Do Lyft or Uber drivers do well in Los Angeles & surrounding areas ? (San Diego: how much)

[thinker2]

Just curious if Uber or Lyft drivers in the LA area make decent money? Or Long Beach CA

[Bruce81]

I do Lyft here in LA and its very hit or miss. When there is no traffic thats when you make the money.

[sdlife619]

I drive for Uber and Lyft in San Diego and although it’s not the animal that Los Angeles is, but there’s always something going here. Concerts, festivals, events, etc...so I will get a lot of hits, but the fares are too low to even make a profit when you factor in gas.

One night I drove on a busy Saturday for like 7-8 hours and made like $130, but then I needed gas, so I put in $35 worth in my car. Well after you add it all up I only made like $95 in that entire time of driving.

That’s pretty much minimum wage right there, so it’s not worth it IMO unless you drive a Prius or a vehicle that does amazing on gas, but gas is expensive now and Uber/Lyft doesn’t factor in this matter and they don’t raise fare prices because of it which is ****ty for us drivers.

And yes if you’re stuck in traffic all the time, it’s even worse because you don’t get paid much for time like say driving a Taxi. Uber Pool and Lyft Lines are the worst!! You can pick up multiple people drive for like an hour and make hardly nothing because the fare is cheaper for the riders so you don’t make as much.

Once you factor in dead miles which is time spent just driving around waiting for a hit and wasting gas, it’s honestly a waste of time and extra wear and tear on your car. Your car also takes a deep depreciation hit as you will be surprised how many miles you’ll rack up in short period of time.


If there’s any positives to doing this job is that you can get paid immediately whenever you want. If you need cash now for whatever reason, go drive for a few hours and make some money. Also if you drive where it’s surging sometimes you can make a lot of money but it’s really a hit or miss because you could get a 3.5 times surge and pick up someone only going a few miles away which isn’t worth it.

Long trips are the best, a bunch short ones are the worst. Because anything under 5 miles you only make $3.00 a trip. That’s crazy! Some of those trips can take awhile for various of reasons like traffic, and tons of stoplights

In a city like L.A. where traffic is non stop in most areas, driving for Uber/Lyft would be a waste of your time and not really worth it. The surges are where it’s at tho since L.A. surges all throughout the region unlike in San Diego where it will only really surge in places like Downtown, North Park/Hillcrest areas and the beaches.

Overall i wouldn’t do it.

[happygrrrl]

Originally Posted by sdlife619

I drive for Uber and Lyft in San Diego and although it’s not the animal that Los Angeles is, but there’s always something going here. Concerts, festivals, events, etc...so I will get a lot of hits, but the fares are too low to even make a profit when you factor in gas.

One night I drove on a busy Saturday for like 7-8 hours and made like $130, but then I needed gas, so I put in $35 worth in my car. Well after you add it all up I only made like $95 in that entire time of driving.

That’s pretty much minimum wage right there, so it’s not worth it IMO unless you drive a Prius or a vehicle that does amazing on gas, but gas is expensive now and Uber/Lyft doesn’t factor in this matter and they don’t raise fare prices because of it which is ****ty for us drivers.

And yes if you’re stuck in traffic all the time, it’s even worse because you don’t get paid much for time like say driving a Taxi. Uber Pool and Lyft Lines are the worst!! You can pick up multiple people drive for like an hour and make hardly nothing because the fare is cheaper for the riders so you don’t make as much.

Once you factor in dead miles which is time spent just driving around waiting for a hit and wasting gas, it’s honestly a waste of time and extra wear and tear on your car. Your car also takes a deep depreciation hit as you will be surprised how many miles you’ll rack up in short period of time.


If there’s any positives to doing this job is that you can get paid immediately whenever you want. If you need cash now for whatever reason, go drive for a few hours and make some money. Also if you drive where it’s surging sometimes you can make a lot of money but it’s really a hit or miss because you could get a 3.5 times surge and pick up someone only going a few miles away which isn’t worth it.

Long trips are the best, a bunch short ones are the worst. Because anything under 5 miles you only make $3.00 a trip. That’s crazy! Some of those trips can take awhile for various of reasons like traffic, and tons of stoplights

In a city like L.A. where traffic is non stop in most areas, driving for Uber/Lyft would be a waste of your time and not really worth it. The surges are where it’s at tho since L.A. surges all throughout the region unlike in San Diego where it will only really surge in places like Downtown, North Park/Hillcrest areas and the beaches.

Overall i wouldn’t do it.

Wow, that’s terrible. Did they used to pay better, or is there too much competition? I’ve never ridden in either one, but my grown kids travel for work & pleasure a lot, and use Uber often.

[payutenyodagimas]

how about in OC? any feedback for Uber/Lyft drivers?


I used Uber to go around when we visited DC and drivers say they make money due to the short distances.


I once used Uber to go to John Wayne, in early Saturday and it took me 1 hour to get a ride

[sdlife619]

Originally Posted by happygrrrl

Wow, that’s terrible. Did they used to pay better, or is there too much competition? I’ve never ridden in either one, but my grown kids travel for work & pleasure a lot, and use Uber often.

I heard from other drivers that have driven for Uber for a few years and they told me that the company definitely paid better years ago. But with competition increasing they lowered their prices, which in effect lowered the pay rate for drivers.

I believe it used to be that drivers made a $1.80 or $2.00 per mile back then, but now in SD drivers only make $0.87 cents a mile!!

I’ll give you a poor example, I drove on a trip for 25 mins one night and I only made $2.76 in the amount of time I drove! Uber breaks down the mileage and time spent driving on a ride, so I can see how much I made.


So you can truly see the screw job that Uber is.


Riders really benefit from Uber than the drivers do.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

We switched to Lyft because Uber was way more expensive during peak times. Uber wanted 25 bucks for the same ride Lyft would go 13. The driver said he was making decent money that night. It was a Friday.

[sdlife619]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

We switched to Lyft because Uber was way more expensive during peak times. Uber wanted 25 bucks for the same ride Lyft would go 13. The driver said he was making decent money that night. It was a Friday.

Sometimes Lyft is more expensive, I actually preferred driving for Lyft because they give you incentives and weekly bonuses if you do a certain amount of rides.

But the problem with Lyft is that it’s not nearly as busy as Uber. I’ll almost get instant hits with Uber, while Lyft I could be driving around for 20 mins without a single hit depending on where I’m at.

Like I said before unless you drive a Prius a Chevy Volt or some sort of Hybrid and all electric, then I can justify driving, but other than those kinds of vehicles you’re wasting your time.

Also as drivers our cars take a pounding especially driving for hours at a time and with the streets being so effed up in San Diego, it adds a lot of unwanted stress and wear n tear to your cars suspension, brakes, tires, steering components, interior and exterior.

There’s always a risk, positives and negatives to driving for any ride share company. But the negatives far outweigh the positives in my experience.

I still feel that the riders have it the best vs the driver.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

I'm surprised there are still taxis.

[sdlife619]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

I'm surprised there are still taxis.

I know right, they are rapidly disappearing though. Not as many in Downtown SD anymore just from a few years ago.