On October 23, 2020 we announced that we would increase fees for both drivers and passengers.
This change was required to ensure that we can sustain and keep growing our community in light of rising operational costs and losses due to Covid-19. More info in our blog
This article provides more details on the fee increases and aims to answer frequently asked questions around this topic.
What is the new passenger booking fee?
We are adding a $1 support fee for passengers on each booking, which will be added on top of the 15% booking fee we already charge.
Previously, if a passenger booked a ride from Ottawa to Montreal, they would have paid $23 ($20 + 15% booking fee*), and with the new fee, they will now pay $24*.
The $1 extra (which is less that a coffee at Starbucks) might seem like a small amount but it greatly helps us generate more revenue to help cover our growing operational costs and ensure we can keep offering passengers a great service.
* GST is added on top of all fees
What is the new driver payout fee?
We are introducing a 3% payout fee which will automatically be taken off each payout we send to drivers.
For example, if a passenger pays $20 to get from Ottawa to Montreal, the driver will now receive a payout of $19.40 ($20 - 3%*).
This small fee helps us recover some of the increasing transaction fees we incur from our payment provider and ensure that we can keep providing a great service to drivers.
* GST is added on top of all fees
Why don’t you monetize with ads instead?
Generating revenue from ads requires millions of pageviews per month, as ads are monetized on a pay-per-click basis, and require large volumes of traffic.
The reality of Poparide is that we are not in the business of generating pageviews and therefore, putting ads on our service would likely generate very little revenue for us.
Also, we believe in upkeeping your privacy and we are not fans of platforms that monetize people’s time and attention through clicks.
We prefer charging for a great service!
Will you increase fees again?
This is the first time we change our fee structure since we started Poparide five years ago in 2015.
We’ll be monitoring how this fee change is affecting the activity within the community to ensure that travel remains affordable on Poparide, and be making any necessary adjustments as time goes by.