Rockville, Md.— Uber made headlines this week with grossly misleading statements about how much their UberX drivers can make. The ‘Who’s Driving You?’ campaign breaks it down here:
- * Uber claims the median income for an UberX driver in San Francisco is $74,000. That assumes the driver works “at least” 40 hours a week. Most drivers work closer to 60 hours per week.
- * A typical taxi driver puts 50,000 miles a year on the vehicle. Using the government rate of 56 cents per mile to reimburse for mileage, gas, maintenance, and wear and tear on a car, those 50,000 miles a year will cost an UberX driver $28,000.
- * In addition, there is insurance. If UberX drivers want to avoid losing their life savings in an accident, they need to get primary commercial automobile liability insurance coverage. It will cost around $5,000 per year more than regular car insurance.
- * Taxicab drivers also incur a variety of other costs such as tolls, parking, carwashes, etc., which account for another $3,000 per year.
The numbers break down to approximately $36,000 less per year than Uber’s claims of $74,000 per year. To extrapolate the numbers further: At 60 hours per week for 50 weeks, that equates to $12.67 per hour; 40 hours per week equates to $19.00 per hour with no benefits at all.
“We know where this road ends,” said Dave Sutton, spokesperson for the ‘Who’s Driving You?’ campaign. “It ends with Uber getting rich without taking any responsibility, while its drivers wreck their cars and accept all the risk. Uber’s like a casino: The house always wins.”
Visit whosdrivingyou.org for more information.
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