Gridwise blog

Everyone starts driving for their own unique reasons.

Some people want to escape their mundane corporate jobs and try something new for awhile. Many people are starting their own businesses or following their passion and need extra side income. Some even just want an opportunity to talk to and meet new people.

Everyone has their own "why", and for Sean, a rideshare driver out of Northern Virginia, his "why" was the little one that he has on the way.

You see, Sean is a full-time student, with a part-time job and a baby on the way. Oh, and he occasionally makes the trek down to Virginia Beach to do odd jobs around the house for his elderly parents.

So not only is Sean a busy guy, but he's also a guy that could use some extra cash. Therein lies Sean's "why", his reason for becoming a driver and using his spare time to earn instead of relaxing. However, being a rideshare driver wasn't the first thing that came to mind when he decided to find a way to make some extra cash.

"I told my wife that I really wanted to make some extra cash that we can use for the baby, but I needed something extremely flexible. That's when she brought up Uber, I didn't exactly jump at the idea initially" says Sean. "But when I started to dig in and do some research, that's when I realized how great this could be for us."

That initial research that Sean did which helped convince him that he should be a rideshare driver, also helped him become a highly profitable rideshare driver almost immediately. That's because we know how easy it is to become a rideshare driver, it only takes a car, a clean background and a bit of will power. However, becoming a highly profitable rideshare driver isn't easy, and tends to take a lot of time.

According to a Stanford study from earlier this year, it takes approximately 1500 trips to become a "good" rideshare driver.

Well, Sean didn't have that type of time, so he took matters into his own hands and built a strategy that nearly eliminated his ramp up time and helped him make a great hourly wage after being a driver for just a few days. In this blog post, we're going to look at what Sean did before he became a driver and in his first few days and weeks as a driver that helped him ramp up so quickly.

Have a Strategy From Day 1

One of the biggest and most common mistakes that new rideshare drivers make is starting to drive without a strategy. Too many new drivers expect to be able to turn on their app and get tons of pings wherever they are. Nope. It's not 2012 anymore.

Passenger demand is out there, but it's not just waiting for you, you have to go get it.

Sean did hours of research before he even signed up to become a rideshare driver, so he already knew that he couldn't just drive anywhere. He had to be strategic.

That's why he built a strategy that consists of the following:

1. Driving late nights AWAY from bars
2. Using destination filters to get back to popular areas
3. Driving past airports at peak hours

"I knew that I could drive the bar scene in D.C. and Northern Virginia, but that would mean drunk people and traffic. Two things I want to avoid," said Sean. "That's why I focus on more suburban areas, and a few other hot spots not downtown."

Instead of relying on the bar scene, Sean focuses on areas like the MGM casino in D.C. and the National Harbor which is a restaurant district close to D.C. By understanding where those areas were before he started driving, Sean was able to use these hotspots as starting points and points that he could always gravitate back towards if he needs to find a passenger.

Sean also quickly realized that just because he started in a certain area, that doesn't mean he's going to stay there.

"I would frequently start near National Harbor but could be brought all the way out to a suburb pretty easily," said Sean.

This can make for a tough decision for many drivers. Do you stay in the suburbs and hope for a ride, or do you head back to a downtown area? Well, instead of having to make a blind choice, Sean uses Gridwise to help him understand what events are going on immediately around him or in his surrounding areas so he knows if there will be demand around him soon.

If there is demand coming, he can afford to wait a few minutes for a ping, if it looks like there will be greater demand downtown or even at an airport, he can place a destination filter toward that area and start making his way there.

Sean can also use Gridwise to understand when there will be a peak in airport passengers, so a little trick he learned was to always strategically drive past the airport during a peak time.

"It isn't supposed to work this way, but sometimes if I'm just driving near an airport I'll get a ping from the airport. It's always a lucrative ride, so I try and get lucky every once and awhile."

Track Miles and Performance

Mileage deductions are crucial for rideshare drivers, and if you're just using what Uber and Lyft are giving you, then you're likely missing out on a ton of miles that you should be tracking, as these TNC's don't report on miles that you are driving to get to your main driving area and miles that you are driving from when you start, to when you go home.

Sean understood this, which is why he tracked his mileage from day one. So when tax season comes, he will feel confident that he has maximized his tax deduction.

With Gridwise, drivers can automatically track their mileage and time driven, along with other stats like earnings, and number of trips.

Maximize Your Bonus Opportunities

One of the most important things that every driver needs to do when they start driving is maximize your initial bonus. Every TNC will have a lucrative bonus opportunity that they are advertising for your specific area. Before you enter just any bonus code into your sign up form, check to make sure you're getting the largest bonus possible as they can change monthly.

Also, don't take on too many bonuses at once, especially if they are timed. If you only have one month to do 1,000 rides on Uber for a $1,000 bonus and one month to do 1,000 rides on Via for a $1,000 bonus, it might be difficult for you to hit both of those goals. So stagger when you start up on a TNC to be sure you have time for all of your bonuses.

Remember your Why

Driving rideshare is a customer facing job, which means it isn't always going to be easy. However, if you're smart and stay focused on your why, whether it be a kid on the way, a business you're trying to start, or just a desire to meet new people, you can have a great time being a profitable driver in no time.

