I have been asked by many members to revisit this thread. I was actually so put off that I asked for my account to be deleted. There are no secrets to consistently earning this type of money on the UberX platform. I will share some of my approach, but these may, or may not, apply to your specific situation. I drive in the Seattle market, so much of this will be very specific to that market. If it does not apply to your market, I don't care as I don't drive there. If it does not surge regularly in your market, I don't care as I am not talking to you. If you drive Select or XL some of this applies, most will not.
1. You need to get away from the idea of working for a set amount of money per hour, shift, day. You are a contractor. Your only goal should be to drive at times/places that allow you to maximize the amount of those contracts. You want the longest runs at the highest rates. You should not drive full-time.
2. You need to have a very good data set of when and where surge will happen in your market. The more you explore the data, the better prepared you will be. This research should be ongoing, even when you are not driving/offline.
3. You need to be as flexible as possible to drive when conditions (surge) meet your preset levels. You should be ready to go at all times.
Lets take Point #1 first. I come from a position where I only drive Uber part time. I have a full time job that allows me a base to work from. I don't have a need to ever take a run that I do not want to. I can effectively pick and chose where to be and when to be there and I can be very surgical about how I operate. The overwhelming majority of my runs are taken at a surge rate of 1.5x or higher. But its not just enough to take only surge runs. More on that in Point #2. If you are driving and the night goes dead, then stop driving... take a break or go home. It's that simple. Some weekends will be a complete bust. If you really think about why they were so slow, you will already know in advance for the next time that set of circumstance occur. A good example in Seattle would be when there was the Paradiso concert at the Gorge. It was a completely dead summer weekend in Seattle despite being high tourist season and beautiful weather. Why was it so dead? Because the target Uber demographic in Seattle (millennial) was out of town at the concert for the weekend. When that happens (if you aren't ready for it already) you need to pull back on your driving. Don't force it... it will never pay off for you. If you are driving non-surge runs in the morning to the airport, you are an idiot. Let me say that again...if you are driving to SeaTac, from Seattle or North, and it is not surging... you are not making money. Because you can't pick up at the airport...especially because there isn't enough incoming traffic at that time to drive demand... you will most likely drive back empty. It is a waste of time and miles at the base rate.... don't do it. It is a beginner's mistake.
Lets tie that into Point #2, know your surge. Seattle surges at the same times on the same days... pretty consistently. I use an offline surge tracker (Surge.org) that allows me to see surges even when I am not logged in (i.e. when I am at work during the day at my full-time job). I don't even drive the morning rush... but I can tell you exactly when it surges, where it surges, and to what level it surges for each day of the week for morning commute. You need to be at this level too. It's so important not to just turn on the app and drive. You should be able to know exactly where to be and when to catch these surge runs. Even if you are not driving for an event (i.e. a concert downtown) you need to watch what the effect is so you can use that information in the future. Hint: Downtown is not the best surge at the end of a Mariner's game... it is the Eastside. There are so many variables that go into creating surge and you need to understand how each one effects the market (i.e. time of day, day of week, weather, traffic conditions, events, etc). I don't leave the house for every 1.5x surge... I leave the house when I know there will be sustained surge. Do you even know how often surge factors are reset? Do you know how long a pax has a rate locked in? Do you know the zones? Do you know how to see when a surge is about to happen (not the yellow and orange crap)? Can you judge overall demand using the pax app to know where to be? Do you know when it surges in Tacoma or Olympia?
Onto Point #3, never have a set start/end time. You can have an idea of what you want to drive... but demand/surge should be what dictates your time on app. I always have my car clean (19.99 unlimited Brown Bear car washes) and the fuel tank is never less than half-empty. I already told you that I use an offline surge tracking app. That app sends notifications to my iPhone to tell me when surge is happening. I got an Apple Watch, so now those notifications go straight to my wrist...even when I am at home. If I see a massive surge going off downtown, I can take advantage. Several weeks ago there was a huge surge downtown (over 5x for two hours) on a Tuesday night. Most drivers would not even think to look during that time. I was alerted and able to drive for two hours and make several hundred dollars. Why the surge? T-Mobile went down in Seattle and any drivers on their system were forced offline due to no service. You can't foresee those events... but you can be ready to take advantage of them at a moment's notice.
So, knowing that I only drive surge, I don't force myself to drive shifts, and I only drive part time... lets take this to another level.
We all know that surge happens at 2AM on Friday and Saturdays in Seattle. If you don't want to drive at those times you simply will not make these types of returns. I don't care why you don't want to drive then... I am simply saying that these are the times to earn the maximum amount per contract on a consistent basis. But just being available to drive, and logged in during these surges is not enough. Let me state that again... just because you are near a random bar at 2am on a Friday or Saturday does not mean you are taking full advantage of the situation... you can actually do more. I am not going to give away my favorite spots... but I will tell you how I found them based on theory. The two runs that you pick up on Friday and Saturday last call should be your best contracts of the week consistently. You have everything in your favor if you do the proper research. You need to really watch that 2AM surge to see how it builds and declines. Just because you see a 1.5X surge at 1:30AM does not mean you should log in and take a run. You will most certainly be putting yourself out of position for maximizing that contract on your big run of the night. Watch enough of these 2AM surges develop and you will find the flow. I don't wait for the the top surge rate... I usually jump in one step below it... that way if I have a cancellation or issue, I can sill recover.
Ready for the next level? Where are you going to be to get that long run? Just being outside a random bar is not enough. In Seattle we have themed bars that attract people from far outside Seattle. You should focus in on those bars and be very picky about your pings to get a run from them. Some of these places are actually pretty far from the rest of the city... or not close to a highway. That is good for you... more distance to drive at a very high rate. I stage outside of my spots and log in when I am ready. Then I decline pings until I get one from that bar. Want a hint? There is only one gay bar in Seattle that is geared towards women. Find that bar and you should have some pretty good distance runs. I don't hang out there anymore because I found better spots... but you get the idea. You don't want Seattle bars that attract Seattle people (cough, Ballard and Fremont), you want the unique Seattle bars/clubs that attract people from Bellevue, Lynwood, Tacoma. And if you hit that long run.... this is the only time I drive non-surge.... to get a paid run back to Seattle. Remember I asked if you know when it surges in Tacoma? Have you ever gotten a 2AM run south? I have found several 5X surges in Tacoma and Olympia because I was already down there from a Seattle-based run. If you research your outer areas too, you will be more prepared.
I bring in anywhere from $200 to $1200 a weekend using this approach. I typically only drive Friday and Saturday nights. I do not drive Sundays... that's Seahawks day (I am a season-ticket holder). Even with that restriction, I still average about $500 a weekend for about 10-12 hours of driving.
If I only drove Uber, I would be staged to drive Mon-Fri for 8-9:30AM surge rush. Mon-Fri for 5-6pM rush. Fri night Surge. Sat night surge. And Sundays for special events only (i.e football games). These are not shifts... just suggestions.