A few years ago, being an Uber driver was a decent way to make a living, Joseph Awaa said. Driver pay had started to inch up after dropping during Covid, a trip from the airport to Waikīkī would pay him maybe $24, and he could make $800 or more a week pretty easily.
“It’s hard to make eight now, man,” said Awaa, who works seven days a week. These days, he said, he’s lucky if that trip from the airport to Waikīkī brings half what it used to.
On this Friday morning, Awaa was talking over the sound of car horns in the rideshare drivers parking lot on Rodgers Boulevard near the Honolulu airport. There, he and other drivers watch for the ping of a notification that someone needs a ride, then decide whether to pick up the fare…