Uber is telling drivers that “help is on the way” because the ride-hailing big tacks on a gasoline surcharge for patrons to assist drivers offset the price of record-high fuel costs.
The transfer from Uber comes as gig employees inform the Herald that they’re getting off the street as a result of the skyrocketing fuel costs have hit a tipping level — “where it’s just not worth it at all anymore” as a result of the gasoline prices are crushing their revenue.
“I’m not driving right now because I’m not trying to have those costs sink into what I make,” stated Beth Griffith of the Boston Independent Drivers Guild.
“It’s not worth it to me,” she added because the Bay State common for normal fuel surged to $4.35 a gallon, and $4.47 in Suffolk County. “And I’m hearing that from a lot of people who are not driving right now.”
After fuel costs throughout the nation spiked to file highs final week amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Uber introduced that it’s going to add a brand new short-term surcharge on Uber journeys and Uber Eats orders to assist drivers and couriers.
The surcharge will probably be both $0.45 or $0.55 per trip and $0.35 or $0.45 per Eats order, based mostly on location. In Boston, prospects pays a $0.45 surcharge on each trip and a $0.35 surcharge on each supply.
Drivers who full 40 rides in per week would get an additional $18 that week, and couriers who full 40 deliveries would get an additional $14.
“Gas prices have hit record highs. Help is on the way,” Uber wrote to drivers and couriers.
“We know drivers and couriers are feeling the sting of record-high prices at the pump, so we’re rolling out a temporary fuel surcharge to help,” Liza Winship, head of driver operations for U.S. and Canada, stated in a press release. “This consumer surcharge will apply to each ride or delivery and will vary by location, with 100% going directly to drivers and couriers.”
The surcharge will probably be rolled out on Wednesday, and Uber plans to re-evaluate the surcharge in two months.
Both Uber and Lyft have been touting a brand new program that helps drivers save as much as 25 cents per gallon by means of money again with GetUpside.
“We care deeply about the driver experience and we’ve taken concrete steps to help given rising gas prices,” Lyft stated in a press release. “Programs like our GetUpside partnership and the Lyft Direct money again debit card are designed to immediately save drivers cash on the pump, and we’ll proceed to spend money on extra methods to assist the driving force neighborhood.
“With more people getting out and about again and riders returning to the platform, even when you account for increased fuel costs, drivers nationally have still been earning more per hour on average than they were a year ago,” the corporate added.
But native ride-hail driver Stephen Levine stated the GetUpside function is rather like a gasoline rewards program at fuel stations.
“All it is, is a big ‘F you’ to the drivers,” stated Levine of the Boston Independent Drivers Guild. “It’s reaching that point right now where it’s just not worth it at all anymore.”
Levine had been driving about 100 to 200 miles a day, however he has minimize that right down to the 50 to 75 mile each day vary as fuel costs rise — and he’s turned to solely doing deliveries for Grubhub and DoorDash.
“We’re all trying to make the best of it,” Levine stated, “But it’s so hard to make any type of profit right now.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”