We’ve been considering Uber as a good way to make extra income, but I’m not sure it’s worth it. I’m impressed that you actually got hands-on experience and appreciate that you share the personal side of your story and your passengers.
The range is $50 – $300 usually, depending on city, and requires you to drive 20 times. After that, I don’t think it’s really worth it unless you’re really hurting for cash.
I drove for Uber in the Providence, RI market and found it wasn’t worth it. I made between $10-12 an hour and that was with surge pricing!
That’s not worth it to me for the maintenance, etc. It might work in bigger cities but not smaller markets. Plus I had the joy of someone throwing up in my car! Good times!
I haven’t had the throw upper yet! Fingers crossed. I think you get $200 – $250 if you let Uber know, as they charge the driver and send you the money. Seems only fair.
I really appreciate your article! I want to do lyft and uber, and I am looking for a job as well. I’m an hour north of San Francisco. If you were starting on a shoestring budget, and didn’t have a smartphone what kind of smartphone and https://hookupdate.net/mocospace-review/ plan would you get if you were using it primarily for your rideshare business? You seem to be more sympathetic than most towards people that don’t have a lot of money. Thanks.
I think you can rent a phone for $10 a month, but I would probably just buy one for yourself, and expense a part of the cost of the phone and the monthly usage cost to your ridesharing income.
I think it’s worth it to drive until you get the sign up bonus
I have a 5GB a month data plan, and I’ve never run over. I don’t think you need a huge plan as the app doesn’t hog much data.
It’s important to be a very careful driver
Very nice story. It is always interesting to read the thoughts of someone who drives for Uber or Lyft as a lark, in order to make a journalistic summary about it. I have been driving for both Uber and Lyft for about 4 months now. I Drive approximately the hours that you did, sort of during daylight hours during the week. Avoiding nighttime drunks, and weekends idiots. I have a weekly financial spreadsheet so that I know when I reach my goal or not. I have to make a certain amount of money to cover my bills. I can tell you that over time, my back is killing me and my car is about to fall apart. On the bright side, I put on about 200 miles a day, so in these four months, I have no taxable income, in fact, just the opposite is true, if you figure the IRS mileage deduction. Driving in New Jersey has its own special challenges. The area is vast, more than 5,000 square miles. I could wind up anywhere at the end of the day. And, unfortunately, New Jersey drivers can take passengers into New York City, or New York State, or one of the New York airports, but cannot pick up from there. So the ride back to our territory, New Jersey, is always an empty one. Lyft does not compensate you for that empty ride in anyway, at least Uber throws a few dollars at you. I could write a book about this myself, but I have to get back to work!
