Uber and other ride-hailing apps should be forced to publish data on drivers’ workloads so that regulators can tackle exploitation and cut carbon emissions, campaigners argue.
Analysis by the pressure group Worker Info Exchange suggests drivers for Uber and its smaller rivals may have missed out on more than £1.2bn in wages and costs last year because of the way they are compensated.
Its report claims that ride-hailing apps – and food delivery services such as Deliveroo – are able to operate “a business model reliant on an oversupply of vehicles to service an always-on, on-demand marketplace and the exploitation of workers often trapped in debt and in-work poverty”.
In 54 cities in the US and Canada, including New York and Chicago, Uber produces anonymised data on journey distances and times, either voluntarily or through regulation.
Using this information, as well as Uber’s own published carbon emissions data and the experiences of UK drivers, Worker Info Exchange claims that almost 40% of the miles the drivers travel are covered before they pick up a passenger. However, Uber said in response that it would be wrong to suggest drivers were not being paid for almost 40% of the miles they did, as many were earning on other ride-hailing apps when not taking trips on Uber.
After a UK supreme court ruling in 2021, Uber has a statutory obligation to pay drivers from when they log in to the app, so that some of these “dead miles” are now compensated.
But even adjusting for these, Worker Info Exchange suggests that across the sector, drivers would have earned an extra £1.29bn in 2023 if they had received £15 an hour for the time they spent driving unpaid or waiting around and were recompensed for costs such as petrol. It claimed that the failure to monitor drivers’ mileage also meant some drove to the point of exhaustion.
The report argues that similar issues are likely to be found with food delivery apps, and calls for these, too, to publish journey data.
“Gig economy food delivery and passenger transport workers and their communities find themselves at the very apex of the many problems our cities are struggling to tackle. Issues like precarious employment, low pay, road traffic danger, urban congestion, poor air quality and the effects of climate change are all part of the daily at-work experience,” the report said.
New York has taken steps to underpin pay for cab drivers and tackle congestion, including limiting the number of vehicles licensed (although this cap has recently been relaxed for electric vehicles).
According to Worker Info Exchange’s analysis, Uber’s carbon emissions across the UK this year were “on course to exceed Transport for London’s emissions from its entire transport operation, including bus, rail and underground”.
With Uber’s licence in London due for renewal this month, the campaign group is calling on TfL to demand greater transparency as a condition of allowing Uber to continue to operate in the capital – and to use the data to get a grip on the sector.
It calculated that the number of private hire vehicles licensed by TfL would fill all the lanes of the M4 from London to Bristol.
TfL said: “We are unable to comment on the details of any licensing matters relating to a live application which is being considered.”
In response, an Uber spokesperson said: “More drivers and couriers are choosing to earn on Uber than ever before, and we know the vast majority are satisfied with their experience. All drivers in the UK receive worker rights such as a pension and holiday pay, with average earnings topping £30 per hour. Drivers want the choice to work for multiple apps, meaning that when they are not taking trips on Uber, they are regularly earning on other apps.” They added that Uber complied with all regulations and legal requirements in every market where it operated.
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The Observer recently reported on delivery drivers working for food apps such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats living in a “caravan shantytown” on the outskirts of Bristol.
Asked about the question of providing more data on riders’ workloads, a Deliveroo spokesperson said: “Deliveroo is committed to providing the flexible work riders value, along with attractive earning opportunities and protections. Rider retention rates are high, and the overwhelming majority of riders tell us they are satisfied working with us.
“We guarantee that all riders earn at least £12 an hour while completing a delivery. This is audited annually to ensure compliance with this policy.”
Deliveroo workers have been found in a series of court cases to be self-employed. By contrast, Uber drivers are deemed to be “workers” for legal purposes.
The Labour government has promised to consult on scrapping the “worker” designation and reverting to a simpler system whereby staff are either self-employed or employed, with all the rights that entails. The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, has promised to end what she called “bogus self-employment”.
Trades unions and campaigners are watching for signs that this and other promises may be watered down as Labour courts business.
Worker Info Exchange was founded by James Farrar, the co-lead claimant in the Uber supreme court case. It campaigns to give gig workers more control over the data held about them, and the decisions made as a result.