The last 18 months have not gone well for Uber, and early in March things took another tumultuous turn when one of their self-driving vehicles struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona. The incident rocked the company and has resulted in Uber halting all of their self-driving cars across all cities including San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Tempe, and Toronto.

This unfortunate event leads us to ask the questions: What is the state of self-driving cars? Are they coming soon? Are they safe? And, how will they affect Rideshare drivers and Taxi drivers?

We took a look at the autonomous car landscape to see if we can answer some of the most pressing questions on the minds of rideshare drivers and passengers including:

• Who is making self-driving cars?
• How far are we away from self-driving cars?
• What states allow self-driving cars?
• How safe are self-driving cars?
• How will self-driving effect rideshare drivers?

Let's dive in.

What are autonomous cars?

Easy question to answer right?

Not so much. You see, there are various levels of "autonomous cars" and companies are developing technology to tackle each one of them.

Brian Solis, a principal analyst of Altimeter, has defined autonomous cars as follows:

Picture Via: The Race to 2021: The State of Autonomous Vehicles and a "Who's Who" of Industry Drivers

Most cars are still at Level 2, where drivers are still in full control of the car, have their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road, however, have some sort of cruise control functionality enabled. Many automakers are promising to move from Level 2 all the way to Level 5 by the end of 2021.

In fact, you can see a list of automakers that have made significant progress toward a fully autonomous car and are said to be on pace to reach their goals by 2021 below:

- Uber (in partnership with Volvo)
- Lyft (in partnership with General Motors and Ford)
- Google's Waymo
- Toyota
- BMW
- Nissan
- Ford
- Daimler
- Tesla
- Baidu
- Bosch

How will autonomous cars be used?

To a rideshare driver and the public, one of the most lucrative markets for an autonomous car would seem to be taxi services, however, there are many use cases for these vehicles.

According to Brian Solis, there are 5 main categories for autonomous cars with multiple use cases within each category

Industrial

• Warehouse
• Farming
• Construction
• Military

Purpose/Specialized

• Tourism/Travel
• Care/Medical
• Racing

Transportation

• Mass Transit
• Shuttle
• Ride/Hail

Consumer

• Owned
• Shared
• Task driven
• Retail delivery

Logistics

• Cargo/Freight
• Delivery
• Parcel

While the use cases for a taxi like service is more visible, use cases such as trucking, parcel delivery, and shuttles have seen more traction. For instance, in Europe and Asia, there are many hospitals, airports, and university campuses that use a service called Navya instead of standard shuttle buses.

What Legal Hurdles Stand in The Way?

As of today, there are 21 states that have passed some sort of legislation allowing autonomous cars in some form or fashion.

See a map below from the National Conference of State Legislators:

Last September Congress also passed the SELF DRIVE Act, which lays out a basic federal framework for autonomous vehicle regulation, signaling that federal lawmakers are finally ready to think seriously about self-driving cars and what they mean for the future of the country.

Now I know what you're thinking, disruptive technology companies have famously done a lousy job working with regulators across the globe. Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and other tech giants have had their fair share of public court cases, however, automobile manufacturers, more than anyone else, have a reputation for working closely with the government to understand (and potentially shape) regulations and compliance.

Given automobile makers willingness to work with legislators along with Congress's new found interest in the self-driving car industry, it appears that regulation for these vehicles will be worked out.

How safe are autonomous cars?

One of the largest hurdles that any company will need to jump over will be ensuring autonomous cars are safe, which is why Uber's incident in Arizona was such a big deal.

Since then, Arizona has suspended Uber's autonomous car program for the time being, even after Uber had voluntarily pulled its autonomous cars from the road and every autonomous car maker is having to answer questions about safety in their cars.

Lyft's cofounder and CEO John Zimmer was quoted as saying “I don’t know all the specifics. I did see the video. It did look like both the tech and the driver could have or should have prevented that. But I don’t know all the details,” while also stating that “We need to make sure that all players are acting responsibly because, again, the goal is to actually make it a safer opportunity for people.”

What's important to note in this statement is that the goal of autonomous cars is to make driving significantly safer for pedestrians and drivers alike.

While the accident in Arizona was tragic and a catastrophic blow for Uber's self driving initiatives, it is worth noting that this was just the first instance of fully autonomous car resulting in a pedestrian fatality while more than 6,000 pedestrians were killed in accidents involving human drivers in just 2016. So while the self driving car industry is appropriately being scrutinized for it's failure, these cars so far are significantly safer than human driven cars in many circumstances.

What does all this mean for rideshare drivers?

For rideshare drivers, the most important thing to understand is that the world isn't just going to flip a switch and be completely autonomous. We are still 4-5 years away from autonomous cars being available to consumers, and even then, we could be 20+ years away from autonomous cars being the standard.

Just last year, Lyft's Vice President of Engineering Luc Vincent stated that the company would "always operate a hybrid network, with rides from both human-driven and self-driving cars.” He added that “When a passenger requests a ride that a self-driving car can complete, we may send one to complete the trip,” he also stated that “If that person needs to go somewhere self-driving cars are unable to navigate, or their needs call for a different level of service, they will have a driver. But in either event, we’ll make sure everyone can get where they need to go.”

Here, Vincent is talking about cases where human interaction is still vital. Philipp Kampshoff of the consulting firm McKinsey & Co noted a prime example of a use case that is extremely difficult to automate. "Another example is a construction site where you have a red traffic light, and the autonomous vehicle is approaching the red traffic light, but there is a construction worker who waves the people and cars through. How does the autonomous vehicle know that it can ignore the red traffic light? So these are the kinds of edge cases that have to be overcome for autonomous vehicles to really be out there in mass adoption."

