14 comments
Whenever you ride in an Uber or Lyft, you are prompted at the end of the ride to give your driver a rating based on a number of stars. What you may not realize is how this number impacts the driver and their driving capabilities. For most rideshare drivers, the rating means more than you think and drivers with even seemingly good ratings could be on the line for having their account deactivated.
Rating Threshold
Uber:
For Uber drivers, their rating is based on an average of the number of post-trip stars riders give them (from 1 to 5 stars) from the last 500 trips the driver has given. The threshold for drivers for having their account deactivated depends on the city they are driving in, however, this number usually isnt that low. In fact, the cut off threshold is usually around the low 4 range. This means if you give your driver a 3 or a 4 star rating you really are in fact giving them a "bad rating".
Lyft:
The Lyft rating system for drivers operates similar to that of Uber. It is based on the average rating of your last 100 trips (from 1 to 5 stars). Lyft holds its drivers at a high standard, expecting a rating of above 4.8 to be excellent, but anything below should be classified as "needs improvement". In regards to the exact threshold, Lyft guidelines state that "consistently low ratings can put you at risk of deactivation". Again the exact cutoff varies based on location/situation but if a 4.7 is considered "needs improvement", we can only imagine that the cutoff for deactivation is not that low.
Implications for Riders
As a rider, it is important to give truthful and honest feedback after completing a trip with any rideshare company. Make sure that if the experience was truly terrible, (and we know that can happen), you reflect that in your rating and give feedback in the comments section. However, if nothing bad happened during your ride, do not give your driver a 3 or a 4 rating thinking that this is a good amount of stars. Really anything below a 5 will start to have a negative impact on them in the longrun, and could potentially lead to their deactiviation.
So, try to think twice next time before you give your driver a bad rating. If there is nothing wrong with your ride, give them a 5!
RIDEGURU
Comments
My rating dropped from 4.9 for the past year servicing affluent areas to 4.5 in just two weeks servicing low income areas. I feel like I'm being forced to discriminate here if I want to keep driving. Such a sad state of affairs quite frankly.
What city/area do you drive in?
I was servicing the north side of Chicago but I recently moved to the south side and south suburbs. I don't want to get deactivated over bigotry this sucks.
Oh, man, I have so many questions. Are you saying rich people rate drivers better? or are you saying there's bigotry towards you (for whatever reason) by people from low income areas? or are you saying you are about to be a bigot towards poor people and drive only in affluent areas?
BTW, I drive in Boston and pretty much target college kids. (i.e. nights and weekends.) Not too many trips to Southie, not so much because I don't like poor people but because there aren't many requests that come from there.
1) Absolutely yes
2) Yes there is I think poc have a preference towards poc drivers especially at night in Chiraq
3) It seems the only two choices are to adopt a whites only policy or get deactivated for low ratings. Awful choices but it's my only source of income so guess which one I'm choosing.
I've been driving for almost 3 years. When I started, almost every rider was amazing. Great conersation, personality, and just plain nice. Now, they want a diver that will wait 30 mintues becaause they aren't ready. The rider can see drivers on the rider app and the ETA before they order. Rideshare makes it so easy, why do so many riders find it so hard? Answer, they want what they want. The don't care about others. I always tell my riders I will use GPS, but if you prefer a different route, shout it out. We all know what happens, they say, "I wanted you to turn back there at the tree on the left." Or my favorite, "Tuen there." Which there? Out of a dozen there's, which one. I can't see you when you are in the back seat. Ride in the front for once in your life. Oh, and let's not forget about the rider that adds a stop while in transit turing a 20 minute ride into a 90 minute ride. We have a life at the end of the day. When I take one last trip, I don't want to be 100 miles away from h…
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I've been driving for almost 3 years. When I started, almost every rider was amazing. Great conersation, personality, and just plain nice. Now, they want a diver that will wait 30 mintues becaause they aren't ready. The rider can see drivers on the rider app and the ETA before they order. Rideshare makes it so easy, why do so many riders find it so hard? Answer, they want what they want. The don't care about others. I always tell my riders I will use GPS, but if you prefer a different route, shout it out. We all know what happens, they say, "I wanted you to turn back there at the tree on the left." Or my favorite, "Tuen there." Which there? Out of a dozen there's, which one. I can't see you when you are in the back seat. Ride in the front for once in your life. Oh, and let's not forget about the rider that adds a stop while in transit turing a 20 minute ride into a 90 minute ride. We have a life at the end of the day. When I take one last trip, I don't want to be 100 miles away from home having to spend $60 to get home alone. If you want a Black Car service, order a Black Car. For those that want to eat while enroute, expect a 1 star rating. The next rider is going give me a 1 star becuase my SUV smells like Taco Bell. If you just had a great workout at the gym and stink becuase you didn't have time to shower, 1 star. If you can't control your kids, 1 star...getting it now? Be nice or take a stinking cab ride. They are just as abusive as you.
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Funny how you mention that the riders have changed. (from nice to rude) That's what riders are now saying about their drivers.
I wonder if something has changed or it's more the people utilizing the Uber's platform (both drivers and riders). I heard that the reason more drivers are rude is because they aren't professional drivers but just entitled car owners looking to make a few bucks. They aren't trained in customer service, and they just treat riders as wallets walking around.
I totally agree. I feel the reverse racism all over the place. And what is ironic is I enjoy helping the poor. But thats about to stop.
How is that "reverse racims?" If you think low-income people (presumably blacks and Hispanics) are bad for giving out low ratings, isn't that simple racism?
BTW, is this really true that poor give lower ratings? That's a fascinating observation.
Stuart probably means that the colored people (or those in poor communities) are taking it out on white drivers by rating them lower.
Of course, we don't know if that is what's actually happening. It could be that 1) these white drivers do treat black drivers worse hence are responded with negative ratings or 2) blacks or at least poor people do indeed rate everyone lower.
Is this really the case that low income people rate you more negatively?
Do you think that happens in general or do you think this is specific to you?
I don’t actually think it has to do with income. I have come to realize now the racially diverse low income areas are perfectly fine. Any area (and that includes wealthy areas) that is not racially diverse puts your rating at risk and possibly deactivation if you frequent it often enough.
If it’s way too white, too black, or too Hispanic you might want to limit your presence if that isn’t your tribe. By limit I mean you can go there and make some money but I wouldn’t do it every day. The ratings are based on an average of your last 500 rides so you can take a good amount of hits and be ok.