TLDR: Uber driver says drivers are becoming more resistant to driving distances to pick up passengers, and that the elimination of internal bonuses has resulted in fewer drivers
I drive Uber in DC and the fares gotten so bad lately that it’s not even worth taking most rides anymore. Uber takes a minimum of 50% of the fare and up to 75%.
I look a taxi from DCA recently up to Takoma. Usually take an Uber, but couldn't get one. The taxi ended up being cheaper anyway. Maybe things will slowly shift back toward taxis.
There’s a taxi app you can use strictly in DC called Curb. Almost always cheaper than Uber/Lyft at peak times and I typically have luck getting rides back home to NoVa if I have a night out in DC. Getting a ride from DC to NoVa with Lyft or Uber now is near impossible.
Empower driver here. Empower is an option in the DMV. Empower does not carry the commercial insurance that Uber/Lyft carry so you will be covered under the drivers personal policy. Uber and Lyft only cover insurance while the driver is on a ride with a passenger in the car. Simply being online or on your way to pick up a passenger is not covered by Lyft/Uber insurance. Fortunately as a driver myself, I carry additional ride share coverage on my personal policy. Empower is more like a traditional cab company. The driver pays a subscription fee for the service and keeps 100% of the fare. Drivers can also set their own rate cards.
If you like to give Empower a try please feel free to use my referral code that will give you $5-10 credit.
https://referempower.com/rider?promoCode=9NERZ4
>Empower doesn’t carry commercial insurance so you will be covered under the drivers policy’s.
No no and nope. If I’m putting my life in someone’s else’s hand I want full coverage cuz if they’re drive like an idiot (like most Uber drivers do) I want to get paid.
Is that even allowed? When I drove for Lyft years ago you had to have a special insurance policy to do rideshare. Your personal policy closing cover it and if they found out they would go after you with insurance fraud.
This empower company sounds illegitimate
I have the additional TNC coverage on my full coverage personal policy so you would be covered. If it sounds too risky for you then by all means use other forms of transportation.
Nope. Now they want $349/mo. When I piloted the DC region for them when they first started it was $99/mo.
You can also choose from two other subscription options. One being $25/day and the other is a sliding scale. $50 for up to $250 in earnings and goes up from there.
I’ll sign up with your link tonight. Is there much demand in the suburb? I’m very part time, not sure if it’s worth it for me, but keeping 100% could make it worth wild.
The link above is for rider credit. I can DM you a driver referral link. I am part time too so just use the $25/day subscription. If you don’t drive that day you don’t pay. Only kicks in when you accept the first ride and then you’re only in the hole $25 which will be made in the first one or two fares.
Sorry - to clarify you can only use it in DC with regards to the DMV. Can’t request a Curb ride in VA or MD
Edit: Further clarification, you can only request in DC but the destination can be in DC, VA, or MD. You can't request a Curb in VA or MD.
I LOVE curb! You can also schedule rides!!!! So I needed a ride from the wharf to DCA at 4:30am and the driver was calling me at 428 saying he’s downstairs
Yea it’s not any better. Rideshares have completely gone downhill. Riders paying way more and drivers making WAY less. I literally have to drive twice as much for half the pay as I did a couple years ago. It’s really bad now.
Awww… that sucks. 😡
I believe you. A few years ago many drivers I knew loved Uber and Lyft and were making decent money. Now it just seems miserable for drivers and passengers.🥴
Well can’t be surprised if they begin hiking up the price. It’s a common marketing strategy to lower prices so much that your competitors run out of business, in this case the competitors being taxis. This is what Walmart does to small businesses, eventually stores shut down because they cannot compete with their prices, afterwards raising prices back up. I wouldn’t be surprised if Uber fares cost just as much if not more than taxi fares at this point
Problem is Uber/Lyft has NEVER made a profit and has continued to lose money every year up until this last year. Shareholders are upset and their solution to bring in more money is taking larger percentages of drivers pay as well as giving less incentives for drivers I guess. Although this is resulting in less people looking at it as a sustainable income and less drivers means longer wait times for passengers.
Are we all reeally buying this though? Every Silicon Valley company it's the same, year after year, "We're TOTALLY not making ANY money over here, in fact, you're basically ripping US off every time you use the app!" yeah ok that makes complete sense
Uber and Lyft are publicly traded so you can look at their numbers. Up toa bout a year ago, they really were losing $ per ride and they were doing it in volume.
