Who Provides Better Service In Memphis: Uber Or Lyft?

Memphis in May is a profitable time for ride-hailing drivers
Studies prove ride-hailing isn't always profitable
Local driver says yous "have to practice the math"

This calendar month has been Memphis in mayhem for Justin Benjamin, only that's OK. It's a nonviolent sort of commotion, more a nonstop burst of profitable activity.

Benjamin, a Midtown resident who works in administration by day, drives Uber by night. And weekend nights this month, thanks to Memphis in May, have been pure golden.

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"I'm not a person who drives all day," Benjamin said in justifying the small, relatively speaking, cash he generated during terminal weekend's Beale Street Music Festival. "I averaged five to six hours (driving) each solar day, and I pulled in $590."

Memphis in May represents prime time for local drivers of ride-hailing services such as Uber.

I of his customers, he noted, was also an Uber driver, and Benjamin said that person earned more than $900 for the weekend.

Memphis in May weekends represent a best-case scenario for drivers of ride-hailing services such every bit Uber and Lyft: A large pool of potential customers who are either from out-of-town and don't know where they're going, or locals who have been partying and don't want to take chances driving.

Studies have shown driving for ride-hailing services isn't always a cash bonanza. A report past Buzzfeed found the profits in some cases are modest, with drivers immigration non much more than they'd make as a service worker after expenses are calculated.

But when it works, it can work marvelously.

"(The profit) has gone downwardly some the past couple of years because of changes in company policy," Benjamin said, "just it's still good money just because of the volume of rides. May is the best earning month in Memphis."

Surge pricing, or higher rates during peak usage periods, can also help put drivers "over the top," Benjamin said.

Benjamin, 35, won't bulldoze during the World Championship Charcoal-broil Cooking Competition May 16-19 because he is on a squad participating in the competition. Otherwise, he expects each weekend this month to go a long mode toward supplementing his full-time income.

"During the Music Fest, in that location were a lot of people making their way downtown from out east as the bigger acts started going on," he said. "Then you get really heavy traffic going back due east later on."

He said he typically gets a mix of customers during the 3 years he'south driven on Memphis in May weekends.

"I had 3 people from Arkansas (last weekend) who were staying in Millington and didn't know the area," Benjamin said. "And there are a lot of locals who alive out eastward and have been drinking."

More:Memphis airport extending fee on Uber, Lyft rides

The Buzzfeed written report analyzed data from Uber drivers in three specific urban markets — Denver, Detroit and Houston. They institute that after expenses — including a booking fee taken by Uber for each ride — drivers earned on average about $xiii.17 per hour in Denver, about $10.75 per hr in Houston and only about $eight.77 an hour in Detroit.

"I like the chore," Steve Rogers, a commuter in Detroit, told Buzzfeed, "but financially, it'southward not doing it for me."

In a split study, writer John McDermott became an Uber commuter to see how much he could brand. He concluded there was no fashion an Uber driver could even brand minimum wage later on expenses. Of form, he was driving in Los Angeles.

In the instance of the Buzzfeed report, Buzzfeed admitted its survey included many assumptions about costs that don't employ to all drivers, and that some more experienced drivers who managed expenses advisedly could exercise better, even in those tough markets it studied.

Benjamin agreed.

"You definitely have to take all the factors into consideration," he said. "I drive a Ford Fusion that gets 26-28 miles per gallon, and I'm on an insurance policy with my dad, so insurance is depression. So it works for me, simply you lot just have to do the math. For some people, it'southward not really a good idea."

Who Provides Better Service In Memphis: Uber Or Lyft?,

Source: https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2018/05/08/memphis-may-profitable-time-year-drivers-ride-sharing-services-such-uber-and-lyft/587941002/

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