Highway robbery: Uber has officially acknowledged they have not been paying tolls since March 2020 to Houston Drivers

When the City of Houston issued a lockdown order back in March of 2020, the Harris County Toll Road Authority decided to pause the collection of tolls, so of course, both Uber and Lyft stopped remitting fees to drivers, and rightfully so. On April 29, 2020, HCTRA decided to resume tolls.

Both Uber and Lyft were notified by drivers that tolls were being charged again on April 29. Lyft, stated remitting fees that same day, while Uber countinued to not remit fees to drivers.

Fast forward as we are coming up on a year and drivers are still having issues receiving tolls. An entire year.

Uber blames this on a technical glitch. Consider for a moment that they have fought tooth and nail to be considered a software company, you would think for the billions of dollars they make off one app that they can surely fix a technical glitch within a reasonable amount of time. Keep in mind, before March 2020, the app worked nearly flawlessly to capture and remit toll payments to drivers. All they had to do on April 29, was revert back to that code.

For those unfamiliar with the Uber app, the “Your Earnings” at the top is what goes directly to the driver. Uber does not pay tolls directly to the tolling authority. This falls on the driver. The “Trip Balance” should match “Your Earnings”.

I know what you are thinking: “Uber is not stealing if they are paying drivers after they ask Uber support about it.“

Well, that is simple thinking my friend. I have talked to several drivers, had them review their earnings, and guess what? Every single one of them did not notice the toll missing. You can’t write to support about a problem you are not aware of right?

One Houston driver who is understandably upset about the whole issue stated “It is not only frustrating to have to request a trip adjustment after every ride, Uber support has flat out denied adjusting the fare at times.”

While Uber takes their time fixing this “glitch”, I would strongly recommend if you are a driver, avoid toll roads in the Houston market, as much as you can. Usually, the non-toll road will net you a longer trip in both mileage and time anyways. If a rider insists you use the toll road, hopefully, they will show their appreciation via tip. (Yes, customers are still being charged for tolls, it is not the customer’s fault.)

Hopefully Uber can quickly resolve this and remit payments for tolls missed to all drivers.