As I move my startup forward I work as an Uber driver and have for the last 13 months. Very simply, fair prices have dropped substantially and it is much harder to make the same amount of money as before, although operating costs are the same or higher. Not to mention the constant risk of catastrophic damage / injury .
Uber can massage numbers all they want but a driver can only take - on average - the same number of fares per hour, so drivers work longer and harder. In that way it is exactly like any taxi job on earth - long, hard hours for low pay with zero equity value accruing. But that is ok, because that is the nature of such a job. Uberx is a tremendous (r)evolution for the consumer but for the driver... not so much. Driving for Uber is a blessing for me because it allows me to control how many low-paying, high-risk hours I need to fulfill to make my entrepreneurial nut per week - and it works for now. But for the the mainstream driver - hey, the new boss looks a lot like the old boss in all the ways that really count. Uber on!
Uber can massage numbers all they want but a driver can only take - on average - the same number of fares per hour, so drivers work longer and harder. In that way it is exactly like any taxi job on earth - long, hard hours for low pay with zero equity value accruing. But that is ok, because that is the nature of such a job. Uberx is a tremendous (r)evolution for the consumer but for the driver... not so much. Driving for Uber is a blessing for me because it allows me to control how many low-paying, high-risk hours I need to fulfill to make my entrepreneurial nut per week - and it works for now. But for the the mainstream driver - hey, the new boss looks a lot like the old boss in all the ways that really count. Uber on!