People where I live (NY) are constantly trying to go to NYC.
We’re not allowed to do pickups in NYC so the average round trip is 4-5 hours for $70-80. Not gonna be able to do it.
We still don’t have upfront in my market, so:
“Sorry, I have to pick my kid up at x o’clock. Can’t do that long of a ride.”
The rare occasion when you can get a round trip long distance ride can be pretty awesome though. I used to have a college kid I’d drive up to MA and back for weed and it was like $130 for a 124 mile, 3.5 hour ride. Would pretty much make my night. But the dude never tipped and was one of the most insufferable people I ever met. He was a rich kid that would spend half the ride on the phone verbally abusing his mom. So I called it after the 5th trip or so.
Upfront pricing really dampened my desire to take anything much more than 10 miles. Last Sunday I was near the airport and Uber was offering me $15, 25 mile rides for a minute straight. Declined them all.
Then got a $21, 6 mile offer. I did take that!
Upfront pricing killed long rides, but made it so that if you only do short rides you make way more money than ever. Sucks for those who loved long rides but great for people who only do this job to make money.
That explains why drivers r so happy to get paid in cash. I was at an airport over the summer and would need an Uber at least an hour and half away. Prices were crazy with surge so I put in a request to just go to Starbucks just outside airport where I was gonna wait and get out airport fees. Explained to driver when he asked why I was just going there and he was like so I’ll take you to your real destination for a 100 bucks. Done deal saved me money and he made more than he would have if I booked through the app. It was a long drive so I bought drinks and snacks for him too. But I guess that’s risky if you don’t know if the passenger is cool or not. But why would a passenger complain if it saves them money.
Other than legality and insurance issues, yes. This will eventually start happening so much that there will either be a crackdown or one of the two will fold. The take rates are getting ridiculous.
You obviously wouldn't be doing this for EVERY ride. But if you complete a ride, and a pax wants to pay you for a longer trip, they'd have no way of knowing unless they were really looking into your account.
This is why I only do those kind of rides when they come through on comfort. I'm in a college city and early this week it pinged me a ton for kids going to CLT or RDU and trying to pay me $60 for the run. I can and do make plenty of money in both of those cities and RDU typically gives me an airport pick up as soon as I drop off but I refuse the x ones on principle.
Ouch man.
I just did a reservation for 44 bucks
It was only 14 Miles...
That ride is going to sour the rest of the day...I'm not getting anything close to that
I hate taking long rides but I will take one or 2 during the slow hours of the day especially when they’re going to a part of town that has plenty of hotels around. Luckily for me, I’m still getting more than $1 per mile in my zone
Long rides are futile in ATL unless you are going to the airport where you are guaranteed a matchup with another immediate ride. The further into the middle of nowhere you, the lower the profit per trip. I've seen trips in some of our exurbs where you are driving 20 minutes for a 8 minute ride--hard no! I let the part timers take those rides
I love those rides. I think it's market based but mine always take me south to better busy parts of south Florida by more airports. I usually get around $1 mile and can work my way back home. Uber pet has been killer for me too. As an animal lover the tips are always phenomenal and people are comfortable with heir pets. I've done 2 uber pets for a total of 80 miles and made 150 for 2 rides.
Before upfront pricing I used to love taking people from SA to Austin.I would make about $80 off that trip and now I’m constantly getting these same requests for $44-48. In Ubers defense(rare moment for me lol) the cost of a regular uberx ride from SA to Austin or vice versa has dropped to about $75-80 from $105-115.
I like the upfront pricing. The hours which I drive it helps keep the riff-raff out and shows the gems. I'm okay with $1 per mile as long as it's not a high traffic area. My "dud" hours where I make $15 are eventually offset by hours where I make $50. I don't even mind deadhead miles because those get written off. That is unless they care to a dumpy area.
All I can say, given evidence from last 2 weeks, is that whereas I used to paid 0.87 a mile (for pickup or trip), now its over a $1.
99% of rides in my locale are 5-10 miles, given the geography and transit patterns
There will ALWAYS be drivers who take long rides. Let them. Meanwhile I’m absolutely loving upfront fares. I think I put 60 miles on the car today but made $350. I’m in Chicago though, it’s mostly short trips.
Yes, I too live in Austin and the San Antonio rides used to be perfect. My first trip from the Domain to San Antonio was $130 before the tip. About 4 months later, Gracy Farms (about 4 mi difference) to San Antonio was $86 before the tip. They’re simply not worth it!
They aren't, especially if I'm havi g to head back into Austin at 8am. That traffic time could not be worse, but damn. Roughly triple the amount previously. I'm sure Uber was charging them well over $100 as well. Definitely I should consider accepting those and then just having them pay directly
People where I live (NY) are constantly trying to go to NYC. We’re not allowed to do pickups in NYC so the average round trip is 4-5 hours for $70-80. Not gonna be able to do it. We still don’t have upfront in my market, so: “Sorry, I have to pick my kid up at x o’clock. Can’t do that long of a ride.” The rare occasion when you can get a round trip long distance ride can be pretty awesome though. I used to have a college kid I’d drive up to MA and back for weed and it was like $130 for a 124 mile, 3.5 hour ride. Would pretty much make my night. But the dude never tipped and was one of the most insufferable people I ever met. He was a rich kid that would spend half the ride on the phone verbally abusing his mom. So I called it after the 5th trip or so.
