Uber driver says business is down in Metro Vancouver

Citing a few different reasons, one Uber driver tells CityNews he feels ridership for ride hailing services is down around Metro Vancouver this year, compared to 2022.

Erick Solis, 31, thinks the economy is a key factor — people are spending less and, in his experience, are no longer tipping. There’s also the weather. This time last year, the region was blanketed in a thick layer of ice and snow, and now, it’s balmy and raining.

“I definitely try to stay downtown, that’s generally where it’s more busy, but the level of busyness has definitely tapered off in the last few months, definitely compared to last year,” explained Solis, who said he noticed the drop-off in October.

We also know there has been a scaling-back in holiday parties this season, as companies tighten their financial belts.

“Last Christmas, I noticed that people were very generous and going out and doing Uber was quite a good gig and now it’s quite the opposite. I even had a couple of people ask me to drop them off just before their drop-off — they’d change their drop-off location to be five minutes shorter and I believe that’s also just to save money. Everyone’s just trying to save wherever they can.”

Solis has been driving for the ride-hailing service for just over a year and adds he’s spoken to other Uber drivers as well and they all report the same thing.

“Last year, the Uber fares were quite high because of the snow. It was quite a lucrative time to be out driving. Now, this year, it’s a very black and white difference,” Solis said.

He adds during his rides, people are bringing up the financial stress they’re feeling.

“The chatty people definitely bring it back to the economy very, very regularly. I would say half of my talks with my passengers are about the economy.”

This is Solis’ third job, as he tries to make ends meet living in Metro Vancouver as he admits it’s hard to get more than 20 rides during one shift.

“Twenty rides would be a 10-hour day, maybe a little bit more and now I’m struggling to even hit 20 at the 10-11-hour mark. For example, one of the nights I drove recently, I worked for 12 hours, and I only did 19 rides, so that’s quite low. Usually at the 12-hour mark, you’d be at the 23, 24, 25, 27 [mark] and the way Uber works is sometimes they have bonuses for X-amount of rides and obviously if you’re having less rides, that means you’re on the road longer to hit those same bonuses.”

He’s not sure how much longer he’ll be able to continue driving for Uber, if something doesn’t change. Right now, he says he typically drives Friday through Monday.

Uber refutes claims business is down

Uber is pushing back but would not provide any year-over-year statistics to back up its claims business is picking up.

“The last two weeks have been two of the three busiest weeks of all time on Uber in Vancouver. Not just this year, but of any year Uber has operated in Vancouver. The busiest week so far was Halloween this year. And of course, we expect NYE to be busy,” the company said in a statement to CityNews.