Woman Takes Uber Share. Then The Driver Asks Her An Extremely Personal Question: 'I Didn't Think I Was Gonna Be Interrogated'

A woman is minding her own business taking an UberX Share when the driver suddenly asks her how much cheaper it was than a normal ride. Here is the answer. 

TikTok creator @swagmeister_007 posted a video about the interaction. “Today I took an Uber Share home, and when we went to pick up the first co-rider, the Uber driver turned to me and was like, ‘You took Uber Share?’” she says.

@swagmeister_007 continues, “I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And he was like, ‘How much cheaper was it?’ I didn’t think I was going to be interrogated for this. Just kidding, it wasn’t that serious.”

However, the brief social interaction did remind her how other people in her life respond to her habit of booking Uber Share. 

“I was like, I already get judged enough by my friends for taking Uber Share, and now the Uber driver of the Uber Share is judging me for booking an Uber Share?” she says. “It was $8 cheaper, by the way. It was supposed to be $19, and Uber Share was $11. Sue me.”

Why Did the Uber Driver Ask How Much She Paid for the UberX Share?

In the comments section of the video, viewers attributed the question to a very different motivation on the part of the driver.

“He was trying to calculate how much Uber kept from your ride compared to what he got,” one viewer suggested. “Once I paid $72 for a solo ride and the driver was only paid $11.”

“Curiosity isn’t judgement," a second person offered. “It’s often the opposite.”

Several other viewers defended @swagmeister_007 for her decision to take Uber Share, especially in this case.

“I thought it’d be like 2 bucks cheaper, but $8 is actually a pretty big difference in prices,” a third person observed. “I might actually have to do that next time.”

“I would do that,” one person said. “Eight bucks is a little treat.”

A second person agreed. “No lie,” they wrote. “That $8 is a whole ‘nother Uber ride.”

The Economics of UberX Share

According to Uber, UberX Share is a service that allows customers traveling in the same direction to share a ride in exchange for up to a 20% discount. The company estimates that sharing an Uber adds about six minutes to the average ride compared to what a solo UberX trip would take.

A driver posted a thread to Reddit’s r/uberdrivers three years ago to ask if the initiative was intended to help passengers save money. One person said, “Yes. They are trying to be cheap. I just ignore Uber Share rides.”

Another person elaborated on the subject. “Yes, people choose it because they know they’re still probably going to be the only one or maybe share it with one other person and they’re going to be able to pay less.”

Motor1 contacted @swagmeister_007 via TikTok comment and direct message for comment. We also contacted Uber via press email for comment. We will update this story if either party responds.