Uber offers hundreds in bonuses for some drivers as the busy holiday season approaches

Uber is offering some drivers hundreds of dollars in incentive pay, depending on how many rides they complete in a given period.

Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images Uber is offering bonuses to some drivers for completing more rides or referring new drivers.

The bonuses can add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Uber has used such extra pay in the past to attract drivers to the platform.

Uber is offering ride-hailing drivers something that many haven't seen in years: Big bonuses.

The ride-hailing service is coaxing some drivers to take more rides, offering up to several hundred dollars in "incentive" pay if they complete a set number of rides within a set time period, according to several screenshots of the offers seen by Business Insider.

In one example, a driver was offered $525 if the driver completed 45 trips within a few days.

Similar offers involved smaller payouts and fewer trips, but paid out proportional amounts of $10 to $12 per trip.

That's a huge pay bump for many drivers, who make as little as a few dollars per trip, said Sergio Avedian, an Uber driver and senior contributor to the gig-driver-advocacy blog and YouTube channel The Rideshare Guy .

The bonuses might also be Uber's attempt to get more drivers on the road to meet rider demand during busy periods like Halloween and the holiday travel season, Avedian said.

"This may tell the story that they need supply," he said.

"They're saying that we need to get everybody out there." Some drivers have also gotten messages from Uber encouraging them to refer friends to sign up as drivers or get those who haven't driven in a couple of years back on the app, according to screenshots seen by Business Insider.

Payment for those referrals can reach up to $1,225.

The payments are a potential boon to Uber drivers, whose pay can vary significantly between cities.