Sidecar Driver Promotions in Boston, San Diego, DC This Week
I was a bit skeptical about these “driver promotions” from Sidecar. I have driven a few other times when they released these promotions and I have been able to get a few more rides but they seemed to be far and few in between. I now believe it had to do with many students not in the city during the winter break.
I was actually quite surprised with the demand last night. Of course, Sidecar was giving out free rides so who says no to a free ride? I can tell you, almost no one. I started off my night around 6:30 and drove around the city with no pings. Just as I was about to get home, I get a ping from like 15 minutes away. Normally, I would just reject it and go home but I thought I take a chance and see what happens.
Naturally, I called her and told her how long it would take. She said it was fine. I called a bit before I arrived to let her know I was close by. Once I got there and hit the “At Pickup” button, I don’t see anyone coming out. I called her a few times during the 5 minute window and got nothing. Eventually I get through to her after 5 and a half minutes and she said she was coming out and that she had bad reception.
It was a relatively short trip to downtown but it was a very interesting conversation. We had talked about the State of the Union address. She was trying to watch it at work while I saw it the night before. I dropped her off and she was one of the nicest passengers that night. Unfortunately I did have to give her a 4 for being very late coming out for the ride.
A few minutes later, I get another ping. It was a bit far (8 minutes away) but not too bad. He had a longer ride to the other side of town. He didn’t speak much during the trip but when he got there, I got a $5 tip cash tip! I did tell him it was not necessary but he insisted as the ride was free anyway. Then on my way home (again) I got another ping close by. It was a relatively short ride into the city, but right before I dropped her off, I got notified about a back-to-back ride, which I have never seen before. The next passenger was a few minutes away so it worked out well.
To wrap up this story, I managed to get another 2 rides that night, totaling 6 rides. On a Wednesday Night. There wasn’t anything abnormal about the weather that night either, but so many people were taking advantage of the free ride.
I can tell you firsthand that the promotion is definitely going to boost demand in these three cities this weekend. I spoke with a Sidecar representative about the Boston market and he says that its definitely one of their slower cities, and despite this, I managed to get a decent number of rides, even on a Wednesday night.
I looked at the totals and of course I’m not getting rich off of it. I cleared about $20 an hour (deposited): $17 first hour, $20 second hour, $23 third hour. For a weekday night with nothing else going on, it’s definitely not bad at all.
So here is how it works:
- All rides that passengers designate as a shared ride (meaning that they are open to sharing their ride with someone else) is free. This is regardless of if there is another person sharing the ride or not. And all six of my passengers got free rides.
- The drivers get compensated for the actual cost of the ride directly from Sidecar. The promotion also eliminates commission, so we get 100% of the original trip fare for the rest of the week.
The payments I got doesn’t include the 1.25x matched payments as I didn’t qualify as it was a Wednesday night. I’m going back out there tonight (Thursday) and see what happens. There is a concert in town tonight but I am hoping demand will be steady throughout the night because of the free promotion.
Below is the email drivers got in these three cities:
Have more questions about Uber or Lyft? Head on over to our Rideshare Driver Training Course! Driver PromotionsReasons to drive for Sidecar this week
1. Shared Rides will be FREE all week and weekend so expect extra rider demand! Shared Rides will show up as $0 in your driver app but please accept these rides. We now have the ability to automatically pay drivers for free rides, so please don’t hesitate to accept any Shared Ride requests. Check the “Other Transactions” section in your account for these payments from Sidecar.
2. 1.25X matched payments during peak hours! Peak hours this week are:
- Thursday 7am–10am and 5pm–11:59pm
- Friday 7am–10am
- Friday 5pm – Sunday 11:59pm
This 1.25X payment will be one big deposit next week.
3. Last but not least, no commission! You’re taking home 100% of every payment all week long.
- New Uber Drivers will get up to a $800 bonus after signing up: Sign up for Uber.
- New Lyft Drivers will get up to $800 if you sign up here using this link.
