# Uber is free in Edmonton



## EdmontonUber (Jan 1, 2015)

Uber has been in Edmonton, Alberta since December. Like most other cities, the taxi cartel has been fighting it since it arrived. And they have the city council on their side, who have threatened to charge Uber drivers up to $1400 in fines for operating as illegal taxis. 

So instead, Uber has decided to make their service free. Completely free. For all riders.

This has circumvented the taxi system, because drivers are no longer vehicles for hire, but are instead just pure ride-sharing vehicles.

Drivers are paid by Uber the same way they would normally be. But since the customer is not paying, taxi regulations don't apply. 

As you can imagine, demand is through the roof. As soon as you log on your bombarded with requests. Once a rider actually has their request accepted, they try their best to hold onto drivers, asking them to wait around for them. Its a great time to be an Uber driver in Edmonton right now.

Has this ever happened in another city? How long did it continue?


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

We had a promo in Raleigh when they first started, it was 5 free rides in May. Nothing as wild as what you have going there, enjoy the heck out of it while it lasts and I'm sure tips are being offered to get you to hang around. Get all you can while you can, it won't last long. In the end, you will get squeezed like every other city so treat it like a temp gig and make hay while the sun is shining.


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## Bart McCoy (Nov 4, 2014)

so uber is just going around losing money?
this surely cant last
even though the ride is free to the pax, how much is uber paying you per mile?


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## EdmontonUber (Jan 1, 2015)

Rates here are:

$2.75 base fare
$0.95 per km
$0.30 per minute
$5 cancelation

I've been creeping on this board long enough to know that this is a good as its ever going to get. Riders will have to pay soon enough. Rate cuts will eventually happen. More drivers will sign up and the money train will come to an end. 

I'm just happy I'm here to take advantage now. My full time job pays for all my bills. I just use Uber to pay for nights out, dinners, gas, and other car related expenses. 

I gotta admit, it's sort of addicting. You can literally make as much money as you want


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

Yeah, I would be out hitting that as hard as I could, make as much as you can and then then throw a party for yourself when the gravy train ends. Ah, I wistfully remember the days when Uber was fun, oh well. I decided to try something for fun and see how much I could make doing it. I went around collecting scrap metal. Made $103 in 6 hours, nobody threw up on me or screamed in my ear, got a decent workout, got to bed at a reasonable hour and didn't put 160 miles on my car. Oh, and I actually did an ecologically friendly thing.


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## troubleinrivercity (Jul 27, 2014)

EdmontonUber said:


> I gotta admit, it's sort of addicting. You can literally make as much money as you want


Right, but you're _at work_, and that means you have an _hourly rate_. In very few cities (yours), it is pretty good! A job worth keeping, but of course it can't last. In most cities UberX is neck and neck with traditional min-wage jobs. And then some markets have a combination of oversupply and low rates, which means drivers there see truly insulting hourly pay, down to half of minimum wage or worse.

All small markets should know that they are operating on promotional rates, and not to be making major plans around their Uber income.


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