Sun Devil combines his job at Uber with his studies to create ‘Stories from the Bay’
When ASU student Ian Gibb began driving with Uber in 2018, his initial goal was to learn about the city he’d just moved to, San Francisco.
Gibb learned a lot, and quickly.
“I was slowly meeting — literally, not figuratively — everybody,” Gibb said. “It was the people who I was meeting on a daily basis who inspired me.”
Gibb decided that while he was learning about each of the interesting individuals who filtered through his car every day, the rest of the world might as well too.
Gibb, who’s given over 10,000 rides while working for Uber, developed his project, the YouTube channel Stories from the Bay, to document the conversations he has with some of his unique Uber riders.
Sun Devil Ian Gibb
Gibb’s channel isn’t limited to car ride conversations; he covers local events too. Most recently, he documented a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown San Francisco. He also captures the perspective of locals on various topics. In a recent video, Gibb spoke with a few San Francisco taxi drivers struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The type of people getting into Ubers are busy,” Gibb said. “They’re not sitting at home on the couch. They’re professionals and people who are passionate about what they do.”
Gibb said that he will often research events before he starts driving and will pick up rides in certain areas to talk about a certain topic. Other times, he will give people rides from the airport and discover that they’re in the Bay Area on business, often working with technology companies in the area.
Gibb discovered he’s eligible to attend Arizona State University through a scholarship offered by Uber through the ASU and Uber Education Partnership. The program was launched in 2018 and provides up to 100 percent tuition assistance for Uber drivers or their family members to access higher education through ASU Online. Through the partnership, Gibb is currently attending the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication online to study digital audiences. He is applying the skills he’s learning so Stories from the Bay can reach a more specific audience and have more success.
Gibb said he felt he was at a point in his life where he needed to go back to school. And if Uber and ASU were going to help, why not?
Gibb said the freedom to choose when he drives or invests time into schoolwork is an advantage, but it doesn’t make it any easier balancing being both a full-time worker and being a student.
“I don’t think I’ve worked as hard in my entire life, but it’s a lot of fun also,” Gibb said.
As for the future, what does it hold for Gibb?
“I’ve been thinking of getting my master’s. Investigative journalism sounds interesting, but we’ll see,” Gibb said.