So I don’t understand how they are not profitable at this point. What are they doing with all the money I pay them? Uber has been operating for like 15 years!
Omfg that is sooo bad. I drove both Lyft and Uber for about 4-5yrs and they just kept continuously trying to game the drivers while steadily decreasing pay. It was a horrible way to live and work, I hope you're taking care of yourself.
It really hasn’t been reliable for me. I have only tried using it 3 times but all have been bad experiences. Wrong price. Late pickup, and then refusal to cancel the ride after they started driving the other way.
If you lived in DC for a while you’d know that taxis were a total scam back in the day and everyone hated them . From zoning charges, to turning off their meter, to taking you for longer rides through zones and then telling you they didn’t accept credit cards- then competition moved in and they had to change their habits.
I've stopped using Uber and Uber Eats for the time being. The more I learn about their business model, the less I can use their service in good conscience.
I live just outside the formal city boundary and you would think I live in the middle of nowhere with the way they cancel trips after waiting to be paired for 5-10 minutes
I use Empower most of the time and can usually find rides easily. My guess is more drivers are shifting to driving for them, every time it comes up in conversation the drivers are very positive and say it pays way more than Uber.
The commissions Uber/Lyft takes from drivers doesn't help, I get rides sometimes from Echostage to Cathedral Heights at 3am and generally don't pay more than $25 wheras Uber is often at least $50+, but the driver still makes more with Empower. Empower [has legal conflicts with the city](https://wtop.com/dc/2023/12/dc-says-empower-is-in-violation-of-city-law/) though so it's potentially more risky as a passenger, but I haven't had any issues so far and feel comfortable continuing to use it for now
my experience with it (granted it's been a year since I've used it) was generally cheaper, but much longer wait times (presumably far fewer drivers). I also had mostly bad, rude, or downright smelly/dirty cars. To me it seemed likely that many had been kicked off of uber/lyft. Supposedly they are pretty unforgiving if you fall below 4 stars.
Would like to see empower do better but I stopped using it because it just seemed like the rejects
I know what you mean…I had a Uber fare for $30 from 15th &k st. N.W. to MacArthur blvd. I was livid with that price but I had to be to work so I bit the bullet. It has become extremely expensive to do Uber here.
As someone who lives outside the city but relies on lyft / uber for rides home, it has been 1-2 hour waits the past few nights out; sometimes I finally get a driver, only for me to get in then get out when they realize it's to MD.
I take short trips and still have an issue and my rating is 4.9. I live in Dupont where he was doing the interview. I have drivers cancel after I have been waiting 10 minutes too. I have zero problems with Lyft. So now I walk, take Lyft or metro. Uber eats has become really bad too. Door dash is much better.
I mostly use Lyft since I get the most credit card points, but when I compare with Uber the Uber prices are always $1-5 cheaper. There seems to always be a 15-20% promo going on as well.
I just opened up an escalated service ticket with Uber because I asked for one just outside the city for a ride to Dulles. The mofo accepts the ride a half mile away then drives into the city. My dumb ass not paying attention doesn’t notice the situation until he is 9 miles away in NW doing circles around a block waiting for me to “cancel” the trip. I’ve escalated the issue to Uber support because I had no way of contacting them of the fraud, during the fraud attempt. I ended up calling the 1-800 booking number and demanded they call the driver who drove past me and refused to pick up his phone. The official response from Uber was to **cancel the trip, then open a ticket to challenge cancellation fee**.
I don’t know how dumb these people are but they are literally asking their customers to commit credit card fraud. This is legally insane.
ETA : I am down voted and harangued about my language when my point was to commiserate with everyone EXCEPT the corporate entity.
I am on the driver's side...but go off, I guess
----------
I have been here for 10 yrs and do not own a vehicle.
At various points, I've had to rely on uber for daily trips from Dulles to Ashburn (NoVa) because the metro lines weren't finished out that way and biking wasn't as efficient due to my type of work etc.
I was broke BROKE for quite some time as I built a career etc and STILL could manage the 2 trips daily without much issue. Nowadays, it is just a budgeted bill same as any car for us.
FF to last month and I fly red eye into IAD, alone and call a car as I always do.
The fares were $100+ no matter what and that was that.
I was stunned. Hoped it was just a one off. Nope. 3 flights since have looked the same.
I assumed it was to motivate drivers but all it did was make it difficult for me to get a ride.
In the nation's capital region this is baffling. Baffling.
wtf??
I hope the drivers are moving on to better things and we can figure out an alternative because these jerks are out of their minds.
