A report highlights a stagnation in the hourly income of independent drivers over the past four years. While the platforms that employ them blame the Olympics, the main union in the sector denounces a saturated market. Explanations.
«I’m struggling to make ends meet,» Mohammed whispers. Sitting at the front of his black sedan «that he has just finished paying off,» this VTC driver wonders about his future in the profession. «Even being registered on multiple platforms, it’s becoming difficult. I lost more than a month’s salary in 2024 compared to 2023,» he calculates.
In a report published last week, the Platform Employment Authority (ARPE) –which relied on data provided by the platforms –reported a near stagnation in gross hourly earnings of drivers between 2021 and 2024 (+1.5%). A modest increase that masks a significant decrease observed between 2023 and 2024 by 5.3% at Uber and 10.1% at Bolt.
«The decrease observed in 2024 is partly explained by a conjunctural phenomenon linked to the Olympics: a high demand was anticipated, but it did not materialize to the expected level,» says Bolt. Many drivers made themselves available during the Olympic fortnight, saturating the market as the clientele was less numerous than expected, according to the Estonian company.
«The Olympics are an easy target,» criticizes Fabian Tosolini. For the national delegate in charge of platform workers at Union-Independents, «the sector’s revenues have been falling for the past two years.» The union estimates that between 2022 and 2024, a Bolt platform driver lost an average of about €9,500 in annual turnover. At Uber, the decrease is around €740 in turnover.
The «unilateral decision» to lower the hourly rate by the platforms is to blame. «Where you had potential turnover with 10 hours of connection per day, in 2024 you would be forced to spend 20,» Fabian Tosolini explained.
The waiting time between two rides has significantly increased for drivers. Going from 4 minutes in 2021 to 10 minutes in 2024, it more than doubled at Uber. The same goes for Bolt, where it went from just over 6 minutes on average to almost 13 minutes. «It’s humanly and materially impossible to maintain your turnover at this pace,» Fabian Tosolini continues.
An extension of the hourly rate that Fabian Tolosoloni justifies by «the flooding of the territory» with new drivers. «The platforms constantly subsidize training. It’s high time that it stops and that there is real supervision on the subject,» emphasizes the national delegate of Union-Independant who denounces fruitless negotiations on this subject with Uber or Bolt.
In 2025, the French VTC market has more than 110,000 active drivers, almost twice as many as in 2020. Approximately 81% of them work exclusively in Île-de-France.
On the other hand, Uber is satisfied with the data revealed. The American company believes that they demonstrate «a stability of gross hourly income for drivers» while ensuring that «VTC drivers have fully benefited from the protection mechanisms put in place by agreements resulting from social dialogue».
A collective agreement provides for a minimum income of nine euros per ride and 30 euros per hour –excluding waiting times – for VTC drivers. Chez Uber, le revenu moyen était de 49,30 euros brut par heure travaillée en 2024 – sans compter les temps d’attente entre les courses – et de 44,61 euros brut chez Bolt. Chez les autres plateformes VTC, les situations sont en revanche très contrastées avec des revenus en forte augmentation chez certains comme Allocab, Cao Cao ou Freenow, et d’autres plateformes où la rentabilité s’effondre, comme chez Heetch où le taux horaire a diminué de 33 % en quatre ans. Une sélection spécialement pour vous, pour rester connecté avec vos régions.
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En revanche, les autres plateformes VTC présentent des situations contrastées. Certains, comme Allocab, Cao Cao ou Freenow, ont vu leurs revenus augmenter considérablement. Cependant, d’autres plateformes ont connu une baisse significative de leur rentabilité, comme Heetch où le taux horaire a diminué de 33% en quatre ans.
Un rapport révèle une stagnation des revenus horaires des chauffeurs indépendants au cours des quatre dernières années. Alors que les plateformes qui les emploient attribuent cette situation aux Jeux olympiques, le principal syndicat du secteur dénonce un marché saturé.
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