Uber Increases Minimum Fares in 20 Cities
For the past two years, Uber has been lowering fare rates and minimum fares for the past two years. You can click on the link in order to see the history of Uber Fare Cuts in various cities in the last two years. When Uber launches in a new city, fares are relatively high and is about 10-20% lower than the prevailing options like cabs and private car service. As the Uber market in these cities grow and expand, Uber reduces prices to increase growth. Almost all of the cuts have been permanent and Uber tends to adjust prices seasonally, so it will typically be lower during the early winter months from December to late April.
The worst part about Uber’s minimum fares is that it is before deducting the safety fee. If you look at the table below, sometimes the safety fee is as much as 50% of the minimum fares. Once you factor in the safety fee and the commission, drivers earn very little off of minimum fares. Some drivers seem to get more minimum fare trips than others, which cause them to quit Uber.
Lowering minimum fares can have a big effect on driver earnings. When you are working in the middle of the city, you can get back to back short “minimum fare” rides. It usually takes at least 5 minutes to get to the passenger and another 10 minutes to complete the trip. Normally, you can only do 2 or 3 of these minimum fare trips an hour and if you see the actual take home earnings of minimum fare rides, this amounts to about a few dollars an hour of earnings. For example, the take home pay of a minimum fare ride in Indianapolis is $1.48 after 20% commission ($1.39 with 25% commission). If you get two of these an hour, you will only earn about $3 an hour. You can quickly see why many drivers quit.
Uber Minimum Fares Data
Here is the list of cities with an increase in the minimum fare to the UberX service. UberXL fares and minimum fares have been unchanged. I have also included the safety fee in each of these cities, which have not changed. I have also calculated the take home pay to drivers after the safety fee and 20% commission. Note that many drivers are subject to the higher 25% commission so these numbers will be higher than those drivers actual take home pay of a minimum fare trip.
It looks as if the take home pay of a minimum fare ride increased by only 10 cents in some cities and up to $1.00 in other cities. It is not much, but it may had a few dollars to a driver’s income over the course of the week.
| Safety | Old Min Fare | Old Take Home | New Min Fare | New Take Home | |
| ann-arbor | $ 1.65 | $ 4.50 | $ 2.28 | $ 4.65 | $ 2.40 |
| bakersfield | $ 1.45 | $ 4.45 | $ 2.40 | $ 4.95 | $ 2.80 |
| dallas | $ 1.70 | $ 5.00 | $ 2.64 | $ 5.50 | $ 3.04 |
| denver | $ 1.95 | $ 5.95 | $ 3.20 | $ 6.95 | $ 4.00 |
| fresno | $ 1.75 | $ 5.00 | $ 2.60 | $ 5.75 | $ 3.20 |
| grand-rapids | $ 1.55 | $ 4.55 | $ 2.40 | $ 5.05 | $ 2.80 |
| indianapolis | $ 1.50 | $ 3.35 | $ 1.48 | $ 4.50 | $ 2.40 |
| lansing | $ 1.35 | $ 4.00 | $ 2.12 | $ 4.35 | $ 2.40 |
| milwaukee | $ 1.25 | $ 5.25 | $ 3.20 | $ 5.75 | $ 3.60 |
| nashville | $ 1.45 | $ 5.00 | $ 2.84 | $ 5.45 | $ 3.20 |
| orlando | $ 1.85 | $ 5.50 | $ 2.92 | $ 5.85 | $ 3.20 |
| phoenix | $ 1.80 | $ 5.00 | $ 2.56 | $ 5.30 | $ 2.80 |
| portland | $ 1.35 | $ 5.00 | $ 2.92 | $ 6.35 | $ 4.00 |
| san-antonio | $ 1.70 | $ 4.70 | $ 2.40 | $ 5.20 | $ 2.80 |
| savannah | $ 1.60 | $ 5.00 | $ 2.72 | $ 5.10 | $ 2.80 |
| seattle | $ 1.30 | $ 4.30 | $ 2.40 | $ 4.80 | $ 2.80 |
| tampa | $ 1.70 | $ 5.50 | $ 3.04 | $ 5.95 | $ 3.40 |
| toledo | $ 1.60 | $ 4.60 | $ 2.40 | $ 5.60 | $ 3.20 |
| vancouver-wa | $ 1.35 | $ 5.00 | $ 2.92 | $ 6.35 | $ 4.00 |
| washington-dc | $ 1.35 | $ 5.35 | $ 3.20 | $ 6.35 | $ 4.00 |
Lowest Minimum Fares in the US
In case you were wondering, here are the cities with the lowest minimum fares and their take home pay. In some cities, their take home pay after a minimum fare ride is only $1.48.
| Safety | Min Fare | Take Home | |
| albuquerque | $ 1.90 | $ 4.00 | $ 1.68 |
| dayton | $ 1.85 | $ 4.00 | $ 1.72 |
| des-moines | $ 1.60 | $ 4.35 | $ 2.20 |
| fort-wayne | $ 1.35 | $ 3.35 | $ 1.60 |
| kalamazoo | $ 1.15 | $ 3.95 | $ 2.24 |
| killeen | $ 1.25 | $ 3.15 | $ 1.52 |
| lansing | $ 1.35 | $ 4.00 | $ 2.12 |
| nw-indiana | $ 2.50 | $ 4.50 | $ 1.60 |
| quad-cities-moline-il | $ 1.10 | $ 3.90 | $ 2.24 |
| south-bend | $ 1.45 | $ 3.35 | $ 1.52 |
| tucson | $ 1.20 | $ 3.05 | $ 1.48 |
| wichita | $ 1.40 | $ 4.00 | $ 2.08 |
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