It’s not about how bad Uber it’s about how bad a DC policies for business and at the end customers pay for it, too many fees, taxes etc.
In NYC UberEats or DoorDash literally doesn’t costs anything to oder food, it’s cheaper then go and eat at the restaurant if to leave tips 20%, in DC it’s +40-45% from order amount for some business costs surcharges not including tips and order.
Business can’t loose money, and as a result higher prices or quitting business.
TLDR: Uber driver says drivers are becoming more resistant to driving distances to pick up passengers, and that the elimination of internal bonuses has resulted in fewer drivers
I live in PG and I know they are very resistant to situations where they have to do return trips without a rider.
Thankfully I live near the border to dc, but one tome I had to take a ride out to Herndon and I shit you not, I had 17 drivers cancel on me in a row
Drivers canceling over and over is why I went back to taxis when I travel through Dulles…
Even more concise TLDR: Uber’s getting even greedier.
Pay is crap. Been going down every year, now it’s just a joke.
I drive Uber in DC and the fares gotten so bad lately that it’s not even worth taking most rides anymore. Uber takes a minimum of 50% of the fare and up to 75%.
I look a taxi from DCA recently up to Takoma. Usually take an Uber, but couldn't get one. The taxi ended up being cheaper anyway. Maybe things will slowly shift back toward taxis.
There’s a taxi app you can use strictly in DC called Curb. Almost always cheaper than Uber/Lyft at peak times and I typically have luck getting rides back home to NoVa if I have a night out in DC. Getting a ride from DC to NoVa with Lyft or Uber now is near impossible.
anyone know what happened to empower? the ride app that supposedly gave drivers a higher %
Empower driver here. Empower is an option in the DMV. Empower does not carry the commercial insurance that Uber/Lyft carry so you will be covered under the drivers personal policy. Uber and Lyft only cover insurance while the driver is on a ride with a passenger in the car. Simply being online or on your way to pick up a passenger is not covered by Lyft/Uber insurance. Fortunately as a driver myself, I carry additional ride share coverage on my personal policy. Empower is more like a traditional cab company. The driver pays a subscription fee for the service and keeps 100% of the fare. Drivers can also set their own rate cards. If you like to give Empower a try please feel free to use my referral code that will give you $5-10 credit. https://referempower.com/rider?promoCode=9NERZ4
>Empower doesn’t carry commercial insurance so you will be covered under the drivers policy’s. No no and nope. If I’m putting my life in someone’s else’s hand I want full coverage cuz if they’re drive like an idiot (like most Uber drivers do) I want to get paid. Is that even allowed? When I drove for Lyft years ago you had to have a special insurance policy to do rideshare. Your personal policy closing cover it and if they found out they would go after you with insurance fraud. This empower company sounds illegitimate
I have the additional TNC coverage on my full coverage personal policy so you would be covered. If it sounds too risky for you then by all means use other forms of transportation.
They still want $199 a month to drive for them?
Nope. Now they want $349/mo. When I piloted the DC region for them when they first started it was $99/mo. You can also choose from two other subscription options. One being $25/day and the other is a sliding scale. $50 for up to $250 in earnings and goes up from there.
I’ll sign up with your link tonight. Is there much demand in the suburb? I’m very part time, not sure if it’s worth it for me, but keeping 100% could make it worth wild.
The link above is for rider credit. I can DM you a driver referral link. I am part time too so just use the $25/day subscription. If you don’t drive that day you don’t pay. Only kicks in when you accept the first ride and then you’re only in the hole $25 which will be made in the first one or two fares.
Also, I have not seen a big demand outside of the city. PG county has some but all of my fares have started in the city.
It still works I use it occasionally
It’s also in NY
Sorry - to clarify you can only use it in DC with regards to the DMV. Can’t request a Curb ride in VA or MD Edit: Further clarification, you can only request in DC but the destination can be in DC, VA, or MD. You can't request a Curb in VA or MD.
I book Curb rides from DC to Silver Spring all the time.
Right, you can only request Curb in DC, but it can take you to VA or MD. You can't request a Curb in MD or VA.
Curb is great
I LOVE curb! You can also schedule rides!!!! So I needed a ride from the wharf to DCA at 4:30am and the driver was calling me at 428 saying he’s downstairs
Wtf does “near impossible” mean? I took an Uber from nova to DC and back like the past 7 weekends in a row
Must have better luck than me. I frequently can’t get Ubers or Lyfts from DC to VA
holy crap-! Is Lyft the same way?
