Seattle – As Uber announces plans for a $20 billion stock buyback today, new data in Washington State shows the company’s corporate “take rate” (the amount of each fare they keep as a commission) skyrocketing from 2019-2024, even as the company blames rising prices on external costs and local regulations.

In a report released today, Taking Seattle for a Ride, researchers at Drivers Union analyzed driver tax data covering more than 1.4 million trips in that five-year time period. Findings include:

• From 2019-2024, the average amount that Uber took from rider fares skyrocketed from $4.69 per trip to $13.06 per trip—a 178% increase.
• That increase is more than double the increase in driver wages over the same time period. On average, Uber currently takes 35% from each passenger fare—a dramatic raise from their original take rate of 20%.
• If Uber reinstated their previous take rate limit of 20 percent of rider price, they could immediately lower prices for riders by 19 percent—reducing the average rider fare from $37 to $30.
• Surge pricing can represent even steeper take rates, sometimes representing more than 50 percent of rider price.

Read the full report, Taking Seattle for a Ride, here