Philadelphia journalist went undercover as an Uber driver — here's how much she made

[Prism]

66. I'm an Uber driver. I think it's great.

Let's get some caveats out of the way:

I have a full time job with decent income and good benefits. I do Uber/Lyft for extra discretionary income - gadgets, travel, eating out, etc. Just this week I bought a new Macbook Pro with purely Uber money. Many of the drivers I know are doing it for similar reasons, or using it to pay an unexpected expense/bill or just to give themselves a bit of breathing room from living paycheck-to-paycheck.

What Uber is not is a decent full-time job.

Here's the thing. I only drive on weekends, during peak, mainly trading in the bar crowd. That is solid money. During various events, I can easily net $50/hr. Sometimes more during crazy events (World Series, Outlands, etc.) That's worth it to me. Puttering around all day getting one or two rides an hour off-peak? Not worth it in the slightest, and I will not do it.

It's also important where this is happening. I live in the Bay Area. San Francisco is compact as hell. I can get ride after ride after ride on a busy weekend, make a nice bit of cash, and still only put 80-100 miles on my car, using a half tank of gas. If you're working an area with far flung neighborhoods and suburbs, it's a bit different. You may have long distances to drive in order to get to your fare.

Ultimately, Uber is what you make it. The smarter you drive, the more money you make. I have a problem with the company touting these high incomes for full-time drivers. What they're not mentioning is these full time drivers are probably doing rush hour runs, bar/restaurant rushes, and heavy weekend cycles. They're not working 9-5 and making that kind of money. At all.

I like driving. I like the passengers. I've met all kinds of people I otherwise wouldn't have and made a lot of connections all around the city. I know the deal with Uber upfront, agreed to it, and get along just fine. Some drivers don't like it. I've seen some awesome online raging from drivers. I can't speak for them.

For what it is, I'm happy with it.