Why You Might Soon Be Paid Like an Uber Driver—Even If You’re Not One

Benjamin Valdez, a rideshare driver with Uber and Lyft in the Los Angeles area, used to drive seven days a week when the gig was more lucrative—but he says he makes far less per ride these days. When Valdez started driving, around nine years ago, he told me that he could earn anywhere from $60 to $85 to drive from West Hollywood to downtown Los Angeles at peak surge, a roughly 6-to-10-mile trip depending on the specific route. Now, if “the stars align,” he can earn between $25 and $35 for the same trip. “It’s gotten harder and harder to make money,” he said.

In recent years, rideshare drivers like Valdez have experienced shrinking incomes as the companies continue to increase their cut from each ride. Drivers and their advocates see this as part of the broader retaliation against a wave of pro-gig-worker legislation across the country, which the platforms have shaped in their favor by lobbying to keep drivers classified as independent contractors. This helps companies avoid paying out benefits such as health insurance, paid time off, and workers’ compensation.

Valdez, who is a former board member of the worker-led labor rights organization Rideshare Drivers United, says he used to receive an approximately 80 percent cut of each ride fare that he said was “relatively fair.” But since 2022, Uber and Lyft have wielded opaque algorithms that seem to incorporate data collected on workers to determine pay for each ride, offering increasingly meager amounts with little explanation.

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