I run a university. I’m also an Uber driver | Hacker News Reader

I run a university. I’m also an Uber driver

washingtonpost.com

93 pointse15ctr0n33 comments

It's ironic that a university administrator is studying Uber, considering that universities and colleges in the United States are busy replacing all of their professors with contractor 'adjunct faculty', who can be paid next to nothing. An adjunct position bears a similarity to being a driver for Uber, in terms of inadequate pay and security.

Studying sounds like a strong word here. Author's an administrator, not a researcher. And he's likely bought in to the Uber economy; current openings at Oglethorpe are administrative and adjunct:

http://www.oglethorpe.edu/apps/careers/

I think by 'ironic' you might mean 'smart' since the author is the president of the university. He has to run an organization in a market that is shifting towards utilizing labor following this model

In San Francisco, Lyft line is apparently a vibrant dating scene for young start up employees: I have witnessed it, heard it from the drivers and now Lyft app allows to connect in Facebook with your fellow riders. The demographics of the Lyft line here is 22-27, more than 50% female. I took 44 rides on Lyft, perhaps 20 using Lyft line.

what's that mean? as in women&mean meet/date their drivers?

No. Lyft Line involves multiple passengers who do not know each other before the ride. Like carpooling. cft's implying that those passengers are meeting each other during the ride and dating.

So the rides are like blind dates?

Seems that way... http://www.today.com/money/riders-look-love-uberpool-lyft-li...

Nice! They should let you swipe left, swipe right the other passengers

As long as the user needs to opt-in & agree to some kind of specially written dating/match-making, must be 18+, etc. sounds reasonable :)

While this is a nice view on the experience of an Uber driver, its from the lens of very much of someone is "make-for-great-cultural-learning" and not someone who's forced into the share economy due to lack of opportunity elsewhere.

Absolutely. This is a bit like a university professor feeling "richer for the experience" of "working in fast food" after deciding it'll be an interesting sociological experiment to volunteer at a soup kitchen. Interesting to try, perhaps, but a very different experience from the people actually dependent on similar service jobs for a living. I suspect he'd have learned more about the "sharing economy" by asking to people actually driving for a living about how they decide between surge pricing fares and desperate need to sleep, but at least it's moved him to share his hard-earned insight that life can be difficult for people in America that don't drive...

I'm more intrigued by what (if anything) happens to the Uber drivers that venture to pick up rides where apparently taxis dare not.

but the focus of the article wasn't really on the experience of an uber driver, it was on the demographics of uber users. that was a pretty valuable insight he got into how "sharing economy" taxis are filling in the gaps in the public transport infrastructure.

> He told me I could make upwards of $300 a night...

Interesting how that compares to the $90k/yr figure widely quoted last year (granted, for NYC not ATL). Working full-time (5 days a week, 52 weeks a year), that's $78k. (And still seems high, according to the author.)

$300 per day sounds like a lot of money until you factor insurance costs, taxes, vehicle care, and so on. I'd be willing to bet (at least here in Atlanta) that the average full time Uber/Lyft driver brings home around $25-30k/year after taxes and expenses. Not too shabby for driving around all day, but it's definitely not for everyone.

Even so, I've thought about driving for Lyft in my off hours; my insurance company is rideshare-friendly and I could probably pull in a few hundred dollars every month in "fun money" and have fun doing it. Then again, I'm not willing to give up spending that time on personal pursuits and valuable family time.

"Make" is such a vague word, and intentionally so. As we all know, a more accurate phrase would be "your topline revenue will be $90k" (net net profit, let alone gross profit, will vary.)

That's why I mentioned net earnings, not gross. :)

Perhaps I'm too cynical, but I've seen a few 'I'm an Uber driver' op-eds in local papers. Are these part of Uber's vaunted marketing/lobbying campaign? How do they get them placed in the newspaper? Is this "native advertising"?

I don't recall many 'I'm a Lyft driver" or "I'm a cab driver" or limo driver or UPS delivery driver articles, so I doubt it's coincidence.

