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Every July thousands of fans flock to San Diego for Comic-Con International. Attendees spend days in line to see exciting Hall H announcements, meet their favorite artists, and pick up exclusive merchandise. However, while all the attendees are inside the convention center, rideshare drivers are having their own unique Comic-Con experience on the streets outside. 

For some rideshare workers Comic-Con is a drivers paradise. For others, it is a weekend of torment. The event is a great opportunity for Uber and Lyft drivers to make money, but they have to fight road closures, congested traffic, unruly con attendees, and app issues. 

I use Uber and Lyft every time I attend San Diego Comic-Con, but i never knew what the experience was like for them. Do they look forward to the convention? Do they rely on it financially the same way other local businesses do? I decided this was the year to find out. 

Throughout my 2024 trip to San Diego Comic-Con I took multiple Uber and Lyft rides each day. During those trips I asked my drivers questions about their Comic-Con experience. For this story, I’ve only quoted the drivers who agreed to go on record. For privacy reasons, I’m only using their first names.

Full disclosure - I’ve done rideshare driving in Florida. That experience gave me some insight into what rideshare drivers go through. However, driving in San Diego is different than driving in Tampa….and driving during San Diego Comic-Con is its own animal. 

Some of you might be surprised to learn how little most Uber and Lyft drivers make per ride. For a ride that a customer pays $10 for, the driver might only get $3 or $4. Prices fluctuate based on various things, and drivers with larger cars or luxury vehicles have a chance to make more. Rideshare drivers are considered independent contractors and all their gas money and vehicle maintenance come out of their own pockets. 

While Uber and Lyft have raised their prices over the years, they’ve lowered the cut the drivers get. One Uber driver named Oliver told me that they began driving during Comic-Con in 2017 and they were able to make $3,000 for the weekend. Oliver told me that he’ll be lucky to make $1,000 this year. 

While driving for Comic-Con doesn’t bring the profits it once did, many of my drivers told me it was still worth it. Both Uber and Lyft increase their prices when demand comes up, creating what they call a “surge” or “boost.” This is in addition to other bonuses that Uber and Lyft may offer. 

An Uber driver named Thomas told me that while driving during Comic-Con was extremely lucrative, there were times where it was more trouble than it was worth.

“The surges and bonuses give you more money per ride, but traffic was so bad that it could take four times as long to complete a ride,” Thomas explains.

I heard variations of this sentiment from my other drivers throughout the weekend. They told me that while they were getting more money per ride, they were getting less rides completed per hour, making the experience a wash.

A few drivers complained about GPS issues. According to a Lyft driver named Steven, the huge crowds would cause the rider’s GPS to be slightly inaccurate, which could make pickup a pain. For example, if someone called for a Lyft while they were at the Marriott, their GPS might mistakenly think they’re next door at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. This causes drivers to show up and wait for their passengers in the wrong place, ultimately wasting time and money.

”If the pickup location is wrong, riders can double check it and change it, but most of them don’t look. They assume their GPS picked the correct pickup location and the driver knows where they are,” Steven said. 

Once the driver realizes that the app accidentally selected the wrong location they can drive to it, but road closures and Comic-Con traffic can make that difficult, even if it’s next door. 

One driver (who asked not to be named) said that they dread Comic-Con every year. I asked them why they didn’t just skip driving during Comic-Con, and they told me that they couldn’t afford to take a weekend off. 

I wondered if rideshare drivers depended on the revenue from Comic-Con the way local restaurants, hotels, and other businesses did. This didn’t seem to be the case for the drivers I spoke with. While the Comic-Con money was a big boon for them, it wasn’t enough to make or break their fiscal year the way it was for the other businesses. 

I asked a few of my drivers if they would ever consider attending Comic-Con themselves. Most of them seemed excited by the idea. “Heck yeah, I would love to see some of the costumes. I could just look at the costumes for hours,” Steven said. One driver told me they would never attend the convention, because then they would miss out on the payout they would get for driving. “Why would I attend Comic-Con for free, when I could be driving it and make money,” Thomas said. 

I also asked my drivers if any of them had ever picked up any celebrities. To my disappointment, none of them had. 

Some drivers sidestep Comic-Con altogether by driving elsewhere. One Lyft driver named Christopher told me that a smart driver could actually use the Comic-Con traffic to take advantage of the demand in other parts of town.

“All the other drivers are stuck in downtown San Diego traffic, which means that there are less drivers in areas like Mission Valley or Old Town. I just steer clear of the Comic-Con crowd, and I get more rides.” 

Christopher explained to me that there are times when he’ll wait 10 or 20 minutes for a ride when he’s in Mission Valley on a normal weekend. This is due to the driver-to-rider ratio. During Comic-Con, the drivers all flock to the convention center, causing the driver-to-rider ratio to shift. As a result, Christopher said he waits about 2 minutes for Mission Valley rides.

“I get more rides and wind up making more money than a usual weekend. And I don’t have to deal with the downtown traffic,” Christopher said. The downside is he misses out on the surge or boost bonuses, but he finds the experience less frustrating. 

One driver explained it simply - Comic-Con is a game. If you know how to play, you could win big.

In many ways this reminds me of the Comic-Con experience attendees get. Everyone has their own unique Comic-Con experience, and it appears it’s the same way for the rideshare drivers. Some of the rideshare drivers enjoyed big payouts, while others sat in traffic feeling frustrated. The experience is intense, but like us, they’re eager to do it again next year.  

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