#17

What it’s like driving an Uber for 24 hours to get a bonus.

This is a little behind the scenes, the experience of an Uber driver trying to hit a weekend bonus. Stay tuned for updates.

The latest Updates on the bottom of the page.

Update: 10pm Thursday, March 17th, 2022

This weekend, Uber offered Syracuse drivers a $410 bonus for 70 trips.

But I may not be able to do it.

First, if you're not sure, yes, 70 trips is a lot. I estimate it to be more than 27 hours of driving and at least 800 miles. I could make it to Key West, Florida, or Denver, Colorado, driving non-stop for 27 hours. And Knoxville, Tennessee, and Springfield, Illinois, are roughly 800 miles from Syracuse. Adding in fuel stops, rest breaks, car charging, and car washes, I'll be out on the road for 30 hours at a minimum.

Second, picking a Quest is risky, and, in fact, there's a real chance my Quest bonus will be $0.

The catch is that I'm only going to be online for 24 hours. I'm driving two 12-hour days, which only comes to about 62.5 trips.

Here's the math. Based on my average the past year, I completed 2.6 trips per hour. To achieve 70 trips, I need to be online for a little more than 27 hours. I don't want to work Sunday. I'm limiting my online time to 12-hours online on Friday and 12-hours on Saturday. 

Uber Quests are like a game where you get all or nothing. They make us drivers pick our Quest, and once it starts, we can't change it. Not meeting your Quest means you get $0. For example, this weekend, there are three quests to choose from:

• Quest 1 - 60 trips for $310 + $100 for 10 more trips

• Quest 2 - 50 trips for $230 + $180 for 20 more trips

• Quest 3 - 40 trips for $165 +$65 for 10 more trips

I signed up for Quest 1. 

My Weekend Challenge: Can I increase my trips per hour from 2.6 to 3.0 to complete 70 trips in 24 hours?

I'm totally game for this. There's a lot of money to be made! I estimate I'll earn more than $1,000 working this weekend. That includes fares, bonuses, surges, other promotions, and even $38.50 in additional fuel reimbursements. Doing some quick math, it's like $38.50 an hour or $80,000 a year. Thank you Uber! 

You might think, "this seems easy; why not take shorter trips?" I agree. But the catch shorter trips will reduce my average per trip from $8.12 to as little as $6.50. Also, I don't want my trip acceptance rate or cancelation rate to drop. Right now, I have a 93% acceptance rate and have a 3% cancelation rate. 

What I think the numbers will be this weekend.

• $1,068 earned

• 850 miles driven

• $490 fares paid

• $410 Quest earned

• 110 passengers

• 90% Acceptance rate

• $73 in tips

• 70 trips completed

• $64 for gas

• $60 in Syracuse location promos

• 55 miles per gallon

• $38 in temporary fuel reimbursements

• $35.60 per hour (before expenses wage)

• 30 total hours out of the house

• 24 online hours

• 14 gallons of gas

• $7.00 per trip

• 5 star rating

• 3% Cancelation rate

Here's how I'll get the bonus by Saturday night.

Friday Schedule

• Online 5am to 9am (4hr)

• Car Wash 9am-10am

• Charge Car and Break 10am-12pm

• Online 12pm-2pm (2hr)

• Charge Car and Break 2pm-4pm

• Online 4pm- (12 hours or midnight)

Saturday Schedule

• Online 7am-10am (3hr)

• Car Wash 10am-11am

• Charge Car and Break 11am-1pm

• Online 1pm-3pm (2hr)

• Charge Car and Break 3pm-5pm

• Online 5pm-12 hours or 70 trips

My usual Uber plan is to avoid unsafe neighborhoods and listen to an audiobook when passengers are in the car. The rest of my plan is as follows:

1. I'll accept every trip in the morning and afternoon unless they're hour-long trips.

2. In the final online session, I'll:

   1. only take 20-minute total trips,

   2. cancel all multi-stop trips, and

   3. turn the app off if I leave the Syracuse $3 zone to drive back to Syracuse University.

