Uber on Big Island

[HI_Someday]

I've used Uber a number of times to get to and from the airport here. It's a great option when you don't want to inconvenience your friends, pay exorbitant cabs fare, high parking costs or use a shuttle that has to drooff/pick up multiple passengers.

I have a friend who is a real estate agent and does Uber on the side. He can work when he wants but I don't know the details for a driver. The cost for a passenger varies - it's demand driven. If a hundred people get off a cruise ship and all want a ride the cost will be much higher than going the same distance during a slow period. I do know there was no tip option last time I used it so I gave cash for the tip.

Good luck Kirt!

[PaulW]

That's one of the things I like about Uber, no fussing around with tips.
Let us know all about it Kirt. Good luck! You should target the airport <-> HPP run, have a list of all the incoming and outgoing flights.
I think there will be a lot of demand.

[PaulW]

You could even cool your heels in the cell phone lot at Hilo Airport and wait for the rides to roll in.
Or are there special rules at the airport?

[kalakoa]

Or are there special rules at the airport?

I'm sure there will be; from TFA:

Uber drivers who pick up and drop off customers at Honolulu International Airport also must have a commercial service permit.

Taxi drivers in Kailua-Kona said they don't want Uber to launch on the island without a similar structure.

[macuu222]

Maybe having uber in Kona will finally break the taxicab monopoly and allow hourly scheduled bus service to and from Kona airport!

[HI_Someday]

The Sacramento airport doesn't allow Uber drivers to sit and wait on their property (no waiting in cell phone lot), so there is a herd of cars sitting on an a frontage road just off property. If they haven't already I would imagine Hawaii's airports will adopt similar rules. Parking space is usually rare...

[knieft]

Well, here's how it went...pretty much a total bust.

I was online for 17 hr 27 min and earned $78.42...$63.25 of that during 8 hr 44 min on Sat March 18th when a cruise ship was at port.

All the fares were intra-Hilo and earned between $4 and $7 except for the port to Akaka Falls which was $26.96 (the passengers were charged $35.95 reflecting Uber's cut).

OK, so I thought on cruise days it may make sense. Yet I went in Tuesday for the Pride of America and nothing. Even so there is only an average of one cruise per month on the weekend, which are the only ones I could work, having a day job and all.

FTR: Uber charges $2 base fare + 25c/min + $1.50/miles and 20% goes to Uber, 80% to driver.

A $7 trip in Hilo will likely have a market, especially for more than one passenger (4 is the limit with most UberX cars) if only for UH students once they get used to it.

The biggest surprise was _zero_ pick ups from the airport. On Friday the 15th I was there for an hour that saw 11 arrivals and not a single buzz. When I was in Hilo I would gravitate to the airport for arrivals (often two at the same time) but nothing whatsoever.

Looking at the Uber passenger app while I was logged into the the Uber driver app, I would see 3-6 other Ubers show up around Hilo. Roughly half the time my own car/location wouldn't show up. Probably some sort of BS from Uber so passengers see that drivers are all over the place, but who knows. (And the navigation was wonky about a third of the time. Not so much a problem for destination as it was for pick up.)

I spent an hour each in Keauu and Orchidland. Nothing. And I go online from Pahoa into Hilo and back with nothing before Hilo.

I have yet to try the weekend bar closing hours, and probably won't--life being short enough as is.

I'm trying to imagine what someone in, say, HPP, would see if they tried to get an Uber as a passenger. Probably "not available". Yet I went on Uber rider app from home a few times and it showed a driver at the bottom of Leilani.

One passenger on the Saturday cruise day said that the app said al Uber drivers are busy at this time.

So it's first week and all that, but I have a hard time seeing how this may pan out for the east side. I don't know how "far" the apps work, in the sense that if a driver sat at Orchidland, would a rider in HPP, mauka or makai, register as available from how far away? From Ainaloa? Pahoa?

Maybe once that is known. A driver will just go online in, say lower HPP from home and see if there is any action...? At least they're not sitting in their car listening to Vince Flynn audiobooks.

What do PunaWebbers see on the rider app from their homes, I wonder. Anybody driving or riding yet?

Heck, maybe I'm doing something wrong and haven't the slightest.

In any case, this will have to get better if I expect to even get minimum wage, which truth told wouldn't be worth it. OTOH, this is completely non-skilled and easy, if boring, labor. Maybe my goal should be to make enough to pay for someone to do the weedwhackjng which I don't care to do.

Cheers,
Kirt

edit: change $150 to $1.50

[leilanidude]

I wouldn't be discouraged so quickly.
I think a couple things are at play here.
No one really knows Uber is available and I bet dozens of people signed up initially to be drivers and the market is flooded right now. Heck, I bet very few people that live here, even know what the heck Uber is.

[PaulW]

I agree, give it some time. Uber should do some advertising.

I just tried for HPP-ITO (just to see) and it said No Cars Available but there was also an UberX option that said $41.
But it also had no cars available.

Taxis do good business in the rain.

[Justin]

I don't think people know it exists yet. People who read the newspaper - the actual paper - often times are not going to the same folks who use a smartphone app to order a vehicle to pick them up. I'm sure it will ramp up quickly, and there will probably be lots of trips from HPP to grocery store, from Leilani into Pahoa for dinner, and so on. I for one will be using it from Leilani into Pahoa, so that my wife and I don't need to alternate on who the designated driver is.