Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Ridesharing drivers are grounded without gas

Gas keeps the ridesharing wheels turning. Without gas in the tank, ridesharing drivers are unable to provide ride services. The recent rise in gas prices are making ridesharing services an expensive activity. It is not fun to spend a fortune on gas, especially when rides are short. How do we confront these gas issues?

Ridesharing services are trendy in most transportation-driven cities. Skyrocketing gas prices are impacting ridesharing drivers in the worst possible way. When rides are in high demand, drivers are restricted from accepting all requests since using their gas means they can't land the best rides at peak times.

A request from 20 minutes will cost the driver double the money. These drivers must drive to the pickup spot, and then take passengers to their destination. A short ride may take 20-30 minutes to complete because passengers make drivers wait for them. You must keep your engine running to be ready for this ride. Meanwhile, your passenger keeps texting that they are coming down and somehow they take longer or cancel the ride for some unknown reason.

Idling your car can waste valuable gas. If you rate the passenger low for making you wait, you risk getting a low rating from them, as well. It is all about efficiency that makes ridesharing successful. Gas is to ridesharing what money is to gas. If we have no money, we can't get gas, If we can't get gas, we can't do ridesharing. Really, it's Catch 22 that is dooming our need to drive passengers.

How many of you ridesharing drivers are grounded without gas? Would you have continued driving with more gas? What are the best driving practices to stay on the road with high gas prices? Share your thoughts and concerns in the comment section below.