Driving to Opportunity? Work and Car Access Among Low-Income Ride-Hail and Delivery Drivers

Personal vehicles positively impact outcomes ranging from employment to activity participation. Yet owning and maintaining a personal vehicle often proves challenging for households earning low incomes. Ride-hail and delivery platforms, which allow drivers to operate personal vehicles or rent vehicles by the week, may offer low-income workers new access to vehicles and alter the labor market landscape. This paper uses data from three focus groups and a national US survey of active Uber ride-hail drivers and couriers living in low-income households to examine 1) peoples’ motivations for driving on ride-hail or delivery platforms, 2) how driving impacts car access for low-income households, and 3) how driving fits into peoples’ broader work experiences. I find that ride-hail/delivery work is far from one-size-fits-all. Drivers use platform work to complement, supplement, or replace traditional work; in other words, people drive to fill gaps in employment, earn extra money on top of primary full-time work, or opt to drive over other jobs. The role driving plays in peoples’ lives often changes over time in response to variable household and financial needs. Drivers leverage the position’s flexibility, which is rarely found in employment opportunities available to people earning low-incomes. Drivers also report how platform work can both alleviate existing financial precarity and create new forms of economic uncertainty. For a subset of drivers, many of whom could not previously afford a personal car, ride-hail/delivery work—and particularly renting vehicles from company partners—appears an important avenue to access and maintain a personal vehicle.