It's Time to Welcome Uber to Jacksonville

[ProjectMaximus]

I would do it very part time, Uber would make job # 3 haha. (I rate websites/google search results for leapforce.com for job # 2 but it's very repetitive) I hear the rides around Riverside & downtown can be very short, you're only earning 4-5 bucks a pop. There's long drives out to the airport but you're not allowed to pick up from there, at least not for uber x.

Looks like there's tons of uber drivers on the road right now. Good for the rider, probably bad for making money as a driver.

Yep, I've done a handful of rides around the urban core for 5 bucks lol. But there are usually a few drivers hanging out in the area so it only takes them a couple minutes to get to me (good for me and the driver) Who told you you can't pick up from the airport? I didnt know that...I've definitely been picked up a few times 

I want to say that you really only make money during surge pricing.  What is max surge and how often is there at least 2x pricing?  I rarely pay below 1.5x and at night during bar shuffles or during rush hour I easily pay 3x.  During special events or huge concerts it can rise to a ridiculous 6-9x.  These are when drivers earn money.  Otherwise they are floating costs.  $4-5 a trip?  That gets me 5 blocks at best even without surge. Even in Jax that's not making anybody any money.

Yeah, I once took 3x surge pricing from my house in San Marco to a Jaguars game...came out to $10 +change. I found 3.5x surge after the game but decided it would suck for the driver to fight all that traffic to come pick me up for around a $12 fare so instead we took the water taxi.

[David]

It was someone on the http://uberpeople.net/ forum. They said you're not *supposed* to pick up anyone from the airport but they still do it because it's not really enforced.

Talked to an old friend today who's drove for uber recently. He says the the prime times and areas are what you think they'd be. Thurs-Saturday around 8pm -3am  in Riverside and out at the beaches. He made some decent money on a few late night cross-town runs. They "activated" me today but I need to give my car a good cleaning before transporting the good people of Jacksonville around

It definitely looks like the service has caught on over the past year. Looking at the app right now I see the city's swarming with Uber drivers.

[mtraininjax]

We use Uber all the time. Its a great deal, and cheap compared to a DUI. To the games at the stadium, we Uber, but you cannot find them when its over. Just easier to get a cab from the Veterans Wall, as they all seem to stack up there.

Have taken it to and from the airport, never an issue.

[David]

Oddly enough, I've never used the service. Might try taking it over to the Jags game from Brooklyn tomorrow just to get a feel for it from the rider perceptive , but I will definitely be off-duty afterwards enjoying the game!

I'm more curious than anything about working for them.  My gut feeling is you could probably make more money delivering pizzas as a 2nd job but their flexibility is hard to beat.

[David]

Alright I've completed a few rides with the service now as a driver now , but nothing "prime time" as in Riverside or the beaches on the weekends. It looks like you can make some money during the surge pricing, but it appears it's difficult to make a decent wage consistently now that they've reduced their fares so much in an effort to run Lyft out of business.

Basically you earn .75 cents a mile with standard pricing, and get .13 cents per minute. An average 6-7 mile ride will cost about 8 bucks, but they tack on a 2.05 "safe rider" fee which is a bit steep in my opinion. None of that goes to the driver, that all goes to Uber for insurance etc. It's only 1.00 in some cities.

Then uber gets a 20% cut of the fares on top of that. So on a fare that's 10.65 the driver's taken home about 6.88 and i'm sure .75 cents - 2.00  of  that needs to go towards gas depending on how far away the driver was when the pick up was requested.

The odd thing about Uber is that they discourage tipping while Lyft does not. Lyft at least gives you the option to tip within the app at the end of the ride.  IMO, if you felt you received decent service a few dollars would go a long way to helping them offset the cost of driving their car into the ground. And I won't get started on the gray area with private car insurance.

It's not a bad option for someone who's in between jobs or is trying to make a little extra money on the side, and on a busy night even after gas you can probably make 15-20 an hour,  but i'll be doing it very sparingly since I don't want  to completely devalue my car.

[mtraininjax]

completely devalue my car.

Forget it, already done, cars are so cheap right now, you might as well find a cost effective gas guzzler and get a couple of them, one for you, one for business, write the business car off. You can make some serious cash with Uber, we have some drivers who pick us up in riverside/Avondale who are making 200 bucks on a Sat night. Run good respectable operations and do it well.

If the City Council try and tamper with Uber, the backlash will be worse than it was in Ft. Lauderdale, and the Council knows this. Yet, few, if any cab companies has done anything to raise their "game" and make the cabs nicer. They do not care about service nor do they care to make a difference, so that is what Uber is here.

