Many Uber drivers judge their performance in the new year based on milestones. How much do they earn in the first week of January? How much do they earn in the first month? What is their hourly rate? How much do they make per trip?
They also look for new answers. Every savvy gig driver wants to know how to make more money on Uber. The first thing you can do is download the Gridwise app. We’ll discuss it later, but you should do it now. You can also check out a recent Gridwise blog post, How Much Do Uber Drivers Make in 2023?
This piece provides you with the most up-to-date figures on how much does Uber pay.
Here's what we cover:
How much does Uber pay?
We have discussed previously that in 2023 Uber drivers experienced a decrease in pay overall. This graph backs it up. There are many reasons this decrease happened, but there are two that stand out.
BusinessInsider.com reported that the total number of Uber drivers ballooned to more than 5 million in 2022, an increase of 31%. This increase in drivers translates into two things:
- a smaller piece of the pie. More drivers are competing for the same passengers.
- a decrease in average earnings. Newer Uber drivers earn less owing to the time it takes to learn the strategies and techniques used by more experienced drivers.
As a result, by Q3 2023 Uber driver earnings dropped more than $100 per week from Q1 2022. Keep in mind that these numbers represent a combination of the earnings of part-time and full-time drivers.
How to make more money on Uber
But despite this earnings decrease, some Uber drivers make much more. How do they make more money on Uber? They’ve developed strategies and tactics that allow them to find the most profitable rides. They’ve also learned the secrets to 5-star service that results in generous tips.
What are these tactics? Let’s look at some of the most popular and profitable secrets for how to make more money on Uber.
Always have a passenger
An empty car makes no money. You should always plan to have a passenger in the back seat. Take the example of many full-time Uber drivers who go into the city on weekdays and work the profitable morning rush hour. They get up early with the goal of catching an airport ride that pays their way into the metro area. From there, a few runs to area hotels, and then another airport pickup takes them into the downtown area. Repeating this routine every morning will help you reach the $100 mark on your Uber app as early as possible. Use the Gridwise When to Drive feature to increase your chances of always having a passenger
Learn how to work the surges
When passenger demand exceeds the number of Uber drivers available, Uber implements surge pricing. Uber driver fees increase by a multiplier. Surges are represented on your Uber app by a heat overlay, starting with orange and getting darker as the demand intensifies. The greater the demand, the darker the cloud and the greater the multiplier. If you’ve been an Uber driver for any length of time, you learn to predict when and where the surges will happen. Popular surge times are morning and evening rush hours, when the bars close at night, and special events. You can often double your fare during a surge, and sometimes more.
Don’t chase surges
Surges are transitory. As soon as inexperienced Uber drivers see the orange and red clouds gathering on the app screen, they head for that area. It takes only a few minutes for the passenger–driver imbalance to correct itself, and the surge, and the price increases that came with it, disappear.
A better tactic is to note where and when you see surges and position yourself to take advantage of them when they happen. Ideally, when you turn on your app, you want to be right in the middle of a red cloud. Read this Gridwise article about chasing surges. It’s dated, and some of the things have changed, but the overall philosophy remains sound.
Drive during the busy hours
Busy times vary, depending on the region, but ride demand is often the greatest during morning and evening rush hours, Friday and Saturday evenings, and during events. If your region has a theater and performing arts district, know when performances are letting out. Those weekend matinee shows can be ride generators. The same goes for sporting events and concerts. Surges are most likely to happen during these busy periods.
The Gridwise app includes two invaluable features, Where to Drive and When to Drive, which can give you directions to spots where there are plenty of rides. You can see these features when you download the Gridwise app now for free.
Look at the numbers
More than 500,000 gig drivers have downloaded the Gridwise app. In addition to the invaluable services featured on the app, Gridwise aggregates and anonymizes the numbers to show what drivers are earning by the hour, by the trip, by the week, and by the month. Some drivers go as far as downloading the files into an Excel spreadsheet for better analysis. They can see how many hours they worked and how many miles they drove. By comparing your numbers to those on Gridwise, you can see when you’re ahead of the curve.
