[Andy973]

Hello.
After 14 years in limo/car service business, I'm quitting it.
Just doesn't make any sense any more.
Tried doing some X/XL (with OL plates SUV) as an experiment and figure, to make some sense of X work, one has to have used Prius or similar vehicle.
Looks like there are about 15-20 hours per week in North East NJ when one can actually make money on X, but have to deal with intoxicated hippies ))
So I need means of transportation also suitable for UberX rides while I'm getting ready for real work.
I have some very old IT experience, started renewing/updating my knowledge and expect to pass few IT certifications within 1 year.

1.
Why Prius (used obviously)?
Cheap car per month and, most importantly, cheap car per mile + green discount on NYC crossings.
- What Prius to take: Prius, C, V, Prime? (Don't care about passenger's convenience, just savings and longevity without big repairs.)
- What to check in Prius? (I know a lot about S-class, LS, Suburban and Expedition types, but nothing about hybrids)
- Is there something special about battery, has to be replaced after some time/miles and very pricey?
- How to not get screwed with Prius?
(Is there a better car cheap per month/mile + green discount on NYC crossings?)
Any practical input will be appreciated.

2.
Signed up with Lyft to test the waters.
No Lux/LuxSUV work.
Premier is rare and doesn't pay if you have OL plates - just covers cost of equipment at best, no money left.
Lyft pays about $3.70 per minimum cheap trip and has less work vs cheap Uber.
The only positive thing I've noticed: unlimited FD rides, but doesn't help much because almost never gets me a trip in needed direction.
What is the deal with Lyft, why people doing it, am I missing something?

3.
Rideshare insurance?
Good company?
Agent who sells Rideshare insurance in 10 miles radius from Rutherford NJ 07070?

Thanks.

----
Many of you must be curious about some details of doing Black Car work.

Back in 2004 I've started as a limo driver, in 2006 bought a small limo company, managed to grow it a little over the years, had few drivers working. Wasn't bad.
Now, that the industry is destroyed by Uber, no money left there.
Looks like only lazy didn't buy a Suburban/Expedition type and put it on TLC or OL plates.
Black Cars are everywhere and very little work to go among them.
Even if you get work on Uber, it pays little.
Yes, it doesn't pay do do Uber Black unless you get enough connected (no unpaid miles) trips to get at least $400 in 12 hours, IMHO.
You might believe it's a good pay, but it's nothing if you look at it as a business and count your expenses.

For last year my average cost of operation was about $1200 per week.
Count for yourself mandatory 60 work hours per week, here comes $20 per hour cost of operation. You must get at least another $25/hour for yourself - self employment taxes are higher and why else take this risk?
It includes cost of car, insurance, licensing, average gas, repairs and cost of running a corporation.
I haven't had a moving violations since 2006, my SUV was 2 years old and I'm sharing cost of corporation with one more person. I have secondary NYC TLC licenses for me and my SUV, during rush hours I'm not standing in traffic coming back, I'm working in NYC. And I know what I'm doing.

I don't know how actual Uber Black Car drivers making it.
I've seen them sleeping in their SUVs.
Even if they managed to solicit some of Uber customers to work directly, those people don't pay high dollar.

I still have average of $3200 per month of my own well paying work, but it doesn't even cover cost of operation anymore and making ends meet gets harder and harder.

Since Uber came to our shores, things get gradually harder every year.
I can't anymore reasonably expect to advertise, grow business, keep customers and retire from this operation.

I know for sure that next year will be harder.
I don't want to sleep in the car.
I want to have some sort of life.

I'm not too old, so I figure, if I start working at McDonalds or Walmart today, in 5 years I will be supervisor or better with some job security and 401K.
If I stay in current line of work, I'm very likely to file for bankruptcy in less than 5 years.
Fortunately, I can do better than McDonalds or Walmart...

Best of luck to all of you.
Don't waste your life while enabling modern form of slavery.

----
I strongly believe that in less than 10 years we will pop up champagne to Uber bankruptcy.
Self driving cars are coming to the market, but Uber is not in top 5 in development of that technology. Self driving cars are likely to become reality few years after Elon Musk and Google set their own nets of satellites in low orbit and improve mapping/positioning.

