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The Highs & Lows of Driving for Uber on New Year’s Eve

Is it worth it to drive on New Year’s Eve anymore? In year’s past, it has been a pretty good idea to drive on New Year’s Eve and/or the following morning, but does that recommendation still stand? We sent senior RSG contributor Jay Cradeur out to navigate NYE 2018 and report back with what he found.

In this article, I will share some of the insights gleaned from a long day and night of driving.  Driving on New Year’s Eve is supposed to be one of the best days for us, the rideshare drivers.  Is it?  Or better yet, is it still?

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Quite a few things have changed since I wrote a New Year’s Eve article last year.  Let’s dive in and see how these changes have impacted this driver’s ability to earn on New Year’s Eve.

Burnt Out Talking To Passengers? Deliver Food With Caviar!

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Make up to $25/hour. No minimum hours required, work outside, and get paid weekly. Click to Sign-up!

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What’s It Like To Be A Taxi Driver vs an Uber Driver?

The second installment of Jay drives a taxi instead of rideshare brings a summary to Jay’s entire taxi experience. How much did he make? What was the overall experience like? Senior RSG contributor Jay Cradeur answers those questions and provides his 5 takeaways to anyone interested in ditching rideshare for taxi driving.

You can read Jay’s first article on getting started as a taxi driver here.

When Harry, aka “The Rideshare Guy,” first asked me to become a taxi driver so I could share about the experience [link to taxi article, not yet published], I had no idea what I was in for.   Having less of a fear of the unknown than most, I rather blindly said, “Yes!” and undertook to secure my “A” Card and establish a relationship with Flywheel Taxi.  Then last week, I drove for five days in Flywheel Taxi #592.

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Driving For Uber in Los Angeles – Tips & Tricks I Learned

How hard could driving in a new city be if you’re a veteran rideshare driver? Senior RSG contributor Will Preston asked that question, and learned the hard way, when he drove for a weekend in Los Angeles.

This site has more than one article that talks about how driving rideshare is so much more than just turning on the app and going where it tells you to go. I’ve always known that, but it wasn’t until a few weekends ago that this fact was driven home. I live in San Diego but recently I found myself in the suburbs of Los Angeles on a Friday evening and decided to give it a whirl. I’ve got several thousand Uber and Lyft rides under my belt – and even a few dozen Bounce rides – so I know what I’m doing. Turn on the app and just go where it tells me to go; how hard can it be?

It turns out, it’s pretty hard. I underestimated the degree to which my familiarity with San Diego’s layout affected my ability to be an effective rideshare driver. I only drove for a few hours, but it didn’t take long for me to realize I just needed to set a destination filter for San Diego and head home.

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Becoming a Taxi Driver – 7 Steps To Take To Start Driving Taxi

What happens when a rideshare driver decides to drive for a taxi company instead? We put senior RSG contributor Jay Cradeur to the test and got him started on the path to taxi driving. Here, he outlines the steps necessary to become a taxi driver. In this series, we’ll follow Jay as he becomes a taxi driver (this article), begins driving for a taxi service, how much he earns vs. rideshare earnings and more.

You can read Jay’s second installment on taxi driving here.

Here at The Rideshare Guy Blog and Podcast, we are doing a little experiment.  What would it be like to be an Uber and Lyft driver for three years, and then give taxi driving a shot?  Well, we are doing it.  Harry asked and I accepted.

I have volunteered to go through the onboarding process and begin driving for Flywheel Taxi in San Francisco and report what I experience and learn.  Today we’ll look at what it takes to become a taxi driver.  I broke it down into seven steps as that is what it took for me to get the job done. Is it easier than becoming a rideshare driver? Let’s see!

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How Can a Daily Ritual Help Uber Drivers Earn More?

As drivers, it’s easy to let driving be the main and only focus – letting things like getting enough food, water, sleep and self-care fall by the wayside. After all, there are bonuses/goals/surges to chase, right? Senior RSG contributor Jay Cradeur makes the case for why establishing a daily ritual is good for drivers, and how it helps him earn more.

One thing a full time driver must contend with is the grind of the job.  Like any job, we have to get up and do the same thing day after day.  But unlike most jobs, we are not paid a regular salary.  We do not have a boss making sure we get to work on time.

We, the drivers, are the ones who instill and enforce the discipline into our life.  Without self-discipline, we won’t be successful drivers.  Without self-discipline, it is too easy to blow off a day here and a day there and before you know it, you have lost your edge.  You forget why you signed up to drive in the first place.  Priorities get lost.

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