Uber, Lyft Drivers Plan To Rally In New Jersey For Better Pay And Benefits

NEW JERSEY — Many Uber or Lyft drivers are struggling to pay their bills, despite working full-time. That’s one of the allegations from rideshare drivers in New Jersey, who plan to rally at the Statehouse on Wednesday.

New Jersey Uber and Lyft drivers affiliated with the Independent Drivers Guild are planning to hold a demonstration at the Statehouse annex, 145 West State Street in Trenton.

The guild says it advocates for more than 300,000 rideshare drivers in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Illinois and Florida. The group has a New Jersey office in Edison.

According to organizers, rideshare drivers are rallying on April 30 to demand “fair pay, real benefits and job protections.”

Drivers plan to gather at 11 a.m. and rally at noon. Free bus shuttles to the rally will be departing from Newark and Edison earlier that morning. Learn more here.

The protest is being held in solidarity with International Workers’ Day, also known as “May Day.”

RIDESHARE DRIVERS AND AVERAGE PAY

According to Lyft, the median U.S. driver using their personal vehicle earned $30.68 per hour in the second half of 2023 (including tips and bonuses). That number is only for “engaged time,” which includes picking up a passenger or having a passenger in the car.

“From a driver’s point of view, however, we recognize this isn’t the whole story,” the company adds. “Rideshare driving also generates expenses, from the cost of gas to the cost of additional maintenance and cleaning. Drivers’ experiences with the platform vary, based on their car or driving choices like the time of day and location, but they consistently tell us that earnings are their number one priority.”

When expenses are factored in, the median Lyft driver in the U.S. earns $23.46 per engaged hour, including tips and bonuses, the company reports.

As of April 1, the average hourly pay of an Uber driver in the United States is $19, according to Salary.com.

Some experts have questioned the methodology that rideshare companies use to estimate their drivers’ take-home pay, however. In 2018, the Economic Policy Institute reported that Uber driver compensation – the income drivers get after deducting Uber fees and vehicle expenses from passenger fares – averages $11.77 an hour.

Learn about Lyft’s driver pay policies here, and see Uber’s here.

• See Related: DoorDash Drivers Demand ‘Tip Transparency’ From Company

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.