HopSkipDrive Investing $1M in Bonuses for Drivers

HopSkipDrive just announced the launch of their Back to School Bonuses program for drivers, called CareDrivers, on their platform. They will invest $1M into the program, designed to give CareDrivers on the HopSkipDrive platform substantial earnings guarantees, extra incentives based on ride demand and loyalty rewards for helping to get children back to in-person learning this spring.

If this sounds familiar, it should! Uber also recently announced they would be investing $250 million in ‘driver stimulus’ to boost driver earnings. Although Uber’s guarantees have turned out to not be much of a guarantee since they often amount to the average ride payout (so nothing extra).

According to Indeed, HopSkipDrive drivers earn $26 per hour, although HopSkipDrive says drivers can earn up to $32 per hour. These earnings guarantees and extra incentives could seriously boost pay for qualified drivers.

HSD is a fun platform to drive for because they focus on rides for children and teens. Even though we know it often happens, minors under the age of 18 are NOT allowed to take an Uber or Lyft by themselves. And drivers could be exposing themselves to additional liability if they give rides to unaccompanied minors while driving for Uber and Lyft.

HSD aims to solve that problem by hiring drivers with childcare experience and enacting extra safety features like in person driver interviews (well Zoom during Covid) and extra security measures for the passengers/drivers to verify each trip.

As schools reopen this spring and into the fall season, and more cities and states allow children to congregate for sports, activities, and more, HopSkipDrive has seen the need for their services dramatically increase! And the nice thing about HopSkipDrive is that their peak demand times often run counter to peak demand times for Uber and Lyft.

HopSkipDrive sees peak demand during mornings, and early to mid-afternoons, typically times when children need to get to school or get home from school. Those are typically times when Uber and Lyft are least busy, making HopSkipDrive an excellent company to sign up with if you work during the day and want to stay consistently busy.

HopSkipDrive riders, often youth in foster care, youth experiencing homelessness and those with special needs, have been hit especially hard by the move to distance learning, with many studies reporting increased learning loss among those populations. The company wants to help these groups quickly return to in-person school.  The company’s mission is to create opportunity for all through mobility, and the Back to School Bonuses program reflects HopSkipDrive’s commitment to that purpose.

One of the cool things about working for them is that many of the rides you do are quite meaningful; so it’s very different than taking a bunch of 20-somethings to the bars to get plastered 🙂

HopSkipDrive VP of Marketplace Jon Hanover says, “Our country can’t get back to normal until kids get back to school, and many kids can’t get back to school without a safe ride from a CareDriver.  I’m excited to announce the Back to School Bonuses program, which will help more CareDrivers help more kids return to in-person learning.”

The company looks forward to seeing the investment in platform users lead to increased platform usage, more CareDrivers on the road and children returning to rapidly reopening schools.

To become a HopSkipDrive CareDriver, sign up here and use referral code RIDESHAREGUY.

-Paula @ RSG