Uber Edgar Hits Road For His Fare Share

Edgar N. recently drove six college students from Toad’s Place to Fairfield. He earned $82 for the late-night, 26-mile ride. Uber pocketed another $49 from the same trip.

Edgar decided to wheel up to Hartford to demand that the actual laborers of the ride-share economy get a fairer share of earnings from such rides.

Edgar joined two dozen local Uber and Lyft drivers at the state Legislative Office Building in Hartford to support Senate Bill (S.B.) 989, a proposed law that would increase the proportion of dollars earned by drivers for any given ride-share ride. It would also restrict the proportion of dollars allocated to the coordinating ​“transportation network” company.

Over 100 people turned out for the the state legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee public hearing, which stretched from 11 a.m. until late Thursday night, driven mostly by hours of testimony on a proposal to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour.

A 42-year-old native of Nairobi, Kenya, and a maintenance technician who has been driving for Uber for the past four-and-a-half years, Edgar made the early-morning commute from his Ninth Square apartment to the state Capitol to show his support for the proposed driver rights legislation.

“I ask myself,” Edgar asked, ​“Who did most of the work?” The drivers charged with ferrying passengers safely and comfortably from one spot to another, in vehicles where they have to cover their own gas and car insurance and upkeep? Or the company that provides the software that connects Edgar with his passengers?

The key provision of the proposed bill would require Uber, Lyft, and other on-demand ride share services to pay their drivers at least 75 percent of the amount collected from passengers on any given completed ride. It would also restrict the companies’ own share to no more than 25 percent of the total amount of money collected by one of their drivers on a given day.

Uber and Lyft do not employ drivers as full-time workers. Instead, drivers work as independent contractors, exempt from state minimum wage and federal labor protection laws.

In Connecticut, Uber drivers earn between 60 and 69 cents per mile and 20 cents per minute.

Harry Hartfield, a spokesperson for Uber, reiterated that the company does not currently function on a commission model. Rather, Uber pays its drivers a set rate based on time and distance, and does not correlate the price paid by the customer with the wages paid to the driver.

Furthermore, he said, Uber doesn’t just provide software. It also covers state insurance required specifically for drivers who ferry passengers for money.

“If this bill passed not only would drivers have to pay as much as $4,500 a year more in insurance costs out of their own pockets,” Hatfield wrote in a statement, ​“but it would also make it significantly harder for people o hail an Uber. There’s a reason no other city or state in the country has passed a bill like this.”

Cruising up I‑91 in the comfort of his black Mercedes-Benz GLE 350, Edgar could think of one big reason Connecticut should pass S.B. 989: He and his fellow drivers do almost all of the work on any given ride share ride. Why shouldn’t Uber and Lyft share more of their profits with them?

As Luke Bryan’s ​“Most People Are Good” played softly on Country 92.5, Edgar recalled the recent ride he gave to the six college students heading from a concert at Toad’s to their campus in Fairfield.

The students loved the ride, he said, because of the time and money and care he invests in his vehicle and in the service he provides. He remembered giving the students complementary bottles of water and sticks of gum. He had recently taken his SUV to the car wash. He had even given his can of Coke to one of the passengers simply because he had asked.

When he dropped the happy customers off at their destination after the 30-minute ride, Edgar checked his phone and saw that he had earned $81.86 for the trip. He scrolled further down in the Uber app on his phone, and saw that the company had earned $48.70 in service and booking fees on the ride. The customers had paid over $130 in total, of which Uber took home 37 percent.

“I have all these things to do to impress my client,” Edgar said, ​“but then the client is not paying me enough for the service.” Instead, much of that money goes to Uber.

“They made $50,” he continued. ​“For what?”

Hartfield provided the Independent with three recent examples where Uber paid more to a driver than the customer paid for the Uber ride. Hartfield said that it is not an uncommon experience for drivers to be paid more than the total cost of a ride. Click here to download redacted copies of those receipts.

Edgar said that last year he earned around $5,000 driving part-time for Uber, but that he had to spend around $1,200 of those earnings on car purchase payments, insurance, gas, and cleaning bills. And that’s after significantly cutting down on his Uber driving between 2017 and 2018, he said, due to Uber decreases in driver pay. (Other full-time drivers who testified on Thursday said they earned between $30,000 and $40,000 a year, but had to spend over $10,000 each year on car expenses.)

“I love to drive,” he said. Uber and Lyft, a rival ride-share service he started driving for last month, give him a chance to be in his car, meet new people, and earn money on weeknights and weekends to support his wife and five children.

Several other local Uber and Lyft riders associated with the group Connecticut Drivers United testified Thursday.

Rosana Olan, a 36-year-old full-time Uber driver from West Haven, said that last week she earned an average of $7.50 per hour for during her 38 hours ferrying passengers for Uber. And that was before car expenses, like gas. After expenses, she earned an average of $1.71 per hour.

“It’s very unfair that a $100 billion company is getting rich through customers and us,” she said. ​“We provide the car. They don’t provide the car.”

When she started driving with Uber a year ago, Olan said, she comfortably earned $800 working 30 hours per week. But then Uber dropped its per-mile pay rate from 89 cents to 65 cents.