Because of these fringe cases, we believe that there will always be a place for a driver behind the wheel, however, autonomous cars may make for additional opportunities for rideshare drivers as Lyft's Director of Product Taggart Matthiesen alluded to in a conversation with Recode from last August.

"As far as I’m concerned, they will (human drivers) continue to be that. Over time, technology will give us the opportunity to provide additional services on our platform, whether that is a concierge service, whether that is an in-vehicle experience ... these are all things that we will slowly evolve and work with our drivers on."

Here, Taggart is referring to the ability for drivers in vehicles to act as operators or even a concierge service for the cars instead of drivers. This is similar to how the trucking industry views the role of drivers.

Taggert later added “If I need to go to the doctor’s office and my leg is in a cast and I can’t drive, we have a service for that,” he said. “If you get into the world of autonomous, we may need someone in that vehicle to help that person. There are things we’re doing beyond getting a passenger from point A to point B, additional services that we as a company can look at.”

There may be even more opportunity for rideshare drivers to become operators of their own fleet of autonomous cars. This would be similar to Turo's model where drivers simply rent out their autonomous cars to the Uber's and Lyft's of the world and take home some fee as they sit at home. Drivers would just need to keep the vehicles well maintained.

Don't Worry, But Stay Vigilant

We are far from a seeing the current rideshare model make any significant amount of changes, so you don't need to worry about a robot car overtaking you as a rideshare driver any time soon. However, drivers do need to stay Vigilant about emerging trends and technologies so you can see what's coming and *take advantage of opportunities*.

The rideshare industry has come a long way since 2009 when Uber was first launched.

Dozen's of additional transportation companies have been launched including driver favorites like Via and Juno. New services like Uber Pool and Lyft Line have been championed, and unfortunately, driver fares for the most part, have gone down while the supply of drivers has skyrocketed.

These fluctuating rates and a rapidly changing industry have begged the question: How much are rideshare drivers really making? Well, over the past few months and years we've received a number of answers from various scientific studies and surveys that have come up with different answers to that question along with different reasoning.

We want to better understand what the economic landscape for rideshare drivers is, so we took a deep dive into the various studies of the rideshare industry to try to gain a complete understanding of how much rideshare drivers are making and WHY rideshare drivers make what they make.

The Studies

The Gig economy is one of the most heavily researched industries in the world today because of how little we currently know about it.

Questions like, what would happen if Uber dissolved, how does discrimination affect the gig economy, and what is the tax impact of the gig economy have economist rushing to understand who is involved and how it affects the macro and micro-economic landscapes. As a result, we can see public studies like these.

• The Gender Earnings Gap in the Gig Economy: Evidence from over a Million Rideshare Drivers
• 2018 Uber and Lyft Driver Survey Results – The Rideshare Guy
• 2018 MIT Uber earnings study
• Revised 2018 MIT Uber earnings study
• The Ridesharing Revolution: Economic Survey and Synthesis
• Labor Market Equilibration: Evidence from Uber

Each of these studies helps us piece together the past and present of the rideshare industry and gives us clues into the future of the rideshare industry.

Let's start our analysis of these reports by seeing how these reports answer everyone's most burning question.

How much do drivers make?

Over the past few weeks, Uber has found itself in a PR nightmare caused by MIT's initial study that claimed rideshare drivers made a mere $3.37 per hour after expenses with a whopping 74% of drivers making less than minimum wage.

In response, Dana Khosrowshahi, Uber's new CEO following the departure of Travis Kalanick, criticized MIT by calling it the University of "Mathematically Incompetent Theories" while noting that various other studies have significantly different findings.

MIT = Mathematically Incompetent Theories (at least as it pertains to ride-sharing). @techreview report differs markedly from other academic studies and @TheRideshareGuy recent survey. Our analysis: https://t.co/S2aAqCuDR0

— dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) March 3, 2018

So who's correct here? Let's look at the data.

Driver Earnings Data

Various studies, reports, and surveys have found the following results:

• Rideshare guy 2018: $16.93
• Rideshare guy 2017: $15.68
• Stanford Pay Gap Study 2017: $21.07
• Princeton Labor Market Analysis 2015: $19.04
• MIT Study #1 2018: $3.37
• Revised MIT Study 2018: $8.55 - $10.00 (profit after expenses)

The differences in each one of these reports or studies can stem from a number of different factors including most notably when it was taken, who was in the sample, and survey method.

The clear outlier here is MIT's initial study that revealed that drivers were making on average $3.37 after taxes and was publically scrutinized by Uber's Chief Economist, Jonathan Hall in a medium post.

The issue that Hall pointed out in MIT's study was an unclear question which he claimed caused a $6 difference in total profit per hour.

See a deeper explanation of the claimed question error below:

The Rideshare Guy survey asks a number of questions about how much drivers earn and how many hours they work per week. The most important are questions 11, 14, and 15.

Q11: “How many hours per week do you work on average? Combine all of the on-demand services that you work for.”

Q14: “How much money do you make in the average month? Combine the income from all your on-demand activities.”

Q15: “How much of your total monthly income comes from driving?”

