I moved to the Seattle area four years ago, and I’ve been working for Uber and Lyft for about two years. I just finished school for web development and I can apply for jobs. There’s a lot of opportunity in web development.
But I don’t want to apply because I love driving. I’m from Ethiopia, and it’s the craziest and most crowded place to drive. But I love driving in downtown Seattle — I always feel confident in being a good driver and a professional driver. In sixteen years of driving, I’ve never gotten a ticket.
And I love talking to people. I want to see people happy — I want to put a smile on their faces. Uber and Lyft gave me the opportunity to keep in touch with people.
But they pay the same as what they’ve been paying for the last few years. They should raise the fare.
As a worker here, I need a raise. Since I started driving for the apps two years ago, my rent goes up every nine months. Every time I renew it, they add more money to the rent. But Uber and Lyft stay the same.
The economy is going up. Life is expensive here. We pay for everything ourselves — health insurance, car payments, everything. And everything is going up in price — rent is going up, food is going up. But I don’t see Uber and Lyft raising up their wages.
If the passengers are getting raises, and the companies are making billions of dollars, drivers should get a raise too.