[ProjectMaximus]

It's not a bad option for someone who's in between jobs or is trying to make a little extra money on the side, and on a busy night even after gas you can probably make 15-20 an hour,  but i'll be doing it very sparingly since I don't want  to completely devalue my car.

Remember IRS mileage rate is 57.5 cents per mile. Meaning they estimate it costs you that much to operate your vehicle. How much money are you profiting if your cost is that high...I don't think the earnings rate is much higher than that.

On the flip side, the IRS rate is probably higher than the real cost for the average person (not driving an escalade) so you can deduct at the IRS rate and incur a real cost that's a little lower. But still...how much are you making really??

[David]

Forget it, already done, cars are so cheap right now, you might as well find a cost effective gas guzzler and get a couple of them, one for you, one for business, write the business car off. You can make some serious cash with Uber, we have some drivers who pick us up in riverside/Avondale who are making 200 bucks on a Sat night. Run good respectable operations and do it well.

If the City Council try and tamper with Uber, the backlash will be worse than it was in Ft. Lauderdale, and the Council knows this. Yet, few, if any cab companies has done anything to raise their "game" and make the cabs nicer. They do not care about service nor do they care to make a difference, so that is what Uber is here.

Thanks, it's good hearing something positive about the service. As you can see i've been going back and forth but i'm all signed up and ready to go. I tend to drive my cars until they're paid off and completely worthless anyway!

[David]

Remember IRS mileage rate is 57.5 cents per mile. Meaning they estimate it costs you that much to operate your vehicle. How much money are you profiting if your cost is that high...I don't think the earnings rate is much higher than that.

On the flip side, the IRS rate is probably higher than the real cost for the average person (not driving an escalade) so you can deduct at the IRS rate and incur a real cost that's a little lower. But still...how much are you making really??

That is a good point. I haven't done it enough with Uber to answer that, but I know from previous jobs I've delivered pizzas, did field IT work covering the entire southeast and put on 30,000 miles in a year and the only extra cost was your typical wear and tear (brakes, tune ups and a clutch that wore out a little early) My last vehicle, an 03 GTI, survived a barrage of delivery jobs and I only recently sold it at the 11 year mark with 180k on it.

My car cost me about 20 dollars a day when I  factor in car payment,gas and insurance.

And now that you mention I just did the numbers on my previous car.  If the reimbursement rate is $0.575 a mile, and say hypothetically I drove all 180,000 for work...the IRS should've reimbursed me $103,500 ...right? right? haha  Ok so 26,250 of that was gas. (@ 3.50 a gallon average and remember this is over 10 years) But it does appear the mileage rate covers more than the cost of operating. I would need to get the formula for depreciation to answer completely.

[Noone]

There is a meeting 12/10/15 at city hall 10-11:30 on the transportation legislation.  Open to the Public.

[David]

I've cooled it on Uber because of the insurance issues. Only made 30 bucks the first night, 40 on another weekend night. I'm not staying out as late during the late night rush because this is only a 2nd (well, 3rd job) Job # 2 lets me work from home and not have to worry about who's paying for my car repairs if I get an accident. Allstate is flat out saying they will not cover me if i'm doing ride share, that has been enough to deter me. Or at least look into other insurance options.

Uber's bumping up their cut  of the fares from 20 to  25% to for the drivers. That and their staunch no tipping policy is turning me off to driving for them.  .75 cents a mile, .13 cents a minute before Uber takes their chunk and then gas and wear and tear on your car.

When their fares were higher and the drivers took home more, I could see the no tip thing being ok. But when you're making 5 bucks in an hour...yeah, at least include the option like Lyft does.

[David]

There is a meeting 12/10/15 at city hall 10-11:30 on the transportation legislation.  Open to the Public.

I'd be interested in hearing what they had to say.

[Anti redneck]

Well, there you go, folks. The city trying hard once again to keep services limited. Not to get political, but for a city consisting of conservatives, who are supposed to believe that government should not be involved, they sure are using it to block services like Uber. Lol. Hypocrites.

[TheCat]

Florida Senate again focused on Uber driver insurance


http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/blog/morning-edition/2015/12/floridasenate-again-focused-on-uber-driver.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bizj_jacksonville+%28Jacksonville+Business+Journal%29

[Noone]

The 12/10/15 Special Committee on Vehicle for Hire Agenda had at the end of the meeting John Crescimbeni Special Committee member volunteering to pay with his own money for a sting operation to take place On New Years Eve and for the Taxslayer Bowl.

Anyone else feeling sorry for the Baltimore guys 2014-412? Losers.

There was one person at the end of the meeting that was denied an opportunity for Public Comment.