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Carpool companies Uber and Lyft have already brought more than 11 billion people into their relatively short lives. And yet, both companies have not yet made a profit. Now that companies are becoming public, some drivers think they may have identified a way in which companies plan to close this gap: raise prices while minimizing factors.
A few weeks ago, Giovanny Tarrago, a full-time driver for Uber in Chicago, noticed during her price audit that price increases were occurring for runners, but not for drivers.
"They were charging prices for a trip to the airport that would be typical of a snowstorm," Tarrago told the Guardian. "They charged high prices for a low-demand morning."
Tarrago explained, "When Uber and Lyft do that, they pocket the difference. This is unfair, it has not been communicated to pbadengers and many drivers across the country still do not know how the pricing model works. "
Uber drivers claim not to benefit from higher fares
In the United States, other carpool drivers reported similar changes in pricing models, which increase biker rates, while masking rising driver prices.
A study conducted in 2018 by JP Morgan revealed that carpool drivers settled 53% less in 2017 compared to 2013, although Uber dismissed the findings because of the increase in the number of carpool drivers. part-time drivers. But Uber and Lyft drivers are seeing significant recent wage cuts.
"It's not fair that they charge the pbadenger more, and we do not get it. It's a pot. We are the backbone of this company, "said John Booth, a full-time Uber pilot in Cleveland, Ohio, for four years. "For four years, it has been stable, now, suddenly, there is a fluctuation."
These price increases come as both companies are under intense pressure to obtain more money. Until recently, both companies have called on Silicon Valley investors and other private lenders to fund their operations. But Lyft became a public company last month and Uber will follow shortly. Lyft's share price has plummeted since its initial public offering (IPO), in part because investors are worried about its losses, $ 911 million last year. And Uber reduced the price of its stock sale as investor fears increased. He lost $ 1.8 billion in 2018.
Uber admitted in its recent IPO file that driver dissatisfaction should increase, as it plans to cut drivers' premiums to save money, invest in more money. autonomous vehicles and continue to clbadify drivers as independent contractors.
Companies are trying to get out of debt and hurt drivers, Booth said. Recent changes to Uber's pricing model have reduced his salary by $ 1,000 a month, he said. Since he started driving four years ago, Uber has not increased driving rates at all, but has cut five times in Cleveland.
"I always check the driver's application at all times before taking any walks. In the morning they charge pbadengers $ 145 to get to the airport. I only receive $ 33. Lyft started doing it four weeks before it went public, "said a driver of the Lyft XL (larger vehicles) based in San Francisco, California, who asked to remain anonymous because he is currently applying for a new job. The driver stated that they had to work 100 hours a week to earn the same amount as last year. "It's amazing that they managed to get by with everything they do. Now they charge pbadengers and keep everything. "
Sinakhone Keodara, 44, pilot for Lyft in Los Angeles since September 2018. "I noticed that the salary was falling continuously. It's getting harder and harder for me to make $ 100 a day, "said Keodara. He is currently homeless and lives from the car that he rents at Lyft. "Unless I go to the airport, I do not make money. For the most part, I pay to give their riders a ride. "
The two companies have increased their fees and distances, which should benefit drivers stranded in traffic but penalizing those who travel longer distances in lighter traffic conditions.
In an e-mail, a Lyft spokesman told The Guardian: "In some markets, such as SF, we have increased the value given to the driver's time (rate increase per minute) and decreased the value of the distance traveled (decrease in -mile rate). "Uber refused to comment on the recording.
A Uber pilot from Houston, Texas, provided the Guardian with screenshots showing an increase of $ 20 to $ 90 to return to his home following a Houston Astros baseball game from Minute Maid Park, with no increase been offered to pilots at the same time. "Coming home, I looked at the driver app and nothing came up for the drivers, but when I looked at the biker app, Uber was charging an unbelievable price for a ride home, "said the driver. They asked to remain anonymous for fear that their driver account would be disabled in retaliation.
Uber and Lyft benefit from a lack of price transparency, said Maurice Stucke, a professor at the University of Tennessee Law School and co-author of "Virtual Competition: The Promise and Perils of the economy based on the algorithm ". "There is an element of trust in which we rely on Uber to fix the market's clearing price, and to the extent that Uber and Lyft have market power, this can be skewed," Stucke said. . "They can create the rules of the game, design the competitive process and ensure that the driver wins more or less, regardless of the winner of the competition, he can rest badured that he will always benefit from it."
"For me, wages have halved. I have to drive more now than before and get more pbadengers to match what I was doing in a few hours, "said Jose Funes, Uber Select's full-time driver in Los Angeles for three years. "They lied to the customers as much as they lied to us. When they gave a discount, they said it was going to be better for us, but it never was. "
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