If you find yourself in Oxford late one night clicking on your phone for a ride with Uber, Sheila Williams of Bruce may just be the person picking you up.
Williams is only in her second week of driving with the company, but has found her niche as an Uber driver.
“I was just looking for a little extra income and this worked out perfectly,” Williams said.
She made over $200 on her first two nights of driving.
Uber is the taxi-like service where you request a ride using their app on your smart phone. Williams is notified on her phone with a “bing” when a ride is being requested and she can then tap to accept and is instantly sent directions via GPS on how to go and pickup the person and then gets another set of turn-by-turn directions on how to deliver the passenger to their destination.
No money changes hands as everything is done through PayPal – the online pay service.
“It’s all really easy. Signing up was easy,” Williams said. “I sent in all my information. They did a background check and I was approved in less than a month.”
Williams said she’s learning where she needs to be and the best times to get the most rides. She said her first night she drove to Oxford to be there by 6 p.m. but only received one ride request before 8 p.m.
“After 8 p.m. it was pretty steady,” Williams said. “I kept going until about 3 a.m.”
One of the attractive parts of being an Uber driver is you control when you’re available and when you’re not.
“I can go and make myself available whenever I want and when I want to go home I go,” Williams said.
She has learned that many others from Memphis and beyond, as well as off-duty policemen are also Uber drivers in Oxford looking for a little extra income.
She said 90% of her passengers thus far have been college students. She tries to stay close to campus much of the time so she gets selected.
Williams said she hasn’t had any issues with passengers and has enjoyed the conversation.
“I enjoy meeting different people and helping them get safely from one place to another is a good feeling,” she said. “Everyone I’ve given rides to has been very appreciative.”
Williams, a member of Pittsboro Pentecostal Church, said she even takes her Bible with her and has had opportunities to witness to many of her passengers.
Williams said she did get an alert from Uber the other day while driving to Oxford cautioning her that she was driving two miles per hour over the speed limit.
“They can monitor everything you’re doing through your phone,” she said. “They know if you speed, or if you were to run a stop sign. That impacts your rating and ability to get rides.”
She said she goes to Oxford a few nights a week and that works well for her. She said she leaves the app on her phone turned on most of the time, so it would be possible for someone in Calhoun County to request an Uber ride and get her, but that hasn’t happened yet.