Driving Uber in Montreal: the 2026 guide built by drivers, for drivers

Since the 2020 Quebec taxi reform (Loi 17), every Uber driver in Montreal is treated the same as a taxi driver. To pick up your first ride you need:

• A Class 5 driver's licence held for at least one year (Class 4C is no longer mandatory for ride-sharing under Loi 17, but most fleets still recommend it).
• A permis de chauffeur autorisé issued by the SAAQ — you apply online and it covers the criminal background check.
• Completion of the CFTR formation en ligne(~14 hours, around $150). This is the official Quebec taxi/VTC training and ends with an exam.
• A vehicle that passes the annual vérification mécanique and Uber's own daily inspection quotidienne checklist (lights, tires, brakes, no body damage).
• Commercial rideshare insurance (Intact, Belair, Aviva and Desjardins all offer Quebec rideshare endorsements — expect $1,400–$2,200 per year on top of personal coverage).
• Registration with Revenu Québec for mandatory billing (MEV-WEB). Uber pre-files most of it, but you still owe GST/QST on your gross fares.

International students with a valid work permit allowing 24+ hours/week can drive, but you need a Quebec driver's licence (the SAAQ requires you exchange your foreign permit after six months).

Uber pays roughly $0.79/km + $0.21/min on UberX in Montreal, then takes a 25% service fee. Pickup fees and surge land on top. Here's the math that actually matters at the end of a shift:

Weekday daytime hours typically clear $14–$18/hour net, weekend nights and event-heavy shifts push $25–$35/hour, and rainy Friday nights with a Bell Centre game ending are where drivers regularly report $40+/hour.

See live demand in the app →

Across 12 months of Montreal ride data, the top earning windows are remarkably consistent:

• Friday & Saturday, 22:00–03:00 — bar closings on Crescent, Saint-Laurent, and in the Plateau.
• Weekday 04:30–07:00 — YUL morning departures. Position in Dorval, not the airport queue.
• Canadiens home games — leave for Bell Centre 10 minutes before the third period ends, not at the final buzzer.
• Rain or snow nights — demand jumps 30–50% within the first 30 minutes of precipitation.
• Festival weekends (Osheaga, Jazz Fest, Just for Laughs, F1) — premium rates downtown for the whole 4–10 day window.

The hours not worth driving: Sunday and Monday daytime, and any weekday between 14:00 and 16:00.

Surge in Montreal is set per zone every 1–3 minutes based on the ratio of open ride requests to available drivers. A few things every driver should know:

• Surge multipliers in Montreal usually peak at 1.6–2.2× — the 4× nights of 2017 are gone.
• Driving into a red zone often kills the surge by the time you arrive. Better play: wait at the edge of a yellow zone with a known upcoming event ending.
• Pickup fees during a surge are flat — the multiplier only applies to the trip itself.
• Surge expires the moment supply catches demand. A bar closing surge usually lasts 25–40 minutes; a hockey game exit lasts 15–20.

Uber Montreal accepts most 4-door vehicles model year 2013 or newer for UberX. UberXL needs 7 seats and model year 2013+. Comfort and Premier require specific approved models — check the in-app list before buying anything.

Your car needs a clean vérification mécanique sticker (annual SAAQ inspection at any authorised garage, ~$110), and you must complete Uber's daily inspection quotidienne in-app — it's the lights/tires/wipers checklist. Skipping it can pause your account.

The most popular cars for Montreal Uber drivers right now are the Toyota Corolla Hybrid, Honda Civic, Kia Niro Hybrid and Hyundai Elantra Hybrid — they're cheap to fuel during 50,000+ km/year of stop-and-go driving and hold resale value.