Blog · October 2, 2026

A $45 airport ride, and the $14 the driver saw

I drive for the big ride apps while I build Buraq. Last week a request came in from a Riverside street corner: 18.7 miles to Ontario International Airport, 26 minutes. The offer on my screen said $14.09, with “$30.19/hr est. rate for this ride” under it.

At the same minute, from the same street, the rider app quoted that trip at $44.97.

So the driver would have kept about 31 cents of each dollar the rider paid. The driver’s screen never shows the rider’s price, so a driver has no way to put the two numbers side by side.

The second app looked the same

A 12.5-mile trip from Perris to Riverside cost the rider $40.96 before a promo. My offer for that route was $13.50. Traffic held the ride up past five minutes, and the app raised my pay to $16.33. That’s about 40% of the rider’s price, with the raise.

Two rides are a sample, not a study

These numbers come from my own phone, on two days. Prices change by the hour and by the street, and I can’t tell you what either app pays on average. I can tell you what I saw, with the screenshots to back it.

How Buraq splits a fare

At Buraq, most of what a rider pays goes to the person driving. We keep a smaller part for the app, the insurance and the card fees. Drivers see their pay and an hourly rate before they accept, the same way the big apps show it, and that pay is most of the fare.

Right now Buraq is one car in Riverside, and I’m the driver. If you drive and want a message when we add cars, put your name on the list.