Once Tesla/Toyota/GM/Ford have self driving vehicles, who gonna need Uber? If they can make cars drive from any point to any point safely, what is purpose for Uber?

For how many hours per week a commuter needs a car? What about a housewife? Automakers will sell local, regional, nationwide and global time share plans for peak/off peak/any hours probably in less than 10 years. Different plans for different vehicle classes.
I assume each automaker will have only 5-6 general population models for time shares: small sedan, medium sedan, executive sedan, minivan, medium crossover, large SUV. Plus some vans and trucks for businesses.
For tourists there will be fleets of taxis provided by the same automakers.
In the morning rush a car will drive someone from Saddle River to East 57 St and than go stand in taxi lane at LGA.
If automakers already have self driving cars and facilities to maintain/clean them, what is the purpose of a middle man?

 

[KarmaKool]

Hello.
After 14 years in limo/car service business, I'm quitting it.
Just doesn't make any sense any more.
Tried doing some X/XL (with OL plates SUV) as an experiment and figure, to make some sense of X work, one has to have used Prius or similar vehicle.
Looks like there are about 15-20 hours per week in North East NJ when one can actually make money on X, but have to deal with intoxicated hippies ))
So I need means of transportation also suitable for UberX rides while I'm getting ready for real work.
I have some very old IT experience, started renewing/updating my knowledge and expect to pass few IT certifications within 1 year.

1.
Why Prius (used obviously)?
Cheap car per month and, most importantly, cheap car per mile + green discount on NYC crossings.
- What Prius to take: Prius, C, V, Prime? (Don't care about passenger's convenience, just savings and longevity without big repairs.)
- What to check in Prius? (I know a lot about S-class, LS, Suburban and Expedition types, but nothing about hybrids)
- Is there something special about battery, has to be replaced after some time/miles and very pricey?
- How to not get screwed with Prius?
(Is there a better car cheap per month/mile + green discount on NYC crossings?)
Any practical input will be appreciated.

2.
Signed up with Lyft to test the waters.
No Lux/LuxSUV work.
Premier is rare and doesn't pay if you have OL plates - just covers cost of equipment at best, no money left.
Lyft pays about $3.70 per minimum cheap trip and has less work vs cheap Uber.
The only positive thing I've noticed: unlimited FD rides, but doesn't help much because almost never gets me a trip in needed direction.
What is the deal with Lyft, why people doing it, am I missing something?

3.
Rideshare insurance?
Good company?
Agent who sells Rideshare insurance in 10 miles radius from Rutherford NJ 07070?

Thanks.

----
Many of you must be curious about some details of doing Black Car work.

Back in 2004 I've started as a limo driver, in 2006 bought a small limo company, managed to grow it a little over the years, had few drivers working. Wasn't bad.
Now, that the industry is destroyed by Uber, no money left there.
Looks like only lazy didn't buy a Suburban/Expedition type and put it on TLC or OL plates.
Black Cars are everywhere and very little work to go among them.
Even if you get work on Uber, it pays little.
Yes, it doesn't pay do do Uber Black unless you get enough connected (no unpaid miles) trips to get at least $400 in 12 hours, IMHO.
You might believe it's a good pay, but it's nothing if you look at it as a business and count your expenses.

For last year my average cost of operation was about $1200 per week.
Count for yourself mandatory 60 work hours per week, here comes $20 per hour cost of operation. You must get at least another $25/hour for yourself - self employment taxes are higher and why else take this risk?
It includes cost of car, insurance, licensing, average gas, repairs and cost of running a corporation.
I haven't had a moving violations since 2006, my SUV was 2 years old and I'm sharing cost of corporation with one more person. I have secondary NYC TLC licenses for me and my SUV, during rush hours I'm not standing in traffic coming back, I'm working in NYC. And I know what I'm doing.

I don't know how actual Uber Black Car drivers making it.
I've seen them sleeping in their SUVs.
Even if they managed to solicit some of Uber customers to work directly, those people don't pay high dollar.

I still have average of $3200 per month of my own well paying work, but it doesn't even cover cost of operation anymore and making ends meet gets harder and harder.

