Driving an Uber ain’t what it used to be. On May 26, local Uber and Lyft drivers who are part of Drivers Union Oregon appeared before the Portland City Council’s City Life Committee to call for a city ordinance mandating that drivers earn 80% of fees collected from riders. City Council member Steve Novick has expressed interest in that idea and invited the group to make its case.
Passengers might think rideshare companies already split fees something like 80/20 with their drivers. Not even close, drivers say.
Drivers Union Oregon organizer Joe Jackson showed screenshots from the driver-side versions of rideshare apps.
“Why did this ride cost over $100? And why did the driver only get paid $14?” he asked committee members. The screenshot he was referring to, shared with the Labor Press, shows for that ride from Portland to Oregon City, a passenger was charged $109.15 — $8.58 of that went to “external fees,” $86.46 was taken by Lyft, and only $14.11 made it to the driver.
Drivers Union organizer Nathaniel Hudson-Hartman says drivers have collected “hundreds” of screenshots showing similar disparities, including earnings of $15.35 on a $95.16 ride, $63.59 on a $136.75 ride, and $52.73 on a $113.05 ride.
Jackson said it didn’t used to be this way. He says that when he started driving almost 11 years ago, he earned 80% of passengers’’ total fees. But with new service agreements that drivers must approve before using the app, those percentages have dropped over and over.
Pay rates can also vary from one driver to another, using a system Hudson-Hartman calls “algorithmic wage discrimination.” He said the apps’ algorithms are using both the driver and passenger’s data against them, trying to figure out exactly how much to charge passengers based on factors like their behavior in the app, ride history, time of day, and location, and then shopping their requested ride around to multiple drivers to see who will take the lowest fee.
Other screenshots seemed to back this up: It showed on an identical $110 ride, one driver earned 37% of the fee and another earned only 16%.
James Parrott, a labor economist at The New School in New York City, joined the committee meeting by video. Parrott said Uber claims its drivers average $21.82 per hour, but his research shows the hourly rate is $12.05 when factoring in expenses like gas and maintenance, as well as time spent waiting for riders. That’s nearly 25% less than Portland’s $15.95 minimum wage.
That’s not all: Drivers report that they aren’t getting as many tips from passengers as they used to.
“Riders are tipping less when they’re paying $100 and assuming we’re getting $70 or $75 out of that,” driver Angie Grigsby told city council members on the committee.
“Uber are masterminds in avoiding costs and shifting costs to drivers,” said driver Samuel Araia.
A coalition of eight Portland organizations called We Play For Portland has come out against any city ordinance capping rideshare companies’ share of the fares. The group includes the Portland Metro Chamber, Travel Portland, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Portland Timbers, Sport Oregon, the Oregon Symphony, the Oregon Ballet Theatre, and the Portland Opera. We Play For Portland argues in an open letter to the city council that Portland should not enact such a measure because it will result in reduced attendance at local events.
“While we applaud any effort to ensure that drivers are fairly compensated,” the letter says, “Policies that significantly increase the cost of rideshare services — or create an environment where companies may reduce service levels or exit the market altogether—pose a direct threat to our city’s transportation ecosystem and to the livelihoods of the group those policies are intended to support.”
We Play For Portland claims that prices rose by approximately 40% and demand dropped sharply after Seattle passed Fare Share, a first-in-the-nation local ordinance mandating minimum pay for app-based drivers. The letter doesn’t produce any evidence for that, and neither did an Uber spokesperson who responded to questions from the Labor Press. But since Uber sets ride prices, not drivers, presumably the company would know how much it raised its own prices in Seattle. According to a company blog, it increased the average price passengers paid for a trip in Seattle more than 40%.
We play for Portland bought into uber and lyft coolaid. Look at the disparity listed. If there is any reduction in seattle its because of other fees they have implemented. Booking fees, etc. These companies will always always always figure ways around any regulations against them. You do anything against them they will manipulate the numbers to best fit their narrative, but they will always come out on top. A percent cap of everything paid to these companies for this ride inside or outside this app should be considered part of the bill. All charges should be shown clearly as transparency is key to all of this showing all involved what an who is being paid what. I would also ask how much revenue does uber and lyft pay each of these we play portland sponsors in ad, sponsorships, etc. They dont just speak out against this as there is money and rideshare propoganda being sold to them as well. Data they dont look up, but rather Uber and Lyft provide them. Again, manipulating numbers to fit their narrative to push longterm gains across the nation over short term losses. Anything you see is never independent information and that is complete control of this market every shell of information is in play to maximize profits. No stone unturned. You prepay for a ride and they charge you third or 4th efficient route, but driver goes directly there and these companies pocket the difference. The driver gets hosed at every angle they can come up with. Its government responsibility to put them in their place. They are uncontrolled capitalism maximizing only their profits and screw everyone else. Raise price on riders as high as they can get away with and lower drivers take as low as they can get away with using ai to analyze any way to maximize making a buck. Regulations are the only way this industry ever ever ever pays what is fair. We play for Portland in reality are just uber and lyft people representing these industries to throw you off. Wolf in sheep’s clothing. They may work for these companies, but make no mistake the rideshare companies compensate them in discounts, ads, etc… this is not pure altruistic im going to lose out because of this… its just more rideshare company bs…