Drivers Hate Long, Low-Paying Rides
15 posts across 3 communities in the last 30 days; 67% from r/uberdrivers.
“The austin airport used to pay 2-3x what you would get doing city rides. Now they cant get drivers there, especially on weekends. It cant possibly be the .50c/mi or less rides. This ride isnt even worth it to just get to the pickup, much less take them downtown too. Also the…”
“I’ve always aimed for $1/mi then looked at where it was taking me and how long the trip would take. Those are how I pick my trips. I used to wait max 10 min to get a good trip. Lately it’s 20 min + which makes it pointless. Am I the only one with this issue? I mean every ride is…”
“I cannot fathom that hundreds of drivers are just wasting hours sitting in a parking lot and waiting for ONE ride from the airport!? Just how does it make any financial sense??”
Ride-share drivers are frustrated with long routes offering minimal compensation and limited return options. This is impacting driver availability and creating challenges for riders.
SOURCES (60)
“So, I got offered a ride for 18 dollars and change. I was hesitant to accept since the dropoff location is in the middle of nowhere. I had spent 40 minutes to get out of that area. At that time of night, rides were slow…”
“If you’re flexing in sac DO NOT take the 2hr blocks from 8-10pm from Elk Grove DSR6, these routes are high mileage low balls…absolute garbage for $47! They will always, always send you to either Stockton, valley springs, shingle springs or somewhere mega far. I knew better tonight but took a gamble bc Im in a rental so not too concerned about wear n tear but my route was so terrible that It felt like straight up abuse lmfao. It’s literally not worth it the $$ especially driving ur personal car.”
“55 miles to Providence for $56.76, then 55 miles back to Boston with an empty car. 😂 At this point, the passenger didn’t order an Uber. They rented a car with a personal chauffeur, skipped the return fee, and somehow convinced the rental car to drive itself back home. 💀 submitted by /u/EliteUnited [link] [comments]”
“A 442 mile round trip at 6 hours plus. No thank you. It is Saturday and a quest day (minimal quests here--under $60 bucks tops.) I then spent two hours declining rides with pickups 30 plus miles away downtown and a destination almost the same distance I am in a large, outlier area of Houston, and an entirely different county, which Uber does not acknowledge or include on their "preferences" map. 30 miles may as well be 60 miles with the traffic here, and an hour to get there. These tri”
“When rides to Philly began going from $180 down to $70 i would just laugh it off. Yeah right, nobody is taking that ride. But when I see this pop up I’m appalled. I stopped driving long distances over a year ago, but this offer was a new low. submitted by /u/Longhaired_GreyGhost [link] [comments]”
“3 HR ROUTE FOR $64.50…. to go an hour and fifteen minutes away… (45 MILES AWAY!) with 22 stops. Better believe I returned that shit RIGHT AWAY. These routes aint worth the $$$ anymore. submitted by /u/JumpyConfidence7817 [link] [comments]”
“Any dc drivers? How’s Georgetown and DuPont circle traffic in general during weekdays? Do you get a lot of ride requests? How’s the fare and everything going on? It is worth the money or nah? submitted by /u/NY10 [link] [comments]”
“Is it just me but I no longer see more than 3 hour routes give you 40 some packages. This in the Los Angeles, currently going in a heat wave, but 3 hour route and doesn’t pay more than 72. submitted by /u/FrostyFlakesagain [link] [comments]”
“How much would a trip with these miles pay, in your market? What’s the lowest rate you would accept for something like this? What’s the lowest rate you’ve seen in your area, regardless of the miles on it? What’s the most you’ve seen a surge increase too? submitted by /u/giveDsumMeNomoHo [link] [comments]”
“Just wanted to give it a try Florida market Neah fk this shit is so bad Average pay around 70 to 90 cents for rides Eats is quite disgusting For time to time they pay around 2 dollar a miles for airport rides but very rarely Pass Friendly advice get the fk out while your wheels are still spinning submitted by /u/BoupsieBoo [link] [comments]”
“What were you paid for this trip if you have done it? submitted by /u/Watchitspin [link] [comments]”
“Has anyone taken one of these one hour route? They’re eligible for tips. Are they worth it? submitted by /u/Public_Shoe_7660 [link] [comments]”
“This is in response to people questioning why I took a 52 mile ride for $32. Most offers in Akron or Cleveland are horrible and you won't make money otherwise. Pictures for proof. Especially with gas the price it is, I'm surprised my acceptance rate isn't lower. submitted by /u/Apprehensive_Many649 [link] [comments]”
“Last night I got three requests for a ride of $3.93 absolutely no.. these college vouchers are getting on my nerves! submitted by /u/CapableSense [link] [comments]”
“All the rejected rides were 3.30$-3.98$ for 10mins+ of driving. Is Lyft a better bet? should be taking on top of uber at this point? submitted by /u/Pure_Passenger_348 [link] [comments]”