Since Uber came to our shores, things get gradually harder every year.
I can't anymore reasonably expect to advertise, grow business, keep customers and retire from this operation.

I know for sure that next year will be harder.
I don't want to sleep in the car.
I want to have some sort of life.

I'm not too old, so I figure, if I start working at McDonalds or Walmart today, in 5 years I will be supervisor or better with some job security and 401K.
If I stay in current line of work, I'm very likely to file for bankruptcy in less than 5 years.
Fortunately, I can do better than McDonalds or Walmart...

Best of luck to all of you.
Don't waste your life while enabling modern form of slavery.

----
I strongly believe that in less than 10 years we will pop up champagne to Uber bankruptcy.
Self driving cars are coming to the market, but Uber is not in top 5 in development of that technology. Self driving cars are likely to become reality few years after Elon Musk and Google set their own nets of satellites in low orbit and improve mapping/positioning.

Once Tesla/Toyota/GM/Ford have self driving vehicles, who gonna need Uber? If they can make cars drive from any point to any point safely, what is purpose for Uber?

For how many hours per week a commuter needs a car? What about a housewife? Automakers will sell local, regional, nationwide and global time share plans for peak/off peak/any hours probably in less than 10 years. Different plans for different vehicle classes.
I assume each automaker will have only 5-6 general population models for time shares: small sedan, medium sedan, executive sedan, minivan, medium crossover, large SUV. Plus some vans and trucks for businesses.
For tourists there will be fleets of taxis provided by the same automakers.
In the morning rush a car will drive someone from Saddle River to East 57 St and than go stand in taxi lane at LGA.
If automakers already have self driving cars and facilities to maintain/clean them, what is the purpose of a middle man?

Geico is the best Rideshare Commercial ins co.
The only thing I know about Prius is the battery cost about $5000.....
You will have some big, and tall passengers. Some barely fit into my Scion....

 

[1974toyota]

Hello.
After 14 years in limo/car service business, I'm quitting it.
Just doesn't make any sense any more.
Tried doing some X/XL (with OL plates SUV) as an experiment and figure, to make some sense of X work, one has to have used Prius or similar vehicle.
Looks like there are about 15-20 hours per week in North East NJ when one can actually make money on X, but have to deal with intoxicated hippies ))
So I need means of transportation also suitable for UberX rides while I'm getting ready for real work.
I have some very old IT experience, started renewing/updating my knowledge and expect to pass few IT certifications within 1 year.

1.
Why Prius (used obviously)?
Cheap car per month and, most importantly, cheap car per mile + green discount on NYC crossings.
- What Prius to take: Prius, C, V, Prime? (Don't care about passenger's convenience, just savings and longevity without big repairs.)
- What to check in Prius? (I know a lot about S-class, LS, Suburban and Expedition types, but nothing about hybrids)
- Is there something special about battery, has to be replaced after some time/miles and very pricey?
- How to not get screwed with Prius?
(Is there a better car cheap per month/mile + green discount on NYC crossings?)
Any practical input will be appreciated.

2.
Signed up with Lyft to test the waters.
No Lux/LuxSUV work.
Premier is rare and doesn't pay if you have OL plates - just covers cost of equipment at best, no money left.
Lyft pays about $3.70 per minimum cheap trip and has less work vs cheap Uber.
The only positive thing I've noticed: unlimited FD rides, but doesn't help much because almost never gets me a trip in needed direction.
What is the deal with Lyft, why people doing it, am I missing something?

3.
Rideshare insurance?
Good company?
Agent who sells Rideshare insurance in 10 miles radius from Rutherford NJ 07070?

Thanks.

----
Many of you must be curious about some details of doing Black Car work.

Back in 2004 I've started as a limo driver, in 2006 bought a small limo company, managed to grow it a little over the years, had few drivers working. Wasn't bad.
Now, that the industry is destroyed by Uber, no money left there.
Looks like only lazy didn't buy a Suburban/Expedition type and put it on TLC or OL plates.
Black Cars are everywhere and very little work to go among them.
Even if you get work on Uber, it pays little.
Yes, it doesn't pay do do Uber Black unless you get enough connected (no unpaid miles) trips to get at least $400 in 12 hours, IMHO.
You might believe it's a good pay, but it's nothing if you look at it as a business and count your expenses.