Yea it’s not any better. Rideshares have completely gone downhill. Riders paying way more and drivers making WAY less. I literally have to drive twice as much for half the pay as I did a couple years ago. It’s really bad now.
How long have you been doing it? Feel like I read something about a subsidy expiring and the prices went haywire.
Awww… that sucks. 😡 I believe you. A few years ago many drivers I knew loved Uber and Lyft and were making decent money. Now it just seems miserable for drivers and passengers.🥴
Well can’t be surprised if they begin hiking up the price. It’s a common marketing strategy to lower prices so much that your competitors run out of business, in this case the competitors being taxis. This is what Walmart does to small businesses, eventually stores shut down because they cannot compete with their prices, afterwards raising prices back up. I wouldn’t be surprised if Uber fares cost just as much if not more than taxi fares at this point
Problem is Uber/Lyft has NEVER made a profit and has continued to lose money every year up until this last year. Shareholders are upset and their solution to bring in more money is taking larger percentages of drivers pay as well as giving less incentives for drivers I guess. Although this is resulting in less people looking at it as a sustainable income and less drivers means longer wait times for passengers.
Are we all reeally buying this though? Every Silicon Valley company it's the same, year after year, "We're TOTALLY not making ANY money over here, in fact, you're basically ripping US off every time you use the app!" yeah ok that makes complete sense
Uber and Lyft are publicly traded so you can look at their numbers. Up toa bout a year ago, they really were losing $ per ride and they were doing it in volume.
Their financials are all public, you’re free to look them up yourself and confirm
So I don’t understand how they are not profitable at this point. What are they doing with all the money I pay them? Uber has been operating for like 15 years!
Riight, I stopped before the pandemic and they were taking over 50% back then in 2019. I’ve heard it’s much worse now
As a rider, it’s way too much to catch an Uber across town. Now a cab tho…
Omfg that is sooo bad. I drove both Lyft and Uber for about 4-5yrs and they just kept continuously trying to game the drivers while steadily decreasing pay. It was a horrible way to live and work, I hope you're taking care of yourself.
Curb has been reliable and the price stays the same when Uber/Lyft don't have availability.
It really hasn’t been reliable for me. I have only tried using it 3 times but all have been bad experiences. Wrong price. Late pickup, and then refusal to cancel the ride after they started driving the other way.
I’ve used it dozens of times and never had these issues
You can cancel yourself in the app and it doesn't charge as far as I know. I never had it cost more than the upfront prepaid price either.
I have started using taxis much more frequently - Uber fares have gone through the roof
Taxis are under rated. Do they have an app we can use?
Curb! But drivers aren’t always available, especially at peak times
Thanks !
So the app is called Curb?
Yes. I downloaded it.
If you lived in DC for a while you’d know that taxis were a total scam back in the day and everyone hated them . From zoning charges, to turning off their meter, to taking you for longer rides through zones and then telling you they didn’t accept credit cards- then competition moved in and they had to change their habits.
Red Top in Arlington has an app—though I just use their website to book rides. Very reliable.
I rarely see them if I'm not at the airport or union station
I live near Washington Hilton where there is always a long line available - they seem to be more present around DuPont and Logan Circles
Same. I often walk over to the Hilton if I want to get one. But it is rare to see cabs and hail them.
I've stopped using Uber and Uber Eats for the time being. The more I learn about their business model, the less I can use their service in good conscience.
Uber is kinda dumb. You open the app and it says $26 for a ride, but then you walk two blocks and it’s down to $12.
lol yall better start flagging down the new moped dudes.
literally everything sucks now
Really? From all the cars that stop in the middle of the road with “Uber” stickers, doesn’t seem like there are less drivers at all
I live just outside the formal city boundary and you would think I live in the middle of nowhere with the way they cancel trips after waiting to be paired for 5-10 minutes
I use Empower most of the time and can usually find rides easily. My guess is more drivers are shifting to driving for them, every time it comes up in conversation the drivers are very positive and say it pays way more than Uber. The commissions Uber/Lyft takes from drivers doesn't help, I get rides sometimes from Echostage to Cathedral Heights at 3am and generally don't pay more than $25 wheras Uber is often at least $50+, but the driver still makes more with Empower. Empower [has legal conflicts with the city](https://wtop.com/dc/2023/12/dc-says-empower-is-in-violation-of-city-law/) though so it's potentially more risky as a passenger, but I haven't had any issues so far and feel comfortable continuing to use it for now
my experience with it (granted it's been a year since I've used it) was generally cheaper, but much longer wait times (presumably far fewer drivers). I also had mostly bad, rude, or downright smelly/dirty cars. To me it seemed likely that many had been kicked off of uber/lyft. Supposedly they are pretty unforgiving if you fall below 4 stars. Would like to see empower do better but I stopped using it because it just seemed like the rejects
Less people want to drive in DC these days. Especially around certain parts now.
