RIDEGURU
Angela Taylor (RedANT)
Ride Scholar from Seattle
1072 Rider DriverActivity
Posts by RedANT
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The Uber driver app in the Google Play store has a rating of 4.4/5 stars. I posted a comment/rating on Google Play:
Me: "If drivers have a 4.4/5 star rating, Uber calls us failures and deactivates us. Why is this rating acceptable or different?"
Uber: "Hi RedANT. This doesn't sound right. We want to take a closer look into this for you. Please send a quick note to t.uber.con/drivercontact so we can connect."
(Needless to say, I did NOT contact them with my real information)
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Old system:
$25 trip @ 2x surge = Passenger pays $50 (driver made approx 65% of the total = $32.50, and Uber/Lyft made approx 35% of the total = $17.50)
New system:
$25 trip @ 2x surge = Passenger still pays $50 (Driver makes 65% of $25 = $16.25 + a $2.50 fixed "surge" = $18.75 earned by driver. Uber/Lyft collect the balance of $50 - $18.75 paid to driver = $31.25 = approx 63%) Driver pays for 100% of their car payment, insurance, gas, and maintenance. Uber/Lyft does nothing but change policies and adjust app settings to increase their share. Passengers get fleeced.* Please note that all numbers are approximate, and will vary greatly depending on the area you're in.
** Driver pay was previously paid based on a per minute rate + mileage rate + surge multiplier.
Pay is now based on a per minute rate + mileage rate + a flat surge fee that is a fraction of the former multiplier payout. This change effectively increases Uber and Lyfts share of the fares significantly, taking money out of driver pockets and increasing company revenue. Regardless, I'd bet that Uber and Lyft will still post huge Q1 losses as they head into their respective IPOs.
This is why drivers are pissed. (And rightfully so)
Dara is by far worse for drivers than Travis ever was. We made money Under Travis. Under Dara we had 180 days of change, (most of which were useless or rolled back) the introduction/repeal of boosts, the death of surge, and the scam known as upfront pricing.
Please bring Travis back.
Didi has more riders than Uber, but they've only had a fraction of the number of deadly incidents. I'm willing to take a chance with Didi.
Not sure how many will participate, but how many need to participate before others will follow suit? It only took the public complaints from a few female Uber employees to get corporate to make changes. With the proper planning and coverage, this can happen for us too, especially because Uber is trying so hard to improve their public image.
It doesn't hurt to participate, but it will hurt if nobody stands up and we all keep getting screwed.
How many accusations of sexual harassment did it take before management started making changes to the "bro culture" at Uber? People were outraged over how a handful of employees were treated, and Uber made changes to improve their image. Uber has since suffered other reputation challenges, and is desperately trying to change their image through aggressive advertising campaigns. (Have you seen the TV commercials with Dara in it?) Right now image is extremely important, because if Uber is going to pull off a successful IPO in 2019, they need to change their ublic image and convince the public to think positively of them. This is the perfect time, and one of the few opportunities that we may have to force Ubers hand. Last time we saw their BS "180 days of change." We can force more if they're desperate enough.
I'm doing it. (Really)
Someone needs to stand up and make it known to the general public what Uber (and Lyft) are doing to their drivers. Both companies rely on network reliability, and declining rides is a good way to make a statement that Uber understands. If you do nothing, your pay will continue to decline. More corners will be cut, and the reputation of drivers will be tarnished.
It can work, but we need more people to stand up and participate.
I won't comment, because ANY comment can (and will) be construed by riders here as a valid reason to ding the rating of a driver. "That driver on Rideguru said they would give his a 1 star rating."
Each driver needs to be judged individually, since we all drive throrugh such drastically different scenarios.
You know that in order to close out a ride, you need to travel a minimum distance, right? I've traveled to pick someone up in heavy traffic, only to find that they're going 2 blocks. (downtown city blocks) When you try to close out the ride, it asks why you want to cancel because it doesn't see you as having moved anywhere. The only thing we can do is travel another few blocks and try again. I can see where drivers could forget to close out if they immediately got a ping on another network and had a lng haul run. I've almost done it, and my intentions certainly weren't malicious.
(despite all the posters here who assume that all drivers are unscrupulous thieves)
Always from home. Not enough time during work hours to do this.
Yeah, an American company that abuses American drivers and has no regard for American laws.
(Isn't SoftBank the largest Uber shareholder?)
It depends on how busy things are when you request the ride. For some riders I'll wait 5 minutes if things are slow. If things are busy, I wait 2 min, mark you as a no show and cancel so I can grab another ride.
It must require a pretty high acceptance rate, because I've never seen it. (Average 94%+ accept rate)
I can't see your destination until you're in my car and I start the ride.
This is but a small investment for a company like Toyota, and potentially opens the door for huge sales to Uber.
Uber has what, 200,000 drivers? If self driving cars were to even remotely become reality, Uber would need to purchase tens of thousands of vehicles every year. If Uber fails miserably to get their self driving cars operating, then Toyota may have positioned themselves to acquire that "technology" and adopt/adapt/compete with their own self driving tech. What is a $500 Million investment when considering the overall potential sales?
Surprise, surprise. Uber has what, 200,000 drivers, and probably 80% of them are men. You effectively have 160,000 male drivers, and see a sexual assault what, every few months? How often do you her about sexual assaults on college campuses, etc? All things considered, you seem to be infinitely safer with your Uber driver than walking home alone in the middle of the night.
These things happen, but nobody cares except when they can somehow "link" the criminal to Uber.
I'd love to see them enter the US market ASAP. Such would really mess up Ubers plans for a 2019 IPO, and would threated to steal away all of the abused drivers that stick with Uber because few other options are available.
If an option like Didi presented itself, I'd certainly be open to significantly cutting back on Uber/Lyft.
It depends on where you live and what it costs to "support your family."
In some areas the cost of living is cheap, but drivers don't make anything near what's required to survive. (examples: Orlando and Detroit) In other areas drivers make ok money, but aren't able to afford the high cost of living. (Examples: San Francisco and Boston)
Some drivers earn less than minimum wage. Others are able to clear $30+ /hr doing this. Some areas also limit how many hours you can work per day, so that can limit your earning potential. YMMV
On a positive note, I wonder if we can now cite this "security issue" as justification for not providing a multitude of chargers, etc?
Half the drivers are inept and can barely concentrate long enough to keep their car between the lines. What do you think the odds are that the same driver will somehow hack a phone mid ride via your USB connection and use that information for an "attack?"
If your phone is at risk, the odds would probably indicate that your information is pretty secure in a moving Uber vehicle.
I've had people report that I was driving the wrong vehicle before. (I wasn't) I've also had people mention that they didn't know it was me because my license plate number was different from the one on my account. (It wasn't) They were "confused" because I have (in state) military plates, and they were overlooking the first couple of letters that were stacked.
In anther incident, I was at fault, and forgot to switch the vehicle that I was driving in the app. (2 vehicles registered with Uber and Lyft) That was an innocent mistake, but Lyft temporarily deactivated me for it.
Are you covered by their insurance? If you were in their car and they're insured, you should be covered by their policy, but probably not by Lyfts.
I mount a Google Nexus 7 tablet on the back of the passenger headrest, and use it to display an illuminated sign that's right in front of the passengers face. If they know I'm recording, it's because they saw the sign. Recording from the tablet is looped (6hrs @ 720p) so I get a clear record of the back seat, and in tandem I also record the entire cabin from the 10" Galaxy Tab that I use for navigation. If people ask where the dashcam is, I tell em' it's hidden for security reasons. They've always agreed that that's a smart idea.