Uber is recruiting drivers. Some existing drivers are upset

When the coronavirus took hold in the United States, ride-hail drivers watched their income evaporate. With people largely staying at home, there were drastically fewer people to transport. Now facing renewed demand from passengers, Uber has announced a $250 million "stimulus" that will fund incentives to entice drivers back onto the road. But some fear this short-term infusion of cash into the company's driver program will depress driver wages once more drivers are active and the funds run out.

"I didn't stop [driving passengers] because I was afraid. I only stopped because of supply and demand. I knew passengers were just not going to pay my bills," one Phoenix-based Uber driver who asked that their name be withheld for fear of retribution told CNN Business. The driver turned to food delivery, an area of the economy that has boomed during the pandemic, to make ends meet. But by August, money from deliveries from Uber Eats started to fade, too. "Customers were no longer tipping generously," the driver said. "I had to go back to passengers, which generally pay more if [riders] do longer trips." While slow in the fall, ride requests have significantly picked up in recent months and the supply side of the equation is also in favor of Uber drivers at the moment, with fewer of them on the road than pre-pandemic. That's meant good money for some active drivers, who find themselves with little time without passengers and near constant "surge" pricing in effect — when the company boosts prices when there's high demand from customers to entice drivers onto the platform. The Phoenix driver's earnings on the platform doubled last month when compared to pre-pandemic earnings in January and February 2020, according to records shared with CNN Business. While the driver completed a similar number of trips, promotions by Uber led to the significant difference in pay, the driver said.