Houston drivers are commuting to Austin rather than work for Uber

Some Houston drivers are enduring marathon commutes moderately than work for Uber.

Their commutes to Austin are two or three hours each and every approach. They go days with out seeing their kids. however these drivers describe the choice as existence-altering. they may be happier, less stressed out and, for some, price range were saved.

“I thank god that experience Austin and fix came aboard,” mentioned Yerica Garcia, who resorted to driving for the Austin ridesharing services and products closing summer after one in every of her automobiles used to be repossessed. “If it was once Uber, i might lose my house too.”

Garcia fell lots of greenbacks behind on her personal loan ultimate year. She blamed Uber for lowering prices and altering its fee split in Houston, which made it troublesome to offer for her three children underneath the age of 10.

Yerica Garcia says her funds have been saved after she started driving for experience Austin, whose headquarters are shown above.

As Garcia’s troubles in Houston set up, a battle was once enjoying out in Austin. the city needed drivers to be fingerprinted as a safety measure. Uber and Lyft, sad with the choice, shut down their products and services within the Texas capital on may just 9.

As quickly as Uber and Lyft left, new apps like experience Austin and fix blossomed, offering choices for drivers and passengers. one of the most apps, Get Me, tried to recruit Garcia as she waited to pick up an Uber passenger at Houston’s airport.

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meanwhile, Garcia feared losing her house, so she rolled the cube. sooner or later in June, she left her kids with her mom and trekked the virtually three hours to Austin.

She fast discovered that the charges charged in Austin, and the element that the ridesharing carrier withheld, were a long way extra favorable to her as a driver.

She has because driven largely for trip Austin. It does not take a cut of driver’s earnings with standard autos, as an alternative retaining a $ 2 booking charge that it charges passengers. however drivers of SUVs and luxury vehicles — which are paid more per mile and minute — pay a 20% lower to journey Austin. In Houston, Uber takes nearly 30% of most rides. Uber drivers in Houston receive 87 cents per mile nowadays, a figure which is dropped in recent years.

Uber did not in an instant reply to a request for comment.

After that first day in Austin, Garcia started a new ritual. She’d go away Houston on the crack of crack of dawn on Thursday, and return dwelling on Sunday. With money so tight, Garcia would park in an Austin Wal-Mart or condominium advanced and sleep in her Nissan Pathfinder.

lately, Garcia has nearly caught up on her loan funds. She says she makes $ 1,200 a week in Austin. there’s no wish to sleep in her car now. She splits an condo with three different drivers who go back and forth to Austin because of the better pay.

“i’m so satisfied,” Cesar Gomes mentioned of riding in Austin. “you are working hard, but you see the money.”

certainly one of them is Cesar Gomes. He heard from Garcia ultimate summer season how she made $ 350 in a single day. He was once surprised. He was used to creating possibly $ 200 driving for Uber in Houston.

Gomes shared the information with a chum, Vitor Lopes, and so they made a plan.

So one morning closing September they caravanned from Houston to Austin. They drove in the city all day, raking in cash. later on, they celebrated with burgers at an area meals truck. Gomes talked of splurging on a present for his youngsters.

“We were so happy,” Gomes mentioned.

the following month, Gomes and Lopes, flush with cash, both sold new SUVs to use on the Austin ridesharing services.

as of late, Gomes spends Thursday through Sunday working in Austin. He mentioned he now not stresses about whether or not his Uber rating is high enough, or if he’ll come up with the money for for his three kids. He likes the nonprofit side of journey Austin, the service he spends most of his time riding for.

Vitor Lopes moved to Austin this 12 months because of the simpler ridesharing pay.

Lopes has long gone a step further — he moved to Austin in February.

Pending legislation is anticipated to open the door for Uber and Lyft to return to Austin within the months in advance. however drivers like Lopes and Gomez are not interested.

“We don’t want Uber,” Lopes mentioned. We don’t want Uber.”

CNNMoney (Washington) First revealed March eight, 2017: 5:13 PM ET

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