If you live in or near a city, there’s a good chance you’ve occasionally found yourself crunched for time or allured by door-to-door service and called an Uber when there was other, cheaper transportation available.
But you probably have not used the car-sharing service in the way Buffalo Bills cornerback Shareece Wright did on Sunday. Wright, who signed with Buffalo in May after two seasons with the Ravens, found himself stuck at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport the night before Bills OTAs were to start. So he pulled out his phone and called Uber.
Wright’s Uber driver Winny then drove him 550 miles from Chicago to Orchard Park, New York. The trip took eight hours and cost Wright $632.
— Shareece Wright (@ShareeceWright) June 6, 2017
According to one of Wright’s representatives, the cornerback tipped $300, bringing the total cost of the trip to $932.08.
The cost of an @uber from Chicago to Buffalo $632.08 fare + $300 tip = $932.08 https://t.co/Esxgt9OeK8
— Tam Berhe, Esq. (@TamBerhe) June 6, 2017
Wright presumably tried desperately to find a flight, but once he failed to do so he was left with few choices. There is a Greyhound bus that runs from Chicago to Buffalo, which would presumably have been quite cheap, but that would have taken even longer than the ride and likely been pretty uncomfortable. So he Ubered instead.
We really have to applaud Wright’s commitment to non-mandatory OTAs. No one would have faulted him for arriving to voluntary practice a day late, with the legitimate excuse of airline troubles. But apparently he was deeply committed to impressing his new team, no matter what it took.
We should also shout out Winny the Uber driver for willingly making this trip. He was just cruising around Chicago looking to make a few bucks on a Sunday night, and he wound up driving all night long to a random city hundreds of miles away… and then presumably turning around and heading back.
But in the end, Winny got $900 for his efforts, and Wright got to OTAs on time.
