Uber promotions: How Quest, Boost & new driver bonuses work, & how to get more!

For Uber and Uber Eats drivers, Quest, Boost, and Surge bonuses can help your earnings climb into the upper tier—$25+ per hour.

But without bonus promotions, a day of driving passengers or delivering orders might not be as profitable as you want it to be.

Targeting promotions is an important strategy to maximize your earnings! Read on to learn how promotions work for Uber and Uber Eats drivers and what you can do to get more.

Article contents

• Not getting promotions? Reasons why
• Sign-up bonuses: New-driver promotions
• Quest
• Surge
• Boost
• Boost and Quest Strategies

How to see available promotions and bonuses

There are several ways to find promotions in the Uber driver app: In the Opportunities menu, the Earnings area, the home screen of the app, and your messages inbox.

To see every available promotion: Tap Menu (☰) > Opportunities, then tap different days of the week to see promotions available on future days.

Not getting any promotion offers? Here’s why

Promotions are unpredictable. You might get great bonuses one week, then none the next week. What’s the reason?

If you aren’t getting any promotions, the most likely reason is that Uber doesn’t need to incentivize more drivers to get out on the road.

Uber doesn’t say precisely how the promotions system works or how the system decides to distribute promotions to drivers.

All Uber says about promotion offers is, “Offers are based on rider trends and app usage in your area.” 

One possible meaning is that Uber may offer promotions if they expect a spike in demand or a drop in driver supply.

But why do two drivers in the same city or area get different promotions? If Uber needs drivers on the road, shouldn’t they send out promos to everyone?

Your driving history may determine whether you get a promotion or not. One common theory is that new drivers receive more promotions to give them a more encouraging start to the gig.

Drivers have also noticed more promotions after taking a few weeks off from driving.

Promotions are more common in larger, busier cities. So if you’re in a smaller city, don’t be surprised if you don’t see many opportunities.

Is there a way to get more promotion offers?

Currently, there is no reliable way to guarantee that you will get more Quest offers from Uber.

Some drivers noticed that taking a long break from driving or delivering might prompt the app to send you more promos, but taking a break isn’t a good option if you can’t afford the break.

To make sure you don’t miss any opportunities, check the app regularly and turn on all notifications so you don’t miss any opportunities.

Sign-up bonuses: New driver promotions

Uber sometimes offers promotions to new drivers who sign up and enter a referral code or “invite code” in the application.

You can get a referral code from another driver you know or from driver forums online. A referral code will automatically be applied if you sign up from an email or text invite.

The most common new-driver bonus is an earnings guarantee. Uber does not regularly offer cash bonuses for new drivers.

Previously, you could get big bonuses for signing up and completing a few dozen rides. Now, you are more likely to get an earnings guarantee as your sign-up promotion.

Earnings guarantees for new drivers

With an earnings guarantee, Uber guarantees you will earn a minimum amount after completing a number of trips. If your ride earnings don’t match the minimum, they will give you a bonus to make up the difference.

For example, an earnings guarantee for a new driver might say, “Earn at least $1150 when you complete 100 trips.”

If you complete 100 trips and your earnings are only $1000, Uber will pay you a $150 bonus to match the guarantee.

If you complete 100 trips and earn $1200, you won’t get any bonus because your earnings exceed the minimum guarantee.

An earnings guarantee can be lucrative if you target short, low-paying rides. The driver below got more than $1,000 extra by targeting low-mileage rides.

Quests: A bonus for reaching ride, delivery, or earnings goals

Quest is a bonus for achieving ride, delivery, or earnings goal within a certain time frame.

The goal can be completing a number of rides or deliveries. For example, “Complete 50 trips and earn an extra $215”

Or the goal can be reaching an earnings target. “Earn $315 and get an extra $15”

To earn the bonus, you need to complete the goal within the stated time frame. Some Quests are Friday–Monday weekend Quests, and other Quests can cover an entire week.

Surge: A bonus during busy times

Surge is a flat-rate bonus that Uber adds to trips during periods of high ride demand. A surge is triggered when a burst of new ride requests occur during a short time.

Check the map on the home screen to see if surges are live. In some areas, the exact surge bonus is displayed on the map. In other areas, Uber only uses shaded clouds and arrow symbols to indicate the presence of a surge.

You will earn the surge bonus on your next ride if you are positioned inside the surge zone or if the rider’s location is in the surge zone when you accept the trip.

If your market has ‘sticky’ surge, you can enter a surge zone to ‘pick up’ a bonus that applies to your next ride. You can leave the surge zone and still get the bonus.

One piece of advice: Don’t chase the surge! Surges appear and disappear dynamically based on real-time demand, so there’s a good chance that the surge will be gone by the time you arrive.

It’s a good idea to reposition yourself into a surge if you’re nearby—5 minutes or less. But if you’re further, other drivers chasing the same surge can get there first and end the surge.

Sticky surge

In many areas, surge bonuses are ‘sticky.’ When you enter a surge zone, the bonus will apply to your next ride even if you leave the surge area. The bonus ‘sticks’ to you.

You can enter a surge zone to pick up the surge and reposition to another location if you want. You don’t have to stay inside the zone.

When you pick up a sticky surge, you will see a message at the bottom of the screen indicating that the surge will apply to your next trip.

