It’s About Money
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
In the three years before Uber took off, finding fares was like shooting fish in a barrel. It was wonderful. It allowed the cab drivers to cherry pick passengers for the most profitable rides — and to turn down the ones that didn’t help them make the most money.
But with the introduction of Uber and Lyft, my income was declining rapidly. And I started getting impatient with the cab company that I work for. The way that the scheduling worked out, there was a lot of wasted time waiting to get a cab to drive. And the getting screwed part went both ways: sure, taxi drivers could leave behind passengers wanting non-lucrative trips, but the last cab fare I ever drove was all the way to Hayward [25 miles]. And when we get there and the passenger has no money to pay. On the way back, I remember thinking, this just wouldn’t happen if I was doing Lyft or Uber.
So ultimately, I just decided to give it a try.
I am making more as a Lyft driver than I did as a cab driver, and that is after taking every possible expense into account. No one is forcing me to be an Uber or Lyft driver. Meanwhile, the same can’t be said of taxi medallion owners, when the city is making it impossible for them to sell their medallions, and exit the taxi business.
