How does UberPool Pricing Work For Drivers?

Hey guys! Have you ever wondered how UberPool pricing works for drivers? I want to help you guys figure out how much you’re really getting paid on UberPool, because Uber tells us one thing and it’s not always believable. Uber says rate cuts help us make more money, and they say we make more driving for UberPool. We all know how rate cuts have gone for drivers, so t’s good to have a healthy skepticism about Uber’s claims. Let’s delve into this and find out how UberPool pricing really works.

Check out my video all about Pool pricing, then read a copy of the transcript below.

What is UberPOOL?

UberPool is basically UberX, but a carpooling version. It matches two separate groups of passengers headed in the same general directions. A group of passengers can be one or two, for a maximum of four passengers. Oftentimes with UberPOOL you’ll be driving with one passenger and maybe 5 minutes along the route you’ll get a match with a second passenger that is hopefully just one or two blocks over. You go pick up the second passenger and then take the passengers on the way as a group. The app will tell you who to pick up, where to pick them up, where to get the second passenger, where to drop off the first passenger and where to drop off the second passenger.

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It’s really navigation-intensive — you have to be following navigation at all time. There won’t be any, “Hey, I’ll tell you how to get there,” from your UberPool passenger. In fact, passengers are required to enter a destination to request an UberPool.

Promotional pricing makes POOL pay hard to figure out

Uber has put out a few statements, and a few articles, saying that Uber drivers are making ton more on these UberPool rides, but I’m here to tell you that’s not really the case. Right now, Uber is actually doing promotional pricing with UberPool. I know in San Francisco, they had $5 rides for a while, and then they increased it to $7. In L.A., I think it’s still at $5 UberPool rides. So they’re actually subsidized for the passenger. So, if the passenger is paying, let’s say they’re paying $5 right now in Los Angeles, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get $5. Now, this actually benefits drivers big time right now, because even when it’s surging you’ll actually still get the higher figure. Let’s say it’s surging 2.0. Uber passengers can still opt for UberPool and only pay $5. But Uber will go and compensate you for the 2x surge. Uber is subsidizing not only the UberPool ride, but also the surge aspect of it, too.

I know that a lot of drivers have been pretty happy with UberPool so far because in those types of instances they’re actually making a lot more. I did some research in San Francisco: I talked to a ton of drivers that were doing UberPool, and the one reoccurring theme was that they all had no idea how much they were getting paid. And when I say that, they knew how much they were getting for POOL rides, but they didn’t know if it was more or less than it would have been for a regular UberX ride.

How POOL pricing works

Since there’s promotional pricing, the passengers are going to pay a different amount than you end up getting paid. Here’s how POOL pricing actually works: It has the same rates as UberX, but you’ll get paid from your first pick-up to your last drop-off UberX rates. It really doesn’t matter whether you have one or two passengers, one or two groups in the car on UberPool. You’re actually getting paid UberX rates from your first pick-up to your last drop-off.

Uber has come out and made it seem really like a great thing for riders, but for drivers I’m not convinced because you’re doing more work for the same pay.

On a normal ride, you typically pick up one passenger or group of passengers, then drop them off and get paid. With Pool, you’re going out of the way to get that second passenger and do two drop offs. You’re paid at the UberX rate for that extra work, but it only accounts for about 5% or less of your time of the total trip. That’s really the only extra pay you get for doing a Pool ride: The time and mileage it takes to do a second close-by pickup and drop off. In my estimation, you’re getting 10% more than a normal ride.

On the passenger side, they’re actually saving close to 50%. For passengers it’s a great savings, but I really would have liked to see Uber only give the passengers a 40% discount instead of 50%, so the drivers can make closer to 120% of an UberX ride, or even closer to 1.5x. But, unfortunately, that’s not what they did.

If you guys are confused, I’ll try to explain it one last time: You’re paid the normal UberX rides from your first pick-up until your last drop-off. All that stuff that you’re doing in between is basically paid at normal UberX rates. Hopefully, I did a good job explaining this. If you guys have any questions, leave a comment, and hopefully, I won’t have to re-record this video! Take care.

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