5 Tips for Uber Drivers in Indianapolis, Lafayette, and Bloomington

Being an Uber Driver can be frustrating in smaller cities. While it can be lucrative if you do a little planning, much of the time really good fares are dumb luck. Here’s a little strategy to make your own luck.

1.Use a tablet and not your personal phone. If you run everything through your personal phone it will cause a Bluetooth nightmare and a lot of distracted driving. A tablet will quickly earn it’s keep in your car. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy but it NEEDS a data connection. The best service in Indianapolis and Lafayette tend to be Verizon and AT&T. Check your cellular coverage in the areas you want to be in.

2. Use the Uber passenger app to strategically position yourself relative to other drivers. The Uber partner app doesn’t give you this information and this type of knowledge equals power and money.

3. Build other sources of income in your downtime. Uber will not have drivers forever. If Tesla, Apple, or Google succeed in the widespread manufacture of driver-less vehicles, Uber will slowly replace you. Don’t be dependent on Uber as a primary source of income. Downtime is a good time to search for jobs, write a book, listen to audio books, and generally do something productive.

4. Be a night owl. If you are able to stay up until 3am on Friday and Saturday, those are going to be your best hours. In fact, if you ONLY Uber Drive twice a week for 4 hours a day, between 11pm and 3am on Friday and Saturday are key times.

5. Print your promotional code on business cards and develop your market by handing them out and helping people sign up for Uber. I met a driver in Stroudsburg, PA that has 140 free Uber rides. Developing your own market comes with direct rewards and more passengers. As a driver you receive a 5 dollar credit for each new passenger.

If you want to support this website AND get your first Uber ride free use the promotion code: uberindianatalks (click the banner on top of Indiana Talks homepage).

If you found this article helpful and want to become a driver, use code uberindianatalks to get a bonus.

There are many great resources out there for more tips and tricks including the Uber Driver Log podcast (less than 20 short episodes) and the video below.