That's because those aren't nearly as popular

> Uber argues that it provides more reliable service to minority consumers and underserved neighborhoods that have historically been discriminated against by cab companies ... User testimonials bear this out[1]

I don't see why Uber drivers, who often are or were cab drivers and which is less regulated, would discriminate any less. Does Uber require drivers to pickup specific fares (i.e., do they assign a driver to a fare in a poor neighborhood?). If they assign drivers to nearby fares, which seems necessary in order to pickup customers promptly, the drivers can just cruise wealthier areas.

"User testimonials" can't bear out anything; it's not data, especially from a company with such a massive lobbying and marketing operation.

[1] Note that this quote is another article, quoted by the this author

In theory, areas with demand but no drivers will go into surge mode, encouraging more drivers to pickup fares in that area.

For one, Uber penalizes drivers who refuse to accept a fare. In theory this may be the case with cabs as well, but how are you going to go after a cabbie who just drives off when you tell them you want to go to the wrong side of the tracks? (assuming you tell them before getting in the cab).

This would also work to penalize drivers who are assigned a fare after dropping someone off in a bad neighborhood, and want to just GTFO without picking up the return fare.

As mentioned, surge pricing should also help. Basically: Folks in less desirable neighborhoods may end up paying surge pricing more often (when being picked up at least). Of course, surge pricing is illegal for cabs in the name of "fairness". But if all fares cost the same amount, why risk it in a sketchier neighborhood?

> Uber penalizes drivers who refuse to accept a fare

Does Uber assign fares to specific drivers? And do they offer/assign fares in locations far from the driver? Otherwise drivers waiting in wealthy areas won't be offered/assigned fares in poor areas.

> This would also work to penalize drivers who are assigned a fare after dropping someone off in a bad neighborhood, and want to just GTFO without picking up the return fare.

I imagine they could logout or simply decline the few fares required to GTFO

Anyway, that's all theoretical. The answer only will come from some actual data.

Rejecting more than a quarter of requests (more or less) will get you temporarily deactivated. Keep it up and Uber will permanently deactivate you. There are also hourly guarantees in many markets, where you get a guaranteed minimum gross fare but one of the conditions is you must accept more than 90% of requests.

In Australia, Uber guarantees a minimum wage in line with federal requirements (i.e.: if your fares earn you less than the minimum, they cover the difference). This is voided if you don't pick up something like 90% of your offered fares in a given hour. It stops people sitting there and just refusing all fares whilst still collecting the minimum wage, but also serves to make drivers accept all fares.

I really like this perspective on being an uber driver, as it focuses more on the type of people using the service and less on the hardships of being an uber driver. There are so many stories for the latter, and if you want a personal anecdote all you have to do is ask your driver about his/her experience and you'll hear some pretty rough stories.

For all the negatives there are about being an Uber driver I'm really glad that somebody is pointing out the good things the service brings. If only we could find a happy middle ground where most people are happy.

> Instead of getting a glimpse into the new economy, I was getting full exposure to the burdens of the old economy — specifically, how hard it is for regular working people to make it from their home or apartment to a job every day.

I don't think this is justified. Uber is an alternative to crappy public transportation. He shouldn't compare Uber to some ideal that has never and likely will never exist. It's incredibly uplifting that some of those he profiles have access to a service like Uber with reasonable prices, from what I can tell and presumably the patrons assume.

I wish the author would have gone more into how much he actually made. He seems to have thrown out a very low figure but provided no context other than he's been driving for about 6 weeks and drives on weekends, squeezed in over lunch, or before or after work.

In many ways, this squares with my experience (~6k rides on lyft, San Diego, San Francisco).... Although $29 a night seems rather low.

Fares are much cheaper outside of the bay area. I was introduced to Lyft in SLC and was mildly stunned when I went to San Diego by how much higher the rates were.

I wonder if the author subtracted his expenses

As a driver or a rider?

driver. Not as often in the SF area, but in SD, a large chunk of my rides were driving people who were down and out. Once on Uber, I drove a guy 25 miles to work at a 7-11. He had killed a guy in a bar fight by accident, went to jail for manslaughter, and coming out of jail couldn't find any job. It took him an hour and half to get to work, but he was late, and if Uber wasn't there, he'd have lost his job. His girlfriend had won $100 in uber credit due to a radio promotional contest, and was using the credit to get him to work.

Must be nice, being able to park on campus after lunch.

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