For last year my average cost of operation was about $1200 per week.
Count for yourself mandatory 60 work hours per week, here comes $20 per hour cost of operation. You must get at least another $25/hour for yourself - self employment taxes are higher and why else take this risk?
It includes cost of car, insurance, licensing, average gas, repairs and cost of running a corporation.
I haven't had a moving violations since 2006, my SUV was 2 years old and I'm sharing cost of corporation with one more person. I have secondary NYC TLC licenses for me and my SUV, during rush hours I'm not standing in traffic coming back, I'm working in NYC. And I know what I'm doing.

I don't know how actual Uber Black Car drivers making it.
I've seen them sleeping in their SUVs.
Even if they managed to solicit some of Uber customers to work directly, those people don't pay high dollar.

I still have average of $3200 per month of my own well paying work, but it doesn't even cover cost of operation anymore and making ends meet gets harder and harder.

Since Uber came to our shores, things get gradually harder every year.
I can't anymore reasonably expect to advertise, grow business, keep customers and retire from this operation.

I know for sure that next year will be harder.
I don't want to sleep in the car.
I want to have some sort of life.

I'm not too old, so I figure, if I start working at McDonalds or Walmart today, in 5 years I will be supervisor or better with some job security and 401K.
If I stay in current line of work, I'm very likely to file for bankruptcy in less than 5 years.
Fortunately, I can do better than McDonalds or Walmart...

Best of luck to all of you.
Don't waste your life while enabling modern form of slavery.

----
I strongly believe that in less than 10 years we will pop up champagne to Uber bankruptcy.
Self driving cars are coming to the market, but Uber is not in top 5 in development of that technology. Self driving cars are likely to become reality few years after Elon Musk and Google set their own nets of satellites in low orbit and improve mapping/positioning.

Once Tesla/Toyota/GM/Ford have self driving vehicles, who gonna need Uber? If they can make cars drive from any point to any point safely, what is purpose for Uber?

For how many hours per week a commuter needs a car? What about a housewife? Automakers will sell local, regional, nationwide and global time share plans for peak/off peak/any hours probably in less than 10 years. Different plans for different vehicle classes.
I assume each automaker will have only 5-6 general population models for time shares: small sedan, medium sedan, executive sedan, minivan, medium crossover, large SUV. Plus some vans and trucks for businesses.
For tourists there will be fleets of taxis provided by the same automakers.
In the morning rush a car will drive someone from Saddle River to East 57 St and than go stand in taxi lane at LGA.
If automakers already have self driving cars and facilities to maintain/clean them, what is the purpose of a middle man?

good post, good info, great questions,JMO

 

[Older Chauffeur]

Geico is the best Rideshare Commercial ins co.
The only thing I know about Prius is the battery cost about $5000.....
You will have some big, and tall passengers. Some barely fit into my Scion....

The Prius battery is designed so that individual cells can be replaced. The entire pack can be replaced for around $3000,
less by shopping around for a used pack from a wrecked car. Depending on where you live, the traction battery is warranted for as long as ten years or 150,000 miles. They easily last 300,000 miles, and I know of one owner who put nearly 500,000 on one before trading in for another Prius. The Prius hatchback has adequate rear seat legroom, almost as much as my Lexus LS. Taxi and limo services use them here in the LA area.

 

[Slim Pete]

There are a lot more complexities to self-driving cars than most people are aware of. No point starting another rant about it again here in this thread, but for self-driving cars to go mainstream, it's going to take a lot longer than 10 years.

 

[Andy973]

There are a lot more complexities to self-driving cars than most people are aware of. No point starting another rant about it again here in this thread, but for self-driving cars to go mainstream, it's going to take a lot longer than 10 years.
------

I can see why you believe it.
Take into account geometric progression of technology.
When I've bought a small limo/car service company, there was no smartphones and it looked like a salad investment.
Now everyone has a smartphone and those devises put me out of 80% of business.
The way I see it, if next 10 years first world countries will avoid big wars and disasters, technology will be at the level we simply can't imagine today.
Colonization of Mars is not sci fi anymore. It's the news with known flight launch date...
Will see.

