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Popped my Uber Cherry today

4K views 49 replies 11 participants last post by  RandyS 
#1 ·
My first ride pinged while I was backing out of the driveway. Very close to my house and a trip out to Hobby from Pearland in the pouring rain. Over $25.00. I didn't hang at Hobby because obviously no planes were coming in and I saw on the way in that the line to the taxi staging lot was backed up into the right lane of the road.

So I headed over to West University. Picked up a Mom and her little kid for a $5 quickie ride to their apartment (I really didn't mean that to sound bad). Then picked up someone from a very difficult location to find nestled behind Kirby and Main. The address was for Kirby was the main entrance was on Main. Long trip at 4:30 PM out to the west side including driving in rush hour on 59 and Westpark Tollway. Around $20. Decided I had enough for my cherry day and headed back to home but picked up a ping from a hotel and took a plastic surgeon specializing in breasts to a party. Only $7. No tip and no invite :(

So, it wasn't bad except for the drive in the rain and minor flooding from Hobby to West University.

I had one ping cancel when it came up as me being 11 minutes away. I probably wouldn't have taken it, anyway. Didn't pick up one ping because I really, really had to stop somewhere to pee.

Not bad really, I don't think, for a first day. Subtracting out the time from Hobby over to Kirby, I spent about 3 hours driving pax.

I think I'll try the morning tomorrow, before my finger printing appointment.

My take away. OK so far except the iron bladder I developed driving between West Texas and Austin/San Antonio/Dallas for years and years is no longer iron. It's a leaky rust bucket.
 
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#3 ·
There's some apartments behind Walgreens on Kirby and Al's Formal Wear on Main. Google maps had me pull into Smashburger/Kolache factory, which doesn't connect to the apartments. I was hanging in the Walgreens parking lot when I got the ping (stopped there to pee and get a soda and snack). I can see now from looking on a map that I could have easily reached it by going behind the bank.
 
#5 ·
My first ride pinged while I was backing out of the driveway. Very close to my house and a trip out to Hobby from Pearland
That's the best way to do it for us drivers in the suburbs...get the first ping at home and go from there. I do the same in Sugar Land with most of my driving in this area and airport runs. Very seldom have to drive around midtown/downtown, just leaving that to the youngsters who live inside the loop. Also, what I do is keep track of the time/day of the week of my pings over the last couple of months and able to see the patterns when most likely to get riders (especially the airport rides). That way, I turn the app on during those higher ride time/days of the week only to be more efficient.
 
#8 ·
I'm pretty familiar with the SW part inside the Loop and then Westheimer and Westpark Tollway out to the Beltway, so I'm probably going to try to hang around there while I'm still green, and hope for a run to Hobby when I start rolling in the morning. The problem is I live in far, far west Pearland, so half my radius covers pretty much nothing. On Sunday I circled around all the way around Pearland, out to Friendswood, then back home without any pings.

Driving around searching for pings doesn't seem very efficient. I might try hanging out around 288 for a bit in the morning hoping for a fare into Houston or to Hobby to make the drive into Houston worthwhile.
 
#12 ·
Made my 'quota' before noon today. I'm only doing it for extra cash and my quota is pretty reasonable.

They have a raffle for 11PM to 3 AM tonight. One entry for each ride. Six prizes of $50.

My working theory is that not many drivers work late Thursday nights because it's dead. The other option is that it's so busy that the drivers can't keep up with demand.
 
#18 ·
LOl. Last week I was in the metro rail lane at a red light. No where to go and here came the train behind me. I've never ridden it. I just assumed it was like a regular train and took forever to stop. I thought I was done for. Then he stopped behind me and waited for the light just like I did.
 
#19 ·
Since I live in Pearland, when I go to my doc at the medical center, I park at the Fannin South Park and Ride and take the Metrorail. Stops right by the building my doctor is in. With parking it is six bucks. Minimum valet parking in the parking garage is ten bucks, not to mention you have to drive past on Main, take two rights to Fannin, and get in the forever line to get into the garage.
 
#20 ·
I had a perfect 5.0 for my first three days. Today was a 4.0. Doing the math it looks like I must have had all 4s or had a 1 and a 3 in there. The 1 was probably the fare that put her destination in two blocks away at the medical center but wanted to go to a bank. The 3, have no idea. The 3 may have been the one I drove 18 minutes from Pearland to Fresno to pock up.

So, now that I'm a grizzled vet of four whole days, I'm going to start rating my pax instead of giving them all 5's. No tip is a 4. Bad pickup or drop off location gets a 3. Both bad gets a 2. Both bad and no tip for my troubles, a 1.
 
#21 ·
Oh, today was my day to encounter the road ragers. Like in the medical center where is says vehicles making turns on a green light must yield to pedestrians and the old lady in the SUV behind me is leaning on the horn, obviously not seeing the pedestrians I was waiting for. I hope she felt sufficiently stupid when/if she saw the pedestrian. Or the dude in the black mustang who thought I should pull out in front of eighteen wheelers on a service road.

Just venting.

Remember the old "Honk If You're Horny" bumper stickers. I want to get a "Honk If You're a Stupid Shit" bumper sticker.

I feel better now. This is a great place to rant.

Edit to correct the fact that my autocorrect changes shit to Shia. They should fix that. Apologies to any Shiites. Shia LaBeouf? Whatever.
 