Uber occasionally tweaks surge practices and sticky surge was eliminated in some markets. 

Surge glitches and errors

Surge doesn’t always work as expected. Sometimes a ride won’t get the correct surge or the surge bonus will be missing.

For example, the driver below was in a sticky surge market. He was positioned right on top of a $4.25 surge, but the app only applied a $3.75 surge to the next ride.

Getting the incorrect surge amount is a glitch or app error that happens to some drivers. If it happens to you, you can contact Uber driver support to ask for compensation.

Boost: An earnings multiplier

Note: Uber no longer offers the Boost promotion in some markets

Boost is an earnings multiplier added to rides and orders that begin and end within a designated area on the map. Boost payouts are included in the upfront payout estimate before accepting a trip.

Below is an example of what Boost looks like on the driver map. Notice the outlines designating the areas where the multiplier is in effect. It also happens to be an example of an unusually big Boost, up to 2.8x

For deliveries, the multiplier is added to the base fare of an order, not the trip supplement or tips. For rides, the multiplier is added to the trip fare.

Check the home screen of the Uber driver app to see Boost zones, or look for Boost in the Opportunities menu.

Boost is an automatic promotion, so you don’t have to opt into it or accept it in the Promotions area of the app.

Below is what Boost looks like when it is listed in the Promotions area of the app. 1.4x is good, but 1.1x might not be worth going out of your way.

What’s the difference between Boost and Surge?

Boost is typically offered in advance, while Surges happen dynamically based on demand. Surges appear on the map as shaded zones, while Boosts appear as specific outlined shapes.

If Boost and Surge are active when you get a ride or delivery request, you will receive whichever pays the most. Like Boost, Surges are applied automatically.

Surge is a flat-rate amount in most cities. So if the map in your driver app shows dollar amounts, it’s a flat rate surge. Otherwise, you’ll see a multiplier (1.2x, 2.1x, etc).

Boost+: A bonus for each trip during a period

Boost Plus is a bonus for each trip completed in an area during a specified time frame. Boost+ is offered directly to individual drivers, and you must sign up for the Boost+ offer in the driver app to be eligible.

The significant difference between Boost and Boost+: You have to sign up for Boost+. Regular Boost is automatically applied if you’re in the correct area.

Example of a Boost+ promotion: “$3.50 on every trip between 6 pm and 7 pm on July 1st in Los Angeles”

Boost+ will appear on the home screen and in the Opportunities area of the app.

For a ride to be eligible for the bonus, you or the rider must be in the selected zone and accept the request during the stated period.

Uber is retiring Boost in some markets

Uber no longer offers the Boost bonus in some markets. In an announcement, Uber stated that upfront pricing made Boost calculations confusing.

Boosts are no longer displayed in the map or in the Opportunities section, but any Boost bonus will still be included in the upfront estimate.

Instead of displaying Boost on the map, Uber displays ‘merchant hotspots’ for Uber Eats couriers. A dark-colored hotspot indicates higher delivery demand.

How promotions work when you drive for both rideshare and Uber Eats delivery

If you do drive passengers and delivery for Uber Eats, Uber offers promotions that may be for one service type or both.

For example, the driver below was offered one guaranteed earnings promotion for rides only and another for deliveries only.

But for the Quests below, both rides and deliveries count toward the bonus.

Over time, Uber may ask you to choose between delivery or rideshare promos.

Uber can send an email and app message letting you know which promotions you will receive based on your recent activity.

So if you’ve been doing more deliveries, they will only send you delivery promotions. There is an option to continue to receive whichever promotions you are currently getting.

Some drivers say that the delivery Quests are worse than rideshare Quests. Uber may try to push drivers into lower-paying delivery promotions even if they do an equal balance of rideshare and delivery.

Keep an eye out for messages from Uber, and select the promotion category that is more valuable to you.

Related: How Uber Eats drivers can switch to Uber ridesharing

Promotion strategies

Getting Quest and Boost offers is mainly a matter of luck. But when the Uber algorithm finally gives you a promotion, there are things you can do to maximize your earnings and avoid unprofitable trips.

You mainly want to look at the additional earnings that the promotion offers, and the time period that it’s offered.

Quest strategies

Always do the math: How much are you earning per ride? Divide the bonus by the required number of rides. Anything less than $5 per ride isn’t a great Quest and isn’t worth going out of your way.

Or if the Quest is an earnings goal, do the math to see how much the bonus really is. A $5 bonus on $100 in earnings is only a 5% bonus.

Don’t change your normal strategy for a Quest that doesn’t offer a large bonus.

Boost and Surge strategies

“Don’t chase the surge” is advice that you will hear from many veteran Uber drivers. Why? Surges can disappear before you get to the zone, and Boosts can lower the volume of new trips by drawing too many drivers into the zone.

Surges appear when passenger demand is higher than driver supply, so the surge will end when enough drivers enter the zone.

There’s a good chance that you’re wasting unpaid miles to enter a surge zone that could go away before you arrive.

And for Boosts, all drivers in the zone compete for the same orders. So even if you’re getting 1.5x per ride delivery, you might not get enough volume to make it worth your time.

The best strategy is to use your normal criteria for accepting a ride or delivery and be happy if it happens to be in a Boost or surge zone.