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In June 2017, Buffalo Bills player Shareece Wright hailed an Uber from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. He had an unusual request — he needed the driver to take him to Buffalo, New York, which was 530 miles away. Wright had missed his connecting flight to Buffalo, where he was supposed to begin the first day of offseason practice at 7 a.m. The first two drivers he hailed said “no way” to a long-distance Uber drive. The third, Hadi Abdollahian, said he’d be happy to make the drive. CNN tells the heartwarming story: Wright and Abdollahian, an Iranian refugee, spent the eight-hour drive sharing stories. Wright made it to Buffalo with minutes to spare, and the NFL player tipped Abdollahian $300 on a fare of $632.08. Later, a company named Bluerock Energy gave Wright a $932.08 check to reimburse him, which Wright passed along to Abdollahian. All in all, a good night’s work.
A long-distance Uber drive: Is it worth it?
If you take the generous celebrity out of the equation, would it be worth it to a driver to accept a 1,060-mile round trip? The first thing to consider for a rideshare long-distance is the cost of gas. Abdollahian drove a Nissan Altima, and we’ll assume it’s a 2017 model that gets 39 mpg on the highway. That’s 27.2 gallons for the trip. With the average gas price in June 2017 standing at $2.35 per gallon, fuel costs would have been around $64. The second thing to consider is the commission Uber deducts. While in reality, Uber’s booking fees can consume 39 percent of fares, we’ll stick with the advertised 25 percent commission. Subtract the $158 commission and the gas costs, and the driver gets $410. For eight hours’ work, that’s $51.25 per hour. But for the 16-hour round trip, that’s $25.63 per hour – and that’s assuming the driver sleeps in his car overnight instead of paying for a hotel.
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