It’s a textbook example of the forces of nature combining with the forces of the marketplace.
Falling temperatures and flurries of snow and ice over the past month have created long, lucrative hours for drivers of ride-hailing services in Vancouver and Portland. The rates, calculated based on supply of drivers and demands for service, surged 500 percent during the worst bouts of weather in the past two weeks. Jeff Reynolds, an Uber driver, made $500 during the two-day storm the first week of December.
“I knew I would drive as soon as the forecasts were going. I knew I would make a lot of money,” the Gresham, Ore., resident said. “A lot of people would prefer to have somebody else drive them.”
With ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft, rates adjust on the fly. The snowstorm led many drivers to take to Facebook and Twitter and post price maps showing the rates rising over reddening, high-demand hubs in the metro area. Drivers keep 75 percent of their fares. Bryce Bennett, Uber’s general manager in Oregon, said there are thousands of ride-hailing service drivers in the region.
“Just (Wednesday) night, the big commute — apocalypse, if you will — obviously that came with some increases in prices, but that is a lot of demand you don’t typically see on a Wednesday night,” he said.
Holidays and cold snaps, and any time where fewer people want to drive but need to get around, typically lead to high prices. Halloween and New Year’s often rate among the most expensive nights for passengers — and the most lucrative for drivers. Fisher scraped together $350 on New Year’s Eve this past year.
It’s not always an easy job, as many are learning what taxi drivers have long known. Prices are tied to length and distance of the trip, and Wednesday’s snowy gridlock led to some commutes that were two or three hours long. Passengers can grow angry as the prices rise but the car isn’t going anywhere.
Plus, the roads are no less hazardous for the people getting paid to drive them. Tracy Turner-Pain, a Washougal resident and Uber driver, drove as far as West Linn, Ore. to take a man and his dog home. But the drive was chaotic, with near accidents and cars spinning out, she said.
“Yesterday was downright scary,” Turner-Pain, a former flight attendant, said.
Many drivers saw the conditions coming and made preparations. Vancouver resident and driver Don Lindsey spent nearly $1,200 outfitting his 2014 Dodge Durango with studded snow tires, flares, extra blankets, extra wiper blades, water and phone chargers. Gordon Bozarth, owner of Vancouver Tire & Auto, on Andresen Road, said they did four times the usual business on Wednesday.
“We’ve been doing great. Some of it has died down (Thursday) because some people took the day off and aren’t traveling as much. It got pretty slick out there,” said Bozarth, who added that it’s probably been their busiest year since 2008’s winter storm.
Bennett said Uber will often send out safe-driving tips to drivers and will target drivers with safer cars to drive when conditions are shot. Ultimately, it’s a driver’s choice.
“It’s really up to the driver and their level of comfort,” Bennett said. “It’s still snow and ice, right? That’s up to the comfort an individual driver might have.”