The problem, in this case, is inconsistent logic on the part of the paper’s authors. Consider this: for question 14, the authors assume respondents are reporting income from *all* sources, not just on-demand work. As a result of this assumption, the authors discount the earnings from Q14 by the answer to Q15, “How much of your total monthly income comes from driving?”

For example: if a driver answered $1,000 to $2,000 to Q14, the authors would interpret that as $1,420.63² according to their methodology. If the respondent then answered “Around half” to Q15, the authors conclude this driver made $710.32 driving — half what they actually earned from driving with ridesharing platforms.***

Stephen Zoepf, co-author of MIT's study, recognized that the criticism from the rideshare industry was, in fact, valid and made changes to his methodology. In his second attempt at analyzing these figures, MIT found that median after expense profit rose to $8.55 an hour.

Here is my statement regarding the recent CEEPR working paper "The Economics of Ride Hailing." pic.twitter.com/lHJkaB0frX

— Stephen Zoepf (@StephenZoepf) March 5, 2018

These figures are more in line with what previous studies have found such as those from the Rideshare Guy.

Given this data, we can see that earnings before expenses for rideshare drivers can range from around $15 per hour to $21.09 per hour according to these reports. This is an incredibly wide range, so what factors most commonly effect driver earnings?

Well, location is one of the largest factors in how much you make before and after expenses. A driver in New York has traditionally made as much as 2x more than what a driver in any other city has made. Hard city by city data has been difficult to obtain, however, we do have a 2015 survey from Sherpashare that found the following:

Aside from location, we can look to Stanford's gender pay gap study to help explain why some drivers make more than others.

Driving experience means everything

In my opinion, the most important graph for every rideshare driver to understand comes from Stanford's gender pay gap study. The graph plots total earnings against the number of trips a driver has given.

Stanford's study attempted to find out if there was a gender pay gap in the rideshare industry, and if so why? Well, the report found that there was a 7% difference in pay between men and women, however, this wasn't discriminatory in nature, it was based on experience and driving speed.

The study found that women are less likely to stick with Uber or Lyft for a long period of time. In fact, the 6-month attrition rate for women was 76.5% while the 6-month attrition for men was just 65.0%.

This means that women are less likely to obtain the amount of experience that a driver needs to be able to understand their city, find the best driving routes, times, and locations.

We can also see that in the Rideshare Guy's 2018 survey which finds that experience is a heavy factor in driver earnings.

With a lack of experience comes significantly more downtime as a driver, which a study completed by NYU's John Horton with help from Uber's Jonathan Hall and Daniel Knoepfle, called “Labor Market Equilibration: Evidence from Uber" shows is extremely important.

Let me explain

Transportation companies have consistently and publicly reduced fares multiple times over the last few years. See a graphical representation of the fare reductions below.

However, despite these fare decreases the Rideshare Guy's 2017 and 2018 surveys find that drivers are making slightly more. If we look at the two academic studies done by Stanford and Princeton, we again see that drivers are supposedly making more per hour despite fare decreases.

Why?

The study completed by NYU's John Horton with help from Uber's Jonathan Hall and Daniel Knoepfle, found that a change in the base fares had little to no effect on how much a driver gets paid.

This because of Supply and demand.

When fares decrease, drivers may be paid less, but there is also a flood of riders on the system which results in more available rides for drivers. If fares increase, drivers get paid more, but passengers are scared off and will find other ways to travel.

The bottom line is that when transportation companies decrease fares, driver earnings ARE NOT likely to change because drivers spend significantly less time idle than they otherwise would.

This shows that preventing idle time by understanding where you are driving will do more to increase your earnings per hour than almost anything else.

Stanford's gender pay gap study takes this even further by noting that how fast drivers travel during trips can significantly effect earnings.

Men on average drove faster than women, which means they were able to drive more miles with passengers. This resulted in men having more trips per hour and making more per hour. This is likely again due to men on average having more experience behind the wheel.

What can drivers do to stay ahead?

Now that we know how much the average driver is making and why, we can look at how drivers can stay ahead of the curve.

1. Don't sweat price hikes and increases

As we saw in a labor study report conducted in part by Uber's own Chief Economist, rate hikes, and decreases do little to effect a drivers earnings. Uber and other ride-sharing services understand that they must rely heavily on incentive payment programs like "quests" to increase driver earnings.

2. Do take advantage of bonuses

Just as the rideshare companies understand that incentive programs are the biggest factor in increasing driver income, so should you. When you have a bonus or quest opportunity that does not interfere with you making your normal amount, take it.

3. Focus on open roads

It can be tempting to always drive in downtown areas, however, if traffic is bad that may not be the best option. If the amount of traffic is slowing you down and decreasing your trips per hour, you're likely to find more success driving in another area even if that means driving Pool/Line or accepting shorter rides.

4. Track every last mile

What has often been missed in MIT's study is their reporting that up to 74% of a drivers income can go untaxed.

From the study:

On a monthly basis, mean profit is $661/month (median $310). Drivers are eligible to use a Standard Mileage Deduction for tax purposes ($0.54/mile in 2016) which far exceeds median costs per mile of $0.30/mile. Because of this deduction, most ridehailing drivers are able to declare profits that are substantially lower. Mean drivers who use a Standard Mileage Deduction would declare taxable profit of $175 rather than the $661 earned. These numbers suggest that approximately 74% of driver profit is untaxed.

