How Uber Works in Los Angeles

I drive for Uber occasionally. Things have gotten such that I felt I needed to make a flyer to help Uber riders, Uber drivers, other Los Angeles drivers and pedestrians, and Uber itself. Below the following bullets is the text from the flyer. The seven short sections include:

Uber May Be Making Your Rides UNSAFE
Car Expenses Eat ALL of Driver Per-Mile Rate
Driver Per-Minute Rate is LESS than Min. Wage
Bonuses DON’T Push Drivers Above Min. Wage
Solutions to Drivers SUBSIDIZING Your Rides
SUGGESTED Proxri and/or Tip
How to CALCULATE Your Tip

Uber May Be Making Your Rides UNSAFE

• What’s most valuable to you? Your life? Does Uber see it that way? Probably not. Read on.
• Uber pays drivers so poorly that some drivers may be overworked, tired and financially stressed, making driving errors and accidents more likely.
• Uber doesn’t pay drivers enough to cover the cost of owning and operating a car (see below), so some cars may not be well-maintained, and more prone to sudden malfunctions, failures, and accidents.
• Based on the points above, Uber may be unnecessarily endangering the lives of millions of other Los Angeles drivers and pedestrians.
• Don’t you want your life in the hands of drivers making minimum wage or maybe more? Read on.

Car Expenses Eat ALL of Driver Per-Mile Rate

• Los Angeles drivers get $0.60 per mile, and the cost of owning and operating a car is $0.58 per mile. But drivers are not paid for the miles when they’re coming to pick you up, or when they’re driving around looking for rides. So all, and more, of the per-mile rate goes towards drivers’ car costs.

Driver Per-Minute Rate is LESS than Min. Wage

• The minimum wage in Los Angeles is $13.25 per hour. Drivers get $0.21 per minute, which would be $12.60 per hour if they had riders every minute of the hour. But that almost never happens!

Bonuses DON’T Push Drivers Above Min. Wage

• Even with some surge pricing, and Uber bonuses and incentives, most drivers are likely earning much less than minimum wage after car expenses (and that’s not counting their other business expenses). This is true for me. You can see my numbers (and tip or proxri me anytime) at: loughry.com/rideshare

Solutions to Drivers SUBSIDIZING Your Rides

• It seems fair to say that drivers are paying for (subsidizing) part of your rides! Some solutions …
• Uber could take a smaller cut of your ride fare.
• Tip your drivers! See suggestions below.
• Be open to ads and other offers from your drivers.
• Maybe there are other things you can do for your drivers. Ask them! (I call such rewards proxri.)
• Spread this info by sharing: loughry.com/UberLA

SUGGESTED Proxri and/or Uber App Tip

• Proxri: To reward me without money, and/or get more with a non-app tip, visit: loughry.com/proxri
• Uber App Tip: $0.30 per mile (if you had a lot of surge and a long trip, then less). Still analyzing this.