5 Things Every London Uber & Bolt Driver Should Be Tracking (But Probably Isn't)
Published: September 2026
If you drive for Uber, Bolt or FREE NOW in London, you already know the app doesn't tell you everything. It shows you the next fare. It doesn't tell you whether last Tuesday was actually a good shift once you take off fuel, the Congestion Charge and the hour you spent driving around with nobody in the car.
Here's what's worth keeping an eye on, and why most drivers don't bother.
1. What you're actually earning per hour
A £180 day sounds decent until you take out fuel, tolls and the dead time between fares. What's left, divided by the hours you actually worked, is the number that matters. Almost nobody works this out shift by shift because who's got time to do maths after a 10 hour day.
2. Where the demand really is, not where the app says it is
"Peak time" on the app means London-wide. It doesn't mean your postcode at 6pm on a Thursday. The drivers who do well tend to know their own patch better than the algorithm does, not because they're smarter, just because they've paid attention.
3. Your licence and compliance dates
PCO renewal, DBS check, MOT, insurance. Miss one and you could be off the road for weeks sorting it out. That's a lot more expensive than the five minutes it takes to check a date.
4. Expenses, logged as you go
If you're digging through bank statements every January trying to remember what you spent on fuel in March, you're either under claiming or wasting a weekend. Logging a receipt takes seconds. Doing a year's worth at once takes hours and you'll still miss half of it.
5. Which platform's actually paying better where you are
Uber, Bolt and FREE NOW aren't the same everywhere, and they're not the same every hour either. Drivers who stick to one without checking are probably leaving money on the table without realising it.
Why any of this matters
None of this is about grinding longer hours. It's about knowing what's actually going on so you can make better calls. The drivers doing best usually aren't the ones working the most, they're the ones who can see clearly what's working and what isn't.
That's the whole reason Driverr exists. Built by someone who actually drives, not a team guessing at the problem from an office.
