Richard Detty
- Richard Detty has driven for Uber and Lyft in Honolulu since 2017.
- Detty says it's a flexible side hustle, but Hawaii needs laws protecting drivers' pay.
- Some ride-hailing drivers have said their earnings have fallen over the past few years.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Richard Detty, a 58-year-old ride-hailing driver for Uber and Lyft in Honolulu. Business Insider verified Detty's earnings through screenshots he provided of his payments. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
A Lyft spokesperson told Business Insider that "ensuring driver success is vital to our mission, and we're continually looking to increase driver pay in smart, deliberate ways." For example, the company has pledged that drivers will make at least 70% of the weekly rider fares after external fees, and has recently started paying drivers for the time they wait for a rider, starting after one minute.
An Uber spokesperson said, "We're committed to policies that support flexible work and sustainable earnings without reducing opportunities or raising costs for riders." Most Uber drivers drive for the app part-time, the spokesperson said.
Rideshare is my side hustle.
I grew up on Kauai, Hawaii, and spent years on the US mainland. In 2017, I moved to Honolulu. My main business is selling products from Hawaii, such as mochi crunch cookies, on Amazon. When I'm not doing that, I drive for Lyft and Uber.
Tourism is a big industry here, and there are plenty of rides to take. I often drive between the airport, Waikiki, Pearl Harbor, and other places that tourists want to go. I feel safer driving here than on the mainland, where you never know who you're going to pick up.
There are also some unique challenges. I can't tell you how many times I've picked up riders with wet bathing suits at the beach and had to dry out my seats before my next ride.
When I was in college here in 1991, I drove a cab part-time two or three times a week. I would give the guy who ran the taxi yard $35, and I could drive from six at night to six in the morning. I paid for the gas, but the taxi company covered everything else, including maintenance.
Back then, a ride from Waikiki to the Honolulu airport paid up to $25. Now, Lyft and Uber are offering me up to $12 as the base rate for the same ride. When I first started driving for the apps here, that same trip would've paid $18. Without tips, I'm dead in the water.
I wouldn't mind some of these rates if Uber and Lyft provided me a car. But I'm now responsible for all the costs. I have to handle all my maintenance, and if my car breaks down, I'm out of luck.
What makes the pay harder to shoulder is that Hawaii is an expensive place to live. Everything costs more here than on the mainland because everything has to be shipped here. I've paid more than $4 a gallon for gas at Costco, and I've seen milk here for around $8 a gallon. The base rate for rideshare drivers needs to go up here.
Driving for Uber, Lyft full-time didn't work
When I moved back to Hawaii eight years ago, Lyft and Uber advertised that drivers could make up to $35 an hour. That was very easy to do at the time.
Now, they advertise that drivers make $27 an hour, yet if anything, the fares I've seen seem to have gone up in that time. Where did the other $8 go? For me, it's been one pay cut after another.
In 2022, I worked full-time for Lyft and Uber. I did it for 10 months because I wanted to save money to invest in my Amazon business.
Around that time, I started to notice that the payments I got were falling. I found that doing this full-time wasn't livable, so I went back to doing it as a side hustle. I drove 30 and 40 hours a week and put close to 1,000 miles on my car each week.
The only thing that keeps me coming back to Uber and Lyft is the flexibility. I can go in and out when I want. I think Uber and Lyft count on that: It seems like they want people to be part-time drivers.
I'm lobbying the Honolulu city council, the mayor, and the state legislature to do something about the pay situation for ride-hailing drivers. We need laws similar to those that gig workers in Minneapolis or Seattle have, which promise a minimum wage and provide other protections. I could make a decent living getting paid like that. In Minneapolis, drivers are being paid at least $1.28 a mile and $0.31 a minute. That's close to double what I make.
We need a pay rate that's fair. So many costs that have gone up. We need to be able to make a living.
Do you have a story to share about Uber or other gig work? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or 808-854-4501.
Leave a Reply