Bill, a 70-year-old part-time Uber driver, has been working for Uber for six years and has been abl

Bill, a 70-year-old part-time @Uber driver, has been #working for #Uber for six years and has been able to #increase his pay by #canceling over 30% of his rides and only #driving during busy periods. Last year, he earned over $28,000 across roughly 1,500 Uber trips. However, he believes that surges, when high customer demand and lower driver supply increase prices for customers and drivers' pay, have become less common in his area over the past year. As a result, he is driving less and accepting fewer rides than he used to.

#Bill is one of the #millions of @Uber and @Lyft drivers in the US who can't #depend on a #consistent #paycheck due to #fluctuating #customer demand and tips. As a result, many are #calculating their earnings after accounting for vehicle expenses like gas to ensure driving is worth their time. While some have responded to unsatisfactory pay by working longer hours, others, like Bill, have driven less.

Bill used to #work roughly 40 online hours a week, which included time spent looking for rides and relocating to different areas to find passengers. Today, he's online for about 30 hours a week and has active rides for about 10 to 15 hours. The standard, non-surge pay rate calculated by Uber in his area is $0.61 per mile. He's also #paid a #smaller per-#mile rate based on how many minutes a drive is expected to take and can receive customer tips. After accounting for vehicle expenses, Bill said there is "no profit" on many rides that only offer the base pay.

A few #strategies Bill uses to make decent money include seeking out #surges by hanging around the airport and bars during busy times. When a plane lands and people request Uber, the #pricejumps drastically, with a 20-minute ride going from $10 to $20 to $40 and sometimes $50. The most common surge periods are between 10:00 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Another key #strategy of Bill's is to avoid "#oneway rides." He recalled one past #trip where he drove a customer nearly two hours from his city to a more remote area, and had to drive back home "for free" because no customers requested a ride in that direction. After accounting for $0.65 per mile in vehicle expenses, he said he lost money on the round-trip.

To avoid one-way rides, Bill asks #customers when he picks them up whether their #destination is in the area. If they're headed out of town, he often makes an excuse for why he can't #drive them. Uber lists refusing or canceling a trip based on the driver's destination as something that could cause a driver to lose access to their account. Drivers with a cancellation rate above 10% also lose access to their gold, platinum, or diamond statuses, which offer various benefits, like savings at select gas stations, through a rewards system.

For now, Bill plans to continue relying on his strategies and only driving when he thinks it is profitable. He says it helps that he's not reliant on Uber income.