A few other things to consider:

1. The college kids will be returning from their Spring Break. I’m not sure if there will be enough of them to keep us busy.

2. Every Uber driver on the planet, or at least in the town, will be out trying to get paid. I’m worried I’ll be sitting around waiting for trips.

3. However, it’s the first warm weekend. Maybe more people will be out.

Update: 8:30 am Friday

I’m not on track to hit the Quest. So far, I’ve completed six trips in 2 hours and 49 minutes, an average of 2.2 trips per hour; at this rate, it will take me 32 hours to complete the 70 trip Quest. The rest of the data is tracking well! My tips, hourly rate, and miles per gallon are better than predicted.

I’m off to the car wash and get some gas. As then I’ll head to the mall to charge the car, walk, and do some client work

Hopefully, I start getting shorter trips this afternoon, or I’ll have to start declining long trips.

Update: 4:30 pm Friday

Things are going better. I’ve completed 17 trips in 6 hours, where I need to be. I haven’t had a surge but the fares have been $.29 better than i estimated. Gas was cheaper, tips are better, and my mpg is higher.
The passengers have been good too! Lots of good people!

Let’s see how the last half of the day goes. This will be long stretch.

Update: 9:45 pm Friday

I’m short of the three trips per hour; I’m at 2.8 right now. But every other metric is fantastic! My tips are great, and my mpg is still at 79.

The city is dead without the students. I spend a lot of time waiting for my next trip. That’s rare. I usually get my next trip while dropping off my current passenger.

Cross your fingers for the final 2 hours. I need nine more trips.

Update: 11:45 pm Friday

Day 1 is complete and I completed the 35 trips! I’m exhausted but feeling good. I think I’m going to make it!

The last few trips were a challenge. I got to 34 trips and I felt like Uber didn’t want me to get 35 before midnight.

One trip came through but when I showed up it looked like I was going to get jumped. It was behind a warehouse. Nope. Cancel!

Then I got offered 2 long trips taking me way away from my home. So I didn’t accept them. Then I got a good trip but it had 4 stops. Nope. Cancel!

But I got my final trip. It was a little sketchy but not too bad. My head was on a swivel and my foot was on the gas ready to punch out of there. It was nothing. Just a normal trip.

My best trip of the day was probably the 26 minute trip way out of the city. He was a good guy and we had a fun conversation about dry wall. And I made $29.53 after he gave me an $8.27 tip.

My worst trip was a nice guy, but he smelled. He was a cook at a chain restaurant. I couldn’t get the smell out of my car. I made $7.95 but spent 5 minutes wiping the seats.

Let’s jump into the numbers through day 1:

• $312 of $1,068 earned ✅

• 298 of 850 miles driven ✅

• $231.43 of $490 fares paid 🟡 shorter trips and there were zero surges

• $0 of $410 Quest earned ✅

• I don’t know of 110 passengers

• 93% of 90% Acceptance rate ✅

• $53 of $73 in tips ✅

• 35 of 70 trips completed ✅✅✅✅ This is the big one!

• $19.04 of $64 for gas ✅

• $24 of $60 in Syracuse location promos 🟡 I took a few trips that I thought were in the zone. But they weren’t.

• 71 of 55 miles per gallon ✅

• $19 of $38 in temporary fuel reimbursements ✅

• $26.00 of $35.60 per hour (before expenses wage) ✅

• 18 of 30 total hours out of the house 🟡 I spent some extra time at the mall working on client projects. Not really Uber’s fault.

• 12 of 24 online hours ✅

• 4.19 of 14 gallons of gas ✅

• $6.60 of $7.00 per trip 🟡 Like I said, short trips and no surges.

• 5 star rating ✅

• 4% of 3% Cancelation rate 🟡 I had to cancel twice as the night was ending.

Update: 8:45 am Saturday Morning

I’m just waking up. It was a long driving day that followed a long work week.

The original plan was to start driving at 7am. However, when I logged on, I didn’t see any surges. My assumption is that it will be slow a lot of the day.

The goal is to still hit 70 trips before midnight doing 2 12-hours shifts.

