The unions actually did a good job in one respect because with every job given to an Uber driver, they get their well-earned holiday pay. Or so it seems, but Uber has got round this by offering a low fare and then including an extra such as 38p or so which then brings the fare up to what is still very much lower than what would be the standard fare here in the city. But Uber can now boast that all drivers have holiday pay!
Just to clarify this so it’s not confusing: if the metered rate is say £10 in local cab, whether off the path or booked through one of the two main operators (in this example exactly the same rate of fare is charged on the meter) and Uber was quoting pretty much the same price of £10, the local cab driver would get the full fare with the Uber driver getting something like £6, if that.
Up to about five years ago we had what was known as the ‘Fares Formula’ which took into account various factors of running a taxi and importantly the average wage down here in the south. That was dropped as it started to get complicated and so we as a trade apply via our local Trade Forum for revisions on an annual basis which is worked out via the rate of inflation.
I’M NOT SYMPATHETIC
The two main companies here have a weekly subscription rate per car, not per driver, so you can have as many drivers on a car that you want and you still pay the same flat rate. Of course, that means a commitment compared to paying commission as you go. Which leads me onto the next Uber driver quote:
“We need to join the local companies!”
Woh! Hold on a second! As out-of-town drivers, you decided to go and get a quick licence elsewhere and come and work in our city out-of-sight and out-of- mind of your respective licensing enforcement (if they actually have such a thing). You decided that Uber was the King of the trade that offered you untold wealth and more importantly stuck two fingers up at the local drivers who passed the local knowledge (3,000 streets). You preferred not to work under the strict local con- ditions of licensing as per our ‘Blue Book’. However, ultimately you conspired with Uber to destroy the local trade, and now some of you want to join the local companies that have had to contend with the attempted takeover by a multi-billion dollar global empire.
PHTM OCTOBER 2024
Do I sound bitter? I suppose I am, in that it’s only through the shear strength and determination that the local companies held strong and still exist, thankfully via the loyalty of their drivers, and indeed customers.
The encouraging thing is that these moans and groans are not just going on locally here. Being the absolute nerd that I am, I’m also on a few Uber driver Facebook groups and the same complaints are being posted there as well. I am realistic though in that I know Uber is popular with users and very trendy, along with the one real advantage that the Uber customer app is international. So, it is not as if Uber drivers are not busy and I have no doubt that drivers still do very well, for the moment.
The trouble is the future of the Uber driver and how that driver is treated. So many times, I have seen crying posts that Uber has blocked a driver as well as drivers being terrified of losing a rating star. With Uber now on the ‘Stack em high and sell em cheap’ route in reality it means that drivers may be busy but are having to chase more jobs for less money. When Uber first started that was the exact vision of the original CEO Travis Kalanick, so Uber has done the full circle which is the only way that it has now turned a profit. But this profit is not from the customers, it’s a profit made by taking more money away from the drivers.
It is quite incredible that we hear the term ‘Modern day slavery’ so is that what Uber has become? The master with slaves working for it?
I did speak with an OOT driver here not so long ago who was now interested in getting a local licence because he knows how Uber treats the drivers (well actually it’s all down to the algorithms and bots). So good for him, and I asked him why doesn’t he leave Uber now and do something else. Of course, the reply was that he had hocked himself up with car finance and cannot afford to leave at the moment.
I have absolutely no doubt that Uber is here to stay, because as I have always stated that for every one driver that leaves there are a hundred potential drivers waiting to come in, and that is mainly down to the ‘Wolverhampton National Private Hire Licensing Centre’ .
I should be really sympathetic, but I am not, which is very much the same way as my colleagues feel here in Brighton & Hove.
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