This goes to show the extreme importance of tracking every last mile. Not just what Uber or Lyft sends you, not what you estimate, but every last mile that you are driving for a transportation company.

5. Drive smarter faster

As we saw time and time again when reviewing these various reports, driving experience is paramount. It is very difficult to be a profitable driver if you don't have a keen understanding of where to drive in your city and when to drive in your city. New drivers can use Gridwise to help them immediately understand their city while also taking cues from blogs like this one, Ridster and The Rideshare Guy, along with city-specific Facebook groups and forums like UberForum.

Now we're curious, are you seeing earnings in line with these various reports? What do you think is the biggest factor in your earnings success? Let us know in the comments below!

Every now and then we come across a rideshare driver with a unique strategy that works well for them and their specific situation.

One of the most unique strategies that we have come across is used by a Gridwiser named Vegas.

Vegas is a D.C. area driver who drives the normal routes in the DMV. He frequents Dulles and Ronald Reagan airports, stays downtown for the rush hour, and sticks to the bars during late nights.

So what's unique about Vegas' strategy?

Well, Vegas lives in Newport News Virginia which is about 170 miles away from the District of Columbia. He, along with a team of 2 other drivers head to the D.C. area every week to drive.

"We pack up Thursday morning very early, around 3:00 am so that we get to near D.C. around 6:00 am." Says Vegas. "From there, we decide what airport we want to go to and just flow from there."

Why would you drive so far?!?!

Our first question, and I'm sure your first question when reading this article is why would you drive so far just to drive Uber? Well, to answer that question you have to know a bit about Vegas and why he drives.

Vegas, is a man that cares about his family who reside in Newport beach, so he likes to stay close. However, he also craves the freedom and flexibility that being a full-time rideshare driver provides.

And he's not afraid to put in some long hours to keep that freedom.

Newport News isn't a large city by any means so there just isn't enough demand to make sure that Vegas makes what he needs to on a weekly basis. So Vegas decided to take manners into his own hands.

"Instead of just waiting around for a ride in Newport News, we spend 2 or 3 days at a time to travel to D.C., drive hard, hit our numbers, and head home." Says Vegas.

As you would expect that leads to some long hours and a night or two sleeping in your car, but also a few really fun nights with his fellow drivers.

Vegas and his crew work hard, but they have a great time together

Do rideshare companies allow drivers to drive in other cities or states?

Another question we had when we first talked to Vegas was how exactly he managed to drive in multiple states with Uber and Lyft.

We knew that once a driver signs up to drive in city that he or she can drive in any city in their home state, but how do you cross state lines and drive?

Well, it turns out that Uber doesn't usually allow this. However, in certain areas where there is a lot of cross traffic like D.C., they will allow you to cross state lines for both drop-offs and pickups. Other transportation companies like Lyft will allow drivers to pick up and drop off passengers without incident across state lines.

Because Vegas and his team are Virginia drivers, they can travel all the way up to D.C. and Maryland and successfully pick up passengers.

What about insurance?

Here is where things get a bit tricky. Most insurance companies work on a state by state basis, so if you decide to drive in another state and Uber or Lyft allow you to drive in another state, that doesn't mean that your insurance company will cover you.

Many areas with a significant amount of cross traffic like the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area will build in cross state coverage, however, this is something that you would want to individually double check.

The Rideshare guy has a great list of insurance agents that specialize in Rideshare Insurance here.

How does they do it?

If you're going to drive 170 miles just to start working, you better come with a strategy, and Vegas and his team have built one that relies heavily on airports.

When Vegas starts to get close to D.C. at about 6:00am, he turns on Gridwise and figures out what airports have the most passengers coming in and the smallest queue, and that's where they head first. From there, he will focus on the morning rush hour downtown, and then meet with his team for a break at lunch before the afternoon rush hour.

If there is ever a lull in demand Vegas will look to Gridwise's airport demand feature to see what airports are peaking so he can head in that direction.

What's great about working with another driver is that you have each others back. That means that if one driver isn't getting any pings and another driver is in the middle of a surge, he can let that driver know that there is a real surge going on and that he or she should head in that direction. Working with another driver also means that if something happens like a flat tire or a dead battery, you have someone to call to give you a hand.

Is it worth it? Who should be using this strategy?

Even if you can drive across state lines, or to more populated cities in your state, that doesn't mean it will be the best strategy for you.

Vegas is in a unique position where he is able and willing to make the trek up to a larger city while also really needing to in order to meet his weekly quota. However, if you were driving in a city like Ft. Lauderdale or Tampa and considering a drive to Orlando or Miami, that may not always be worth it, unless there is a special event that you want to drive.

For instance, drivers in Atlanta frequently make the trip to Athens to be around for Georgia football games on Saturdays in the fall. This is worthwhile because Georgia football games aren't just a single event. They are an all-day marathon of tailgates, parties, and then the game.

If you're in a city that has a good amount of demand, it's probably not going to be worth your while to chase demand to other major cities. However, if you want to be in town for a certain event. That can certainly be an attractive option.

What's your strategy?

We love a unique driving strategy and the hustle that it takes to head all the way up to D.C. from Newport News is commendable. But now we want to hear from you guys, do you have a unique driving strategy? Let us know in the comments below!

Gas prices are always on the rise.