Here’s the audible. I’m going to go for a walk, eat breakfast, drink a lot of water, and stretch. Then I’m going to leave my house at 10am. Drive for a few hours. Get the car washed. Then go hard, like 10 hours straight.

I’m also going to be stricter on the trips I take. No long ones. I need to get the short trips done early.

Update: 4:30 pm Saturday

10 trips done so far. 25 to go. It’s been super slow.

Update: 6:30 pm Saturday

The day has been going in spurts. A bunch of short trips followed by 20 minutes of nothing. But I’m on track. Getting 70 trips done by tonight will be close.

Update: 9:45 pm Saturday

I’m coming to the realization that it’s not going to happen. I mean, yes, I could stay out till 2am or even drive on Sunday to get to 70 trips. But I’m not getting 70 before midnight.

There just aren’t any Uber requests. Here I am, sitting downtown, for like 30 minutes and can’t get an ping. Nothing.

I’m at 58 and I need two more to get to 60. I may just call it quits, assuming I even get these last two.

PING!

I just got one. 👍🏻

Final Update

This was a slow weekend, and getting 70 trips in two 12-hour stretches on Friday and Saturday would be near impossible.

By 9:45pm on Saturday, I still needed 12 more trips, like four more hours. Honestly, I could just get 2 more trips, earn the 60 trips bonus, and call it a weekend.

As I finished the previous update on this blog at 9:45pm last night, I got another ping. Let's see how the rest of the night went.

Scroll through the final trips and see if got to 70.

12 trips to go - Ph.D. Students

A couple of Syracuse public policy Ph.D. students headed out after enjoying drinks at their homes. We enjoyed a good talk about education budget policy. The conversation was so intriguing I almost ended the night and joined them at the bar. One more to go for the 60 trip bonus!

11 to go - Bar Hopping Young Couple

This trip came right away. They were a young couple heading from one bar to another. After the long wait, getting to 60 trips was reasonably straightforward. The good news is the next group of passengers was right there waiting for me.

60 Trip Quest Bonus $310

I knew all along I was going to hit this bonus. The following 10 in just a few hours was near impossible.

10 - 4th-year med students

Three guys were going from one bar to the next. I guess that's what people do; they don't go home; they go from bar to bar. They were fun and gave me the energy to push on.

9 - Drunk Married Couple

Crap. They wanted to go way out to Camilus. This means I would have to drive 15 minutes there and drive 15 minutes back to Syracuse alone. 30 minutes for one trip. But it was a slow night, so I took it anyway. They were friendly, but the husband was so drunk he slept. I had soft jazz playing. The wife was interested in learning about the 70 trip Quest. She gave me a nice tip too.

8 - Drunk and Upset Guy

As soon as I dropped off the couple, I got a ping nearby, heading back to Syracuse. My man was distraught, crying about a girl right when the trip started. We had a good talk. I felt bad. Breakups are hard. But now I'm still 10 minutes south of the city. I turned the app off and drove back to the Syracuse campus.

7 - Super Kind Nurse

After dropping off the upset guy in the country, it took another 20 minutes before I got my next trip. A tired nurse ready for retirement. She appreciated the trip and gave me a $5 cash tip. She even gave me another $1 tip on the app. Win!

6 - Young Girl Heading Home

She was quiet and on her phone. When going for Quests, I love 4-minute trips!

5 - Funny Ladies Night Story

This is a fun one. As I got close to the house, a young lady stood by the street on her driveway. I pulled up right next to her so she could get in the back door. However, she curiously looked at me, walked around the front of the car, and then across the street. She glanced back over her shoulder and then scurried away. I rolled down the window and said I was the Uber. Then she started to run. The rest of the story is that I arrived too quickly, and she only needed to get her wallet out of her car. She came back and got her friends. We headed out to the bar.

Midnight

I didn't get the 70 trips done before the end of Saturday. But I was four trips away, and I wanted to get the extra $100. So I pressed on for the last four trips.

4 - Teacher Uber

Another drunk couple was heading home. It was a long trip north to Liverpool. It didn't matter; I just needed to take the next four trips and call it a night. She was a teacher interested in Ubering late nights during the summer. Her husband didn't seem too keen on the idea. After dropping them off, I had a 20-minute drive back to the city.