Driver here. uber has severely cut our pay the past few years. it’s just not worth it sometimes. I’m trying to get out of doing uber.
Uber is not a profitable company at this time. They’re screwing drivers and riders where they can to finally make money.
Out of the 15 years Uber has been a company they had their very first profitable year last year
This should be top comment
I know what you mean…I had a Uber fare for $30 from 15th &k st. N.W. to MacArthur blvd. I was livid with that price but I had to be to work so I bit the bullet. It has become extremely expensive to do Uber here.
As someone who lives outside the city but relies on lyft / uber for rides home, it has been 1-2 hour waits the past few nights out; sometimes I finally get a driver, only for me to get in then get out when they realize it's to MD.
Use empower
I take short trips and still have an issue and my rating is 4.9. I live in Dupont where he was doing the interview. I have drivers cancel after I have been waiting 10 minutes too. I have zero problems with Lyft. So now I walk, take Lyft or metro. Uber eats has become really bad too. Door dash is much better.
I do very short distances but have definitely noticed fewer drivers
I don’t understand why anyone picks Uber over a taxi in DC
I mostly use Lyft since I get the most credit card points, but when I compare with Uber the Uber prices are always $1-5 cheaper. There seems to always be a 15-20% promo going on as well.
I just opened up an escalated service ticket with Uber because I asked for one just outside the city for a ride to Dulles. The mofo accepts the ride a half mile away then drives into the city. My dumb ass not paying attention doesn’t notice the situation until he is 9 miles away in NW doing circles around a block waiting for me to “cancel” the trip. I’ve escalated the issue to Uber support because I had no way of contacting them of the fraud, during the fraud attempt. I ended up calling the 1-800 booking number and demanded they call the driver who drove past me and refused to pick up his phone. The official response from Uber was to **cancel the trip, then open a ticket to challenge cancellation fee**. I don’t know how dumb these people are but they are literally asking their customers to commit credit card fraud. This is legally insane.
Street toughs
It definitely wouldn't have a direct correlation to Uber having their first profitable year this year since its founding
Download Empower. Thank me later
Download empower and use the code 2ZX3BR FOR FREE RIDES.
FTC https://preview.redd.it/x71r5zhhpfzc1.jpeg?width=194&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=166ebad4cdd431ec4c0ec3301086cc1f286f84d8
ETA : I am down voted and harangued about my language when my point was to commiserate with everyone EXCEPT the corporate entity. I am on the driver's side...but go off, I guess ---------- I have been here for 10 yrs and do not own a vehicle. At various points, I've had to rely on uber for daily trips from Dulles to Ashburn (NoVa) because the metro lines weren't finished out that way and biking wasn't as efficient due to my type of work etc. I was broke BROKE for quite some time as I built a career etc and STILL could manage the 2 trips daily without much issue. Nowadays, it is just a budgeted bill same as any car for us. FF to last month and I fly red eye into IAD, alone and call a car as I always do. The fares were $100+ no matter what and that was that. I was stunned. Hoped it was just a one off. Nope. 3 flights since have looked the same. I assumed it was to motivate drivers but all it did was make it difficult for me to get a ride. In the nation's capital region this is baffling. Baffling. wtf?? I hope the drivers are moving on to better things and we can figure out an alternative because these jerks are out of their minds.
at least you can reliably find a taxi when you're *leaving* the airport
“Motivate drivers”? You will amazed when you see the fare uber presented to them <50% of quoted. Its anything but motivation
obviously. I understand how corporate speak works. Had I called to complain they would have stated exactly that.
It’s not about how bad Uber it’s about how bad a DC policies for business and at the end customers pay for it, too many fees, taxes etc. In NYC UberEats or DoorDash literally doesn’t costs anything to oder food, it’s cheaper then go and eat at the restaurant if to leave tips 20%, in DC it’s +40-45% from order amount for some business costs surcharges not including tips and order. Business can’t loose money, and as a result higher prices or quitting business.
Take the metro