On Friday, Uber announced its plan to add a ‘temporary fuel surcharge’ to fares in a bid to compensate drivers for the rising oil and gas prices.
Uber’s Head of Driver Operations in the United States and Canada, Liza Winship, wrote in a blog post:
We know that you’ve felt the sting of record-high gas prices, which have affected how much you’re able to earn on Uber. In an effort to reduce the burden of high fuel costs, we are rolling out a temporary fuel surcharge to support drivers and delivery people beginning Wednesday, March 16.
The plan will be in action over the next two months, while the surcharge amount will be fully compensated to Uber drivers.
Winship elaborated:
Rideshare riders will pay a $0.50 surcharge on every ride and, on Uber Eats where trips are shorter, consumer fees will be adjusted to cover the equivalent of a $0.35 surcharge on every delivery. 100% of that money will go directly to drivers and delivery people. No service fees will apply to these amounts.
The executive also warned that as fuel prices continue to increase, the company may take additional action.
The temporary fuel surcharge is applicable for all Uber rides, deliveries, and couriers including those done via Electric Vehicles (EVs), which seems odd considering that fuel prices don’t affect EVs.
In a comment to The Verge, Uber spokesperson Harry Hartfield stated “we hope [the policy] will serve as an additional incentive for drivers to transition to EVs going forward.”
For a while now, Uber has been trying hard to encourage its drivers and delivery force to switch to EVs. Such vehicles are not only better for the environment due to low power usage and lesser emissions, but are also much more economical and include higher earnings from Uber.
Winship illustrated that the company “made a commitment to operate a zero-emission platform globally by 2040, and in Canadian cities with supportive policies—like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver—by 2030.”
However, EVs are still not accessible to many, even in developed countries such as USA and Canada. Moreover, given the Russia-Ukraine conflict, fuel prices can be expected to remain high for quite some time.