“Anyone in CLT noticing this today? For the most part I don’t have trouble keeping it around $1 per mile. I am seeing offers come in insultingly low for the amount of miles. Unfortunately no screenshots but if I catch something maybe I’ll put it here. I’m noticing a drastic change today from even two days ago… submitted by /u/sadvillain94 [link] [comments]”
“Don't accept any ride under $8.00. Period. submitted by /u/RealSharpNinja [link] [comments]”
“Does anybody know if INSHUR is actually worth it if you already have rideshare/delivery coverage? Google has given me conflicting answers depending on the kind of question I ask. INSHUR claims that you “won’t be screwed” essentially in nicer words if you were to have your own car wrecked during an accident because they would help you with costs but I don’t know to what extent. Anyone know more? submitted by /u/Sufficient_City5989 [link] [comments]”
“Ride share isn’t dead you just need to find your way around the bs fares. submitted by /u/justdrivin2271 [link] [comments]”
“This route will never get done. 4 hr routes normally pay $108 to $135 and they want someone to do this for $90 is wild. submitted by /u/Spiritual-Willow2425 [link] [comments]”
“The austin airport used to pay 2-3x what you would get doing city rides. Now they cant get drivers there, especially on weekends. It cant possibly be the .50c/mi or less rides. This ride isnt even worth it to just get to the pickup, much less take them downtown too. Also the LeMans grand prix is in town this weekend too with like 15-30$ surge around the track. Why would any driver take this garbage submitted by /u/ATXbottomsup [link] [comments]”
“So now they've taken away the miles once you pick someone up so you have no clue how far the ride is! Time to talk more people into using Lyft! Smh submitted by /u/Marcusc1906 [link] [comments]”
“I had a trip where the driver complained it was only 12 minutes down the road (we were new to Orlando) and I had to beg a driver in New Jersey to drive me round trip from Delaware and back (3hrs round trip) because my mother accidentally forgot her medication lock box in the prior hotel. Now that I live in Central Florida I would love to take an Uber (or Lyft) to Tampa or Gainesville or Daytona beach, but I don't want to end up getting a driver that's not up for it and cancels on me whil”
“3.5hr route for $96.5. 15 stops, at least 100mies round trip. submitted by /u/Certain-Ad5890 [link] [comments]”
“Do you have to do a certain amount of 2$/4$ rides in order to get the “decent” rides? I’ve been getting offers that equate to 18/20$ an hour. Los Angeles area submitted by /u/Used-Tea-5597 [link] [comments]”
“$23 for 84 miles!? I thought I saw my worst offer yesterday with a 43 mile trip to the airport for $27. But this... submitted by /u/Winter-Seat5248 [link] [comments]”
“I got spammed far away "Exclusive" trips that made no sense if u see how far the pick ups were. Had to just turn off app to stop. I would have accepted some of these if they were closer. submitted by /u/Vegan4lifeDude [link] [comments]”
“45 minute drive and I'll be heading home in rush hour. Lame submitted by /u/TheRealGageEndal [link] [comments]”
“They used to be worth it. They have latetly had me drive 55+ miles for all 1.5 hrs route. If not to the very top of La Jolla it's Alpine, 3 out of 3. I guess I'll drop the 1.5s now. submitted by /u/ItWasMeFoo [link] [comments]”
“Good driveaway driver job? St Louis home submitted by /u/Frankie42083 [link] [comments]”
“I’ve always aimed for $1/mi then looked at where it was taking me and how long the trip would take. Those are how I pick my trips. I used to wait max 10 min to get a good trip. Lately it’s 20 min + which makes it pointless. Am I the only one with this issue? I mean every ride is 50-75 cents a mile. To the worst places. Some even as low as 30 cents to the mile. It’s like if I wait 20 min. It’s the same as accepting two 75 cent per mile trips waiting less then 10 What are you guys doing about this”
“Probably 8-10 hours with traffic. Just crazy. And a 4.77 passenger rating to enjoy for half of it. submitted by /u/No-Helicopter7299 [link] [comments]”
“The 55 min one was this morning, they gave it to me after 15 min of waiting and it was in 3 different cities so it would have gone over the 1.5 hours. Second one the mileage is less than $1/mi so I asked them to unassaign both, I can take the hit but from now on I'm just avoiding 1.5 blocks they straight up suck. submitted by /u/m149307 [link] [comments]”
“airport rides seem great when you look at the fare by itself. then you finish the trip and realise you might spend another 30-60 minutes driving back without a passenger. i’m curious how other drivers calculate whether an airport ride is actually worth taking do you factor in the likely return trip, or just judge the ride based on the fare and distance? submitted by /u/Direct-Passage4847 [link] [comments]”
“I cannot fathom that hundreds of drivers are just wasting hours sitting in a parking lot and waiting for ONE ride from the airport!? Just how does it make any financial sense?? submitted by /u/Gullible_Beginning18 [link] [comments]”
