Valley Uber drivers say company not sharing profits

As more than 100,000 festival-goers descended on the valley last weekend for Weekend 1 of the Coachella festival, rideshare drivers from across Southern California came to town, jumping at the opportunity to make some extra cash.

But with hours-long traffic jams and fewer earnings than expected, some drivers say it wasn’t worth their while.

Drivers said they faced massive lines and long waits picking up and dropping off at the festival grounds.

“It took forever to get into the uber lot,” said Uber driver Mark, who didn’t wish to be identified by last name. “On average, 3-4 hours… Sunday in the lot, I waited 2 hours for a rider.”

“I have done this for like 3 years and this has never been this bad,” David Hurst said at the festival grounds Friday.

Some drivers reported dangerous driving around the festival grounds.

“People are kind of cutting each other off,” Hurst said. “People are very frustrated.”

“There were a couple of car accidents, people were rushing,” said Angel Dominguez. “It’s not worth the extra $7 to get into a car crash.”

But frustrating drivers further: the cut of their profits they say Uber took.

“They’re making 70 percent of the money and we’re out doing the work,” said Mike Dalton, an Uber driver from Temecula.

“They charge a lot more to the rider and they are paying us less,” Mark said.

On a ride from the festival to Joshua Tree, he only earned $60 out of the $106 his rider paid.

And Dominguez said he earned just one-fifth of what his customer paid.

“Don’t go out there looking to make a killing,” Dalton said. “Don’t go out there looking to make thousands and thousands of dollars. It won’t happen.”

Uber declined to comment for this story.

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