This Sunday, Super Bowl 50 will put San Francisco--and neighboring Silicon Valley--into the national spotlight. The actual game will be held in the Santa Clara stadium which is about an hour away from San Fransisco. One of the most popular ways to get from the city to the stadium is to call an Uber. This might not be so easy come Sunday, as Uber drivers have been circulating online petitions and flyers, trying to get drivers to pledge to protest their wages by turning off their apps ahead of the big game.
Here is a tweet from what appears to be a disgruntled driver:
Sign the #UberSuperBowlStrike petition here https://t.co/93DiBoqD0k and make sure you stay OFFLINE this Sunday. United we can #FlipUber
-- NARDA (@FlipUber) February 4, 2016
An Uber spokesperson said:
Seasonality affects every business and Uber is no different, so when holiday parties wind down in SF that can mean a slow start to the year for our driver-partners. By cutting prices for riders, we can give them one more reason to take a ride, which helps keep drivers busier during the slow season. To put drivers' minds at ease, we have hourly earnings guarantees in place.
The underlying issue surrounding these protests are the fare cuts which Uber implemented in some US cities at the beginning of the year. According to the company, it needed to address the seasonal decrease in demand after the holidays; in San Francisco, it reduced prices by 10 percent, and decreased prices by 20 percent in the East Bay and South Bay. In addition, the only way Drivers are eligble to receive a base pay is if they accept 90 percent of ride requests and complete 25 trips.
While there is no sure telling whether San Fransisco will be grid locked by Uber drivers on Super Bowl Sunday, there is certainly the potential for it.
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