Uber to Deactivate Riders with Low Ratings

Recently, Uber announced a big change to their rider/driver rating system. Uber has always maintained that they will deactivate drivers with low ratings but now they have announced that they will also ban riders with low collective ratings from their platform. Uber has always tried to offer the best service to their customers, the riders, and as a result made the rating system a one way street - only giving out consequences to their drivers. However, drivers don’t want bad riders either and have long fought for riders with low ratings to be deactivated from the app.

Drivers have been able to rate riders for awhile now but over the past few years, Uber has been experimenting with ways to improve the rating system. In 2017, drivers were given the ability to provide feedback on top of the basic rating. The options included “change in route,” “wait time,” “number of passengers,” “other,” and more options. On top of ratings, Uber has a list of behaviors that will immediately get you banned from the platform. If a rider is tagged twice within a thirty day period for the same behavior, they will receive a notification from Uber letting them know their actions are affecting their rating and could get them banned from the platform.  

While this feedback change was welcomed by Uber drivers, the driver community also wanted to see Uber implement consequences for riders who simply had overall low ratings. Now, that Uber has implemented this change, it will be interesting to see how it affects the overall dynamic of the rider/driver relationship. Will riders worry about their ratings more and behave accordingly? Or, will this change simply go right over many riders heads? Uber has yet to announce what the rating threshold is for riders before their account is deactivated so some see this change as an empty threat. Uber has also stated that they will make riders who are approaching the threshold aware of their situation and help them to improve their rating with some "good behavior tips".

Has this new Uber change impacted your rideshare experience at all? As a driver have you noticed riders behaving more appropriately? Let us know on our forum!