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Demovictory9

(32,454 posts) Sun Jun 2, 2019, 08:03 PM Jun 2019

The Uber drivers forced to sleep in parking lots to make a decent living

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/07/the-uber-drivers-forced-to-sleep-in-parking-lots-to-make-a-decent-living

A growing group who commute from places as far as eight hours away spend the night in their cars to pick up fares around San Francisco during the day

Dais Jalal is one of a growing group of Uber drivers in San Francisco who sleep in their cars to avoid commuting long distances.

Every Saturday morning before the sun rises, 35-year-old Uber driver Sultan Arifi rolls up the sleeping bag in the front seat of his car, places it in the trunk, and prepares for another day of work.

He will spend the next 12 hours picking up as many passengers as he can on the streets of San Francisco before returning to a grocery store parking lot in the north of the city to sleep, often for six hours or less, rising as early as he can on Sunday to do it all again.

The 35-year-old immigrant from Afghanistan commutes into San Francisco from Modesto, some 80 miles away, where he lives in an apartment with his wife and four children. He is one of a growing group of Uber drivers in San Francisco who spend nights in their cars in parking lots across the Bay Area on the weekends. Some come from places as far as eight hours away to make a living before returning home.

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Mohammad Sadiq Safi, a driver who commutes nearly 90 miles to the Bay Area from Sacramento and lives out of his car four days a week, was paid $28 of a $72 pool fare from the San Francisco airport, near Millbrae, into San Francisco last week. Safi completed 130 rides in five days last week before driving home to Sacramento.

“Uber doesn’t care about us, you can see this in our payment,” said Safi, who sends money to Afghanistan in hopes his wife and five children can join him in the US soon. “Every week I have to make more trips to cover my costs,” he added.