Be choosy about the rides you take
There is a strategy among Uber drivers in which they concentrate on quality rides over quantity. This is much easier now that Uber has gone to up-front fares, showing drivers how much they will earn on a specific ride and their destination. Armed with that knowledge, drivers often pass on a ride when the destination takes them someplace where, when they drop off their passenger, they know from previous experience they will have to drive some distance before they get another ride. This strategy has also become more popular now that Uber (and Lyft as well) have relaxed their ride acceptance requirements.
Driver education opportunities
The internet is full of opportunities for Uber drivers to learn about how to make more money. The Gridwise blog is a source of driver tricks and tactics, gleaned from the top Uber drivers. There is lots of information out there. Pick the best ideas, the ones most applicable to your market and driving style, and start earning more money.
Try Uber Eats
One of the nice things about being an Uber driver is that you automatically qualify as a driver for Uber Eats. There are time slots when Uber Eats might earn more than driving Uber rideshare. It’s worth a try to see if your market is one of those areas. Discover the interesting possibilities in this recent Gridwise blog post, How to Make $1000 a Week with Uber Eats.
Learn to multi-app
There are many drivers that work more than one platform at a time, a practice referred to as multi-apping. This allows you to get rides from Uber and Lyft. Many drivers also venture into food delivery. Check out a recent Gridwise blog post, The Art of Multi-apping: How-Tos and Strategies for Gig Drivers.
Investigate the other gig platforms
Your goal is to maximize your time behind the wheel. It doesn’t make sense to have the Uber platform open when you could make more money working on Amazon Flex (How to Make $1,000 a Week with Amazon Flex) or Roadie (The Ultimate Guide to Being a Roadie Driver).
Pay attention to mileage and expenses
The miles you put on your car are the single biggest source of tax write-off. The standard mileage deduction allowed by the IRS (as of 2023) is 65.5 cents per mile. If you put 30,000 miles a year on your car as a full-time Uber driver (not an unrealistic number), that translates to a tax deduction of $19,650! Any supplies you buy—water, gum, a flashlight—are tax deductible, too. The Gridwise app includes the best mileage tracker for Uber drivers and also an expense tracker. These tools will save you lots of money and lots of time when you do your taxes.
Work those tips
Tips as an Uber driver can be as much as 11% to 14% of your income, according to Gridwise Analytics, so it’s always good practice to do the things that compel your passengers to give a little extra. Here is a quick list of the things drivers can do to earn tips.
- Keep your car clean, inside and out. Passengers may not comment on your shiny car, but they will take note of those empty water bottles rolling around the floorboard.
- Dress nicely. It shows you respect your passengers.
- Open and close car doors for your passengers whenever possible.
- Have a great selection of music. Jazz and big band are always appreciated, even by the young kids.
- Carry charging cords for both iPhone and Android phones. Carry a few extra, too, as they have a habit of growing legs and walking off.
- Have a supply of gum and breath mints on hand.
- Have bottles of water available.
- Although you will seldom get a request, when someone needs a toothpick, they are forever grateful. The ones individually wrapped in cellophane are the best.
- If you know the area where you’re driving, have the names of a couple of good restaurants at the ready.
- Be a good conversationalist. HINT: People like it when someone listens to them.
- If it’s after sunset and you’re a male driver, let women passengers know that you’ll watch them get safely inside. This almost always gets a tip.
There’s a lot more you can do to earn tips, but most of it comes down to common sense and being a nice person. For more detail on the suggestions mentioned here, read this recent Gridwise blog post, 12 Ways Rideshare Drivers Can Earn More Tips.
How can Uber drivers use Gridwise to earn more?
One of the most important tips is to download the free Gridwise app and link it to all your gig-driving platforms. The Gridwise app tracks your earnings, allowing you to see trends and patterns that can pay off with more earnings. Gridwise also has the latest information on business at the airports, concerts, and other special events.
Ready to take your gig work to the next level?
Download Gridwise, the app that helps you track your expenses and maximize your earnings
Check out these Gridwise articles to learn more about Uber driver earnings:
