Why even accept the ride?
If rides to and from airports are long, time-consuming and sometimes require you to sit in annoying traffic, then why do drivers even bother taking them? Well, for one, the rides you accept will be relatively pricey. Each drive you make is pricier than the average fare. With Uber and Lyft, fares from the airport to downtown Pittsburgh vary between $26-$35. With the premium options offered by these two transportation networking companies (TNCs), a typical driver could earn as much as $80 for the same trip! And depending on the amount of traffic between a passenger’s destination and the airport, the drive could be as short as 25 minutes long. That’s both extra money earned and car mileage saved compared with in-city pings!
Demand for rides (and consequently fares) are high for airport rides. Thus, with the typical Uber driver averaging $15 per hour and the typical Lyft driver averaging $11 per hour, rideshare drivers across platforms might be inclined to stick to the higher guarantees.
Pittsburgh International Airport
It can be tough driving into or out of Pittsburgh. This is especially true during the morning and evening rush hours, but inconvenient roadblocks and frequent bridge reconstruction could make any time traffic time. Even if you grew up in the area and already have a good understanding of what the traffic is like, it can be stressful at times to be on the road.
Having to take a trip to the airport on top of all that is not at all ideal. Airport rideshare drivers navigate to and from the airport during the good times and the bad times. You can be the type of driver who avoids these trips entirely – which is completely understandable. If you need to average more than one trip per hour, then driving to and from the airport shouldn’t be your primary focus.There are, however, always going to be people who need to catch a ride to and from Pittsburgh International during peak rush hours. For those drivers who are looking for fares to and from the airport , understanding airport traffic patterns is crucial to your driver strategy.
Thanks to Gridwise, drivers now have access to airport traffic information that can help you increase your workflow efficiency Gridwise provides relevant airport arrival and departure information to help you identify the peaks of demand for fares to and from the airport.
Airport Demand
A lot of the airport driving experience is wasted time, both on the passenger side and the driver side. You drive to
the airport terminal, believing that you’ll catch at least one of the recently arriving passengers. As it turns out, there are no flights arriving when you get to the terminal because of traffic on the runway. The airport queue for Uber drivers is 45 minutes, and the one for Lyft cars is even higher at 70 minutes. You then just wait around, wishing that you knew all of this information sooner.
With the Gridwise mobile app, being prepared and methodical with your airport driving is now easier than ever. Drivers can now see real-time information on rider demand at the Pittsburgh International Airport.
Gridwise brings you the ability to monitor airport arrivals and departures. The airport supply & demand feature shows the arrival and departure peaks, how long you’d have to wait until the next one, and the number of passengers that are in a particular wave of arrivals and departures. This is obviously great for picking up passengers because you’ll know when the largest amount of people are arriving at the terminal. Having departure information at your fingertips can be great for locations within the city or immediately surrounding the city, such as hotels and the suburbs.
So instead of spending time idling at the airport, you could instead be making better use of your time by fulfilling rides across the city and returning to the airport when the app notifies you of a lower driver supply at the airport.
It’s not driving more, it’s driving smarter.
Use road reporting to maximize your airport strategy
Road Reports from Gridwise are great for supplementing your airport driving strategy. You can now have real-time information on road conditions around Pittsburgh, as congestion headaches like construction zones, pop-up accidents are readily posted to better inform you of when and where to drive around the city. This information is valuable to airport drivers as it provides insights into the best time periods of day to drive to avoid as much road traffic congestion as possible. In addition, you could make micro-adjustments to your day’s drive depending on what road conditions are like!
Try out Gridwise’s Airport Demand feature today and watch your earnings stack up!