 

[Texie Driver]

Geico is the best Rideshare Commercial ins co.
....

Here is a catch for Geico.

"In general, any vehicle you do not own..."

My vehicle is in my spouse's name. I am on registration and insurance with him. But because I am not on title, Geico underwriting would not provide me a policy for rideshare.

I went to Allstate which had no problem with me driving a car that is titled to my husband but registered to us both. The only required that his name is also on the rideshare policy.

Just FYI, YMMV and all but this was my experience. Fortunately I still have 2 other vehicles with Geico so I was able to keep my multi car, multi driver, and multi policy (homeowner's) bundle discounts in place. But if not, this could have been a bigger deal than it was.

 

[PorkRollUberAndCheese]

There are a lot more complexities to self-driving cars than most people are aware of. No point starting another rant about it again here in this thread, but for self-driving cars to go mainstream, it's going to take a lot longer than 10 years.
------

I can see why you believe it.
Take into account geometric progression of technology.
When I've bought a small limo/car service company, there was no smartphones and it looked like a salad investment.
Now everyone has a smartphone and those devises put me out of 80% of business.
The way I see it, if next 10 years first world countries will avoid big wars and disasters, technology will be at the level we simply can't imagine today.
Colonization of Mars is not sci fi anymore. It's the news with known flight launch date...
Will see.

For a personal application, 5-10 years.

For a commercial application? And all the logistics involved in maintaining a 10,000 car fleet in New Jersey? Not to mention laws?

Plus, with a personal application of self-driving cars, Uber may not be even NEEDED.

 

[Y0d4]

Geico is the best Rideshare Commercial ins co.
The only thing I know about Prius is the battery cost about $5000.....
You will have some big, and tall passengers. Some barely fit into my Scion....

Does Geico do NJ rideshare? Last I checked it didnt

 

[Michael1230nj]

Hello.
After 14 years in limo/car service business, I'm quitting it.
Just doesn't make any sense any more.
Tried doing some X/XL (with OL plates SUV) as an experiment and figure, to make some sense of X work, one has to have used Prius or similar vehicle.
Looks like there are about 15-20 hours per week in North East NJ when one can actually make money on X, but have to deal with intoxicated hippies ))
So I need means of transportation also suitable for UberX rides while I'm getting ready for real work.
I have some very old IT experience, started renewing/updating my knowledge and expect to pass few IT certifications within 1 year.

1.
Why Prius (used obviously)?
Cheap car per month and, most importantly, cheap car per mile + green discount on NYC crossings.
- What Prius to take: Prius, C, V, Prime? (Don't care about passenger's convenience, just savings and longevity without big repairs.)
- What to check in Prius? (I know a lot about S-class, LS, Suburban and Expedition types, but nothing about hybrids)
- Is there something special about battery, has to be replaced after some time/miles and very pricey?
- How to not get screwed with Prius?
(Is there a better car cheap per month/mile + green discount on NYC crossings?)
Any practical input will be appreciated.

2.
Signed up with Lyft to test the waters.
No Lux/LuxSUV work.
Premier is rare and doesn't pay if you have OL plates - just covers cost of equipment at best, no money left.
Lyft pays about $3.70 per minimum cheap trip and has less work vs cheap Uber.
The only positive thing I've noticed: unlimited FD rides, but doesn't help much because almost never gets me a trip in needed direction.
What is the deal with Lyft, why people doing it, am I missing something?

3.
Rideshare insurance?
Good company?
Agent who sells Rideshare insurance in 10 miles radius from Rutherford NJ 07070?

Thanks.

----
Many of you must be curious about some details of doing Black Car work.

Back in 2004 I've started as a limo driver, in 2006 bought a small limo company, managed to grow it a little over the years, had few drivers working. Wasn't bad.
Now, that the industry is destroyed by Uber, no money left there.
Looks like only lazy didn't buy a Suburban/Expedition type and put it on TLC or OL plates.
Black Cars are everywhere and very little work to go among them.
Even if you get work on Uber, it pays little.
Yes, it doesn't pay do do Uber Black unless you get enough connected (no unpaid miles) trips to get at least $400 in 12 hours, IMHO.
You might believe it's a good pay, but it's nothing if you look at it as a business and count your expenses.

