Uber Reality 101 -- New Year's Eve in Pittsburgh
My 11 Uber riders on Dec. 31 proved what I had learned five years ago -- Uber and Lyft are the new mass transit of what we used to call the 'underclass'
It's been clear to me for five years that Uber and Lyft have become the go-to transit option for rich and poor Pittsburghers alike. Here’s an article about my Uber career I wrote for Pittsburgh magazine.
To show who uses Uber these post-lockdown days, and why, and how no existing form of public or private transport could possibly fill their idiosyncratic needs, here are the details of my 11 Uber riders from early New Year's Eve.
I didn't want to work late on New Year's Eve because though the money is better because of steep price surges, I learned long ago it's too much trouble dealing with the drunks after midnight.
I left my home 18 miles south of downtown Pittsburgh at 3 PM Friday.
Most of my rides began and/or ended in poor or working class city neighborhoods, where the houses are old and packed together on hillsides and the streets are lousy, narrow and insanely confused.
How Uber arrives at its pricing and determines its cut of the fare price is a mystery -- it's a different percentage for every ride.
The details:
Ride 1 -- requested at 3:16 pm -- Picked up a guy and his young son at a supermarket. His Kia's engine had blown up the week before and he had to go to the car repair shop 4 miles away and order a tow truck to take his worthless car to his house. The ride to the repair shop cost him $14.91. Uber got $8 ($6.37 service fee and $1.53 Booking fee). I got $7.01 plus $1 tip.
Ride 2 -- Same guy. The repair shop was closed. His keys were in the shop. He decided to go home. I had waited for him to make sure he wasn't going to be stranded, but I had closed off the ride. So he stood by my car and ordered an Uber, guaranteeing that I would be his driver. I took him and his kid home -- 6.33 miles, 18 minutes. It cost him another $17.97 (including a $3 tip) so I made $13.45.
Ride 3 -- Requested at 4:02 PM -- Picked up a woman named "Love" at a different supermarket. Her cart was, literally, overflowing with eight 12-packs of soda, a dozen bags, detergent, two 24-packs of water. More groceries than I've ever been faced with in 7,000-plus rides since 2015. I helped her load up my CRV with her stuff. We drove to a house on a busy street and she got out and delivered the detergent and other stuff to a relative while I parked illegally for five minutes. We then continued to her house, where I helped her unload and take her stuff to her porch. The 3.82 mile trip took 22 minutes. She paid $17.66 and I made $13.10, which includes her $3 tip. Uber got a mere $4.65.
Ride 4 --Requested at 4:39 PM -- Picked up a carpenter/handyman who had finished a day of work in a house. His boss had ordered the Uber for him. He told me until about a year ago he lived on the streets of Pittsburgh, had been a hopeless drunk and had been in jail for 8 months but was now sober. He had no car, obviously, and was living with his brother. The 15-minute, 8.4 mile ride across town cost his boss $17.10. I got $11.16. Uber got $6.14.
Ride 5 -- Requested at 5:04 PM (I accepted the ride from two already drunk people while still delivering the former street-person to his brother's house. Throughout my time driving I never had to wait for a ride or drive around dead-heading for a minute; it was one ride on top of another ride, though sometimes the next ride was 10 minutes away). The couple - very appreciative -- paid Uber $14.34 for a 1.31 mile trip from their neighborhood bar to home. I got a fare of $5.19 and a generous $5 tip for 61/2 minutes of 'work.'
Ride 6 -- Requested at 5:24. Picked up two teenage girls at a Dollar General. Drove them 1.15 miles to their home. I made $5.18. Uber made $4.19.
Ride 7 -- Requested at 5:38. Picked up young woman at Aldi's. She had half of a shopping cart filled with groceries. Took her to her home .86 miles away (at the top of a hill). Helped her with stuff. It cost her $9.34 and I made $5.17. Uber made $4.17.
Ride 8 -- Requested at 5:52 pm. Picked up young kid who said not one word and took him 6.5 miles to a party across town. Time of trip 16 minutes. He paid $11.57. I got $9.93. Uber got a mere $1.80.
Rides 9 & 10 -- Two rides requested at 6:31 pm -- both riders quickly cancelled.
Ride 11 -- Requested at 6:37. A young woman and her boyfriend living in an upscale apartment complex were going to a party at a restaurant. She was carrying a large tray of food. We stopped on the way to pick up her father. Total trip 4.1 miles, time 14 minutes, fare $12.85. I got $7.62 --plus a $15 tip. Uber got $5.33.
Ride 12 -- Requested at 6:57 but cancelled by rider.
Ride 13 -- Requested at 6:58. Picked up young couple (in very poor neighborhood) with two small kids who installed two car seats. Took everyone to grandma's house 7.8 miles across town to an equally poor neighborhood. Driving time 27 minutes. It cost their grandmother (who ordered the trip for them) $19.90. I got $15.92. Uber got $4.17. (No wonder it hasn't made a profit yet.)
Ride 14 -- Requested at 7:31. Took a twenty year old kid -- already drunk -- from one old, close-in suburb to a party a few neighborhoods away. Cost him $8.96 and I made $5.20.
Shortly before 8 p.m., I happily turned off my app and drove home -- 34 minutes and 20 miles away.
For the night I was online 4 hours and 38 minutes.
For 11 completed trips, I grossed $92.95 in fares and $27 in tips (thank God) for total earnings of $119.95. That's almost $25 an hour, gross.
I drove a total of 80 miles and got 24 mpg in a Honda CRV. Except for some cracker crumbs left by the two kids, no harm done to the car.
80 percent of my riders were poor, people of color and lived in poor city neighborhoods.
Bus rides for them would have been impossible -- or taken half a day. Forget taxis -- too few and they're not interested in short trips.
I have no idea what most of my customers would have done absent Uber/Lyft, but I guarantee they are very happy it exists.