3 - Strip Club Run

The app said he was going to a strip club. He had a gold chain, was young and single, and stunk of bar sweat. I think he was deaf because "What?" and "Yes!" was his answer to everything.

2 - Way Too Drunk Woman

I didn't like this trip at all. First, it was in the neighborhood where an Uber got carjacked a week ago. Next, she was so drunk that she carried on a conversation with herself. She kept saying they were filming a sex scene. Gross. I kept peaking back in the mirror and asking her if she was okay, hoping she wouldn't throw up.

Last Trip

Well, not really. I got a second request from another lousy neighborhood. When I got close, it felt terrible. Getting robbed or killed is not on my agenda, so I canceled.

1 - Actual Last Trip

I am so glad I canceled because my real last trip took 3 minutes. It was 1:30 a.m., and I was ready for bed. In fact, I only had 15 minutes left on the Uber 12-hour limit. It was a single guy with another gold chain going from one bar to the next. It was so quick we didn't even say a word to each other.

I turned off the app and headed home. Mission accomplished an hour and a half late.

The Final Stats

I was extremely accurate in my predictions.

• $1,019 of $1,068 earned 🟡 95% of what I thought. Not bad.

• 577 of 850 miles driven ✅ As slow as it was, I had a lot of really short trips.

• $433 of $490 fares paid 🟡 Short trips means short fares.

• $410 of $410 Quest earned ✅✅✅✅ Mission accomplished!

• I have no idea how many passengers I had. Probably 150 people.

• 93% of 90% Acceptance rate ✅ I took the trips that came.

• $92 of $73 in tips ✅ Includes a $5 cash tip from a nice nurse.

• 70 of 70 trips completed ✅

• $33 of $64 for gas ✅ However, I got home with a half tank.

• $78 of $60 in Syracuse location promos ✅ I had so many really short trips in the zone. Nice.

• 65 of 55 miles per gallon ✅ Way to go Prius!

• $38 of $38 in temporary fuel reimbursements ✅

• $42.90 of $35.60 per hour (before expenses wage) ✅

• 33 of 30 total hours out of the house 🟡 I spent some extra time at the mall working on client projects. And then I met with another driver on Saturday. Not really Uber’s fault.

• 23.75 of 24 online hours ✅

• 8.8 of 14 gallons of gas ✅

• $6.18 of $7.00 per trip 🟡 Like I said, short trips and there were no surges the entire weekend.

• 5 star rating ✅ Literally, I have 500 5 stars.

• 4% of 3% Cancelation rate 🟡 I had to cancel three times this weekend.

My Takeaways

1. Driving for 24 hours in two days is physically demanding, especially at night. It's not safe, and I don't recommend it. I spent Sunday sleeping.

2. Uber is rewarding short trips. The Quest and Syracuse bonus was designed to get passengers and drivers to make short trips. I would have made significantly less per hour if I had taken longer trips.

3. After 10pm, the passengers are almost always drunk. While no one vomited, I needed to be prepared.

4. Tips are the same regardless of when I drive. I make 15-20% on tips taking people to work in the morning. And I made 20% this weekend.

5. Follow Uber's guidance to make more money. Every time I drove to a spot Uber recommended, I got a trip. When I tried to game it, like moving to an area I thought would be better, I went without a trip. Despite all the cynicism from drivers, it's in Uber's best interest to get us trips as quick as possible.

My best trip was a dry-wall installer. We had a great conversation, and he gave me the biggest tip. But to be honest, almost all my trips were okay. I enjoyed just about everyone.

My worst trip was the 2nd to the last trip. I dislike having inebriated people to a point where they can't really function. Thankfully she could stay awake and didn't throw up.

There were two or three times I felt unsafe. If the pickup seemed sketchy, I canceled before I even stopped.

My final thought is I'm glad I'm an Uber driver in Syracuse, New York. My personality and car are a perfect match for what our city requires. I won't make this kind of money most weekends, but I know how to make a living as an Uber driver.