What's Uber like lately?

[tentaguasu]

On a different site, someone made a comment about Uber being very pricey right now. The idea was that there were fewer drivers and more demand due to rental car shortages.

We were planning on using Uber extensively on our next trip.

Is the Uber situation tough right now?

 

[frannn]

We used Uber in late March for a ride to the outlets. It was 21.62 RT in Aug 2017 (Mon late afternoon) and 31.92 in March RT (Wed late morning to early afternoon), not including the tips. I'm sure a bit of the increase was due to the time of day. Not bad for one trip to the outlets, but will definitely add up if you use it the whole trip. The wait for the driver did not seem excessive. Maybe 10-15 min there and 20-25 back.

 

[Gary2T]

Officially Uber and Lyft are both only taking 3 passengers in the regular sized rides right now. So a group of 4 would need to spring for the larger XL (which is limited to 5 instead of the usual 6).

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

I used Lyft a couple of times last month - be sure and price both Uber and Lyft as often there is a price difference. Usually Lyft was less expensive than Uber. There was also a tiered price of a more expensive ride if I wanted to wait 5 to 10 minutes VS 15 minutes.

 

[JimMIA]

I'm sure it varies greatly from market to market, but Uber/Lyft are certainly facing some difficulties. For one thing, many drivers are eligible for unemployment and stimulus checks and would rather rely on those than run their cars in the ground for 50 cents per mile. It also doesn't help that both companies are charging riders much more, but not passing any of that along to the drivers.

Also, those who are driving have been doing a lot of food deliveries -- and MANY find they like those deliveries better than driving people. The hours are more normal, less wear and tear on the car, and most burgers behave better than drunk people.

Driver social media is full of stories saying "I'll never go back to driving people." Of course, that will change when the free money stops flowing and deliveries dry up as restaurants reopen and people start dining out again.