Nothing drives a crowd, and passenger demand, like a big event.
“Football games, concerts, festivals, they all drive a crowd,” said Josh, a Chicago based rideshare driver “And with that crowd comes big-time earnings opportunities for us drivers.”
Josh is a Gridwiser based in Chicago that fancies himself as the event driving guru. He’s always on top of football games, concerts, and other events that drive passenger demand.
“I’m not an airport guy, so I’m all about the events,” said Josh “You just have to know what’s going on and when.”
Over the past few weeks we’ve been going back and forth with Josh talking event strategies, and he had some great ideas on how drivers can be doing more to maximize their revenue. We wanted to share his insights with the community, so in today’s blog post we’re going to cover the 4 strategies every driver should be using to maximize their earnings at events.
We’ll Cover:
- If targeting events is a good strategy for you
- How to always know what’s going on in your city
- How to plan your day around events
- What to bring in your car when targeting airports
- How to find and pick up your passengers at events
Let’s dig in!
Should you be targeting events?
Not every rideshare driving strategy works for everyone, and it’s up to each individual driver to understand if a strategy will be successful for their unique situation.
That being said, you’d be hard pressed to find a driver that wouldn’t benefit from adding some level of event strategy into their driving strategy. That’s because no matter what time you drive, there are going to be events that you should keep an eye on.
However, there are a few types of drivers that will benefit more from adding events into their strategy.
People that benefit the most from an event-based driving strategy include:
- Drivers with kids which make it difficult to drive rush hour or late nights
- Suburban drivers that need to make the most of their city trips
- Part-time drivers that work during rush hours
- Any driver that commonly works weeknight evenings
However, even if you don’t match the above description you should still consider adding events into your rideshare driving strategy.
Always know what’s going on in your city
“Driving events is all about knowing what’s going on in your city,” said Josh, our resident event driving expert “Once you know what’s going, then things get a lot easier.”
Josh currently lives in Chicago and drives full-time every day, so during those slow hours during weekday afternoons, he has to know what’s going on around his city.
“I used to check a few different websites and try to get intel from passengers. The problem with that is that you don’t know how accurate this makeshift list is,” said Josh.
Josh would try to check out different event websites and talk to drivers to build his own list of events, which was a time consuming and inaccurate method.
But now Josh checks Gridwise everyday to understand what events are going on in his city and plan his day.
Gridwise gives drivers a single place to understand all of the significant events going on in your city and lets drivers understand how many people are attending the event.
This makes it incredibly easy to always know what’s going on in your city.
Plan your day around events
Every rideshare driver should be planning out their day instead of just driving aimlessly. This is even more important for event drivers since you want to make sure that you’re not too far away from the events you want to focus on when they are ending.
After Josh knows what events he wants to focus on, he simply saves them using Gridwise.
He then adds a reminder so that he doesn’t forget about the event.
Now that he has the schedule of events that he knows he wants to focus on, he can plan to drive rush hours or focus on airports and he’ll get an alert when it’s time to focus on an event.
“Once I get a alert, I just turn on my destinate filter so I can pick up a ride heading toward the event. This almost always gives me a few easy trips,” said Josh.
Come prepared when driving events
When you’re driving an event, you want to make sure that you’re ready for the long haul. So stock up on the essentials:
- Fill up your gas tank
- Ensure you have your phone charger
- Bring a phone charger for your passengers. It’s a great way to drive tips
- Snacks and water if that’s something that you bring
- Barf bag and cleaning supplies… events sometimes bring out intoxicated individuals so be prepared
- Water, Gatorade, and snacks for yourself
Also, don’t forget to prepare for the weather! If it’s cold, bring gloves, hot packs, and maybe some hot coffee. If it’s warm then dress appropriately and maybe bring an extra shirt just in case you get sweaty.
Pick up passengers the smart way
Events can get incredibly busy, so it’s usually a bad idea to drive directly into the fray. That’s a great way to lose time in traffic. Instead, make sure that if there are designated areas for rideshare drivers to pick up passengers. If you’re driving at a large venue there is a good chance that there is.
If so, send your passenger a text to that politely reminds them where the passenger pick up area is. That way there is no confusion about where to go.
On the other hand, if there is no designated pick up space, try to text your passenger to let them know you’re on your way and ask them to confirm their location. If they can use landmarks to tell you where they are that will also eliminate confusion.
What’s your event strategy?
That’s Josh’s event strategy! He knows where he is going, plans his day, comes prepared, and picks up passengers the smart way. But what about you? What’s your event driving strategy.
Let us know in the comments below!
