UberX: Driver Utilisation and Take Rates
Former Global Head of Pricing and Strategic Initiatives at Uber
inpractise.com/articles/uberx-util-take-rate
Why is this interview interesting?
- Why driver utilisation is an important metric for Uber
- The benefits of scale for Uber
- Examples of when a price cut fails to drive utilisation in the ride-hailing business and how to react
Kapil Agrawal
Former Global Head of Pricing and Strategic Initiatives at Uber
Interview Transcript
Driver’s earnings are actually a core focus? You would back-out the utilization from that $15 an hour, for example, that you want the driver to earn?
Yes. We had a lot of data, from launching in many cities, so we knew what the potential efficiency would look like, in a particular city. We had the characteristics of different cities. For example, San Francisco, LA, New York, they can combine into a particular group of cities and we can assume that, yes, those cities could reach 60% to 70% efficiency, whilst the other set of cities, like Dallas, Houston, etc., they could, potentially, be 50% to 60% efficiency. When we are launching in a new market, we could say that, okay, this market could resemble this city and what the long-term efficiency for that particular market would be.
If we achieve that efficiency, in the six to nine months, what should the driver pricing be so at that efficiency level, the driver can still make sufficient money, in that market.
This is why scale is so important, because the more drivers you have, the more riders, the higher the frequency, the lower the cost. This makes it cheaper for the rider and more rides, means more earnings for drivers?
Yes, that’s correct. The cheaper the product, more people will use it. As you have more and more people using it, that specifically means that the driver opportunity will go up. Let’s say there are more and more people using it, there will be one ride after another, so there won’t be any wait time for the drivers. As their efficiency increases, they will be able to make a similar amount of money, even at the lower prices for the riders.
For example, let’s say we started at a $10 ride, for the rider. At that time, the efficiency, because of the level of demand, was 40%. If you cut the pricing to $5, in that particular market, the demand will go up, exponentially. What would that mean? The driver’s efficiency could increase from 40% to 60% or 70% and they can still make the same amount of money, as they were doing when the prices were $10 for the rider.
Although, in some of the markets, if you don’t see that a certain level of efficiency kicks in, or a certain amount of ride volume go up, as we cut the prices, we are open to roll-back those price cuts that we used to do.
What examples do you have of where that didn’t work?
Copyright Notice
This document may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means including resale of any part, unauthorised distribution to a third party or other electronic methods, without the prior written permission of IP 1 Ltd.
IP 1 Ltd, trading as In Practise (herein referred to as "IP") is a company registered in England and Wales and is not a registered investment advisor or broker-dealer, and is not licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice.
In Practise reserves all copyright, intellectual and other property rights in the Content. The information published in this transcript (“Content”) is for information purposes only and should not be used as the sole basis for making any investment decision. Information provided by IP is to be used as an educational tool and nothing in this Content shall be construed as an offer, recommendation or solicitation regarding any financial product, service or management of investments or securities.
© 2024 IP 1 Ltd. All rights reserved.