this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2023
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I could see this being great for long trip rides.
I'm a driver and had this thought myself for a service or at least for when it's busy.
When it's not busy, people aren't being squeezed as much as they think they are. The base rates for rides haven't increased, ever, the opposite is true, they have been lowering what they charge riders and now uber and lyft are trying to find how low drivers can go.
For those who don't drive for a living. What you pay during non busy times isn't anywhere near enough most of the time. Drivers have to cover all expenses, maintenance, insurance, etc and then pay their bills.
I think the company only taking 10% of the cut vs what Uber and Lyft take is what sounds better to me. It will make those longer trips more affordable for the rider and more profitable for the driver.
As a driver I can tell you that even what uber and lyft currently charge isn't enough most of the time for the longer rides. On top of gas and accounting for oil, tires, etc, drive of 4+ hours should include a hotel stay on the other end for your own safety on the road as well as mental health. Driving for 8+ hours straight assuming you also worked a bit that day already is not smart.
I checked them out and I signed up as a driver with zero friction. They didn't ask for any info from me at all. No DL, no car info, no insurance info, etc. By the looks of it I don't think that 10% includes commercial auto insurance at the moment, especially if they didn't ask for any info to sign up as a driver.
You make a great point there. I’ve never really considered if the drive would put you past the point of being exhausted and needing to sleep. A hotel bonus would be better even if there are some people who would rather keep it and sleep in the car. I also think you are correct in the fact that the 10% might increase once they need to add on other factors lie background check ect..
The 10% is more than enough. I said nothing about a hotel bonus, that should be considered an expense for the driver and factored in to their min rate for a ride.
Uber and lyft did a lot of good for the mobility of the populous but the way they have intentionally pushed down peoples expectations on what they should pay for a ride is equal to the good they have done.
I run my own service as well as another app called empower, they let us set our own rates and my min on empower is $10. Most people don't balk at that but I've argued with doofuses on the other site about them thinking that they should be able to get a ride for as little as $5 with no consideration on the drivers cost to operate. People seem to do the math and science think we are able to make $60/hour and therefore are overpaid for this job.