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!

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

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)?

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

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.

Not that I've heard of. The only thing close to it I could find was this: http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2016/09/27/circulation-uber-transportation-to-boston-childrens-hospital/ , but I don't think this a thing in DC and I don't know if Circulation still even exists...details were light. UberX is already pretty cheap...a little less than half the price of DC cab meter rates on a non-surging regular fare. UberX is equal to DC taxicab rates at 2.1x surge.

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.

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever had a couple get "frisky" while you were driving them someplace?

OP here, back again! Rarely, but it happened the other night and then I remembered I left this question unanswered. They were lip-locked the whole way from Dupont to Glover Park, complete with all the sucking noises that you can imagine. Typically guys will get frisky with their date/gf/wife, but the lady will put the kibosh on it because of the awkwardness of me sitting two feet away. If both are drunk, all bets are off.

In other news, spring is coming and the driving has been easy enough that I changed my weekly target to 20 hours of driving or $600, whichever comes first. I've hit the money goal four straight weeks with all the tourists and cherry blossom crowds, along with the rainy weather. And I just had my most profitable ride ever tonite after UNC's win. Drunk + high heels = uberX at any price, lol ($720/hr | $32/mile):

Hi OP! Welcome back!

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

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.

Have you ever had a couple get "frisky" while you were driving them someplace?

That's awesome, OP! Congrats on the $$$ for your hustle! Keep it up, you will have that paid off house and retirement you are shooting for!

(I had an Uber guy a few weeks ago and I had convinced myself it was you! He was super nice, quiet and polite - and, of course, an amazing driver.)

Thanks for the update.

Thanks for driving this weekend-- I got four great drivers between Thursday evening (x2) and March (x2). For the first time in ages, they actually knew where they were going and understood the city. Important on weird locked down weekends like this. I tipped all four drivers in cash. I hope you were one of them!

Anonymous wrote:Bump.
Hey OP, what's new?
Still driving?

Still driving, and still hitting my goal of grossing $500 in 20 hours every week that I go out and drive. Uber is still incentivizing drivers heavily to come out and drive with gimmicks like quests (eg. give 20 rides for a $35 bonus) and boost (guaranteed surge that uber subsidizes, while the riders pay only the regular fare). Uber is bleeding money at even a faster rate now than ever before and I take full advantage of the free money. In the first screenshot below, uber straight up gifted me $50 for driving because I earned $100 in subsidized boost incentives while their total commission cut was only $50, not to mention the money I earned from riders' actual fare payments.

I grossed about $30/hr Saturday doing really easy rides on a little less than 100 total miles driven:

Anonymous wrote:Who were better passengers this weekend... Inauguration or March attendees?

Everyone was fine and well-mannered...I did ~50 rides over Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. I do enjoy driving out-of-towners because I can talk about stuff other than typical DC convos. The demand for the Women's March was insane and the drivers that put in big hours Thursday-Sunday made bank. Saturday alone was the best single day driving uberX in years. I think we should have a Women's March every month, lol.

And lazy rides are my bread & butter because the profit margin is almost infinite...a four-block ride: