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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.

Drive with Uber 1

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.

Need a car to drive with Uber? Try FAIR

CA drivers: Fair is the official vehicle partner for Uber and is a great option for drivers in need of an eligible rideshare vehicle. Click here to sign-up! Not a California driver? Fair has options nationwide, and you can sign up here and get $100 off the start-up fee when you use the code 'RSG100'.

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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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Full Time Uber Driver – Everything I Wish I Knew Before Starting

Harry here.  For a lot of prospective drivers, signing up to drive with Uber can be a big step.  And if you’re looking to do it full time, there’s even more pressure.  So today, senior RSG contributor Christian Perea shares everything he would have done differently if he had a second chance to become a full time rideshare driver again.

In 2014, I quit my job to become a full-time driver for Lyft and Uber. Since then, I’ve spent 2 years fully immersed in the sharing economy, giving over 6,000 rides to passengers in my car across 3 different cities in California. Obviously, a lot has changed in 3 years of Uber driving, but it seems like there are still a lot of questions and confusion associated with “getting started” as a driver.

I never thought becoming a full-time ride-hail driver would be as easy as Uber or Lyft advertised. In fact, I knew it would require all of the tedious bits of running a small business, and I was pretty sure that rates were going down in the long run.

So although I figured it would be tough, I had also always wanted to run my own business. Even if it was small. I really love cars, driving, and meeting strangers so when you combine those three things, you can see why I was so willing to take the leap in 2014.

So here’s what I would do differently if I started today…

After several years of driving, Christian shares what he would have done differently before becoming a full time Uber and Lyft driver.

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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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