Tales of UberMan: An auto journalist shares his Prius with savvy riders

Jon LeSage, an experienced journalist in automotive media channels, has written a non-fiction book about his experiences as an Uber driver. Along with being a writer and editor, Jon previously made extra income as a driver for a chauffeured transportation company. In Tales of UberMan, he brings a broad perspective on the battle between the taxi and limo industry versus Uber and other ridesharing companies. Uber is taking business away from traditional vehicle-for-hire services – and bringing confrontation and debate to court rooms, city councils, airports, and state governments. Uber is becoming a bad word for taxi drivers and other businesses losing ridership. It’s also raising the flag on whether Uber should be doing more extensive background checks to avoid catastrophes like the Uber driver recently killing six people in Kalamazoo, Mich., in between Uber rides.

In Tales of UberMan, Jon wrote about being 52 years old and typically driving Millennials (18 to 35) around L.A. and Orange counties. Uber is cool for Millennials, who enjoy paying only about half as much for an Uber ride as they would for a cab ride; they also like that they can do everything on their smart phone and have the driver show up within five minutes once the trip is started. This book explores the revolutionary impact that Uber (and other ridesharing companies such as Lyft) will likely have on transportation in the future – where young consumers are putting off getting their drivers licenses and buying a car and would prefer to take Uber, ride their bike, take bus or rail, or to try out Airbnb, Zipcar, and other mobile services in the “sharing economy.” As cities become more popular to live in, and increasingly more crowded and congested with traffic, Uber is rapidly growing in ridership and its ubiquitous brand name.

The title of the book came from the “UberMan” nickname that Jon’s girlfriend started calling him when he’d have yet another colorful story to tell about an Uber ride. A few days later while telling a passenger about during a ride from an airport, the title Tales of UberMan was suggested.

Jon has written from his own experience and perspectives gained through interviews with Uber drivers and passengers. It’s challenging to be an Uber driver and use your own car as it builds up wear and tear, and the driver pays for everything. Drivers, also known as Uber Partners, need to put in several hours each week for the payback to show up – at least 15 hours and usually much more. Than can mean working late into the evening and early morning hours on weekends, as passengers leave bars and parties and don’t want to get a DUI. There’s always the threat of having to pay for traffic citations, increased insurance, parking, toll roads, and damage to their car. Uber prides itself on a partnership with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to take a few drinkers out of driver’s seats – and for alleviating some of the traffic congestion and air pollution in fast-growing cities around the world. Through UberPool, the company strives to make ridesharing a common experience.

Uber drivers tend to take pride in bringing cost effective, convenient transportation to riders – and for having flexibility and decision making in their work. They decide when they’re ready to go online and start driving, and when it’s time to turn it off and go home. Tales of UberMan offers a mix of colorful stories on what happened during trips, blended with a look at the global issues behind Uber becoming the buzzword for ridesharing services. One of the book’s chapters contemplates whether Uber and one of its major investors, Google, will partner on creating a fleet of self-driving cars in the near future. It seems like every day, there’s media coverage of a controversy, victory, or business deal with Uber at the very center of it.