Uber fares up regardless of driver revenue decline, Oxford examine suggests

Uber’s use of dynamic pricing has led to larger fares for passengers and decrease earnings for drivers, while rising the corporate’s share of income, a examine has recommended.

The College of Oxford examine analysed knowledge from 258 Uber drivers within the UK over greater than 1.5 million journeys between 2016 and 2024.

It discovered there had been a “vital shift” when the corporate launched a dynamic pricing algorithm in 2023, which it mentioned meant “passengers now pay extra per journey, however drivers’ earnings have declined”.

Uber mentioned some claims within the report had been “completely false”, including that each one drivers had been proven their potential earnings for a visit earlier than deciding whether or not to just accept it.

The examine, which was carried out by researchers from the college’s Pc Science division, mentioned Uber’s fee had risen from about 25% to 29% since its dynamic pricing mannequin was launched.

In the identical time, researchers discovered that drivers’ hourly revenue fell from greater than £22 to simply over £19 – with drivers spending extra unpaid time ready for rides than earlier than.

Uber started working in Oxford in February, regardless of non-public rent and black cab drivers warning the taxi app big that it could battle to achieve the town.

Researchers mentioned the examine “highlights the widening hole between what clients pay and what drivers obtain”.

“The upper the worth of the journey, the extra of a minimize Uber takes. So the extra the client pays, the much less the motive force really earns per minute,” its lead writer, prof Reuben Binns, defined.

The examine was commissioned by the Employees Data Trade, which is run by former Uber driver James Farrar – who beforehand efficiently campaigned for the corporate’s drivers to be handled as employees, reasonably than self-employed.

Responding to the examine, an Uber spokesperson mentioned the corporate “don’t recognise the figures on this report.”

They highlighted that drivers within the UK took dwelling greater than £1bn in earnings between January and March of this 12 months, with all drivers receiving a weekly abstract of their earnings, together with a “clear breakdown of what Uber and the motive force obtained from journeys”.

On common throughout the week, the proportion stored by Uber has “remained secure for a number of years, however can fluctuate from week to week and from one driver to a different”, the corporate mentioned.

“We’re proud that hundreds of drivers proceed to make the optimistic option to work on Uber as passenger demand and journeys proceed to develop,” the spokesperson added.