This Week In Rideshare: Eats, AVs, and Lockouts.
The dirty truth about delivery, Uber goes AV, and drivers get unlocked. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
AN UBER EATS STORY
One Uber Eats worker shares life as a delivery driver. Business Insider reported:
In May 2023, I got laid off from my full-time job in SEO and started driving for Uber Eats to pay my rent. I would recommend doing literally anything else than delivering food for a living.
It was a really bad time in my life, and in 10 months, I made about $9,000.
I would start my days at 5 a.m. and work until midnight. You usually get less than $1 per mile, but Uber will also suggest deliveries that aren’t worth it, like a $3 delivery — but from point A to point B is 12 miles.
That’s before factoring in gas, which you cover yourself and is around $4 a gallon where I live. Taking all those orders means you’re almost paying Uber to work. Maybe only one out of every 40 orders is truly worth your time
I could be waiting around for hours, too. Sometimes, I needed to make money to eat, so I would throw a couple of gallons of gas in and only take home $20.
That meant I couldn’t pay bills — I was just making enough to survive. Fortunately, I had a good support system of friends to fall back on. If it wasn’t for them, I would’ve been sleeping in my car.
Uber hides the tip the customer has entered, so it’s difficult to tell how much you’ll make from a delivery until you’ve accepted it.
The fee structure encourages the customers to wonder why they should tip when they’re already paying all these fees. People see the delivery fee on their order and think the driver receives it, but that’s not the case.
UBER USES BYD CARS IN EUROPE
Uber plans to use 100,000 electric cars in Europe and develop AV. CNBC reported:
Uber and BYD announced Wednesday that drivers on the ride-hailing platform can get pricing and financing deals for the Chinese company’s electric cars, starting in Europe and Latin America.
The two companies will also develop “autonomous-capable vehicles” for Uber’s platform, according to a press release.
The multi-year strategic partnership, which the companies said could bring 100,000 BYD cars to Uber, comes despite the EU following the U.S. this year in raising tariffs on imports of Chinese-made electric cars.
Shenzhen-based BYD has become a dominant player in China’s electric car market. The company surpassed Tesla in total vehicle production for two straight years and has ramped up overseas expansion, including investments in factories abroad.
NYC FIGHTS OVER LOCKOUTS
NYC mayor hails a win for drivers but they see it differently. SI Live reported:
Under the agreement Adams touted, Uber will begin to phase out the lockout practices with the company ending the practice entirely by Labor Day if Lyft maintains an annual company utilization rate of at least 50%.
As part of the agreement, both companies will also pause bringing on new drivers, in an effort increase utilization rates and allow more work for existing drivers. Lyft will minimize lockouts as the onboarding pause continues, according to Adams’ office.
Bhairavi Desai — the head of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance and someone who Adams’ administration has stood with in the past — said the agreement on driver lockouts amounts to little more than a handout to the ride share giants while trying to curb a growing labor movement among the drivers.
“The real goal of this phony deal is to try to demobilize the thousands of drivers who’ve made it clear that they’re ready to strike. Unfortunately, the city seems more interested in a photo-op and an easy press victory than actually fighting for drivers,” Desai said in a statement published on X. “But drivers don’t need photo-ops and they aren’t afraid of taking on Uber, Lyft or City Hall. We reject this corporate give-away, and we’ll continue mobilizing until the lockouts end for everyone, all the loopholes are closed, and every driver is paid for every hour worked.”
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