Gridwise Analytics Annual Gig Mobility Report Finds Customer Rideshare Prices Rose Nearly 10% as Platform Fees Surged and Driver Pay Lagged

PITTSBURGH, March 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Gridwise Analytics today released its 2026 Annual Gig Mobility Report, a comprehensive analysis of pricing, driver earnings, tips, bonuses, ride mix, and utilization trends across major U.S. rideshare and delivery platforms.

Using proprietary Gridwise Analytics data from Q1 2024 through Q4 2025, the report examines how gig mobility economics evolved over the past year, including a widening gap between what customers pay and what drivers earn, record bonus payouts in rideshare, shifting tipping behavior, increased premium ride adoption, and early earnings declines for drivers in AV-active markets.

Key Findings from the Report

• Rideshare prices rose faster than driver earnings, platform fees surged: From December 2024 to December 2025, customer prices increased 9.6%, platform fees per trip jumped 33.2%, while driver gross pay per trip and per hour climbed just 3.6% and 4.1%, respectively.
• Increasing rideshare prices are changing rider behavior: 60.4% of consumers say they reduced rideshare usage due to pricing, an increase of 16.6% versus 2024, and 55.0% say they would cut back further if prices further increase.
• Rideshare tips surged while delivery tips declined: Rideshare drivers saw record-high tips per trip of $1.58, while delivery driver tips per trip fell 0.7% year over year to $4.16 per trip in Q4 2025, near an all-time low.
• Rideshare driver bonus pay reached a three-year high: Average rideshare bonus pay per quarter rose 32.9% year-over-year, from $238.97 in Q4 2024 to $317.65 in Q4 2025, the highest point in more than three years.
• Delivery drivers are working record hours, but per-trip pay barely moved: Driver work hours increased 17.2% from Q4 2024 to Q4 2025, while average gross pay per hour increased just 3.2%.
• More trips shifted into premium ride types: In 2025, Comfort's share rose 10%, Black increased 35%, Lux climbed 63%, and Priority and XXL surged 319% and 341%, respectively.
• Minimum pay rules may have driven a tipping collapse in Seattle and NYC: Delivery tip frequency fell from 92.8% in Dec. 2023 to 44.1% in Feb. 2024 in Seattle, and from 86.9% in Nov. 2023 to 56.6% in Jan. 2024 in NYC.
• AV-active cities are seeing sharper declines in driver utilization: Trips per hour fell 5.3% year-over-year vs. 2.6% nationwide, and driver utilization declined 3.6% vs. 3.0% nationwide.

"As inflation and affordability continue to shape consumer behavior, customer prices rose more quickly than driver earnings in 2025. While platforms expanded premium offerings and improved financial performance, both riders and drivers faced growing economic pressure," said Ryan Green, CEO of Gridwise. "The data shows a gig economy that is evolving, with stronger premium adoption and changing incentives, even as affordability and driver productivity remain key challenges."

The full Annual Gig Mobility Report 2026 is available now from Gridwise Analytics.

Methodology

This report is powered by Gridwise Analytics' anonymized first-party gig mobility dataset. Metrics analyzed include customer pricing, platform fees per trip, driver gross pay per trip and per hour, tips per trip, quarterly bonus pay, driver work hours, ride-type mix, trips per hour, and utilization. Results include nationwide benchmarks and, where applicable, market-level analysis for selected cities.

This analysis is powered by Gridwise Analytics' extensive anonymized gig mobility data, encompassing over 1 billion tasks, $11 billion in earnings, and 11 billion miles covered.

SOURCE Gridwise