San Francisco, United States.
Transportation company Uber announced Wednesday that it will allocate $ 250 million in incentives to attract new drivers in the face of the current shortage in the US, where its activity is already recovering after the pandemic.
“We fired a stimulus of 250 million for drivers to increase their earnings, which are already particularly high, “the San Francisco (California, USA) firm said in a statement.
Passenger transportation (Uber’s main source of revenue alongside home food delivery) plummeted around the world in March last year following the start of the covid-19 pandemic and the consequent restrictions on mobility, which sank Uber’s turnover for this activity.
Travel demand
However, in recent months and especially as the percentage of people vaccinated in the US., The demand for travel is recovering, but many of the old Uber drivers still don’t get back to work, Which has resulted in lack of supply and rising prices.
As for before the pandemic, Uber and its main competitor in the US, Lyft, have 40% fewer drivers, either because they have changed jobs, they are waiting to be vaccinated to drive again or prefer to continue receiving unemployment benefits.
“There are more passengers asking for trips than drivers willing to offer them, which makes this an ideal time to be a driver,” pointed out the company’s vice president for mobility in the US and Canada, Dennis Cinelli.
the $ 250 million will be aimed at increasing the compensation of both new and existing drivers, although from the company warned that this situation will be temporary and that gains are expected to return to precovid levels in the future.