[aetherson]

Well, according to the article:

  Uber's Kaitlin Durkosh confirmed UberX drivers receive up
  to 80 percent of each fare. "On average, uberX drivers in
  Boston make about $25.93 an hour, which equates to nearly
  $54,000 a year (gross income), if drivers work 40
  hours/week for 52 weeks/year... gross income can be even
  higher if partner drivers decide to work more than 40
  hours/week, Durkosh continued.

At $26/hour, it's only $300/night if you work 12 hour "nights." I'll guarantee that when she says $26 per hour, she's assuming a solid hour worked without breaks. And, actually, it's deeply unlikely that any driver makes an average of $26 per hour over a 12 hour shift, 5 days a week -- the average is going to be inflated by the fact that most drivers work during the high demand hours around rush hour and Friday and Saturday night, when not only are rides more frequent, but surge pricing goes into effect.

[dnautics]

I make an average of > $25/hour over 30-40 hours (on lyft, for which I have 12 weeks of data). During surge pricing the hourly on uber goes to nearly $40 - $50/hour, but i only have one weekend of data for this, and the hours are cherry-picked (there's a lot of strategic "do i use lyft, do i use uber, or do I use both" going on.

[aetherson]

Okay, but presumably Durkosh, an Uber representative, is reporting data, not anecdotes, when she says that the average is $26/hour, right? Are you suggesting that she's underreporting the true average, or that she doesn't know what the average amount they pay their drivers is?

[dnautics]

No, I'm suggesting that it is very reasonable that this is the true average. May not be the true median, though, given the 80-20 principle and uneven distribution of skill.

[aetherson]

Cool. Sorry if I was confrontational -- the article irritated me on the grounds of sloppy journalism and wide-eyed ingenuousness, and I took it out on you.

[dnautics]

no worries, I didn't take your comments to be confrontational at all; and the article irritated me too, which is why I'm here offering better information!

[jtbigwoo]

Is that 30-40 hours per week or over 12 weeks?

[dnautics]

30-40 hours per week over 12 weeks (I lyft full time while I'm waiting for the IRS to issue 501(c)(3) status for my nonprofit). There are weeks I've put in 45 hours. I'd say the first four weeks or so I didn't know what I was doing, so I averaged around $20/hour. More recently I've been doing $30/hour: I put in about 40 hours and make $1000 after gas and an average mechanical burden on my car.

One caveat: The lyft system has been thrashing a lot over this time period; since they have been expanding clientele, expanding drivers (not necessarily evenly), then they changed their compensation policy to have "happy hours" with discounted rates, at which time the algorithm to calculate "prime time" rates started to go really crazy, flipping between +200% to -20% over the course of 45 minutes, then they got rid of the happy hours and went straight 20% off (and tempered the prime time algorithm), then they removed their commission, then they added a $1/ride bonus...

It's been really crazy keeping up with all the changes, but what's interesting is that I've found by ignoring the part of my brain that wants to be consternated about this and pressing forward and honing my driving strategy has basically led to a reasonable income trend that is basically independent of the craziness.

[jtbigwoo]

It's interesting that Durkosh didn't say, "the average driver who works 40 hours/week makes $54,000." I wonder what the average income of those who actually try to work 40+ hours/week are.