And transportation companies aren't exactly reimbursing rideshare drivers or increasing pay when filling up your gas tank costs $55 per tank rather than $45.

We want to help put money back in rideshare drivers pockets, so we're giving away a gas card every week to one rideshare driver in Gridwise's Gas Card Giveaway!

Wait... But what's the catch you ask?

All you need to do is sign up to receive a FREE Gridwise car sticker, place it in your car, and then take a picture with it and send it to us.

Check out the pictures of our winners in February:

All you need to do is fill out this form [contest ended] and we'll mail you a car sticker 100% free. It looks a bit like this:

You can also see the sticker in our winner's pictures above.

We'll have one winner per week, so hurry and enter while your odds are still HIGH! Sign up using the link below! [Contest has ended]

For many drivers, the absolute best part of the job is interacting with passengers.

Yes, we are in this to get paid. No, there is absolutely zero chance we would be doing this if we didn't see the direct deposit hitting our bank accounts. However, on a day to day basis, getting to know new people can be the most rewarding part of the job.

I recently got a chance to sit down and talk to a Philadelphia area driver named Valery who had just been driving for about two months but was already full of stories.

Valery drives on the south side of Philly and often finds herself with college-age passengers that are more than willing to open up, especially on a longer ride. One rider, in particular, was having a stressful day and Valery lent him her ear.

"We're kind of like bartenders." says Valery, "He was stressed about balancing classes and working and I just provided an ear."

After cathartic ride where Valery just listened and provided a few words of wisdom, she received her biggest tip to date, $20, and a hug. Valery says the tip was great, but the hug was what made her day. "I'm sure I'll get lots of tips, but it's not every day you can make a real impact on peoples lives."

Now, most drivers aren't measuring success by the number of hugs they give throughout the day, but we do appreciate meaningful interactions like these.

So in today's blog post, we're going to look at a few ways that drivers can have meaningful interactions with their customers that can lead to hugs, and maybe even a few tips!

 Check their body language

Right after you confirm the identity of your passenger, take a few seconds to read their body language.

Is your passenger on their phone? Do they have headphones in? Do they look frantic? Try your best to understand the state of the passenger so you know how to move the conversation forward.

If the passenger looks a bit frantic like they may be in a rush, go ahead and ask them if they are in a hurry and assure them that you'll do your best to safely get them to their destination as quickly as possible.

Gauge their willingness to chat with small talk

Regardless of the passenger's body language, everyone isn't up for a conversation and you don't need to try and force one.

We’ve all been in the situation where we’re forced into a conversation we do not want to have. Think about the last party you went to that had people you don’t know. Even if you were invited by your friends, there was a chance that you’d end up stuck in a conversation that you didn’t want to have. It sucked, didn’t it?

Now, imagine that you’re stuck in a mid-sized sedan with a well-intentioned stranger who is trying a little too hard to force chit-chat. On top of that, you’re stuck in this car for longer than you expected because of traffic.

Don’t put anyone in that situation who doesn’t want to be in that situation. You should never feel like you absolutely need to break the ice.

Along the same lines, be ready with basic small talk responses if the customer reacts positively to your comments. Knowing how to really engage in small talk is paramount if you’re pushing for that extra tip, but can also help to increase your positive reviews.

Here are a few topics that are always great:

• Talking about the weather is always a great way to break the ice
• What's going on with the local sports team? If your passenger looks like they are into sports (Have a sports shirt, jersey, or hat) then talking sports is a great way to connect
• Does your passenger look like a tourist? Give them some information about the city. Let them know of great places to eat, drink, or have a good time
• Speaking of places to have a good time, if you're a Gridwise user you can let your passengers know of any events that you think are cool around the city by checking the event feed

Is your passenger looking for fun? Use Gridwise to let them know what's going on around town!

Don’t be afraid to sit in silence

Silence is golden, or so they say. It may seem like a simple concept, but it can be stressful! Sitting in traffic with only horns and engines sounding in the background can be unnerving for sure. Don’t sweat it too much, though! Remember: they requested an Uber to get from point A to point B.

Tell us more about the rider interaction strategies you take when talking to customers in the comments section below!

During a recent trip to Chicago, I had the opportunity to chat with a few drivers about their experiences with Uber Pool, and they were interesting, to say the least.

You see, when Uber Pool and Lyft Line were first made available, many passengers choose to use these services without fully understanding exactly what they were.

So when they found out that they were not headed to their destination, but were actually going to pick up another passenger, riders reacted a bit like this:

One driver, we spoke with told a tale of a passenger that furiously yelled at the driver when they found out they were not getting dropped off first, and just became more infuriated with this driver after he explained that this was an Uber Pool ride and the order of dropoffs was out of his control.

After finally dropping this passenger off, the driver was notified of not just a 1-star rating, but the passenger reported them for being unprofessional!

If you're a driver then you know this was a common occurrence when Uber Pool was first released. So many drivers are a bit apprehensive about Pool Express, how it will be received by passengers, and how it will affect their pay.

We took a deep dive into Uber Pool Express and in this blog post, we're going to take a look at what Pool Express is, who can use it, and how it's resonating with riders and drivers alike.

How does Pool Express Work?

Uber Pool Express works very much like Uber Pool. Instead of driving one party, you will be matched with multiple parties that are headed more or less toward the same area.

