In the final part of its 3-months-of-changes, Uber announced its plan to paying driver faster, creating more income streams for drivers and more discounts to save on driving costs.
Faster payment
Uber will reduce the waiting time for drivers to get paid. Previously, drivers are generally paid on the preceding Thursday. With the new initiatives, Uber drivers can expect to receive their payments as early as the following Monday.
Drivers who registered a DBS account for their payment crediting can expect to receive payment by Mondays. Other bank accounts will get their earnings on Tuesday.
Making Extra Money
Uber also announced initiatives that help drivers to make more money. Drivers who use their own car and those who rent from Lion City Rental can put up advertising decal on the cars that can earn them up to $200 extra per month.
Petrol Discount
Uber is also increasing its fuel rebate by an additional 3 percent. Drivers who top up their petrol at any of the 60 listed Esso Petrol Stations can enjoy savings up to 33 percent now.
Drivers are required to achieve the number of pre-requisite trips to be eligible for the additional petrol rebate.
Part 1 and Part 2 of changes
In part 1 of changes announced in November 2017, the focus was on flexibility. Uber removed the minimum acceptance rating requirements for incentives and made destination trips count towards incentives.
Part 2 of changes focused on driver’s experience. Cleaning fee was raised to $75 for UberX and phone support went 24/7.
In January 2018, Uber also announced the fare increase on UberX, an initiative that was music to the ears of many UberX drivers. Shortly after, they announced the launch of UberFLASH, which condemn UberX to suffer the same fate as GrabCar after the launch of JustGrab.
Uber – “Not about improving earnings per hour per se”
TODAYonline interviewed Uber and asked if the latest round of initiatives were to appease the negative experience from drivers on the new UberFLASH service and how effective it would be to increase a driver’s net earnings.
Uber spokesperson stressed that the initiatives were not planned in response to the negative feedback on UberFLASH and that it was an ongoing process. He added that the latest changes were not geared towards “improving earnings per hour per se, but more about increasing a driver’s earnings experience”.
Uber Drivers not impressed
We spoke to a few of our drivers and they were all not too impressed with Uber’s latest round of changes.
Ms Jenny Lim, 35, has been driving for Uber for more than 2 years with her personal car, highlighted that these changes were nothing new. She added 3rd party advertising companies have long approached drivers to paste decal on the car in return for a fee. Many drivers do not want to participate as it translates to only a few dollars per day and has to live with an ugly advertising sticker on their car.
Mr Ang, a retired civil servant, laughed at the comments made by Uber “latest changes were not geared towards “improving earnings per hour per se, but more about increasing a driver’s earnings experience”. You mean let me ‘feel’ that I am making more money but actually I’m not?
