For those who don't know, Uber has a concept of surge pricing - this is an increase in pricing when demand for rides vs. drivers on the road exceeds certain amounts. The idea is that this pricing multiplier will serve as an incentive for more drivers to get online and service the demand. Surge pricing generally happens for one of a few reasons:
- Bad weather
- Peak times (rush hours)
- Sporting events
- Conferences / other types of special events
In this case the surge was related to rain - it had been beautiful earlier in the day, but around 8pm the skies started opening up. Jackpot for me!
I jump online, and I can see that the surge is better towards downtown, so I start driving in that direction. Pretty quickly I have a request from Dalton St - I accept, and recognize that it looks like the Back Bay Sheraton, no problem. My first hotel pick-up!
I find my rider easily, confirm her name, confirm the destination in the Financial District, and we're off. I'm a little surprised by the direction Waze takes me in, but then I figure out that we're heading for Storrow Drive and it makes sense - better than taking surface streets, if it's not busy, and that's the beauty of Waze, it knows pretty darned well if it's busy or not.
Another first on this ride, my rider is interested in chatting. She says hello, asks how things are going, and we start having a conversation. Somehow we start talking about Uber, and I admit that this is my second day on the job. We talk about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, and the rider tells me that she likes to talk to Uber drivers about their backgrounds, what they do, etc. It's a nice conversation.
We also end up talking one of my other passions - baseball. My partner and I are huge Red Sox fans, and have full-season tickets at Fenway (which we split with a few partners, because let's be honest, 81 games is a heck of a lot of baseball to go to, especially when you have a job, and now a hobby too!). It turns out my rider actually lives in Chicago and works in Boston - she commutes each week - ouch! But her family has Cubs season tickets that they share, so at least she's got Wrigley Field to go to when she's at home.
We arrive at the destination, and I wish her well - a great trip.
Trip count: 1. Trip earnings: $9.42
Back online, I start heading back towards the center of downtown Boston, and very shortly I've got another fare, this one from The Langham hotel, right nearby in the Financial District. Two hotels in one night!
I pick the rider up, confirm the destination in Cambridge, and it's off to the Mass Pike. This one is a quiet ride, rider is interested in whatever he's up to back there, so it's just me and Waze up front. The rain kicks up quite a bit and there's some near-flooding on the Mass Pike, whee. We make it safely to the destination though, and this one's a big one:
Trip count: 2. Trip earnings: $27.77 (!)
Back online, I aim towards Kendall / Boston again, since that's where the darkest surge is. It takes a few minutes, but I get a pick-up request in Harvard Square as I'm heading into that area, so back we go.
I pick a nice gentleman up, and we're heading (just barely) across the river, to the Harvard Business School. This rider is another talker, so we get to chatting a bit. He's from Budapest, and tells me about how small of a world it is that he's here taking a course, and found out that some people he knows from back in Budapest are also here in the Boston area at the same time, for totally unrelated reasons. It's a short trip and a nice conversation.
Trip count: 3. Trip earnings: $6.00
It's just after 9pm so I figure I've got a couple more trips possibly. Request comes in pretty quickly for a Harvard residence house. Well, I didn't know that's what it was then, but now I do. :)
I pull up, and thankfully there's a spot I can pull into, because the building is set back a bit so I'm going to have to wait. I don't actually have to wait long, and four students pile into my car. Destination: Target in Somerville. Confirmed and we're off.
This group is my most boisterous so far, talking to each other and to me. They start off figuring out how they're going to pay each other for the ride, debating between Uber's built in ride split vs Venmo, SnapCash, and some other things I'm not sure I've ever heard of before (in the end they all got Uber ride splitting to work - which I'm sure Uber loved because it makes them more money in fees, but alas, doesn't make me any more money).
As we're talking about fare splits, the conversation takes a markedly less-great-to-my-ears turn as one of the riders talks about the (multiple!) times she has had to pay Uber cleaning fees for puking both in and on cars. Apparently she only drinks on her birthday, "so [she doesn't] know [she doesn't] know how to hold [her] liquor" (and apparently also has amnesia just on that day, since she remembers it just fine today). I knew about the $200 interior cleaning fee but I learned there's also a $50 exterior cleaning fee if someone barfs on your car - thanks riders!
