Drivers prepare app to compete with Uber and 99 in SP

The cell phone rings, requesting a new trip. Valmir checks the distance that separates him from the passenger, who is waiting at a point in São Paulo, and rejects him. “I became a mathematician driving”, ironically this Uber driver, forced to do calculations to end the day with a positive balance.

“Given the high gas prices, I have to do the math soon to choose profitable rides, and not end up giving the passenger a ride,” says the 56-year-old, who has worked for digital transport platforms in the largest city in Latin America for three years.

The precariousness of the job is leading these workers, who have 150,000 workers in the city, to organize themselves to launch an app, which they say is a pioneer, and to compete with the giants Uber and 99.

Called “Me Busca”, the platform created by a Brazilian company and supported by the Association of Motoboys and Application Drivers of São Paulo (Ammasp) is, according to its creators, the first in the region to emerge from a self-management initiative. Although there has already been a previous project in Colombia, without success.

“We want drivers to obtain all the conditions that companies do not provide: better remuneration, more safety and better quality of work”, says Eduardo Lima, president of Ammasp, to AFP.

Even before its launch, scheduled for March, the application already has thousands of subscribers, and they hope it will spread across the country.

Accounts that don’t close

In Brazil, fuels rose by an average of 49% in 2021, increasing driver spending, also affected by general inflation of 10.06% and by the rise in vehicle maintenance, such as the prices of parts and accessories (11%).

Raniel de Queiroz, 42, works at a technology company, but at 6 pm he turns off his computer and sits behind the wheel for eight hours. “The salary doesn’t keep up with the increase in prices. With inflation, driving was a way to have an extra income and be able to equalize”, explains this family man to AFP.

However, the relationship with the platform “has gotten worse and more unfair”, says Queiroz, who recently installed gas in his car as an alternative fuel to increase his margin.

Although fares for passengers have increased by 60.5% in 2021 in the capital of São Paulo, Valmir did not feel it in his pocket.

“I’m working more, usually 12, 13 hours a day, sometimes even 14, to make the same money”, laments the driver, who earns between 250 and 300 reais a day gross.

Redistribution

The apps “take advantage of unemployment in Brazil to offer low wages,” says Marlon Luz, a councilor for São Paulo and a representative for drivers.

This index reached 14.9% in the third quarter of 2020 and fell to 12.6% in the same period of 2021, although with increasing informality and lower wages.

According to Lima, the platforms retain “between 14% and 40%, but reach up to 60%” of the value of the trip.

“Me Busca will have a fixed rate and the calculation is that it will give gains of 2000 to 2200 reais per month working the same 70 hours a week”, he says.

Uber, which arrived in Brazil in 2014 and has one million workers, has applied a variable percentage since 2018, when it changed its fixed rate of 25%.

“The driver partner always keeps most of the amount paid by the user,” company sources told AFP.

For drivers who “drived about 40 hours” in São Paulo, the “average weekly earnings in the last month” were estimated “at more than R$1,500”, Uber said. The profitability, however, varies according to the day, time and place.

Last year, the growth in demand caused a “temporary imbalance in the market”, explained the company, which is trying to solve the issue with incentives, such as dynamic prices, to avoid cancellations that led to the suspension of 1,600 workers.

99 also highlighted its actions to meet the claims: readjustments of “10% to 25%” in compensation in 2021, and increases of 8% per km traveled this year in São Paulo, indicated a spokesperson.

However, drivers remain unhappy. “We are hopeful. I’m rooting for this app to work, that’s what I want most. If it does, companies will regret not having listened,” says Queiroz.