#22 ·
I've changed my rating system as well. I don't care how big an ass you are. If you tip your a 5. If it's an enjoyable ride for me, no tip, your a 4 unless she has long legs and a big butt, she's a 5. If I have to wait 4 minutes and no tip. That's a 1. Anything thing in between is disgressionary.
 
#23 ·
I was wondered if the presumed three I received was from the short skirt and boots lady who flashed me some thigh when she was getting out of the car causing me to smile.

I know I'm a newb, but I'm catching on. I think the "no tip, no five" policy is a good idea.
 
#24 ·
I know what you're talking about. Used to deliver pizza for the pizza Hut on Holcombe and main in the med center.

FYI there are lots of places in houston where the address and the entrance are on different streets. It's common in townhouses. There's some apartments in midtown where the address is 2350 Bagby but it's like 16 buildings and half of them don't even touch Bagby. Plus the office isn't on Bagby either. Makes no sense.

Then there are apartments that cover a long block but have 5 or 6 addresses and one entrance (to drive in). Camden midtown around 2400 Milam and 2400 Louisiana is like that. It always confuses new drivers.

Did you keep track of your miles and figure out what you really made? What is your estimate on your cost per mile?
I used to live in some apartments on Holly Hall just like that. Two entrances and street five addresses. Even the city couldn't figure it out when I tried to get my water connected.

My first three days I figured $22 per hour after Uber's cut and deducting 57 cents per mile. Mostly from juicy trips to Hobby. Didn't make that much per hour today.

I've found, I think, my hunting grounds where I get a lot of pings. I'm not going to sweat the dph. I'm doing this for extra cash, not for basic survival.
 
#26 ·
The city should have called a pizza delivery driver. I used to deliver there. We had to figure it out real quick. And it's not just THOSE apartments in that area. There are others with the same setup. Plus trying to find the building. They all have different ways of numbering the apartments.

Uber is easier in that regard. Just go close to the ping. Cancel in 5 mins. If they want you to get to them they should put the pin at the entrance they want you and be there or call with gate code/ directions/ whatever.
 
#25 ·
I've quit driving to honey holes. I go where The Uber takes me and find the first parking lot I can find. Hopefully with a bathroom nearby. I decided to start at IAH tonight, but that might have been a mistake as the are 4700 Uber x here and The guy next to me has been here 2 hours. Might head to the heights.
 
#27 ·
For real.

Picked up a dude recovering from a workers comp injury. Took him to the store to buy groceries. He asked to wait five minutes, but it was more like twenty. Took him home and he asked if I was available to take him "about twenty miles" to take care of something. "Twenty miles" was more like, thirty. Waited while he "took care of something." Drove him back. When we got to his place, his wife called and needed something else from the store, so I took him to the store.

Sure beats driving drunks around Houston on Friday night.

I called it an evening after this. My cut is something like $78. I had just filled up with gas and reset the trip computer. I used a bit over two gallons based on the mpg (31).

He didn't tip, but I gave him five stars anyway due to the enrichment factor. His rating was a 4.9.

I'll fondly reflect upon this in the future while grinding out $7 trips for people who don't know where they are or where they are going.

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#28 · (Edited)
For real.

Picked up a dude recovering from a workers comp injury. Took him to the store to buy groceries. He asked to wait five minutes, but it was more like twenty. Took him home and he asked if I was available to take him "about twenty miles" to take care of something. "Twenty miles" was more like, thirty. Waited while he "took care of something." Drove him back. When we got to his place, his wife called and needed something else from the store, so I took him to the store.

Sure beats driving drunks around Houston on Friday night.

I called it an evening after this. My cut is something like $78. I had just filled up with gas and reset the trip computer. I used a bit over two gallons based on the mpg (31).

He didn't tip, but I gave him five stars anyway due to the enrichment factor. His rating was a 4.9.

I'll fondly reflect upon this in the future while grinding out $7 trips for people who don't know where they are or where they are going.

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As per your advise, I came to check out this thread and your screenshot. So, you had a rare long fare. When I see that, I'm saddened, because I think about how much it would have amounted to under the old rates. My first big fare was around the same total, except it only took me 45 minutes.

If the rates were double what they currently are now, I'd "take anything I get" all day long. But since they're not, I find any excuse not to log on to Uber and drive because it's mostly (99% of the time) a waste of my time. I'll let other drivers run their cars into the ground and when they're gone I'll be driving more, and more efficiently. Then Uber might actually realize stupid low rates and stupid low rates, and raise them. I'm not going to play Uber's rigged-against-me game. I'm just not that stupid.
 
#29 ·
I turned on the Partner app a few moments ago just for grins to see if there were any surges or high demand at 1 am. I almost immediately got a ping. The odd thing was that I live south of the Beltway and the ping from inside the Loop. It said twelve minutes away. Being that I was in my boxers and had downed a few Shiners, I gave it a pass.
 
#31 ·
Mine was 5 for the last week. 4.5 today off 8 trips. It was 4.25 at one point. I figure 6 rated with 4 giving me a 5 and either 2 giving me a 4 or maybe 5 5s and a 3. I took someone a mile down scott street to the subway (3704 scott?) and told them I wouldn't wait while they ate so I could drive them the mile back. I'm guessing that didn't go over well.

Go figure.
 
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