It was a Sunday afternoon and my schedule was pretty free. I just had to make a quick stop at the Accra mall and my Sunday afternoon schedule was open for the rest of the day.
A couple of days earlier, I had officially signed up to be an Uber driver. Now, in signing up to be an Uber driver, I’m not employed by Uber. I’m simply using my own private vehicle and leveraging Uber’s technology (it’s mobile app) to pick up and drop off passengers at their various locations. I get paid for those trips and Uber takes a percentage of those payments.
So, I was all signed up, had gone through a bit of orientation with the Uber Driver app (that’s the Uber app for for Uber Drivers), and was all set to take trips. A lovely Sunday afternoon seemed like the perfect time.
After I was done at the mall, I decided to “go online” as an Uber driver. I activated my Uber driver app and became visible to all Uber riders.
It wasn’t even a minute until I got a rider request. Someone not too far from the Ghana Standards Board building wanted to go to Osu. I picked up the request from the Uber app and navigated to the Uber rider. I picked a guy and his friend and dropped one of them not too far from Osu and dropped the other close to the Firefly lounge.
The rider opted to pay using cash (The Cash Option is available in Ghana as well as some other countries). I would have preferred a credit card payment instead of dealing with providing change. But I just have to get used to the fact that not everyone is into using a bank card to make purchases.
Thanks to Uber Surge* prices, I actually made double what I would have made if it was a normal Uber fare.
*Uber Surge prices get activated when there’s more demand for Uber drivers in an area where there are a lot of Uber riders requesting for rides. It’s simple economics. There is high demand with low supply. Therefore, increase prices. Makes sense.
After I had dropped off my first rider, I drove off and in about 30 seconds, I got another request.
That was quick!
I accepted the request. Picked up a guy and his mom and dropped them off near the Trade Fair area. Interestingly enough, just as I was dropping off my second passenger, I got a request from another rider.
The Uber Driver app has an interesting feature where a rider can request for a driver already on a trip just as he/she is reaching their final destination. It’s actually pretty cool because you can drop off your rider and immediately proceed to the next rider. No wait time.
I made two more trips and went off-line after that. In total, I had been online for 2 hours and dropped off four riders.
Overall, it was a very interesting experience. I had no idea it could be addicting. Seriously, it seems like there are lots of people constantly requesting for Uber drivers. Fair to say, the demand is pretty high in Accra. If you decided to be an Uber driver full time, you’re going to be taking a lot of trips (and making lots of money).
With the Uber Driver app, you can also get “Surge” areas on the map application. From what I’ve seen, the Airport area seems to surge almost every day.
One thing that I found interesting with the Uber riders was getting directions. Because some of our roads don’t have street names and are sometimes not paved, your Uber rider would contact you after requesting for a pick up to give you directions.
I expect that to happen more times as I take more riders.
I also expect to get more cash payments from riders. Hopefully, my riders will have credit card options when they request so I don’t have to deal with providing change for cash payments. But I think I’ll have to eventually get used to it.
So that was my first hands on experience as an Uber driver. I’ll probably be taking more drivers to get more experience.
Have any questions? Just leave them in the comments and I’ll try my best to answer them.
If you want to sign up to be an Uber Driver, just go to https://partners.uber.com/drive/. You can use my invite code JOSEPHK6930UE to sign up.
The Tech Observer 
Are there no tips form the riders😂😂
We’re not allowed tips. Maybe one day Uber will put in a feature where riders can tip the driver
So how does uber get their fees when a rider pays with cash
Ok. So once you sign up to be a driver, you have to have a bank account linked to your Uber Driver app. So, if a rider pays with cash, Uber automatically takes it’s fee from your account and the driver keeps the cash. So Uber basically debits it’s fee automatically from your account and you keep the cash.
Oh ok, got it. Which type of vehicle did you register with
So you can register with any vehicle as long as it can carry 4 passengers. It has to be in good condition and have its insurance and road worthy up to date
From your experience of being a partner driver, does the prices paid by riders realistic and commensurate with cost incurred in transportation.ie fuel .
Hmm. Haven’t really done the numbers and it’s a bit tricky due to surge pricing. Because Uber prices are lower compared to taxi drivers, you will need to put in some amount of hours (maybe 6 hours) to recoup and make profit if you spend 50GHC on fuel.
However, if surge prices are high (1.5x, 2.0x), you’re guaranteed to make profit because you basically double what you make for that same period of time.
Thanks. I learnt there is a competitor with the name taxify, do you know of any edge one has over the other
Funny you should ask. I was actually doing some research about them this morning. I’ll putting up a post real soon with all the details
The surge prices, is it the driver who activates or notified by the system
The drivers are notified by Uber. Uber recently updated the driver app so drivers can now see areas on Google Maps where prices are surging. It’s color coded.
Surge prices are activated when there’s a lot of people in an area requesting for Uber but there’s not a lot of drivers in that area
Have you seen those youtube video where Uber drivers get attacked? If not here is a idea get some pepper spray! As positive as your post about is one must think its too good to be true. After all you are letting strangers in to your car, personally even when I pull up next to a person standing on the street I like to roll my windows up. The important connection between my rolling up window story and your letting them in you car is. I know the guy on the street as much as you know the guy you are keeping up. There is this theory that because they use their phones you are safe. Well not really you have no idea if the phone they just used to contact you over Uber was just stolen from someone else. But is you still feel like its the greatest thing ever, I do suggest you stop by your local store and pick up some pepper spray before you go back to letting other strangers in your car.
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