# Driving strategy question.



## UberTiger (Jul 29, 2014)

Drove for first time in Baton Rouge saturday night. Had 16 trips from 6pm to 2am. I thought I did well earning $329 which included $5 per trip bonus going on for weekend rides. I drove 202 miles total for the night, only 75 of those were fare miles. Whats the best way to get this ratio down? After dropping someone off I checked app to see where other drivers were and usually tried to drive on the outside edge so that I would catch any fares on the most populated/wealthy side of city (South). Should I have just stayed close to drop off until next request? What do you usually do?


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## LookyLou (Apr 28, 2014)

I would say that you did really well. As long as you can drop and stop and still get enough pings to stay busy, you may be able to improve your occupied miles.

The way I figure my expenses at .50 cents per mile, you netted $26.50 per hour pre-tax over the 8 hours.

If I could do that on a regular basis I would drive more often.


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## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

$329 in 8 hours is above what "top drivers" averaged this week per the weekly Uber report ($33.00) congratulations. When the bonus ends you will be lower than "average".

I drive an average of .8 miles for every gross fare dollar (or 800 miles per $1,000.00), you drive less than I do by far.

Your strategy sounds good, when Uber puts more drivers in your market things will change....


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## Oc_DriverX (Apr 29, 2014)

For some reason, using $0.56/mi. expenses I get your pre-tax take at $26.99/hr. Any way you cut it that is pretty good. Be aware of how much the $5/trip bonus helped. If you back that out, it is $16.98/hr. Bottom line: take it while you can get it. 

In the OC, the top drivers were at $27/hour. Uber would say that you were at the $41.12/hr mark. (The Uber marketing people will probably start running Craigslist ads in your area touting that drivers can earn over $1600 a week.)

As for stopping and dropping, it just depends on where you end up and your feel for the area. Stop and drop will lead to a higher percentage of revenue miles, but can also cost you in terms of time. If you are unsure whether to stop and drop, perhaps pick some limit ( 5 or 10 or ? minutes) to wait and see what happens. In my opinion, a % revenue mile rate of over 60% is pretty good. You will want to be at least in the 50% area when the inevitable fare cuts come and the $1.60/mi rate gets dropped to around $1.25 and they shave at least a nickel off of the $0.35/min time charge in your area. (This recently happened in San Diego.)

Good luck.


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## UberTiger (Jul 29, 2014)

Thanks for the advice/info. Baton Rouge is a really small market that is probably only going to be profitable part time during peak hours which will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. If they flood with drivers it probably wont be worth it. But for now, 3 weeks in, they cant keep up with demand and most people still dont even know what Uber is. They only came here after Baton Rouge approached them, Uber is having problems getting approved in New Orleans so they decided why not. Anyway Ill make it while I can.


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## OriginalGeek (Aug 4, 2014)

@LAuberX I got the same report of "Top Drivers" at $33/hr though my rate was $50/hr this week... Guess I'm above "Top", thanks most definitely to Beyonce and JayZ, and all the Uber Drivers who benched themselves on Saturday. My typical is $35/hr.


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## Chip Dawg (Jul 27, 2014)

OriginalGeek said:


> @LAuberX I got the same report of "Top Drivers" at $33/hr though my rate was $50/hr this week... Guess I'm above "Top", thanks most definitely to Beyonce and JayZ, and all the Uber Drivers who benched themselves on Saturday. My typical is $35/hr.


They probably benched themselves because they did not want to take a ratings hit over surge sticker shock.


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