Uber announces small increase to minimum fares. Drivers view it as an insult!

Uber on Friday 26/5/2017 announced an increase of about 16% to the cost of a minimum fare trip. Starting 9th June.

Uber also announced a new booking fee of 55 cents to be charged by Uber to all trips (whether minimum fare trips or not).

Uber claims the booking fee will not negatively impact the total amount drivers will receive, in other words Uber claims the new booking fee will be charged to the rider, on top of the gross fare costs. Then passed to Uber by the driver, minus 5 cents of GST which drivers must pass to the ATO.

We are happy to see Uber finally going in the right direction, moving “some” fare components up for a change. A welcome step but in our view and the view of many drivers we spoke to, a minuscule one.

Minimum fare trips make a very small percentage of trips in most cases. This very small minimum fare increase is not really going to make much of a difference to drivers bottom line. Most drivers we talked to view this latest Uber increase as an insult and a slap in the face.

It is the RSDU’s view that Uber has a very long way to go. Even after this small increase, base rates are still at very low unsustainable levels, leaving drivers with well below minimum take home wage. We do however welcome the new approach now taken by Uber, a direct result of our advocacy work.

The RSDU demands that Uber proceed now ASAP and move the base rates higher to make them sustainable again.

The base rates RSDU consider as sustainable in Melbourne are as follow:

Flagfall: $2.50
+Per KM: $1.45
+Per minute: $0.45

Minimum Fare: $9.00

The RSDU will continue the fight for drivers’ fair pay and working conditions until then, including our request from the Fair Work Ombudsman to intervene.

Thank you for your support,

Max,
Head of Ride Share Drives United
http://www.ridesharedriversunited.com

 

Are you driving for Uber? …what do YOU think about Uber’s recent minimum fare increase?..
Please join our Facebook group or public forum and let us know!

 

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