Uber said on Wednesday that passenger trips with drivers had started to pick up in the first quarter thanks to the gradual exit from the pandemic in some countries, even though gross bookings remain down 38% in this segment over one year.
Read also: United States: Minister of Labor in favor of employee status for Uber and Lyft drivers
"We are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel, with increased vaccinations, lower infection rates and the lifting of travel restrictions
,
"
said Dara Khosrowshahi, the head of the Californian group, at a conference telephone with analysts. The world leader in the reservation of passenger cars with driver (VTC) saw its delivery services take off during lockdowns in 2020 while its
“mobility”
branch
plunged.
This trend continued throughout the first quarter, even if the group ensures that the races with drivers are gradually recovering since the beginning of the year.
Gross travel bookings (mainly receipts before deductions of taxes, tolls or various driver remuneration) fell 38% year-on-year to $ 6.8 billion, while deliveries jumped 166% to 12, 5 billion.
$ 2.9 billion
In all, Uber reduced its net losses, usually abysmal, to 108 million dollars, thanks to the sale of ATG, its division developing and commercializing technologies of autonomous driving, for 1.6 billion. The group achieved 2.9 billion dollars in turnover, heavily reduced by provisions of 600 million dollars, necessary to grant its British drivers the status of salaried workers.
The subject of the status of drivers has not finished weighing on the prospects of the company, which has never managed to turn a profit. In the United States, Uber succeeded last year in countering a Californian law which was also to force companies in the "gig economy" (task economy) to reclassify their drivers as employees. But the US Department of Labor recently said it was in favor of drivers and delivery people being granted salaried status.
