Uber Reports Highest-Ever Monthly Bookings

Uber saw its highest-ever monthly bookings in March thanks to a rise in COVID-19 vaccinations, the rideshare company reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on Monday (April 12).

The report said Uber’s mobility business marked its best month since March of last year, passing a $30 billion annualized gross bookings run-rate, while its average daily gross bookings rose 9 percent month over month. Meanwhile, Uber’s delivery business also saw a record-setting March, marking a $52 billion annualized gross bookings run rate, a more than 150 percent increase year over year.

“As vaccination rates increase in the United States, we are observing that consumer demand for mobility is recovering faster than driver availability, and consumer demand for delivery continues to exceed courier availability,” Uber said in its report. “On April 7, Uber announced it is increasing investments in driver incentives to improve driver availability in the near term. We continue to believe that Uber is on track to reach quarterly adjusted EBITDA profitability in 2021.”

The “increasing investments” the report mentions refers to the $250 million "driver stimulus" Uber was offering to get people to come back to driving. Uber, like its competitor Lyft, has begun offering financial incentives to entice drivers to come back.

“In 2020, many drivers stopped driving because they couldn’t count on getting enough trips to make it worth their time,” Dennis Cinelli, Uber’s vice president for mobility in the U.S. and Canada, said in the post. “In 2021, there are more riders requesting trips than there are drivers available to give them — making it a great time to be a driver.”

In its SEC filing on Monday (April 12), Uber also reported what a British court has already ruled: that the company’s drivers are not self-employed and are thus entitled to the same benefits and wages as other workers in the region.