As gas prices rise, ride-hail drivers are feeling particularly squeezed at the pump
For Kuljeet Singh, a ride-hail driver in Vancouver, every gas station stop is a shock.
His heart starts pounding, Singh said, watching the dollar increase every time he has to take a breath. “Sometimes I feel like I’m going to have a heart attack,” he joked.
The price of electricity has increased all over the world since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, and the escalating war has reduced the movement of tanks along the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Ride hail drivers, many of whom spend hours on the road, say they are being hit hard by the extra costs – and experts worry it will lead to burnout as it becomes harder to make ends meet.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Gasbuddy.com showed the average price of gas across Canada hovering around 168.1 cents a litre.
In British Columbia, the cost was 187.3 cents a liter higher on average on Tuesday afternoon, and on Monday gasoline prices. passed the $2-liter mark at other gas stations in that state.
Singh, who is also the director of the Ride Hailing Driver Association of BC, says he pays an extra $20 to $25 each time he fills up his car, which he has to do every three to four days when he drives for Uber and Lyft. Per month, he estimates that means he’ll shell out an extra $150 to $200 to be on the road in downtown Vancouver.
“You feel like … how am I going to survive? What am I supposed to do? I have to put in so many hours [in]? Do I have to work, like, 14, 15 hours? It’s a very difficult decision,” said Singh. He says he already works seven days a week – something many of his fellow drivers do – so increasing his hours per day would be the only solution for him.
There is no end
Although Canada is a major producer of oil itself, and there is no shortage of what is pumped in, the country still feels the volatility of oil prices because the global market is so interconnected, according to Joe Calnan, vice president of energy at the Canadian Global Affair Institute.
“When you have a major supply disruption like this, it goes all over the world, including Canada,” Calnan told CBC News Network.
Calnan says fuel prices will continue to rise as conflict in the Middle East continues and production there remains stagnant.
“If we see this disruption, prices will go up,” said Calnan.
Andrew Chang explains how Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz – a key oil shipping route to the Middle East – is affecting energy costs here in Canada. Photos provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
That’s bad news for rideshare drivers who were already struggling with low wages, said Ontario Rideshare Drivers Association vice-president Earla Phillips, who has driven for companies like Uber and Lyft for nearly a decade.
He says he has heard of many drivers who were already struggling to make car payments or rent before the increase in electricity costs. Many others have turned to food banks to feed themselves, according to Phillips.
And while the governments of Ontario and BC have introduced legislation to help protect vulnerable gig workers who provide services such as driving for ride-hailing companies, both have been criticized, with workers and professionals alike saying that those laws fall short of guaranteeing a better salary and security.
Who should pay the costs?
Personally, Phillips says he’s not sure how much a full tank of gas would cost these days – he says he hasn’t filled his tank in a long time because of the high cost.
“I set the minimum that I must be able to drive for a day or two,” said Phillips. He says $20 used to fill his tank halfway, but now it takes $30 or $35 to move the needle past the half-full mark.
To try to avoid additional costs, Phillips says he has been very selective about which tours he accepts. Sometimes that means sitting more than driving, he says, to avoid “killing him” — taking a trip where he only has a passenger one way, but his car is empty on the way back.
Phillips says he is concerned about the safety of drivers and passengers, as drivers may feel the need to drive long hours to make ends meet. Uber again Lyft both limit drivers to work 12 hours at a time, but Phillips says there’s nothing stopping drivers from switching from one operating system to another once they reach that limit.
Companies like Uber and Lyft could automatically add fuel surcharges to passengers when the price of gas exceeds a certain amount, Phillips suggests, so drivers don’t have to bear the burden alone.
In 2022, Uber added fuel surcharge on fares, admitting that the increased cost of gas at the time due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was hurting shareholders “more than most.” Gasoline prices shot to record highs in the summer of that year, with the average price of gas across Canada reaching 207.2 cents per liter in June of that year, according to Statistics Canada.
The company added a 50-cent surcharge to all rides and adjusted customer charges on Uber Eats orders to add the equivalent of a 35-cent surcharge to deliveries, saying 100 percent of the charge would go to drivers and delivery people.
CBC News reached out to Uber, Lyft and Hopp to ask if they were considering adding surcharges to rides because of rising gas costs, but none responded by deadline.
If nothing changes, drivers like Abdul Jaber say they may look for other ways of earning because working as a ride-hail driver is not good. He only drives part-time, but he says he may start wanting to rush in different directions, like other drivers do.
“Maybe they’ll find other jobs, like drywall, construction, restaurant, fast food, whatever. They’ll find something else [maintain their] life,” said Jaber.
