A research by MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research that found that Uber and Lyft drivers make less than $4 per hour after expenses, was revised Monday. Researchers concluded that drivers really make $8.55 or $10 per hours.
"The profit from driving is higher than we initially reported," wrote Stephen Zoepf, executive director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford, and the study’s lead author, in a statement on Twitter.
The initial results of the research were published Friday and SF Gate reports that both of the San Francisco-based companies went into damage-control.
Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO, went to Twitter to critique the report saying they were "Mathematically Incompetent Theories."
After the revised version was made public, Lyft still criticized researchers.
"When an academic study changes so dramatically in just a matter of days, that’s a real flag," said Lyft spokesman Adrian Durbin in an email. "While the revised results are not as inaccurate as the original findings, driver earnings are still understated. MIT’s study has fundamental methodology problems."
Uber also put out a statement, "We thank Professor Zoepf for acknowledging a major flaw in his methodology and support his decision to conduct a thorough revision of the paper over the coming weeks."
