricks.html?_r=0

Here's an excerpt:

"And yet even as Uber talks up its determination to treat drivers more humanely, it is engaged in an extraordinary behind-the-scenes experiment in behavioral science to manipulate them in the service of its corporate growth — an effort whose dimensions became evident in interviews with several dozen current and former Uber officials, drivers and social scientists, as well as a review of behavioral research.

Uber’s innovations reflect the changing ways companies are managing workers amid the rise of the freelance-based “gig economy.” Its drivers are officially independent business owners rather than traditional employees with set schedules. This allows Uber to minimize labor costs, but means it cannot compel drivers to show up at a specific place and time. And this lack of control can wreak havoc on a service whose goal is to seamlessly transport passengers whenever and wherever they want.

Uber helps solve this fundamental problem by using psychological inducements and other techniques unearthed by social science to influence when, where and how long drivers work. It’s a quest for a perfectly efficient system: a balance between rider demand and driver supply at the lowest cost to passengers and the company."

So this article got a ton of chatter amongst drivers and on the message boards. Driving uberX/lyft has ALWAYS been a game, not a real job. You start at the bottom, learn the ropes along with the tricks of the trade, find out what works and what doesn't, and then either adapt using what you know to turn a profit or fail spectacularly and be forced into another gig besides ridesharing. We're all "independent contractors", but some people in this world just aren't cut out to be their own boss and need to be led around (or "influenced" by uber as told in the above story). Drivers who are able to think outside-the-box to make the system work for them (not the other way around) can be profitable at it. Nowadays, whatever uber tells me to do, the first thing I think to do is usually the opposite. Lastly, driver turnover is still crazy high (~50% quit every six months) because there's lots more to this than just simply driving a car, plus daily driving in DC isn't exactly a piece of cake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop parking in the friggin' bike lane. I mean I can sort of understand it in places and at times where there are hardly any cyclists - but some of the more heavily used bike times and places are just when and where the most Uber/lyft drop offs and pick ups are. And of course drivers don't just make their drop and drive away - they stay there, sitting in the bike lane while checking their phones (for the next passenger, I guess) which means in some blocks multiple cars in the bike lanes, constantly. To the point where I, a rider happy to ride in the lane, door zone and all, just have no choice but to take the general travel lane (which I imagine drivers are not thrilled with - I am not a real fast rider) The more ubers there are, the worse this problem seems to get to the point where the only useful bike lanes are the protected bike lanes.

I don't. My ride is nimble and I always pull over into actual spaces, cut-outs, alleys, wherever. It's safer and gives me a place to wait a minute if I have to without tying up traffic. If everyone drove like I did, there would be no traffic congestion in DC. I will not stop in a travel lane or bike lane for a pick-up unless the rider is right there flagging me down and it'll take less than five seconds.

But just about every other uber driver stops wherever they feel like, mostly because they're totally oblivious to anything going on around them. I see it happen dozens of times on every shift. If you're a brave shit-stirrer, slap the the lid of their trunk or a door panel hard with an open palm to send the message, then ride on. I do it daily while walking around downtown to cars that shouldn't be in the crosswalk as I'm crossing.

Thank you.

I am too cautious to slap cars. Generally I just shrug or roll my eyes.

Cyclist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop parking in the friggin' bike lane. I mean I can sort of understand it in places and at times where there are hardly any cyclists - but some of the more heavily used bike times and places are just when and where the most Uber/lyft drop offs and pick ups are. And of course drivers don't just make their drop and drive away - they stay there, sitting in the bike lane while checking their phones (for the next passenger, I guess) which means in some blocks multiple cars in the bike lanes, constantly. To the point where I, a rider happy to ride in the lane, door zone and all, just have no choice but to take the general travel lane (which I imagine drivers are not thrilled with - I am not a real fast rider) The more ubers there are, the worse this problem seems to get to the point where the only useful bike lanes are the protected bike lanes.

Bikers are assholes, take an Uber rather than waste an entire lane. -DC resident

Biking is cheaper, better for my health, and better for the environment. And I try to avoid places where I have to take the general travel lane - and when I do I try to do it for only a short amount of time, unless it is somewhere where I can keep up with other traffic.

