Have Uber overlooked the safety of customers and drivers in order to make more money from earnings they’re already cutting by half?
Chances are, if you work late, go out late, or, like me, have a tendency to be late, you’ve probably used Uber at some point or another.
Launched in San Francisco in 2009, Uber has become a regular fixture in many of our lives. It’s a quicker way to get to where we need to be than public transport, while the app’s tracking feature means that we can see not just the driver’s estimated arrival time, but also who the driver is before they turn up.
Since its launch, Uber has undergone several developments in relation to pricing algorithms and driver options. Prior to 2016, the app would offer a price estimate, calculating the actual fare by the end of the trip based on time and distance travelled once the customer had been dropped at their destination.
While Uber X remains the most affordable option for individual passengers, drivers can also upgrade their vehicle to UberXL, UberExec or UberComfort, providing that they meet the requirements, making it possible for them to earn more per trip.
Crucially, however, it’s not the drivers but the operator that sets the pricing. This becomes apparent in conversations with Uber drivers whose earnings for a trip are significantly lower than the price that you, the passenger, have paid.
In part, this price disparity is due to the reforms made to Uber’s business model back in 2021. A High Court ruling asserted that private hire vehicle operators like Uber act as the principal in transactions with passengers rather than as agents. This meant that Uber began to add VAT charges on all UK rides since they were the ones supplying the ride, carried out by the driver, to the passenger.
On the Uber website, the explainer section for UK drivers clarifies that their earning statements will appear 25% lower because the service fee is not included in the price that Uber charges. While Jamie Heywood, the Regional General Manager for Uber in Northern and Eastern Europe, explains that drivers would benefit from more accurate pricing, driver’s earnings are still negatively affected because Uber does not want to lose more of their profits to tax.
The effect of these changes was evident in a conversation I had with an Uber driver recently. He told me that in the last year he’d been working one day a week more than he had been and still earning £300 less. This was impacted also, he told me, by the fact that Uber had started taking a 50% cut of his rides. When he first started they were taking only 25%.
The recent introduction of Uber X Share into the app seems like it should be a win-win for all, short of Uber actually paying their drivers properly. This option allows customers to select a slightly lower fare if they don’t mind sharing an Uber with other passengers and potentially extending their drop off time whilst the other passengers get taken home along the way.
But is this truly the case?
Is sharing caring?
Financially, and environmentally, Uber X Share seems like a no brainer.
Not only does it keep more money in customer’s pockets whilst putting more money in the driver’s, but it has environmental benefits thanks to the reduced fuel used for shorter, conjoined journeys. If, like me, you don’t mind chatting with a stranger for a short period of time, it’s also kind of a fun way to meet people you might not otherwise run into.
However, after having taken several trips with Uber X Share, and speaking to drivers on the way, not only does the option seem more hassle than its worth for drivers who are only getting a few pounds more, but it also has some serious safeguarding issues.
The first Uber X Share journey I took, no one else got into the car. The driver seemed to have more questions for me about this new option than I did. He said he’d been sent an email about it but said it hadn’t really explained how this new feature worked.
He also confessed that he got lots of emails from Uber but didn’t really have time to read all of them since he was always out on Uber jobs, more and more of which he was having to pick up because they didn’t pay very well.
The following driver also seemed confused by the prospect of Uber X Share, but was happy if it made him more money. During that ride I actually got chatting with the other passenger and we ended up trading Instagrams before she got dropped off. So far, it seemed like Uber X Share was still the best option the app offered.
However, the next driver I spoke to told me how he’d had to mediate between a drunk passenger and a sober passenger who were having an argument in his car. He said that he tended not to accept sharer trips if others were available because if he needed to cancel them because of things like this, or because of passengers who didn’t show up when he already had someone in his car waiting to go home, he’d get marked down by Uber for increased cancellations. This, he explained, left him stuck in a bit of a bind.
What’s more, as Driver Matty has pointed out, unlike Uber Exec or Uber XL, Uber X Share isn’t an option that drivers can turn off in the app.
Josephine, a young person living in Bristol, also had experience of Uber X Share.
This involved being interrogated by a couple who were ‘trying to get a whole car conversation going and asking me lots of questions while basically sat on my thighs’ in a tiny car. They add that ‘for a whole £2 less than usual..the 20 minute ride took 45-50 minutes.’
Alisha also had an Uber X Share experience with a couple who, she told me, were ‘fully getting off with one another. Dubious hand placement occurred.’ Eventually she felt so uncomfortable, that she had to ‘ask the driver to stop so she could get out!’
Luckily, each time I’ve gotten an Uber X Share I’ve either been with other women, or if not, I was the last one to get out of the car, so that no one but the driver has seen where I live. If this weren’t the case, though, and someone who presented as a potential threat were to see where a more vulnerable passenger lived, what’s to stop them from getting out and following them, or taking a note of where they live?
While the drivers may all be vetted and verified, the same criteria doesn’t have to apply to the passengers.
I’ll probably continue to use Uber X Share, at least in places like Newcastle where I’m very familiar with the area. However, this new feature certainly raises questions around Uber’s consideration for the safety of both their customers and their drivers.
Annie (She/Her) – Originally from Newcastle Upon-Tyne, Annie’s writing focuses mostly on class and feminist issues, with a particular interest in sex-culture, identity politics, and current affairs. She studied both her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in English literature at the University of Manchester. (Yes, it was a lot of reading. No, it didn’t ruin books for her). Follow her on Twitter or Instagram, or feel free to get in touch via email.
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