For last year my average cost of operation was about $1200 per week.
Count for yourself mandatory 60 work hours per week, here comes $20 per hour cost of operation. You must get at least another $25/hour for yourself - self employment taxes are higher and why else take this risk?
It includes cost of car, insurance, licensing, average gas, repairs and cost of running a corporation.
I haven't had a moving violations since 2006, my SUV was 2 years old and I'm sharing cost of corporation with one more person. I have secondary NYC TLC licenses for me and my SUV, during rush hours I'm not standing in traffic coming back, I'm working in NYC. And I know what I'm doing.

I don't know how actual Uber Black Car drivers making it.
I've seen them sleeping in their SUVs.
Even if they managed to solicit some of Uber customers to work directly, those people don't pay high dollar.

I still have average of $3200 per month of my own well paying work, but it doesn't even cover cost of operation anymore and making ends meet gets harder and harder.

Since Uber came to our shores, things get gradually harder every year.
I can't anymore reasonably expect to advertise, grow business, keep customers and retire from this operation.

I know for sure that next year will be harder.
I don't want to sleep in the car.
I want to have some sort of life.

I'm not too old, so I figure, if I start working at McDonalds or Walmart today, in 5 years I will be supervisor or better with some job security and 401K.
If I stay in current line of work, I'm very likely to file for bankruptcy in less than 5 years.
Fortunately, I can do better than McDonalds or Walmart...

Best of luck to all of you.
Don't waste your life while enabling modern form of slavery.

----
I strongly believe that in less than 10 years we will pop up champagne to Uber bankruptcy.
Self driving cars are coming to the market, but Uber is not in top 5 in development of that technology. Self driving cars are likely to become reality few years after Elon Musk and Google set their own nets of satellites in low orbit and improve mapping/positioning.

Once Tesla/Toyota/GM/Ford have self driving vehicles, who gonna need Uber? If they can make cars drive from any point to any point safely, what is purpose for Uber?

For how many hours per week a commuter needs a car? What about a housewife? Automakers will sell local, regional, nationwide and global time share plans for peak/off peak/any hours probably in less than 10 years. Different plans for different vehicle classes.
I assume each automaker will have only 5-6 general population models for time shares: small sedan, medium sedan, executive sedan, minivan, medium crossover, large SUV. Plus some vans and trucks for businesses.
For tourists there will be fleets of taxis provided by the same automakers.
In the morning rush a car will drive someone from Saddle River to East 57 St and than go stand in taxi lane at LGA.
If automakers already have self driving cars and facilities to maintain/clean them, what is the purpose of a middle man?

Does this post have an Intermission? I'm thirsty.

 

[Lee239]

Geico is the best Rideshare Commercial ins co.
The only thing I know about Prius is the battery cost about $5000.....
You will have some big, and tall passengers. Some barely fit into my Scion....

And unless they improved them they were supposed to last only about 10 years of regular use.

 

[njn]

Once Tesla/Toyota/GM/Ford have self driving vehicles, who gonna need Uber?

Uber is a tech company. They are the market leader and will license their product to the fleets.

 

[Lee239]

Uber is an app, these self car manufacturers can create their own just like Lyft did if they feel there is a market for it.

 

[PorkRollUberAndCheese]

Uber is a tech company. They are the market leader and will license their product to the fleets.

THEY CANT EVEN GET THE DRIVER APP RIGHT

 

[zombieguy]

Does Geico do NJ rideshare? Last I checked it didnt

No Geico rideshare in NJ, Farmers, State Farm, Plymouth Rock, Allstate have rideshare in NJ

 

[Mr Met]

Hello.
After 14 years in limo/car service business, I'm quitting it.
Just doesn't make any sense any more.
Tried doing some X/XL (with OL plates SUV) as an experiment and figure, to make some sense of X work, one has to have used Prius or similar vehicle.
Looks like there are about 15-20 hours per week in North East NJ when one can actually make money on X, but have to deal with intoxicated hippies ))
So I need means of transportation also suitable for UberX rides while I'm getting ready for real work.
I have some very old IT experience, started renewing/updating my knowledge and expect to pass few IT certifications within 1 year.

