Even if you've typed it into the app on your phone, the driver has no idea where you're headed until they hit the start ride button in their rider app. First, drivers can't see riders' intended destinations before pickup. When they have to take someone to Fort Worth, they'll often turn the app off upon arrival and head back, missing at least 30 minutes of fares. They're just trying to make a bit of extra cash - one guy I've ridden with a couple of times has now financed an over-the-top home theater with Uber cash. Many Uber drivers I've talked to try to operate in a limited area around their homes or offices. If you've ever made the trip, though, and asked a driver how they feel about long(ish) hauls, they'll tell you the fare isn't worth it. The fare from Dallas to Fort Worth usually ends up running about $40, far cheaper than a cab, but not chump change by any means. If you choose to traverse DFW in an Uber car, you might think you're going to make a driver pretty happy. Long trips have their own set of problems. The rider taking the trip probably isn't tipping either, because few carry cash, and you can't do it in the app. Any profits seen by the driver are microscopic, at best. Then Uber takes its standard 20 percent cut, so a driver makes less than half the fare, $2, on a minimum-cost trip. Uber takes $1.70 out of that $4.20 off the top for what it calls a "safe rides fee," leaving $2.50 for the driver. Heading from downtown to most destinations in Uptown or Deep Ellum on UberX will cost you the minimum fare - up to $4.20 now, but it was $3.50 a month ago. A trip that can be an enormous pain on DART, or the start of a long night if you tether yourself to your car, becomes easy.
Same for heading from downtown to Bishop Arts or Lowest Greenville or vice versa. The service has made hopping between Dallas' interior neighborhoods a breeze: Summon a car on your phone, and you can get from Uptown to Deep Ellum in less than 10 minutes without worrying about whether you had too much to drink or finding your next parking spot. Uber, and UberX specifically, is perhaps most useful when used for short trips within Dallas' urban core. Uber itself, the drivers claim, is screwing them over by implying that a tip is included in Uber's standard pricing. Rates have dipped too low, they say, and they're being required to pick up rides they lose money on. Over the past month, drivers from across Uber's platform - black-car drivers, UberSelect luxury sedan drivers and UberX drivers who just use their personal vehicles - have protested at the technology company's Dallas headquarters in the West End. It's time to start paying attention to the protests.
0 kommentar(er)
