So on the first day of my account's approval, I ended up with 4 Uber trips. I started on a fifth, but it was cancelled - which wasn't as bad as it sounds, which I will detail later.
I'll start with the app. It's pretty intuitive and easy to use. I have a window mount for my phone (which I highly recommend) and only need to tap the screen a few times for each trip. Once you go "online" with the Uber app (in other words, when you're actively looking for trips, a map of your general area will appear. If an area outside of your general location is experiencing an unusually high demand, the map will expand to show the region. This means more money, but you have to get there in time to take advantage of it. Today, I saw them come and go in a matter of minutes, though in the city limits of Atlanta, they were pretty consistent throughout rush hour. I have to say, the layout and functionality of my app differ somewhat from the introduction video. Unfortunately, I find this happens far too often in the IT industry.
When someone nearby requests a ride, a circular prompt appears over the app and you have about a minute to accept. The app shows some basic information (including, of course, the address) and offers a link to tap if you want navigation. I typically use this because, well, it's less thinking on my part. A clipboard icon in the corner offers their contact information.
My first trip was straightforward enough. I was simply giving a woman a ride home from work. When I arrived at her employer's location, my phone offered the link to begin the ride. It's important to remember that you must slide this to activate it. Simply clicking it will not work. After that, it begins charging the client's account and offers directions to their destination. After just 8 minutes, we arrived at her home. I slid the red button to end the trip and my account was immediately credited. It offered a link to rate her, so I just hit 5 stars and went on my way. Between driving to her work and dropping her off, the total time was about 15 minutes and it paid $3. Which is a bit unusual since my next fare lasted 25 minutes and paid $9. I guess there's still more for me to learn.
The next 2 were, oddly enough, to high school students. I honestly didn't expect that to happen, and felt a little weirded out. I'm not entirely sure how parents feel about a complete stranger with a basic background check giving their kids a ride home from school, but, hopefully, they do have to approve it to begin with.
And then came what was to be my 5th fair. About halfway into the trip, I received a notification that it was cancelled. Definitely not cool, until I learned that Uber pays a cancellation fee. I drove for about 10 minutes and received $4.50. Not bad at all, really.
So my impression of the Uber experience right now is that it can be hit or miss. I spent a little under an hour actually driving on trips and made about $25 (including the cancellation). It doesn't sound too bad, but that only includes the actual trip time. I'm guessing that if I were in a surging area, it would add up quite well. And I noticed that north Atlanta was surging for quite some time, so I just might have to camp out there during rush hour in the near future.
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