1.
Why Prius (used obviously)?
Cheap car per month and, most importantly, cheap car per mile + green discount on NYC crossings.
- What Prius to take: Prius, C, V, Prime? (Don't care about passenger's convenience, just savings and longevity without big repairs.)
- What to check in Prius? (I know a lot about S-class, LS, Suburban and Expedition types, but nothing about hybrids)
- Is there something special about battery, has to be replaced after some time/miles and very pricey?
- How to not get screwed with Prius?
(Is there a better car cheap per month/mile + green discount on NYC crossings?)
Any practical input will be appreciated.

2.
Signed up with Lyft to test the waters.
No Lux/LuxSUV work.
Premier is rare and doesn't pay if you have OL plates - just covers cost of equipment at best, no money left.
Lyft pays about $3.70 per minimum cheap trip and has less work vs cheap Uber.
The only positive thing I've noticed: unlimited FD rides, but doesn't help much because almost never gets me a trip in needed direction.
What is the deal with Lyft, why people doing it, am I missing something?

3.
Rideshare insurance?
Good company?
Agent who sells Rideshare insurance in 10 miles radius from Rutherford NJ 07070?

Thanks.

----
Many of you must be curious about some details of doing Black Car work.

Back in 2004 I've started as a limo driver, in 2006 bought a small limo company, managed to grow it a little over the years, had few drivers working. Wasn't bad.
Now, that the industry is destroyed by Uber, no money left there.
Looks like only lazy didn't buy a Suburban/Expedition type and put it on TLC or OL plates.
Black Cars are everywhere and very little work to go among them.
Even if you get work on Uber, it pays little.
Yes, it doesn't pay do do Uber Black unless you get enough connected (no unpaid miles) trips to get at least $400 in 12 hours, IMHO.
You might believe it's a good pay, but it's nothing if you look at it as a business and count your expenses.

For last year my average cost of operation was about $1200 per week.
Count for yourself mandatory 60 work hours per week, here comes $20 per hour cost of operation. You must get at least another $25/hour for yourself - self employment taxes are higher and why else take this risk?
It includes cost of car, insurance, licensing, average gas, repairs and cost of running a corporation.
I haven't had a moving violations since 2006, my SUV was 2 years old and I'm sharing cost of corporation with one more person. I have secondary NYC TLC licenses for me and my SUV, during rush hours I'm not standing in traffic coming back, I'm working in NYC. And I know what I'm doing.

I don't know how actual Uber Black Car drivers making it.
I've seen them sleeping in their SUVs.
Even if they managed to solicit some of Uber customers to work directly, those people don't pay high dollar.

I still have average of $3200 per month of my own well paying work, but it doesn't even cover cost of operation anymore and making ends meet gets harder and harder.

Since Uber came to our shores, things get gradually harder every year.
I can't anymore reasonably expect to advertise, grow business, keep customers and retire from this operation.

I know for sure that next year will be harder.
I don't want to sleep in the car.
I want to have some sort of life.

I'm not too old, so I figure, if I start working at McDonalds or Walmart today, in 5 years I will be supervisor or better with some job security and 401K.
If I stay in current line of work, I'm very likely to file for bankruptcy in less than 5 years.
Fortunately, I can do better than McDonalds or Walmart...

Best of luck to all of you.
Don't waste your life while enabling modern form of slavery.

----
I strongly believe that in less than 10 years we will pop up champagne to Uber bankruptcy.
Self driving cars are coming to the market, but Uber is not in top 5 in development of that technology. Self driving cars are likely to become reality few years after Elon Musk and Google set their own nets of satellites in low orbit and improve mapping/positioning.

Once Tesla/Toyota/GM/Ford have self driving vehicles, who gonna need Uber? If they can make cars drive from any point to any point safely, what is purpose for Uber?

