There are a few days every year that are special for rideshare drivers.
The best holiday earnings for ride share drivers are New Years Eve, St. Patrick’s Day, Black Friday, Christmas Day and Halloween are days where rideshare drivers can put up numbers that are unbelievable. We’re talking $100 an hour – unbelievable.
Since Halloween is right around the corner, we wanted to find out exactly how much more rideshare drivers were making during a Holiday like Halloween, so we checked out our anonymized data from last year and compared earnings during the week of Halloween to earnings two weeks before and two weeks after. The results are clear:
Drivers are earning significantly more money during the week of Halloween than the weeks right before and after.
This is great to know, but what’s really going to help is understanding how these drivers are boosting their hourly earnings so significantly. We talked to a few veteran drivers who have crushed their fair share of Halloweens to find out how they plan to tackle the spookiest holiday this year and we’re sharing the five strategies that we believe are going to rule Halloween 2018.
Let’s dig in!
Strategy #1: Forget about the surge
The surge isn’t dead… yet. However, in many markets like Chicago, D.C., Charlotte, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, it isn’t what it used to be. “It’s time to start getting used to life after surge,” says Jason, a Chicago-area rideshare driver. “Say goodbye to 5.2x surges and $200 unicorn rides.”
Every market is different, but if you’re in a city that has implemented flat-rate surge pricing that caps your surge fee at a certain dollar amount, you need to forget about the idea of making a ton of money on surges. That is not to say you won’t see any surges at all, but instead of hoping for and chasing surges, you need to build your strategy around finding areas with the most passenger demand and the least driver supply.
Strategy #2: Consider suburban areas
If you’re looking for a strategy that is going to position you near high passenger demand with relatively few drivers, you need to consider the suburbs. In the downtown or popular going out areas of your city, there is always plenty of demand on Friday and Saturday night. During Halloween weekend there will be more demand, but there will also be more drivers on the road. With more drivers on the road comes more traffic.
By focusing on the popular Friday and Saturday night areas you would normally frequent, you’re putting yourself in a position to get the volume of rides you normally see while sitting in traffic. This may have been more or less ok in the past because of lucrative surge pricing, but if you’re in a city with a capped flat-rate, this might not be an attractive option any longer.
Come Friday and Saturday night, consider moving out into the suburbs, which will still see an increase in overall demand, but in less dense areas with fewer drivers. This means you’ll stay busy without having to deal with traffic; and as we all know, drivers get paid more by the mile than by the minute. Rack up the most miles in the least amount of time in the suburbs.
Also, don’t forget to drive for multiple TNC’s whenever possible, so you can ensure that you are minimizing your downtime.
Strategy #3: Use destination filters to reposition yourself
If you use the strategy above to tackle the suburbs, you may find yourself taking passengers who are traveling from the suburbs, downtown. This should make for a nice long fare, but you may find yourself dangerously close to traffic in the traditionally popular areas of your city. Use your destination filter to find passengers heading back out to suburban areas.
If you are starting your night in the suburbs and want to get downtown at some point, just be sure to use your destination filter and you’ll likely catch a party goer looking for a ride into the city.
Strategy #4: Focus on Halloween Day
When Halloween falls on a weekday, many drivers assume that most of their money is going to be made on the weekend prior. However, our data shows that Halloween day is actually when drivers see the biggest uptick in their overall earnings. That’s because while there are more passengers on the road, the majority of those passengers would already be out, even if it wasn’t Halloween. People don’t usually hangout at bars on Tuesday or Wednesdays night, which Halloween happens to fall on this year.
So if possible, invest your time in going out on Halloween day, as that might be your most profitable Wednesday of the year.
Strategy #5: Have a little fun
Don’t forget that Halloween is supposed to be fun… and it doesn’t hurt that passengers tend to tip a little more to drivers that buy into the holiday. Don’t be afraid to deck out your car, wear a costume or give out a little candy.
Check out what drivers have done on Halloween in the past.
Now we want to hear from you! What’s your Halloween driving strategy? Let us know in the comments below.
