Yes. I know. I'm late to board the Uber train.
I started using Uber about 1 month ago - not because of the hype and $20 discount offers out there, but because I couldn't find a cab home from work one night. Ever since that day i've been absolutely fascinated by the product.
Before I discoverd Uber, living in NYC there were 2 types of "cabs" that I used to take
- Yellow Cabs - Ah, good ol' yellow cabs. Clean, great drivers, great quality cars, no hassle.... Just kidding, yellow cabs are the absolute worst. Vomit-soaked cars that have a perpetual check-engine light on, coupled with a driver that may or may not be yelling at you in another language while he's on his bluetooth the whole time.
- Gypsy Cabs - Black cars that ride around and prey on people in hard-to-get-a-cab areas by charging $75 for a 10 block drive. They are like sharks who smell blood in the water - some of the prices that they quote are mind-boggling, but such are the rules of an efficient economy.
Enter Uber - nice, clean cars with drivers that engage with you when you want, and let you sit in peace if you prefer. Fares are fair (see what I did there?), and there is no need to ever exchange money with the driver.
Being the Curious George that I am, I would say that I talked to 4 out of every 5 Uber drivers that I've had. Some of what they had to say was expected, but some of it really surprised me.
What they love about Uber...
- The freedom to be their own boss - they aren't required to be anywhere at any given time. They can work whenever they want, for however long they want.
- The ability to make some pretty descent money (caveat is that you need to know what you're doing and where to go at what times.)
- Surge pricing - duhhh.
- A more sophisticated clientele (their words, not mine), although take one look at me and I get what they are saying.
What they hate about Uber...
- They absolutely hate the rating system. Look, lets call a spade a spade here - Uber's rating system is flawed. You know it and I know it that some people are going to give the driver a rating of 4 stars (out of 5), which in a normal society isn't a "bad" rating at all. However, when Uber has a minimum rating requirement of 4.5 stars, those 4's might as well be 1's.
- Uber has slowly started to squeeze more out of their drivers - initially it was about 20% of the fare, now it has risen to about 30%.
- Uber has not yet capped the number of drivers that are on their platform - every day there is an increase in Uber drivers, which translates to more competition for the current Uber drivers.
- They are concerned that there will be similar Uber-like competitors introduced into the market (i.e. Lyft.)
At the end of the day, Uber is a way for me to get from point A to point B in a safe and economically efficient way - they have 100% succeeded at doing this - big time kudos!
