Uber and Lyft prices are out of control. Just the other day, I needed a ride from Denver Airport — 90 dollars. $87.95 to be exact... For a 22-mile ride at 10 a.m. on a Monday. Is that him? It got me thinking, does Uber actually want me to believe that this ride is worth $90? Because as much as I don't want to pay $90 for a 22-mile ride, if that money is going to the driver, I can live with that. (Isabela)
I, yesterday, came in from the airport and the app charged me $90 — Yes. 90 dollars. (Isabela)
How much of that do you think is going to the driver? Going to the driver? Like $25 at the most. (Isabela)
Do you know how much a passenger pays for each trip? The company they don't tell us,
they’re trying to [hide] that. Yes, they are trying to hide everything. (Isabela)
So it seems the majority of my money is not going into my drivers pocket, and my driver has no knowledge of the exorbitant price I'm paying or how much of that the company is taking. And we're all just okay with that? The answer I got at the Denver International Airport from drivers and customers was a resounding no. So why is it happening? If we're all against it, can't we do something about it? That $90 Uber ride from the Denver airport I keep referencing? I started my investigation there. What unfolded after led me to the truth about how rideshare drivers are paid and the various ways organizers are working to change it. Hello. (Erick)
Hi. For Isabela? Yes. All right. How are you doing today? (Isabela)
I'm good. How are you? I am good. Thanks for asking. (Isabela)
Do you drive for Uber and Lyft? I do. I drive full time. I drive over 60 hours a week. I do this pretty much every single day (Isabela)
That's a little more than full time, I'd say. 60 hours, that's a lot of hours driving. Does that pay the bills? Is it a little less or how does that pan out? So over time, the money that we take as Uber and Lyft drivers has gradually been going down and is at its worst right now. I quite remember when we started driving for Uber and Lyft, per our contract, they were supposed to only take 25% and then we get 75% of the ride. But that's not the case anymore. They take, I would say, at least 60% of our fare right now. And that is just not good for us drivers. And you have to put in more hours now. There's no transparency because we used to see how much you as a passenger got charged for the ride. But not anymore. (Isabela)
And why do you think these rideshare companies keep this information from you guys and from the customers? Why do you think they hide it? I think they hide it because they know we know how much they're charging these passengers and how much, if we knew any more than we already know, what we can demand for. Erick believes Uber and Lyft don't want drivers to understand the full scope of the money each driver is losing per ride because that would give drivers fuel to demand more. I wanted to follow up on this theory and find out if Uber really takes 60% of its drivers’ fares, like Erick says. Fortunately, I found a researcher who is already on the case in Boulder, Colorado. The best way to think about this research is an exploration of how we can give drivers and organizers the data and the tools that they need to investigate their working conditions. So basically what our research team did was we built a software tool, which is called Fair Fare. And the Fair Fare tool does kind of what the name implies. It tries to tell drivers if their fare, like how much they're paid, was fair. Real quick, the data Samantha's about to get into is preliminary. Her research team relies on driver participation, and what they've done is just the start of what they hope will trigger a price transparency revolution nationwide. The most interesting trend for us and for our community partners was around the difference in take rates for surge versus non surge rides. Take rate basically refers to how much the platform takes from every customer fare. So in our case, all 10,000 rides came from Uber drivers. And we found that with surge pricing rides, the most common take rate was about 53% versus I think around, like, 46% for non-surge pricing rides, which is a huge difference really. (Isabela)
And why do you think these apps haven't been very transparent about these ratios? In general, we think that there may be three possible reasons why companies don't want to be transparent. One reason may be, you know, it's a lot of work to release datasets publicly. It takes a lot of labor, it costs a lot of money. Another reason is that, you know, maybe companies don't actually store this information. And then a third reason, which seems to be, you know, most common amongst organizers and definitely a very plausible reason, is that companies don't want to release this information because it would invite inquiry into how they're operating. Information really is power. And you're always at an advantage when there's an information asymmetry. So why release information when you don't have to? In other words, why release information if it could encourage a group of like-minded exploited workers to band together for better conditions — to make that data work for them? (Abraham)
I sacrifice my time. I sacrifice my vehicle. I maintain my vehicle to the standard. I drive carefully, attentive. But Uber is not appreciating me. They are making money. They are making money. Because what they told us, 27% they are taking, but they are not — they are taking more than that. They take more than that. (Isabela)
Do you think passengers know how much money is going to the driver for real? Most of them, they don’t know,
most of them, they don’t know. Like — somebody may punch you in the face sometime because they are mad about the charges. We as drivers have had enough. Uber and Lyft play a very essential role in our communities, nationwide. They are celebrating all these record breaking numbers, but then they're not actually compensating the drivers who are putting in the work to make this possible. (Isabela)
Rideshare drivers want honesty. They want apps like Uber and Lyft to show drivers what each rider is paying and exactly how much of that payment drivers will pocket. In Colorado, legislators like Stephanie Vigil, a gig worker themself, are working on just that. Right now we just want to deal with the companies being obligated to tell all the relevant truth. And so what we focused on primarily was disclosures, mandatory disclosures. You have to show a breakdown. Like, what is the customer paying, what's going to the driver, what's going to the company? I would like to see us dig deeper and have a better understanding of, what does it take for this industry to continue to exist without hurting people? Vigil is leading a push in the Colorado State House to mandate that gig companies share take rates and other pricing data with the workers. Passing legislation like Vigil’s is key to empowering rideshare drivers and leveling the balance of power between corporations and workers. The model that we are playing on in the gig economy is that of an independent contractor — that you work for yourself and not for the companies. The right to say no is what makes you an independent contractor. If you can't actually say no, then you're hired, and you should be paid like it. So in order for you to be able to proactively say, “Yes, that's an offer I want” and, “No that's an offer I don't want it,” you have to know enough about what you're getting paid. They want to be able to gamify you into doing more work for less so they could charge the customer more for it. Meanwhile they make off with billions. (Isabela)
So, yes, Uber and Lyft prices are out of control. As riders, we all know it. We all feel it. And through conversations like the ones I've had this week, it's clear to me that drivers feel it as well. They feel the decreasing pay, the increasing hours and the hostility from frustrated riders. But only through conversations with riders are they able to discover why they are feeling all these factors. Rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft are dedicated to their bottom line. And if that means hiding just how much money they're taking from its drivers to avoid widespread backlash or, God forbid, a strike, then that's what they'll do. And they'll continue doing it until more studies take place, more drivers get motivated to fight for their rights, and more customers and legislators speak out nationwide. The critical thing to recognize about gig drivers is that we are kind of the first line in this problem, but we won't be the last. I think if these companies can find out and establish for themselves that there's no regulatory model that can hold them accountable, there's no one who can force them to tell the truth, they can do anything they want, they own the joint, they will spread this model to other sectors of the workforce. It is coming for your job if you don't — if you don't snap out of it and pay attention, frankly. At the end of the day, Uber just provides a platform. We put in the hours, we do our maintenance on the cars, we pay for insurance. We do basically everything for ourself. We need them to be accountable for their actions.
