As gas prices rise, ride-hail drivers feel especially pinched at the pump

For Kuljeet Singh, a ride-hail driver in Vancouver, every stop at the gas station is nerve-racking.

His heart starts beating, Singh says, watching the dollar amount climb each time he has to gas up. "Sometimes I feel like I'm going to get, like, heart attacks," he said, half-joking.

Gas prices worldwide have soared since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, and the widening war has pinched tanker traffic in the crucially important Strait of Hormuz shipping route.

Ride-hail drivers, many of whom are on the road for hours a day, say they're being hit hard by the extra expense — and experts worry that will lead to burnout as it gets harder to make ends meet.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Gasbuddy.com showed the average price of gas across Canada hovering around 168.1 cents per litre. 

In British Columbia, the cost was higher at 187.3 cents per litre on average on Tuesday afternoon, and on Monday gas prices crept past the $2-per-litre mark at some gas stations in that province.

Singh, who is also the director of the Ride Hailing Driver Association of B.C., says he's paying an extra $20 to $25 each time he fills up his car, which he has to do every three to four days when he's driving for Uber and Lyft. In a month, he estimates that means he's shelling out an extra $150 to $200 to be on the road in downtown Vancouver.

"You feel like … how am I gonna survive? What should I do? Should I put more hours [in]? Should I work, like, 14, 15 hours? It's a very hard decision," Singh said. He says he already works seven days a week — something many of his fellow drivers do, too — so upping his daily hours would be the only solution for him.

While Canada is a major oil producer in its own right, and there is no shortage in what's being pumped domestically, the country still feels the fluctuation of oil prices because the global crude market is so interconnected, according to Joe Calnan, vice president of energy at the Canadian Global Affair Institute.

"When you have a big supply disruption like this, it goes around the world, including in Canada," Calnan told CBC News Network.

Calnan says gas prices will continue to go up as the conflict in the Middle East drags on and production there remains stalled.

"The longer we see this disruption, the higher prices are going to get," Calnan said.

That's bad news for ride-hail drivers who were already struggling to make ends meet due to low margins, says vice president of the Rideshare Drivers Association of Ontario, Earla Phillips, who has also been driving for companies like Uber and Lyft for nearly a decade.

She says she's heard from many drivers who were already struggling to make car payments or pay rent before the cost of gas surged. Many others have also turned to food banks to feed themselves, according to Phillips.