[Anonymous]

Somehow the rest of the developed world manages to accommodate both cyclists and cars, which are common in Europe, Asia and elsewhere with even smaller roads and heavier traffic congestion. Only in the US do we seem to have drivers who can't share with bikes without being hostile and aggressive. As a result, we ride only on bike paths here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Uber dude, for being so generous to answer questions.

I have an odd one. Please don't judge.

My oncologist says there is either a medical Uber or a medical rate for an Uber. I have never heard of this and I take Uber to the hospital 3x/week.

Have you heard of this? Or is my dr living in an alternate reality?

I'm not cheap. But cancer is an expensive disease so I'm trying my best to mitigate that expense.

Thanks in advance for answering my question.

NP here. This may not be helpful, but you generally can use HSA or FSA funds to pay for travel expenses associated directly with treatment, and in some situations insurance will cover it (not likely since it's local but worth asking). Wishing you the best.

I'm the PP you are responding to. I'm sorry it has taken me several days to THANK YOU so very much for your post. I never even considered this. I need to research it more, but without your input, I wouldn't have known to try. That alone is so helpful. Really. Thank you.

Sorry, OP, to threadjack. Carry on, people.

[Anonymous]

Uber driver, it may be earlier in the thread..but what are you netting generally in your Uber life in a general hour?

thanks if you are willing to share. if not, understand

[Anonymous]

I'm in Bethesda and will have to head to BWI pretty early like 6am on a weekday. I'm guessing there aren't many Uber drivers then, or the ones that are probably dont' want to drive that far. If I request an Uber, cant he drivers reject me (in the app) once they see where I'm going? Is Scheduled Ride the way to go in this case?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in Bethesda and will have to head to BWI pretty early like 6am on a weekday. I'm guessing there aren't many Uber drivers then, or the ones that are probably dont' want to drive that far. If I request an Uber, cant he drivers reject me (in the app) once they see where I'm going? Is Scheduled Ride the way to go in this case?

BWI isn't far...it's about exactly the same distance as a trip to Dulles. There are tons drivers out and about all over DC 24/7. The uber day really gets going around 4am with airport/train station trips, and drivers in the know hustle these early morning hours hard until around 7am when traffic starts getting tedious. Driver doesn't know your destination until you are seated in the car and he starts the ride. A driver would be nuts to turn down a long ride like that, especially since you'll likely be paying surge pricing for a ride originating from Bethesda around that time. Request your ride at 5:50am and you'll be rolling by 6am.

Anonymous wrote:Uber driver, it may be earlier in the thread..but what are you netting generally in your Uber life in a general hour?
thanks if you are willing to share. if not, understand

I consistently always take home between $25-$30/hr (after uber's commission cut) in any hour that I drive. I don't drive for any less than $25/hr, which is rare because I cherry-pick the hours that I know will be busy and/or surging. It's more like $30/hr on Friday & Saturday nites, and more like $25/hr on a Sunday driving tourists and the brunch crowd. I can bump this up to $35-$40/hr during special events (Inauguration, Women's March, NYE, Valentine's Day, St. Patty's Day, graduation weekend, July 4th, etc, etc). Also, I don't drive a single uberX/lyft trip during the entire months of both January or August (too wintry, too hot, and both are too sloooooooow).

These numbers are before taxes & expenses, but those are not a huge bite of my paycheck because my ride is paid-off, cheap to run, and a huge portion of the income is wiped out by the standard mileage deduction.

[Anonymous]

re: hourly.....EXTREMELY helpful. Thank you !

[Anonymous]

Am i supposed to sit up front with the driver or in the back seat? Not sure what the right etiquette is...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in Bethesda and will have to head to BWI pretty early like 6am on a weekday. I'm guessing there aren't many Uber drivers then, or the ones that are probably dont' want to drive that far. If I request an Uber, cant he drivers reject me (in the app) once they see where I'm going? Is Scheduled Ride the way to go in this case?

You can schedule a Lyft or Uber up to 24 hours in advance via the app. I've done it many times with Lyft, it works perfectly. They even send you a reminder about 30 minutes before the car is arriving (which is exactly when I would be waking up for an early morning flight). I'd recommend doing this.