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Local Uber drivers are generally positive about the company and their ability to earn extra money on their own schedules.

Marc Rodriguez, of Kingston, signed up to be an Uber driver in the spring a few months after the company’s February launch of operations in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. He had just moved back to the area from Long Island and hadn’t yet found work, so his Uber earning supplemented what he takes in as landlord of a four-family apartment building.

At first unsure of the potential, “once I tried it, I’m really happy with it,” he said. “The paychecks are very lucrative; I didn’t think I’d make as much as I do.” He said he sometimes could “walk away with a $500 paycheck in a week” when he drove for 20 hours.

Even after paying for gas and the other costs of operating his 2011 Kia Reo, “the money definitely makes up for it,” Rodriguez said.

Now that he’s landed a full-time job in a medical office, Rodriguez has cut back his driving.

That flexibility is what Uber drivers value the most, said Taylor Bennett, a company spokesperson. “They may do this on their lunch break; they may do it on weekends, or be stay-at-home moms,” he said.

Drivers typically keep 80 percent of the fare cost and Uber gets the rest. Payments are entirely by credit or debit card and tips are not allowed.

Jay Monahan, of South Wilkes-Barre, began driving for Uber in March after seeing a help-wanted posting on Facebook.

“I do it less frequently than most drivers, kind of when I’m not doing anything else,” Monahan said, typically Thursday nights and perhaps Friday or Saturday nights.

Monahan works around a schedule that includes a full-time job at Marywood University and freelance writing for the Times Leader.

Night work pays better, he said, because of Uber’s “surge pricing” formula. Right now, drivers receive a guaranteed $20 per hour between midnight and 3 a.m. as long as they accept 90 percent of ride requests and complete one trip each hour, he said.

Another Wyoming Valley Uber driver, who asked that his name not be printed, said an increase in the number of drivers has cut into earnings. He figures his earnings at $11 to $12 an hour for actual time on the road, and from that he must cover his expenses.

Still, “I like Uber. I definitely think it’s helping more people than it’s hurting,” he said.

Uber’s future plans may hurt drivers, though. The company is investing in driverless cars and CEO Travis Kalanick has said it could introduce a fleet within a decade that would eventually eliminate the need for drivers — and for sharing the cost of fares with them.

Uber driver Marc Rodriguez, of Kingston.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_uberdriver02.jpg.optimal.jpgUber driver Marc Rodriguez, of Kingston.

By Ron Bartizek

For Times Leader