Fortunately they didn't appear to be drunk at the moment. They did, however, then segue into asking me if I know where there were "liquor stores on campus" and bars with good happy hours. I was sadly unable to help with either, not being well oriented to the Harvard scene, though I did offer the semi-random suggestions of Causeway Street near the TD Garden and the Fenway Park area for bars in Boston. I have no idea if those bars are actually good happy hour bars - kids these days.
Dear readers, do you have any better bar or Harvard liquor store suggestions for me to offer in the future? I must be a font of valuable wisdom... or something.
We made it to Target without any vomiting, thankfully, and I decided to go off the clock for the night, since I wasn't sure if my next ride would take me towards or away from home and I didn't want to stay out late. I'm old, you know!
Trip count: 4. Trip earnings: $11.61
Day 2 trip count: 4
Day 2 earnings: $58.30
Total trip count: 6
Total earnings: $67.50
Still not getting rich, but not bored yet either... :)
We arrive at the destination, and I wish her well - a great trip.
Trip count: 1. Trip earnings: $9.42
Back online, I start heading back towards the center of downtown Boston, and very shortly I've got another fare, this one from The Langham hotel, right nearby in the Financial District. Two hotels in one night!
I pick the rider up, confirm the destination in Cambridge, and it's off to the Mass Pike. This one is a quiet ride, rider is interested in whatever he's up to back there, so it's just me and Waze up front. The rain kicks up quite a bit and there's some near-flooding on the Mass Pike, whee. We make it safely to the destination though, and this one's a big one:
Trip count: 2. Trip earnings: $27.77 (!)
Back online, I aim towards Kendall / Boston again, since that's where the darkest surge is. It takes a few minutes, but I get a pick-up request in Harvard Square as I'm heading into that area, so back we go.
I pick a nice gentleman up, and we're heading (just barely) across the river, to the Harvard Business School. This rider is another talker, so we get to chatting a bit. He's from Budapest, and tells me about how small of a world it is that he's here taking a course, and found out that some people he knows from back in Budapest are also here in the Boston area at the same time, for totally unrelated reasons. It's a short trip and a nice conversation.
Trip count: 3. Trip earnings: $6.00
It's just after 9pm so I figure I've got a couple more trips possibly. Request comes in pretty quickly for a Harvard residence house. Well, I didn't know that's what it was then, but now I do. :)
I pull up, and thankfully there's a spot I can pull into, because the building is set back a bit so I'm going to have to wait. I don't actually have to wait long, and four students pile into my car. Destination: Target in Somerville. Confirmed and we're off.
This group is my most boisterous so far, talking to each other and to me. They start off figuring out how they're going to pay each other for the ride, debating between Uber's built in ride split vs Venmo, SnapCash, and some other things I'm not sure I've ever heard of before (in the end they all got Uber ride splitting to work - which I'm sure Uber loved because it makes them more money in fees, but alas, doesn't make me any more money).
As we're talking about fare splits, the conversation takes a markedly less-great-to-my-ears turn as one of the riders talks about the (multiple!) times she has had to pay Uber cleaning fees for puking both in and on cars. Apparently she only drinks on her birthday, "so [she doesn't] know [she doesn't] know how to hold [her] liquor" (and apparently also has amnesia just on that day, since she remembers it just fine today). I knew about the $200 interior cleaning fee but I learned there's also a $50 exterior cleaning fee if someone barfs on your car - thanks riders!
Fortunately they didn't appear to be drunk at the moment. They did, however, then segue into asking me if I know where there were "liquor stores on campus" and bars with good happy hours. I was sadly unable to help with either, not being well oriented to the Harvard scene, though I did offer the semi-random suggestions of Causeway Street near the TD Garden and the Fenway Park area for bars in Boston. I have no idea if those bars are actually good happy hour bars - kids these days.
Dear readers, do you have any better bar or Harvard liquor store suggestions for me to offer in the future? I must be a font of valuable wisdom... or something.
We made it to Target without any vomiting, thankfully, and I decided to go off the clock for the night, since I wasn't sure if my next ride would take me towards or away from home and I didn't want to stay out late. I'm old, you know!
Trip count: 4. Trip earnings: $11.61
Day 2 trip count: 4
Day 2 earnings: $58.30
Total trip count: 6
Total earnings: $67.50
Still not getting rich, but not bored yet either... :)
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