Can we fix Uber???

If anyone who uses Uber reads this, I would like to know how the system works in your country.

From my side its time to talk about the issues that are crippling drivers in my country.

Let me start off by saying that I am from South Africa, and that many systems tend to get an ‘african interpretation’ while this spirited approach is often quaint, it is also often a ‘damaged’ interpretation.

I would like to outline 5 key issues affecting Uber in our country which is highly damaging to the system, to the point of extortion, I would like to compare this with opinions from people using the system elsewhere.

Without further ado, here are the issues quite literally tearing this fantastic system apart, turning empowered drivers into fatigued, despondent, exploited workhorses.

1. Data Cost Support – probably the most trivial item on this list.
   • Uber used to assist drivers with a weekly/monthly stipend to assist with data/airtime costs.
   • This assists the system by handling a petty cost inherit in the business of online navigation.
   • It enables drivers to be more available to call passengers, allowing for a smooth meet up, and ultimately a better service.
2. Benefits
   • Drivers aren’t deemed as employees, so they aren’t entitled to cover or benefits, this includes the following:
   i. No cover for damages to the vehicle while on the job.
   ii. No cover for injury as a result of the job
   iii. No paid annual leave
3. Minimum Driver Percentage
   • Uber’s unwillingness to ‘get involved’ and state a policy on minimum driver percentage may work in the lovely first world countries of the world, but South of Africa, that leaves the door wide open for exploitation. In my city drivers often don’t have vehicles, they end up having ‘closed door negotiations’ with car owners, the end result often being a take home of 20-30% of the trip fare. Please note that in some cases drivers may also still be required to pay for fuel from this measly slice.
4. No policy on numbers of vehicles per owner/platform
   • One of the things that was so excellent with Uber is that it created the opportunity for people with few options to get a job, no actually a business that they are in control of and grow. However as time has gone on there is something of an ‘elite class’ of perhaps former drivers who are now bosses, or business class who now own several vehicles.
5. Uber’s cut moving in the wrong direction.
   • On top of everything, and Ubers unprecedented success, in addition to having a ‘very asset light’ model resulting in literally ‘billions of dollars sitting in a bank’; they calculated that they required a 5% change in the cut they take per trip. Main issue here, wrong direction, they increased the cut from 20 to 25%. In the context of every item in this list this is utterly dastardly. They should certainly have moved that cut down 5% to 15%.

CONCLUSION
Uber is an incredible system, but it is also a branding master stroke. It quite quickly became synonymous with innovation, disruption, best in class service and professionalism.
However whether it be internationally or as I suspect, mostly locally, the system is fast degrading.

We have fatigued, trapped, and disillusioned drivers working 6 day weeks, no benefits, no leave, often shovelling between 60 and 80% to a third party ‘shadow figure’ manager, who no doubt has another job, several vehicles or both; please remember that Uber first takes its 25% cut. Please recall that some drivers also have to ‘pour’ their own petrol, they may not receive support from the car owner for petrol consumed. Please realise that many of these people may have been unemployed or unempowered before Uber.
What Uber did for my city is created not only 5000 new jobs, but specifically empowered people to be able to have control of their earnings, and be able to shape the business for themselves.
Where it all goes wrong is that many unempowered people, who heard of the opportunity and may not have a vehicle, but otherwise are perfectly qualified to serve in the ‘driver role’ heard about this opportunity, and desperately sought a means to unlock an income stream. I have heard many tales about people leaving awful jobs, and often leaving unemployment, for the proud chance to become a part of something bigger than themselves. But Ubers policies have left these people increasingly at the mercy of greedy middlemen negotiators who set the harshest of terms.

I want to emphasise that I estimate of these often ‘later starters’ now appear to comprise a large portion of the total drivers, perhaps 6 or 7 out of 10.

The end result is that for every 100 units of currency I spend in an Uber driven by one of these downtrodden dishevelled drivers, I am handing around 22.5 units to the driver and middle men and Uber are taking the rest.
In the rarer situation where the driver happily owns his own vehicle, the driver takes fully 75 units per hundred.
Just a bonus point, Id like to mention that in my city, Uber drivers are preyed upon by ‘metre taxi’ association drivers who, unwilling to change or give up their jobs, now resort to violence against Uber drivers who ‘dare to cut into their market’ despite international research finding that in general the presence of Uber in a market has negligible effect on earnings of traditional ‘metre taxi’ drivers. This violence has gotten as bad as drivers cars damaged, mirrors knocked off, smashed windscreens, more recently escalated to stabbings, shootings, and burning of vehicles which has resulted in loss of life of Uber drivers.
Can we please have some conversation about this, I would love to hear if anyone knows more about Uber policy decisions in their countries and internationally.
I heard there was a court case underway in London trying to compel Uber to recognise drivers as employees so that they could get associated benefits.

What unique challenges do Uber drivers face in your city?