Uber's app will automatically match you with parties and decides who will be dropped off first, second, etc.

The difference between Pool and Express Pool is that Express isn't a door to door service. There is a set location that is likely a few blocks away from your passenger's original location. This means they will need to do a bit of walking to come to you, and you will just be dropping them off at a designated location.

Uber claims that "With Express POOL, you'll earn the new flat fare for every added pickup stop, in addition to your usual POOL rates."

Uber Pool isn't available everywhere yet. The service has been available in San Francisco and Boston since last year and has just been released to Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, San Diego, and Denver, with many more cities on the way.

So if you're in a large city, you should plan on needing to deal with Pool Express eventually. Though, you can, of course, opt out of Pool Express.

What do Passengers and Drivers think about Pool Express?

For rideshare drivers, it's important to stay on top of consumer sentiment for the services we provide. When someone is getting in your car, you want to know what their likely attitude is going to be.

For Pool Express, that sentiment has been mixed with the majority of people asking, is this just a bus service?

Many wondered whether it made sense to take the time to walk to the stop:

While some were optimistic for the future:

Drivers, on the other hand, are more concerned:

Many drivers just want Uber to ensure passengers know what they're are getting into:

What are the pros and cons for drivers?

While the sentiment is mixed, there are a few clear pros and cons for drivers.

Pros:

More trips: Yes, Pool Express would offer shorter rides that would not pay as much as a normal UberX but drivers will almost certainly get more overall pings

Easier to hit incentives: If you're going for a bonus, hitting your ride quota will be easier if you are getting more pings with Pool Express

More overall demand: Many have speculated that Uber's entire Pool service is intended to attract passengers that would otherwise not use Uber at all and stick to other Transportation Network Company's (TNCs). If this is true, that means more overall demand for drivers. Learn about what top rideshare services drivers are using.

No door to door: It can be a pain to search for passengers and find their exact drop off location, so not having to do that will certainly save drivers time

Cons:

The cons around Pool Express revolve around a number of uncertainties and issues that drivers will likely face at one point or another.

Will passengers know what they are getting into?: The big problem with Uber Pool, in the beginning, was that passengers didn't know what they were getting into. Many drivers ended up with angry passengers that were in a hurry. Uber must properly educate passengers.

Will passengers be on time?: If Express Pool is intended to save drivers time, then passengers must be on time. Will, passengers, end up making drivers wait even longer because they need to walk to their destination?

How will this affect overall pay?: Pay is a huge uncertainty right now and Uber has given little guidance about how Express Pool's pay will actually be structured.

What does this mean for UberX or UberBlack even?: Does this mean drivers will see even fewer UberX rides? Will this mean UberBlack will almost completely be eliminated?

How should drivers approach pool?

There are quite a few uncertainties around Express Pool for drivers right now, so the best thing to do is to test the service for yourself and monitor your metrics carefully.

I would suggest taking a few days where you focus completely on Pool. Track your mileage, trips per hour, and overall profitability and compare it to when you are not driving pool.

Track your metrics with Gridwise!!!

After a few days, you'll be able to see exactly how profitable the new service can be for you.

Talk to passengers

When you get a Pool Express ride, make sure that your passenger knows that they are in a Pool Express and knows what it entails before you set off.

That means confirm their name as usual, ask them if they know if they are taking a Pool Express, and let them know that you'll be picking up other passengers and dropping them off a few blocks from their location.

Don't be swayed to go door-to-door

Inevitably you'll have passengers that call you and ask you to pick them up at a different location. Don't do it, stay stern and disciplined.

This goes for drop-offs as well. As long as the dropoff location is safe, ONLY drop passengers off at the drop-off point. If they complain, make sure they know that you are not allowed to drop Pool Express passengers off anywhere but at that exact location.

Use it to hit your weekly incentive

The very best use case for drivers with Pool and Pool Express will likely be for hitting your incentives. With more passengers using Pool, a smaller pool of drivers doing Pool Express, and shorter trips, you'll receive more pings more often which will help you hit your bonus.

Only Time Will Tell

Right now, Pool Express is an uncertainty for drivers. We'll be talking to drivers and analyzing how Pool Express is affecting demand over the coming months and will be reporting best practices back to you.

In the meantime, test the service and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Uber has not had the strongest PR year, especially when it comes to women’s rights. The company has been embroidered in controversy and legal suits that ultimately helped dethrone Travis Kalanick from the Uber throne.

So when I heard that the company had invested in a Stanford led study to analyze the gender pay gap in the rideshare market, I braced myself for the worst.

What Stanford found was actually, not as egregious as one would have thought. The study did find that women are on average paid 7% less than men, but that number is considerably less than the average of 12% across all jobs in America.

You can attribute these above average gender pay figures to a market that TNC’s like Uber, Lyft, Via, and Juno tightly control. Drivers are of course paid a fare according to a completely fixed and non-negotiable formula that is consistent across a particular city. In the rideshare market, there are also significantly fewer instances of discrimination than in the broader job ecosystem.

In the rideshare market, discrimination can only come in the form of rider cancellations, and only about 2.1% of the gender pay gap is a result of passenger cancellations.

So the question then turns from, what is the pay gap, to what is causing the pay gap?

What is causing the gender pay gap?

One of the biggest reasons for the gender pay gap can be summed up in the table below:

Women drive for far shorter amounts of time than men.