For how many hours per week a commuter needs a car? What about a housewife? Automakers will sell local, regional, nationwide and global time share plans for peak/off peak/any hours probably in less than 10 years. Different plans for different vehicle classes.
I assume each automaker will have only 5-6 general population models for time shares: small sedan, medium sedan, executive sedan, minivan, medium crossover, large SUV. Plus some vans and trucks for businesses.
For tourists there will be fleets of taxis provided by the same automakers.
In the morning rush a car will drive someone from Saddle River to East 57 St and than go stand in taxi lane at LGA.
If automakers already have self driving cars and facilities to maintain/clean them, what is the purpose of a middle man?

2008-2014 model year depending on how much you want to spend. Go for the V if you can afford it but the c is to small and will have you closer to the pax which means coughing, talking, kids kicking your seat alot, terrible smells from pax. Things that on bad days irk the crap out of you and on good ones still irritate you in a car that's just to small for the job. Especially coming from driving a limo. Make sure the car gets looked at by a mechanic you trust and expect an o2 sensor to go at some point, bought mine with a bad sensor and it held me from passing inspection till I could get it fixed. Old cars have old parts. Prius brakes also are very different from standard non regenerative brakes so keep plenty of space between you and the car in front of you. Prepare to use the brake assist alot going down hills in the rain and snow. Saved my life a few times.

 

[SuzeCB]

2008-2014 model year depending on how much you want to spend. Go for the V if you can afford it but the c is to small and will have you closer to the pax which means coughing, talking, kids kicking your seat alot, terrible smells from pax. Things that on bad days irk the crap out of you and on good ones still irritate you in a car that's just to small for the job. Especially coming from driving a limo. Make sure the car gets looked at by a mechanic you trust and expect an o2 sensor to go at some point, bought mine with a bad sensor and it held me from passing inspection till I could get it fixed. Old cars have old parts. Prius brakes also are very different from standard non regenerative brakes so keep plenty of space between you and the car in front of you. Prepare to use the brake assist alot going down hills in the rain and snow. Saved my life a few times.

I beg to differ about the 2014 C. That's what I have. When driving, I got lots of comments about how roomy it was back there, and had numerous pax that were larger get in and out with less difficulty than those the same size did when I was driving a 2016 Chevy Cruze. The Prius just LOOKS like there's no room in it from the outside. It's practically a T.A.R.D.I.S. LOL

As far as how close they are to you, it's about the same as any average car that's not a luxury model.

 

[Mr Met]

I beg to differ about the 2014 C. That's what I have. When driving, I got lots of comments about how roomy it was back there, and had numerous pax that were larger get in and out with less difficulty than those the same size did when I was driving a 2016 Chevy Cruze. The Prius just LOOKS like there's no room in it from the outside. It's practically a T.A.R.D.I.S. LOL

As far as how close they are to you, it's about the same as any average car that's not a luxury model.

I agree any prius is great for this job, the c is just a bit to small for luggage and you might have to reject a few more rides than usual. Also the larger classes especially the V are the safest of them. The c is by far the best looking of the bunch and the most gas efficient. Just don't buy one with a bad battery.

 

[1974toyota]

I agree any prius is great for this job, the c is just a bit to small for luggage and you might have to reject a few more rides than usual. Also the larger classes especially the V are the safest of them. The c is by far the best looking of the bunch and the most gas efficient. Just don't buy one with a bad battery.

if you were buying a used Prius could you actually tell if it had a bad battery, or the battery was getting weak?Thx

 

[Danny3xd]

The computer warns you of problems such as the batteries. (there is also a 12v)

And if it does, clean/replace the cooling filter! Don't ask me how I know, LoL. It's an easy and located between rear passenger door and seat.

Cab companies often get 500K out of a Prius and batts. They last better if used every day. Kept topped up.

There are some great vids on youtube on trouble shooting, cell replacement. The dealers really love to say ya need a new one. But very often there are perfectly good alternative methods.

Dealers always replace the filter after selling you a new batt...... They're good that way.

also, 2010/11's have a problem with the EGR. Causes 'em to burn oil. I much prefer my gen 3 to my gen 2. A lot peppier.


But I will never buy another kind of car. Really love the Prius. I got first one for the mileage. But turns out I just really like it as a car. Rides awesome, almost soothingly quiet and corners awesome. Has an engine over one wheel and a large motor over the other. Not a great hill climber but good in ice and snow.