A man checks his smartphone while standing against an illuminated screen bearing the Uber logo in London on June 26, 2018.Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg Twenty-seven months ago, I wrote a comedy of errors about trying to become a licensed Uber driver in Toronto over the winter holidays. The conclusion of the piece was that Uber wasn’t a great deal for its drivers. Of course, Uber looking less than stellar may sound appropriate with your 2019 glasses on, but it was a different world in January 2017. Uber and Lyft (and Twitter, Facebook and Google) were still darlings of the business press, pop culture and Generation Techs. Over those twenty-seven months, Uber’s been busy shooting itself in the foot and a few fig leaves have withered. There’s the tech-bro issue: Uber’s been lambasted in the press for bullying and toxic masculinity in the office. (It’s hard to believe the #metoo movement only kicked in with the fall of Harvey Weinstein in October 2017. Wasn’t that a generation ago?) The resulting press was a litany of PR disasters. Small wonder Uber launched several safety features last month after a student in North Carolina was murdered in March after boarding what she thought was an Uber ride she’d hailed. It’s important to be seen doing something. There’s also the question of market leadership. Lyft got the jump on Uber, going public this same March 31, 2019. Lyft also beat them into the post-IPO slump, dropping 10%, on the poetically just a day after, April 1. This image provided by the Tempe Police Department shows an Uber SUV after hitting a woman on March 18, 2018 in Tempe, Ariz. The Associated Press Then there’s that whole killing and maiming people thing. One of Uber’s experimental self-driving cars killed a pedestrian in March 2018. In fact, Uber (and Lyft) drivers have injured and killed loads of pedestrians over the years. They didn’t talk about that much while heroically disrupturing reactionary oligopolies held by those evil taxi companies and converting the market to their own functional monopoly. A corporate travel fleet called Atchison listed reported incidents involving Uber and Lyft drivers. The egregious list read like a hip-hop hero’s rap sheet: deaths of pedestrians, cyclists and passengers; alleged assaults; untold dozens of alleged sexual assaults and harassments; five kidnappings; fifteen felons behind the wheel; sixteen DUIs and other nasty offences; and twenty cases of impostors posing as drivers. Compiling their list must’ve become tiring. Atchison stopped in July 2016, six months before I briefly joined the ranks of Uber drivers. Wait a second! Did that say Uber’s been experimenting with self-driving cars? They’re testing them right now, right here in Toronto! The Uber Advanced Technologies Group hopes to employ 100 researchers on self-driving technology this year alone in Toronto. Uber’s been on the self-driving vanguard for years. An entertaining Wired video from 2016 shows Uber testing the proto-versions of self-driving cars in Pittsburgh “with trained engineers at the wheel just in case.” However, the video cryptically continues, “Of course, if they do their job right, they won’t be needed forever.” Clearly the long-term plan is to get rid of those millions of ‘partners’ (aka independent and responsible for their own holidays, taxes, dentist bills, free water and newspapers for customers, etc.) many of whom have committed crimes. Meanwhile, suicide rates among taxi drivers in places like New York City are skyrocketing. City taxi licenses that recently cost millions are now virtually worthless. Thinking of driving an Uber yourself? Here’s what else to consider. Regulations vary by region. For instance, to drive an Uber in Toronto, you need to be 21+ years, possess a valid provincial driver’s license, legal work status in Canada, and have access to an eligible vehicle. The vehicle mustn’t be older than seven years. There’s also a background screening of your driving and criminal records. Insurance is paid by Uber but is only valid when you activate the app; you still need personal insurance. Be aware: Uber flatters its drivers that they’re independent business people. But Uber sets the rates and drivers cannot negotiate rates within the app. What about hours? The way the rating system and surge pricing work, drivers are continually nudged towards what is functionally shift work. Which sounds like what a low-powered employee does, not some independent tech business entrepreneur. Your boss is a weird amalgamation of an app and the passenger. Moreover, if you don’t play according to their rules, they cut you off. You need high acceptance and low cancellation rates to continue being connected to fares. On the other hand, you are assuming severe costs and risks, from overhead and gasoline to complex tax implications. Every mile you drive depreciates the value of your car. If you drive as your job, it depreciates fast and you‘ll have to replace the car every few years.
Origin: Disruptured: Just how well does Uber treat its ‘Partner’ drivers?