Uber gives its delivery partners the freedom to choose their own vehicles (bicycle, motorcycle or car) that they’ll use to work on the Uber Eats platform. The difference between these three types of vehicles are the requirements needed to be accepted on the platform. In addition, Uber differentiates the percentage of service fees charged to drivers based on their vehicle type.
Recently, a number of Uber Eats delivery drivers point out that bikers and motorcycle accounts are prioritized to get delivery trip requests. In other words, driver account that registered with the two-wheeler are busier when compared to drivers who are registered with a car account. But is it really like that?
This information can be true or false, of course, Uber has never officially said that. This statement was said by the partners that we have read on the Australian delivery driver forums in recent years. They said that it’s based on experience in the field while doing this job.
This statement cannot be used as a reference because it is only based on the claims of a few people, because there are still bikers out there who get fewer pings than car accounts. However, the information is not entirely wrong, because indeed in some locations and at certain times the biker account is superior to the car account.
The following are some of the possible reasons why Uber Eats biker accounts are busier than car accounts, especially in Australia.
Areas where bikers are online
In our opinion, Uber does not give priority to biker accounts in every area in a city. They will most likely be given priority to bike in the city centre (CBD). Because in general, restaurants in this location have limited parking space or they are not accessible by a car.
Bikers get priority here as their vehicles are easier to get parking space. This vehicle is also easier to break through the heavy traffic that commonly takes place at city centres. Customer will also be got benefit with this type of vehicle since their orders will come faster at the intended temperature. Using a car driver will find it difficult to pick-up or drop-off and order in a place like this.
Pick-up and drop-off distance
The biker is likely to be prioritized to get an order when the delivery location is not too far away, so they will only be offered a short-distance trip request. Because if you are an Uber Eats customer, you certainly do not want your order, which is about 10 km delivered by using a bicycle. Besides taking a long time to arrive, there is a possibility that the food arrives not in the intended temperature even though it is stored in a hot bag.
So, when you see a lot of delivery drivers using a bike to delivery food, chances are you are in a location where there are a lot of short-distance delivery requests.
The number of biker accounts
As we said before, it’s easy to be accepted as an Uber Eats delivery partner especially for those who want to use a bicycle. To get a biker account, we only need to upload our Proof of ID (Passport / AUS Birth Certificate / Immicard) and Secondary ID (Student ID / National) docs. There’s no need to upload driver’s licence, vehicle registration certificate or vehicle insurance.
That is why biker accounts are dominated by international students, immigrants and temporary visa holders who have the right to work in the country. They do not need to spend extra dollars to buy or rent a vehicle, this is also efficient for international students who can only work for up to 20 hours per week (while school is in session).
Because of the easy requirements, it is not surprising that the number of delivery partners using a bike is higher than the other types of vehicles. This is also the reason why the majority of your food orders thru Uber Eats are delivered by bicyclists rather than motorbike or car.
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