NYC driver Frank Haley shares his unfiltered story. From Uber’s early days to Revel’s rise & exit, TLC plates, EV mandates, and AVs, Frank explains why drivers must secure plate value in an AV future
We do make that now if we have passengers in our car for the whole hour. That was the point I was trying to make about pooled trips. The problem now is idle time with no or a small limited amount of passengers.
The UR formula is a complete waste, TLC fails to properly enforce time and time again, allowing drivers to make sometimes less than minimum wages after expenses
TLC was enforcing the utilization rate. Thats why Uber locked us out last year, to manipulate the numbers and make utilization rates appear higher than they actually are. It’s is Ubers deceptive and manipulative practices that are the problem, not the utilization rate. The utilization rate is a key metric that should be used to determine how busy drivers are. Remember the company VIA, their utilization rate was about 90% because they only offered a pooled service.
U just said it, having 100% utilization rate but at the average utilization rate of 53% that means that our current rates shud be close to double to be able to make average $50 gross
As Frank said, and agree with him, a combination of things need to happen for this to approach reality. One of those things is making sure supply caps are kept, so drivers are busier (more utilized). A driver might work same number of hours, but kept busier during those hours. Flipside, and what Uber/Lyft/Wall St will argue, is higher wage demands will provide more incentive to automate work, or invest in automating it (i.e., cashiers being replaced with self-service pay kiosks is not a perfect example, but one people say was accelerated by rising minimum wage requirements).
Uber will automate the work no matter what the wage is. They have been working on and investing money in a self driving cars for a long time and since their early days. Uber should focus on expanding the market and getting more passengers for drivers. If consumers complain about price they can take a shared pooled trip at a lower price. Uber is good at matching and pooling trips so they can offer consumers lower prices that way.
In 2025 uber x driver should be making $50 an hour GROSS
We do make that now if we have passengers in our car for the whole hour. That was the point I was trying to make about pooled trips. The problem now is idle time with no or a small limited amount of passengers.
The UR formula is a complete waste, TLC fails to properly enforce time and time again, allowing drivers to make sometimes less than minimum wages after expenses
TLC was enforcing the utilization rate. Thats why Uber locked us out last year, to manipulate the numbers and make utilization rates appear higher than they actually are. It’s is Ubers deceptive and manipulative practices that are the problem, not the utilization rate. The utilization rate is a key metric that should be used to determine how busy drivers are. Remember the company VIA, their utilization rate was about 90% because they only offered a pooled service.
U just said it, having 100% utilization rate but at the average utilization rate of 53% that means that our current rates shud be close to double to be able to make average $50 gross
As Frank said, and agree with him, a combination of things need to happen for this to approach reality. One of those things is making sure supply caps are kept, so drivers are busier (more utilized). A driver might work same number of hours, but kept busier during those hours. Flipside, and what Uber/Lyft/Wall St will argue, is higher wage demands will provide more incentive to automate work, or invest in automating it (i.e., cashiers being replaced with self-service pay kiosks is not a perfect example, but one people say was accelerated by rising minimum wage requirements).
Uber will automate the work no matter what the wage is. They have been working on and investing money in a self driving cars for a long time and since their early days. Uber should focus on expanding the market and getting more passengers for drivers. If consumers complain about price they can take a shared pooled trip at a lower price. Uber is good at matching and pooling trips so they can offer consumers lower prices that way.
The solution is a real plate cap, better pay and commission cap.
I love this guy, he’s hitting all the nails on their head