Drivers and delivery people earned a total of $7.8 billion since 2012 

500 million trips taken, 300 million meals delivered, 5.5 billion kilometres driven, and 600,000 drivers and delivery people on the platform over 10 years

Launched on March 15, 2012 in Toronto, Uber is celebrating its 10th anniversary in Canada today. To celebrate, Uber is looking back on its journey in Canada and its impact on Canadians and communities through mobility, delivery, and unlocking earning opportunities. 

Uber’s mission is to create opportunity through movement. Co-founded by Calgarian entrepreneur Garrett Camp in 2010, the company was started to solve a simple problem: how do you get access to a ride at the touch of a button? More than 10 billion trips later, the company continues to build products to get people closer to where they want to be. In Canada, Uber is now in over 140 municipalities across 9 provinces, and continues to expand across all services including Uber Eats and Uber Freight. 

“We are so grateful that Canadians have adopted the Uber platform in their everyday lives, whether it’s requesting a ride or ordering takeout or groceries,” said Andrew Macdonald, SVP of Mobility for Uber. “The ease of use, availability, and reliability of the platform means 17 million people in Canada have taken a trip or ordered a delivery with Uber.” 

Over the last ten years in Canada…

  • Over 17 million people have taken a trip or ordered a delivery with Uber.
  • Drivers and delivery people earned a total of $7.8 billion since 2012.
  • Canadians have taken 500 million trips on the Uber platform.
  • Canadians have ordered over 300 million meals on Uber Eats. 
  • We’ve travelled 5.5 billion kilometres together. That’s 37 times the distance to the sun. 
  • Over 600,000 people have earned with Uber and Uber Eats. This year, there are over 100,000 active drivers and delivery people on the road across the country. 
  • Uber Eats entered Canada in 2015. In fact, Toronto was the first city Uber Eats started in. It has grown to help deliver over 300 million meals from over 60,000 restaurants. It’s been a huge boost in demand for small businesses: helping connect them with new customers from across the city, increasing orders and demand, and ultimately helping restaurants create new jobs. And during the pandemic, delivery has become an essential service. 
  • In a normal year, we estimate that Uber saves riders over 13 million hours a year. That’s the equivalent of driving from Halifax to Vancouver over 230,000 times.

In 2020, amidst a global pandemic and an economic crisis, Uber pivoted to encourage consumers to stay home and stay safe. In these extraordinary circumstances, frontline workers trusted Uber for a safe ride, restaurants leaned on Uber Eats to transition their operations to delivery and takeout, and drivers and delivery people helped move essential items to Canadians coast to coast.

Looking forward, we continue to listen to people who use the platform, drivers, delivery people, and cities on how we can make the platform better. That’s why this year Uber Canada signed a historic agreement with UFCW Canada, Canada’s largest private-sector union in the food, retail, and service sectors, which provides over 100,000 drivers and delivery people on the Uber platform with strong representation. Uber Canada and UFCW Canada are also jointly advocating for industry-wide legislative standards—like at least 120% minimum earnings standard, a benefits fund that scales based on time spent on platforms, notice of termination, accident coverage, and access to workers’ rights—across the country. 

The next decade is going to be focused on sustainability. As the largest mobility platform in the world, we know that our impact goes beyond our technology. We’ve made a commitment to operate a zero-emission platform globally by 2040, and in Canadian cities with supportive policies—like Montreal and Vancouver—by 2030. This year we’re partnering with Plug’n Drive, a non-profit committed to accelerating EV adoption, to support drivers on the Uber platform to make the switch.

Hear from some top rated drivers on their stories from the road:

 

Thank you to each and every Canadian for getting Uber to the 10 year mark. It’s been an incredible journey and we’re just getting started. We look forward to seeing what’s yet to come.