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Originally Posted by Hersbird
They have incentives.
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I didn't think I needed to qualify my statement by saying there are no consumer incentives. I doubt Oregon would consider Uber drivers to be a business since they don't register the business.
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It also looks like the Portland city council hadn't approved new cab permits for a decade until 2012 when it was a bunch of proposals from "green" car type cabs that they finally added big number to the fleet. So the city basically picked the winners and loser of what cab companies even were allowed to drive in Portland, and they picked the companies running Prius.
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I did extensive research in 2004 to start a cab company with a Prius fleet, but found out there is a council comprised of existing cab companies that you have to convince your company would provide a substantial benefit to the community and have a minimum of 24 cars. That should have spurred me to create an Uber service, but I wasn't up on the increasing use of internet on cell phones at the time. I'm happy to see Uber tearing into the mafia controlled industry.
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After looking at some Uber drivers break down their cost, I would say the only way to make worthwhile money is in tips. For this I would say the driver personality would be #1 and the comfort and condition of the car would be #2.
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I've basically come to the same conclusion. My friend estimates he makes $1 per total mile driven including on the way to pick up the fare, but that doesn't include expenses, which on his 2015 TLX luxury vehicle, probably has substantial depreciation. Not too many of his fares select the luxury car option, so I'm not sure it makes much sense for him to drive that vehicle. If I were him, I would leave the luxury car in an easily accessible location that I could swap to when a fare pays extra for the service, and drive an economy car the rest of the time.
He's the perfect Uber driver since he has good social skill and is well presented, but as a former Boeing engineer, he isn't being compensated nearly what he's worth.