So started at your “How uberpool works” article, and now just read this article

driving times is not that great. Neither is the busy time at 3am – 4am when US traders and sales people go to work before the stock market opens.

Just came across your articles while researching how Ubers Uberpool works on diverting your route, and the costs, as its just starting in London today. I normally dont post on blogs etc, or even read them for that matter, but this was really interesting. I will try to remember to check back in future for other posts.

But well done, and very insightful, not just about uber, but appreciating what we have, from what you learned about meeting all your riders. Made my train journey much more interesting. Although im gonna take a break and watch some netflix now 🙂

I am planning to join uber for fun. Can you send me a referral link so that you can get the referral credit?

Sam, great post. It’s interesting to see the process from the driver’s perspective. I use Uber all the time when traveling for business from SF down to LA. It’s usually a great experience, however I’m surprised the threshold for probation is 4.6, only the best of the best!

Lyft has the same 4

Also, have you heard of Uber Eats? Uber delivers food down in the LA market, which may have been why the woman asked if you (i.e., Uber) serve brunch. Their current offering is a standard lunch/dinner option, it’s like one meal and apparently drivers have x number of servings in their car and deliver them (as ordered, if ordered) during the course of their regular driving. If a few hours go by and no one has ordered the food, it gets tossed.

All-in-all good experiences, especially in Boston, it allowed us to stay at a cheaper hotel a little further out and we would just Uber everywhere we went, saved us a lot in terms of money and time by not having to rent a car, getting lost, paying for parking, etc

If a driver gets a 4 out of 5, they are essentially getting a vote to get kicked off since the probation level is 4.6. Crazy IMO.

That may be accurate for Uber “it doesn’t matter for riders as they are clients…”, but as Lyft driver I can tell you that the rating I give my passengers does matter on the Lyft platform. 6 threshold as Uber seems to for probation of driver status when riders rate drivers. When drivers rate passengers it serves three purposes: 1) You and other Lyft drivers can more accurately assess whether to accept a ride from someone with a lower star rating; 2) Low ratings with detailed comments can cause passengers to lose ride privileges; and 3) If a Lyft driver rates any passenger 3 or below, the app will no longer pair that driver with that passenger, no matter the proximity.

Thanks for going into the trenches and getting a first-hand experience of driving. I think it’s a great idea to use it just for the hours that you want, and especially if you are wanting to head in a particular direction (ie for playing tennis…etc). Works even better if you are situated in a dense area.

I’ve wondered if it is prudent to drive as an “LLC” rather than as an individual for legal purposes. Obviously you would hope that the insurance coverage or umbrella coverage is adequate for the risk incurred.

Great article and thank you for providing us with your experience. I guess I will sign up just to get the bonus.

Nice article. We use Uber quite a bit when going from our house to the airport, but haven’t had the opportunity to use it outside of the Bay Area. This past trip we used it in London, Paris, and Boston. We were also in Naples, now if there’s a place that could really benefit from having Uber, Naples would be it. What was interesting was our experience internationally, in Paris they had a taxi strike protesting Uber when we were there, and it was almost impossible for us to get a taxi when we first got there. In addition, you hear about countries like India where they ambush Uber drivers and beat them up (or worse). I would like to get your insights on this or if you had any negative experiences with other traditional taxis while you were driving for Uber?