My experience after being an Uber driver for one week: 'Singaporeans are so kiam siap'

Submitted by Stomper Koh

This story was submitted via Web contribution form.

Stomper Koh got to experience being an Uber driver for one week and shares the many valuables lessons that he learned.

This was part of a campaign by Uber Singapore and Smove, in which car rent and petrol came at no cost to drivers for one week.

The Stomper recounted his experience:

"I would like to share my experience as an Uber driver for a week under Smove's free one week car rental and petrol programme.

"Actually, Uber drivers are not making lots of money if they rent cars monthly. They must really drive for 12 to 15 hours daily to see money start rolling in, but it's still not that much after deductions, from what I have experienced.

"I see lots of typical people abusing Uber's system too.

"Firstly, it's already cheap... so stop complaining.

"Uber drivers' ratings are important as they will get reviewed when they hit certain ratings. I realised my ratings always dropped when I fetched customers using Uberpool. WHY?

"Sorry to say, lots of typical Singaporeans so 'kiam siap', wanna save that few dollars and book Uberpool. But they cannot wait, they cannot share or they are in a rush.

"And when it takes too long, they started criticising the driver this and that. They start asking, 'Why are you still picking so many passengers?'

"All I wanna say is... we only received $3 to $5 per trip from you sometimes, before rental and petrol deduction.

"Please spare a thought for those Uber drivers out there as it's not easy for them to earn a living too. Be nice to them and appreciate their services.

"I hated Uberpool during this one-week programme. But drivers have to accept the bookings that the Uber app did for you, otherwise it will lower the acceptance percentage of the driver, causing him to get reviewed too.

"Don't just simply give 1-star ratings for drivers if you can't wait or share, just to be stingy and save that few bucks. Be appreciative towards these drivers working 12 to 15 hours daily."