Uber's Bay Area Driver Numbers Spike Over 2014

The so-called "sharing economy" has its critics, but it is a rapidly growing way for some to make a part-time or full-time income, and depending on where you live, you have likely seen it expand over recent months. Uber might be one of the biggest examples of this, at least when it comes to giving strangers rides in your own car for money, and it has just released some numbers that demonstrate that growth: its number of drivers in the Bay Area have more than doubled in a single year.

Uber says this is a new milestone for the company, with it reaching 20,000 drivers in the Bay Area for the first time since launching in the region. Uber fondly refers to the Bay Area as its home, seeing that it is where the service started, and it says that a year ago it wasn't yet to the half-point of that milestone.

Uber points out a number of drivers in the region and how they use the service — to support a family, to bring in an income while pursuing some other dream, etc. The ridesharing service used this announcement to announce an upcoming expansion of its service in the area: it'll be rolling out walk-in part support offices in places in Northern California. It points to Daly City as one location.

While the growth is a positive for Uber, it might represent something different for some drivers: a way to bring in an income, but not necessarily a job that is more favorable than others. Some drivers have called for more from the service, demanding their contractor status be switched to an "employed" status, which would bring with it more perks.

SOURCE: Uber Blog