Earn on your own schedule

New Year’s Eve pro tips for 2019

26 December 2018 / New Zealand

With especially high demand for rides, New Year’s Eve is one of the busiest nights of the year. It’s a great night to drive to help riders in your city ring in the new year more safely.
Check out our tips below to help you make the most of the big night.
Planning your night
Last year, New Year’s Eve ride requests picked up around 7pm as riders headed out to celebrate.
Requests slowed down at around 11pm as riders settled in to countdown to midnight
Ride requests picked up from midnight to 3am as riders headed home
Make sure you plan your break times to take advantage of the busiest hours of the night. For more information on the Fatigue Management Policy feature please see the blog post here.
The Uber app will take you offline after 13 cumulative hours of driving time without an uninterrupted 10 hour break. Remember, it is your responsibility to ensure that you continue to maintain your logbook and comply with the NZTA’s work time rules.
The chart below showing trip requests on New Year’s Eve 2017 across Australia and New Zealand helps indicate when you can expect the most requests from riders this New Year’s Eve.
We’re letting riders know what’s expected of them
This year we’ve been focused on educating riders about how to make the Uber experience enjoyable for themselves and driver-partners on trip.
We reminded riders that they’re expected to be polite, courteous and keep the car clean, and that they shouldn’t ask their driver to break the law.
We’re hoping this minimises New Year’s Eve incidents as much as possible. In the rare cases where something does go wrong, such as a rider leaving a mess in your car or being rude or abusive, tap the ‘?’ in the app and let us know.
What to do if a rider makes a mess in your car
In the rare event that a rider makes a mess in your vehicle, if it’s significant enough to prevent you from accepting further trips and needs professional cleaning, you can let us know and request a cleaning fee here. Please make sure you include a photo.
We’ll review your claim to ensure a fair resolution is reached. If necessary, we may ask for more information.
Finding out where it’s busy
The Driver app can help guide you to busy areas with highlighted surge areas and real-time updates on where to find more trips near you.
See how much you’re earning all night
View your earnings at a glance on the tracker on your map screen to see your progress in real time.
Have confidence in your safety
From the Safety Toolkit in your app, you can share your trip status with loved ones or tap the emergency button to contact 111 immediately.
You can also get help from our 24/7 support team at any time by tapping Help in the Driver app.
Take a break between Christmas and New Year’s Eve
Every year, we see an increase in ride requests over the festive season, with especially high demand for rides on New Year’s Eve. Between Christmas and New Year’s however, it’s usually very quiet, a chance to relax, recharge and take a break.