“I received a ride request paying $17 for 17 miles, and it would take about 35 minutes to complete. Would you accept it? If not, what would you consider a good ride for $17? What is the maximum number of miles you would be willing to drive for that amount? submitted by /u/Klutzy_Sky_7056 [link] [comments]”
“They tell us we recieve 57% but that is so not true. Also how could they expect a driver to drive hours away without any incentive towards the cost of driving back? Trying to work your way back from hours away will never work when you cross dead market areas. Also I have had several riders tell me I was making good money off their trip because they believed I was recieving most of what they pay. Any driver knows this is false. The eye opener for me was when a rider told me she knew I was getting”
“I live in West Virginia. The app keeps sending me in 15 mile trips for like 11/12 dollars to places with no service or areas i don’t care much to be in because im not familiar with the area. So a 15 mile trip turns into 30 miles because i have to drive back. It can take 30-50 minutes depending on the area. Like these arent good i dont think. How do you decide if an order is worth it? I wish the app would let me say like hey ill do this trip but i dont wsnt to accept orders out here on this trip”
“hello, what is the etiquette when needing to hail a ride to go about an hour to the next city over? currently waiting on an Amtrak train to make a connecting Greyhound, but I’ll miss the bus. And I can’t miss going, so would you take a ride for the next city over? does Uber even make drivers aware of the distance of the ride? submitted by /u/AffectionateHawk330 [link] [comments]”
“My wife and I are starting to get 2 hour rides now for like 90-100$ and at first we though, hey 2 hours of driving 50$ an hour. But now we're not so sure its even worth it. We're left 2 hours away with no guaranteed ride back... That city rides are like cheap, 5-8 buck rides for 30+ minutes of driving. The destination filter is still pretty bad after all these years. Anyone else get similar requests? What do you do? How do you plan your day around it if you do accept it? Wish Uber would”
“3.5 hours for 112 usd. First stop was 3 miles away 🤑🤑🤑 submitted by /u/Potential-Pattern-49 [link] [comments]”
“I normally drive nights in L.A. because theres no traffic and I can zip from fare to fare and I ONLY accept rides if the time offered is equal to or better than $30/hour. If I get a $10 for 5 min pickup, 15 min ride , thats 20 minutes for $10 = $30 an hour, so yes. Lately Ive been working into the AM, about 7 AM the fares suddenly nose dive and I get offers for $9.95 5 min pickup 25 min ride = $20 an hour. Theres gonna be traffic so its really 40 minutes plus Uber is gonna pad it 15% to favor th”
“I’m not driving 1700 miles for $13.62 submitted by /u/Neither_Fact_7471 [link] [comments]”
“I'm not saying that I would ever take them, but until Uber either increases the number of states drivers are authorized to drive in, or pays for the difference to get back to a state where a driver is authorized to drive in, they shouldn't be offering rides to the far end of a dead state. For example, drivers in the Philly region can only drive in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Weekly, I get an offer to go to the DC suburbs in Maryland. $75 for that nearly 3 hour drive wasn'”
“Nope , just kidding … all sh*tty offers … mostly been $0.60 per mile crap!! Western Massachusetts. Problem is ya can’t tell a newbie anything, so they take the sh*\*tty offers which phucks us cuz they keep sending them and shtoonods are taking them!! submitted by /u/413-Chef [link] [comments]”
“These are still two terrible offers after denying another 7 that were worse than these before them. I know the passengers are paying out the ass for these rides and they can't even have the cojones to pay us decently. One might argue that the 24.05 is decent but I promise you that is after paying for tolls on the 635 expressway and they don't Factor that into your offers on Uber as well as they do up front on Lyft. Pretty much not going to take airport rides anymore. They trap you by the”
“to a very aggravating part of town too (constant redlights and slow truckers). almost 20 miles round trip for $2 submitted by /u/loebly [link] [comments]”
“Im a normal driver , not a flex . but i surf this subreddit and i can’t gauge what you guys consider a good route or bad route . i saw one that said “4.5 hrs for $96” and someone said “yikes” . i’ve also seen like “3hrs for $74” . so like what’s considered good ? also do packages really matter or is it more about stops to you guys ? submitted by /u/regulartrex [link] [comments]”
“got this lil gen today i might have hope for a good lil shift had another $25 for 10 miles right before this it might be a sign submitted by /u/bigSexy_1 [link] [comments]”
“The rates are so low, even the ants at the airport are declining rides now. There hasn't been a surge in months. When it's busy all we get is Uber x priority pings that still pay 50 cents a mile. It seems like a lot of pax are switching to Lyft because Uber would rather make them wait an hour instead of lowering their cut. submitted by /u/meta4tony [link] [comments]”