Driver attribution has been a problem for rideshare companies since their inception. Only about 68.5% of all drivers continue to drive for these rideshare companies for more than six months. However, as you can see in Table #1, 76.5% of women churn out in less than 6-months while 65% of men churn out in less than 6-months.

This disparity in driver attribution is a huge piece of the gender pay gap in the rideshare market.

Why?

Because the women drivers on the road today are on average less experienced than male drivers.

This is extremely important because as we know, when a driver becomes more seasoned, they become better drivers. It takes time to learn where the hotspots are in a city, when to drive those hotspots, and how to engage with passengers to maximize earnings. In fact, this Stanford study found that a driver with 2,500 hours of driving experience is likely to make $3 per hour more than a driver with no experience.

Figure 4:

Women also on average drive less hours per week and take less trips per week than male drivers. On the surface, this doesn’t appear to be something that would decrease hourly earnings, in fact, drivers that work fewer hours tend to have higher hourly incomes because they can cherry pick when they drive. However, when we analyze the gender pay gap we can see that this actually just further decreases the amount of experience a women can get behind the wheel. As we see in Figure #4 above, less hours behind the wheel results in a decrease in effectiveness and hourly pay.

Men were more likely to drive in areas and during times in which pay is higher

Another huge reason for the pay gap is when and where women choose to drive.

Understanding where and when to drive is a skill that comes with experience, however, if you are unable to work at certain times and in certain locations than no matter how experienced you become, you won’t reap those benefits.

We are most likely seeing this with women that avoid driving at lucrative times like late-nights when you’re almost guaranteed to find intoxicated passengers. While TNC’s are generally very safe for drivers, many women are not comfortable driving intoxicated strangers in their vehicles.

Another possible time some women may be missing out on is the morning and afternoon rush. Single mothers, or mothers that take on the responsibility of getting their kids to and from school, will be unable to work the early mornings or mid-afternoons that tend to see frequent surges and steady demand for rides.

It should be noted that we see a significant amount of men that also are unable to drive during these early mornings and late afternoons.

Men drive 2.2% faster than women working for Uber.

The final reason for the gender pay gap surprisingly is all about driving speed.

Men tend to be faster drivers on average than women. This is a well documented fact that you can see by comparing how women and men pay insurance. Not only will men drive faster, but men also tend to take greater risks when out on the road.

This more aggressive driving style can actually be an asset for men because as we know, drivers are paid more by the mile than the minute. So if you can complete trips faster and pack more trips into an hour, then you’ll likely see a greater amount of profits.

How can the pay gap be tightened?

The gender pay gap among rideshare drivers is not huge, but we would like there to be no gap at all. So it’s important to think about how the pay gap can be tightened. We see three main possibilities:

1. Shorten the skill ramp up time
2. Help women drivers move faster by avoiding traffic
3. Help women drivers find profitable routes whenever they drive

Shorten the ramp up time.

The study shows that the average rideshare driver, whether they are a man or a women, learns when and where to drive at the same pace. After about 1,500 rides, your wait times will decrease about 5% - 10% which means your income will start to increase. Drivers can decrease that ramp up time by knowing when and where to drive from the onset of their driving careers so they are getting more trips sooner.

Women can start to rapidly decrease their wait time by quickly understanding when to drive airports.

Many drivers, men and women alike, will spend a significant amount of time waiting in the queue at a airport. Instead of wasting time in a line that is too long, women can check and see how many drivers are in a airport queue before they set off.

This can quickly result in a decrease in overall wait time and increase in the number of trips given per hour.

Help drivers move faster by avoiding traffic

A surprising 48% of the gender pay gap was attributed to driving speed. However, the study did not find that drivers start to drive faster as they become more seasoned.

This is likely because drivers find that more lucrative areas tend to be more congested. While this can be true, it isn’t always.

By using Gridwise traffic alerts in conjunction with the events feed, drivers can better understand where they could be driving that will help them avoid traffic instead of run right into it.

By avoiding heavy traffic while still driving high demand areas, women drivers can chip away at the speed advantage men appear to have.

Help drivers find profitable routes to drive no matter what time they are driving

Being able to find profitable rides whenever you drive is key for any rideshare driver. While there are certainly times and places that are undoubtedly more lucrative, a savvy driver can find great routes whenever he or she drivers.

Drivers can of course use Gridwise’s event feed to pick and choose when they want to drive and where they want to drive. For instance, if we can see that a college basketball game is starting at 5:00 pm and ending at 8:00 pm on a Tuesday, we can reasonably position ourselves in a residential area where college students tend to live in order to be in position for rides to the event venue.

We can then check out Gridwise’s airport graph to see if there is a surge at the airport. If there is a surge of departures airport, we can set a geo-filter to a hotel, and find a ride that takes us near hotels where business people or tourist will be leaving to catch their flights.

From there, we can get a passenger from a hotel that is heading to an airport, and then decide if there is enough airport demand to justify waiting for a ride at the airport by checking the airport graphs.

Otherwise, we can just head back toward where the original game was being played and pick up passengers headed home.

This is possible even on a slow Tuesday if you know what’s going on around you in your city.

Is it a big deal?

Uber’s gender pay gap is not huge, and it is not discriminatory in nature according to Stanford’s research, however, we can always do better. At Gridwise, we hope to help alleviate this gap by giving all drivers the tools they need to be successful.