Quote:
Originally Posted by foatie
My best friend drives Lyft in San Diego. He said 35 hrs you're roughly bringing in 500-600 a week. 40-45 about 700-800, and if you make 50 hrs (which is a hell no for me) and meet a few qualifications (top rating, ride count, hrs & mileage) you keep 100% of your fares. He drives Ford Escape hybrid and when he was going hard (55 hrs) he was bringing in around 1100 a week. Even at the smallest tier you make 80% of your fares + tips.
I used to drive a cab in the summers in Ocean City, MD when it was really busy. For an 11 mile long island, I regularly brought in 1k a week working 6 days a week and keeping 50% of my fares. Granted Lyft is about 25-30% cheaper than a cab (about 30-40% in Vegas).
First of all Uber & Lyft just published their base rates for Vegas and they are basically identical to the current cab rates. The only real difference you can point to is Uber states that tips are included. But Uber drivers would dispute that of course.
As for the rest of it, let's assume all that were true for a moment. What you've described is exactly the same as what a cab driver could expect to make in this town. Only in your case, you've shifted all of the liabilities and endless costs of operating from the cab company and placed them onto yourself. None of which you have factored into your formula of course so you're already in the hole. You haven't even factored your taxes yet. Furthermore you've forgone the health insurance provided by your employer as well as the indemnification that is very useful when things inevitably go very wrong. Further still on your new platform you wont even be able to stage at any of the stands and the only way you can get business is through your app. And worse yet, for all of these concessions that you have made, you have received absolutely nothing in return. Or, you get to make your own schedule? It's nonsense...
People talk about the ingenuity of Uber like it has something to do with watching your for hire car en route to picking you up. It has nothing to do with that. That in fact, wasn't even Uber's idea. Uber's ingenuity in this is what I've described above^^. They figured out a way to do business without any of the costs associated with doing the business. They figured out how to get their employees to shoulder the burden of being an employer. This is what we should be leery of...