Gas prices recently hit a record-breaking high this year, and it’s causing trouble in the driver industry. Gas prices are causing uber drivers to quit rapidly, as they aren’t making enough profit anymore to do their job while still making money. In New Jersey, the aver- age cost for regular gas is just above $4.
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he would ban all imports on Russian oil, gas and energy, and that accounts for around 8% of the US oil. This is causing gas prices to rise dramatically and quickly. Gas prices broke the original record held in 2008, now being the highest they have ever been.
Adam Potash, a driver working in California began working a side job six months prior to the recent rapid rise in gas and was forced to take a step back. Living in San Francisco, the average cost of gas was $5.77 a gallon. Adam says that “It hurts, I don’t have money coming in.’’ Adam cut back his driving hours from 45 hours each week, to 20. Drivers across the country are suffering, and are no longer benefitting from the extra work and hours that the job requires.
On Wednesday March 23rd, Uber began to charge an extra 45-55 cents for gas that goes directly to the driver, not the company to aid gas expenses. This was placed to ensure that those who are in need of a ride, can have one available. Uber eats also adds a 60 cent surcharge for gas, along with uber. This is in place to soften the burden of these tough and extreme prices, as everyone is feeling pain at the gas pump, including uber drivers.
Uber says that these fees will be temporary, and will only last around 1-2 months when gas prices will begin to drop. Uber also plans to charge more for certain trips, for example a longer trip would cost more, and depending on the state you live in. This applies to everywhere in America but New York City, be- cause workers already received a 5.3% raise.
They also state that the company is trying to encourage the amount of electric vehicles be- ing used, so that way drivers can still make profit without having to pay extra fees for the cost of driving around customers. Drivers can make as much as $4,000 more switching to an electronic vehicle. “We are seizing this moment to bolster our efforts to help more drivers make the switch to electric vehicles,” states Winship.
The company will continue to monitor prices as weeks pass, and stay on top of the prices and evaluate as time goes on to deter- mine if the extra fees will stay in place or not. The head of driver operations for US and Canada, Liza Winship says that “[we] know that prices have been going up across the economy, so we’ve done our best to help drivers and couriers without placing too much additional burden on consumers.”
