Canberra's rideshare drivers are accepting multiple jobs at a time and leaving customers waiting longer, or travelling to Sydney to keep job flow consistent, as the local market becomes over-saturated.
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Since Uber was introduced in the territory on October 30, 2015, the service has grown to host about 1800 drivers and delivery partners combined.
Ola, introduced in May 2018, has "thousands" of drivers signed up. While 75 per cent of Go Catch drivers were also taxi drivers, it would not disclose its total number in the ACT. It was introduced in the territory in 2011.
The all-female rideshare service Shebah had 26 drivers in Canberra. It began operating locally in February last year.
"My first six months with Uber from June to December [2017] were fantastic," full-time rideshare driver Merrenda Dorsett said.
"You've got one passenger and the next one has already been booked, so there was no downtime.
"It was really easy money [but] since January last year there's obviously been such an influx of drivers. Now it could be half-an-hour, an hour, or an hour-and-a-half between pings."
Mrs Dorsett, who also drives for Ola, said she was going to leave the industry before she became Shebah's fifth driver in the ACT in March 2018. Now a regional leader, she sympathised with her male counterparts who were confined to the other three platforms.
"[I] have all three [rideshare] apps on one phone [but] a lot of drivers choose to have three phones [so they can accept multiple jobs at the same time]," Mrs Dorsett said.
"It just comes down to the ethics of each person as to whether they ... risk the next passenger waiting in lieu, not knowing how much longer you're going to be.
"They were three minutes away and now they might be 10 or 15. That unfortunately is happening now."
Mrs Dorsett said a cap on the number of rideshare drivers in Canberra would benefit those already on the road, but she understood it would be an unlikely measure, given there were no minimum driving time requirements.
An ACT government spokesman said not having a cap increased competition in the market, increased accessibility for drivers entering it, reduced administrative costs, and allowed drivers to respond to seasonal variations in demand.
"This approach ... allows any eligible Canberran to become a rideshare driver for a period of time that makes sense for their individual circumstances," the spokesman said.
Managing director of Ola ANZ, Simon Smith, said 60 per cent of the platform's drivers did the job because they could choose their own hours. About 50 per cent would stop using rideshare if they had set shifts.
"Our customers appreciate being able to get a car very quickly but also there are plenty of people wanting to drive for two or three hours at a time," he said.
Tuggeranong-based Tim Harnett, like Mrs Dorsett, knew rideshare drivers who travelled to Sydney each weekend to get more trips. Mr Harnett started with Uber in November 2015 and also drove Ola and Go Catch.
"It's nowhere near as good as it used to be," he said.
"Every rookie man is out there. Sometimes there's more Ubers than people in Braddon."
There is no restriction on ACT-based drivers operating rideshare services in NSW. The state government recognises territory-enforced accreditation as equivalent to their standards.
"Uber commends the ACT and NSW governments for having progressive regulatory frameworks that enable ACT drivers to drive in NSW," a spokeswoman for Uber said.
Florey resident Bola Olatunbosun, who has been with Uber and Shebah for two months, said she only got back-to-back bookings with the former late on Friday nights. She preferred Shebah for its advanced booking system and mainly female customers.
"You know that there's an expectation of some decorum when you're picking up certain people," she said.