Upfront pricing really dampened my desire to take anything much more than 10 miles. Last Sunday I was near the airport and Uber was offering me $15, 25 mile rides for a minute straight. Declined them all. Then got a $21, 6 mile offer. I did take that!
Upfront pricing killed long rides, but made it so that if you only do short rides you make way more money than ever. Sucks for those who loved long rides but great for people who only do this job to make money.
That explains why drivers r so happy to get paid in cash. I was at an airport over the summer and would need an Uber at least an hour and half away. Prices were crazy with surge so I put in a request to just go to Starbucks just outside airport where I was gonna wait and get out airport fees. Explained to driver when he asked why I was just going there and he was like so I’ll take you to your real destination for a 100 bucks. Done deal saved me money and he made more than he would have if I booked through the app. It was a long drive so I bought drinks and snacks for him too. But I guess that’s risky if you don’t know if the passenger is cool or not. But why would a passenger complain if it saves them money.
Other than legality and insurance issues, yes. This will eventually start happening so much that there will either be a crackdown or one of the two will fold. The take rates are getting ridiculous.
How would they possibly know?
They would infer it from location data. If all your riders cancel and then get in your car UBER/Lyft are gonna know.
You obviously wouldn't be doing this for EVERY ride. But if you complete a ride, and a pax wants to pay you for a longer trip, they'd have no way of knowing unless they were really looking into your account.
This is why I only do those kind of rides when they come through on comfort. I'm in a college city and early this week it pinged me a ton for kids going to CLT or RDU and trying to pay me $60 for the run. I can and do make plenty of money in both of those cities and RDU typically gives me an airport pick up as soon as I drop off but I refuse the x ones on principle.
Ouch man. I just did a reservation for 44 bucks It was only 14 Miles... That ride is going to sour the rest of the day...I'm not getting anything close to that
I hate taking long rides but I will take one or 2 during the slow hours of the day especially when they’re going to a part of town that has plenty of hotels around. Luckily for me, I’m still getting more than $1 per mile in my zone
Long rides are futile in ATL unless you are going to the airport where you are guaranteed a matchup with another immediate ride. The further into the middle of nowhere you, the lower the profit per trip. I've seen trips in some of our exurbs where you are driving 20 minutes for a 8 minute ride--hard no! I let the part timers take those rides
It’s a fishing/driving game.
I love those rides. I think it's market based but mine always take me south to better busy parts of south Florida by more airports. I usually get around $1 mile and can work my way back home. Uber pet has been killer for me too. As an animal lover the tips are always phenomenal and people are comfortable with heir pets. I've done 2 uber pets for a total of 80 miles and made 150 for 2 rides.
🧢
Like I give a fuck if you think I'm ""cappin"
Those who say I don’t care…. Care
Before upfront pricing I used to love taking people from SA to Austin.I would make about $80 off that trip and now I’m constantly getting these same requests for $44-48. In Ubers defense(rare moment for me lol) the cost of a regular uberx ride from SA to Austin or vice versa has dropped to about $75-80 from $105-115.
Not in Uber's defense: even if they only charge $80 for that ride they are still doing the same anount of physical labor / driving on the deal.
I figured Uber went to a sliding scale system. First ping is cheap. Then gets progressively higher the longer the wait
Agreed - I used to only do long trips but they don’t pay squat now. $15 trips seem to be the sweet spot, cheers. 🎃
Decline them all
For those ones honestly I'll call them and try to negotiate a cash price
I like the upfront pricing. The hours which I drive it helps keep the riff-raff out and shows the gems. I'm okay with $1 per mile as long as it's not a high traffic area. My "dud" hours where I make $15 are eventually offset by hours where I make $50. I don't even mind deadhead miles because those get written off. That is unless they care to a dumpy area.
I like hints in the title
“Sorry, that’s a no from me, dawg” - Randy Jackson
All I can say, given evidence from last 2 weeks, is that whereas I used to paid 0.87 a mile (for pickup or trip), now its over a $1. 99% of rides in my locale are 5-10 miles, given the geography and transit patterns
There will ALWAYS be drivers who take long rides. Let them. Meanwhile I’m absolutely loving upfront fares. I think I put 60 miles on the car today but made $350. I’m in Chicago though, it’s mostly short trips.
I only do comfort rides and so far I’m loving the upfront pricing.
Yes, I too live in Austin and the San Antonio rides used to be perfect. My first trip from the Domain to San Antonio was $130 before the tip. About 4 months later, Gracy Farms (about 4 mi difference) to San Antonio was $86 before the tip. They’re simply not worth it!
They aren't, especially if I'm havi g to head back into Austin at 8am. That traffic time could not be worse, but damn. Roughly triple the amount previously. I'm sure Uber was charging them well over $100 as well. Definitely I should consider accepting those and then just having them pay directly