“I keep driving because I’ve been doing customer service for many years,” Olan wrote in testimony she submitted to the committee, ​“ever since I was younger and worked with my mom. I love driving, no mater what weather or condition. But I mostly wanted to drive because I thought I would make good money. This is not true anymore.”

Branford-based driver Guillermo Estrella brought his Uber driving summary from 2018 with him on Thursday.

He drove 42,925 miles and completed 4,579 trips. He earned just under $43,000 while Uber took home around $25,000 based on his work. After car expenses, Estrella’s net income was closer to $30,000 for the year.

“I only make $5,000 more than Uber,” Estrella said. ​“And I work the whole year round!”

New Haven Legal Assistance Association (NHLAA) Attorney James Bhandary-Alexander said that it’s a sad day when a company worth well over $100 billion like Uber threatens to pull insurance payments with the prospective passage of a bill that would provide a kind of minimum wage to drivers.

“Gaps in Connecticut and federal law leave transportation network company drivers without meaningful protections,” Bhandary-Alexander wrote in testimony he submitted to the committee. ​“There is simply no good reason that drivers should be forced to labor under exploitative working conditions.”

Edgar wasn’t able to stick around Hartford long enough to testify before the committee. He had to make it back to New Haven to drive a private client to an afternoon doctor’s appointment. He also had to get back to the Elm City for his full-time job as an on-call maintenance technician for a local property management company.

The 2019 Agenda

Bill #	Status	Summary	Sponsors
SB 431	Committee Denied	To reform the property tax system.	Martin Looney
SB 788	Committee Denied	To create more revenue options for municipalities with a large percentage of properties that are exempt from property tax.	Martin Looney, Juan Candelaria, Roland Lemar, Toni Walker, Robyn Porter, Al Paolillo, Michael DiMassa
SB 475	Committee Denied	To increase municipal revenue by raising the sales tax.	Martin Looney
SB 454	Committee Denied	To create a more efficient educational system by consolidating small school districts.	Martin Looney
SB 27	Committee Denied	To reduce prescription drug prices under the Medicaid program.	Martin Looney
SB 30	Committee Denied	To prohibit copayment accumulator programs.	Martin Looney
SB 34	Committee Denied	To prohibit the delivery, issuance for delivery or renewal of short-term health insurance policies in this state that do not provide coverage for essential health benefits.	Martin Looney
SB 48	Sent to the Floor	To require manufacturers of brand name prescription drugs to provide samples of such drugs to manufacturers of generic prescription drugs.	Martin Looney
SB 32	Committee Denied	To establish a public health insurance option.	Martin Looney
SB 1	Passed	To create a paid family and medical leave program.	Martin Looney, Gary Winfield
HB 5004	Gov. Signed	To provide more economic security to Connecticut families by increasing the minimum fair wage.	Robyn Porter, Juan Candelaria, Josh Elliott, Alphonse Paolillo, Michael D’Agostino, Michael DiMassa, Patricia Dillon, Roland Lemar, Toni Walker
SB 64	Sent to the Floor	To prohibit an employer from coercing employees into attending or participating in meetings sponsored by the employer concerning the employer’s views on political or religious matters	Martin Looney
SB 496	Attached to Different Bill	To provide for the legalization, taxation and regulation of the retail sale, personal growth and recreational use of cannabis by individuals twenty-one years of age or older.	Martin Looney, Gary Winfield
SB 25	Sent to the Floor	To restore the electoral privileges of convicted felons who are on parole.	Martin Looney
HB 6073	Committee Denied	To allow a housing authority to expand its area of operation to include high and very high opportunity census tracts within a thirty-mile radius.	Roland Lemar
HB 5273	Committee Denied	To establish as of right multifamily housing zones within one-half mile of all fixed route transit stops.	Roland Lemar
HB 5722	Committee Denied	To establish a public health insurance option.	Roland Lemar, Pat Dillon, Josh Elliott
HB 5595	Attached to Different Bill	To authorize and regulate the sale and adult use of marijuana in this state.	Juan Candelaria, Roland Lemar, Toni Walker, Robyn Porter, Pat Dillon, Josh Elliott
HB 6705	Committee Denied	To prohibit the Department of Correction from using solitary confinement in its facilities.	Gary Winfield, Juan Candelaria, Roland Lemar, Toni Walker, Robyn Porter, Josh Elliott
HB 6715	Committee Denied	To eliminate cash bail.	Robyn Porter, Josh Elliott
HB 7203	Committee Denied	To promote the safety of pedestrians by requiring motorists to grant the right-of-way to pedestrians who affirmatively indicate their intention to cross the road in a crosswalk.	Cristin McCarthy Vahey
HB 6590	Sent to the Floor	To allow local traffic authorities to establish lower speed limits on streets under their jurisdiction by holding a public hearing regarding such speed limits and providing notification of such speed limits to the Office of the State Traffic Administration.	Julio Concepcion
HB 7141	Passed	To define and regulate the use of electric foot scooters.	Roland Lemar
HB 7205	Sent to the Floor	To require a percentage of the cars, light duty trucks and buses purchased or leased by the state be zero-emission vehicles or zero-emission buses, establish a Connecticut Hydrogen and Electric Automobile Purchase Rebate Program and fund such program.	Roland Lemar
SB 969	Committee Denied	To provide basic labor standards for transportation network company drivers.	Matt Lesser, Peter Tercyak