It's getting harder and harder to catch an Uber in Brazil. While the fuel prices increased 50% last year, the applications that the ride-hailing drivers rely on claim a sizable chunk of what's left.
Surging inflation has left many Brazilians struggling to make ends meet.
On the street, a Uber driver's phone bleeps out the signal to pick up a passenger, but he checks the distance and declines: "I've become a mathematician at the wheel," he complained.
But now, drivers in Sao Paulo, a sprawling city of 12 million people, are about to launch an app of their own, taking on the likes of industry giant Uber with a platform they say will give drivers a better deal.
"With gasoline so expensive, I have to do split-second math before every trip to make sure it's worth it, so I don't end up giving the passenger a free ride," said Sao Paulo Uber driver Valmir, 56, who demanded that his last name not be used.
"I'm working 12-, 13-, sometimes 14-hour days to make the same money I used to" between 250 and 300 reals ($48-$57) a day before expenses, he said.
That problem has led a group of Sao Paulo's 150,000 app drivers to organize and develop a mobile app of their own, backed by the Sao Paulo Association of Application Drivers and Delivery Workers (AMMASP).
It is called Me Busca, which roughly translates as "pick me up."
"We want to offer drivers the conditions that the (ride-hailing) companies don't: better pay, more security, and better-quality work," AMMASP president Eduardo Lima told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Its creators say Me Busca will offer prices similar to competitors like United States-based Uber and 99, which is owned by China's Didi.
The app is due to launch in March, and thousands of drivers have already signed up.
Inflation came in at a painful 10% in Brazil last year, driven by the economic havoc of the coronavirus pandemic. Price increases for some sectors were far higher, including 49% for fuel.
The pandemic has also swelled the ranks of the struggling and unemployed.
Raniel de Queiroz, a 42-year-old tech worker, has started supplementing his day job as a data backup analyst with eight-hour nights as a ride-hailing driver. "My salary isn't going up, but prices are. Driving was a way to earn some extra money and keep up with the country's inflation situation," he said.
But his treatment by the app he drives for "has gotten more and more unfair," he added.
The fares paid by app users rose 60.5% last year in Sao Paulo. Drivers say they are barely seeing that money.
The apps "take advantage of high unemployment in Brazil" currently 11.6%, to keep driver pay low, said Marlon Luz, a city councilor who represents the drivers.
He said the apps retain anywhere from 14% to 40% of each fare, sometimes even rising as high as 60%.
Me Busca will pay drivers "around 2,000 reals more per month than what they make now, for working the same number of hours," he said.
Uber, which arrived in Brazil in 2014, says drivers "always keep the majority of the fare users pay."
"In Sao Paulo, estimated weekly earnings rose to 1,500 reals last month, for a 40-hour workweek," the company told AFP.
Surging fuel prices made many Uber drivers cut back on trips last year, leaving riders with long wait times or even stranded.
The company said it was trying to fix that with incentives such as dynamic pricing to lure drivers.
App 99, meanwhile, said it increased driver pay by 10% to 25% last year and is offering 8% more per kilometer this year in Sao Paulo.
Drivers aren't convinced.
"We hope the new app works," said Queiroz. "If it does, they're going to wish they had listened to us."
