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)
Pizza delivery drivers generally receive an hourly salary + per delivery fee + tips for driving your pizza 2 miles, and they get tipped almost 100% of the time. DId they earn their tip?
People get their coffee from places like Starbucks, and often tip the barista for making their drink. His/her tip are in addition to their salary. What did they do to earn thir tip?
If you go out to dinner, a waiter/waitress takes your order, then delivers it 30 feet from the kitchen to your table. They receive a salary + tips. Do you tip your waitress? Why?
Rideshare drivers aren't driving your pizza down the road, they're not making your drink, and they're not carrying your food 30 feet to your table. Rideshare drivers are paying for gas upfront out of their own pockets, paying for insurance that non-drivers don't pay, making car payments that they're not reimbursed for, paying for vehicle maintenance to maintain a safe ride, driving across town to find you, and deliver YOU safely to your destination. All that and you don't think we've done anything to deserve a tip?
Are people really that obtuse that they place a higher value on their latte than on getting to their destination safely without freezing your ass off in the snow, drowning in the rain, sweating your ass off in the heat, dodging dogs, bicyclists, and avoiding getting a DUI?
How much is our service worth? Try going without rideshare for a couple of months, then revisit this thread.
Cash is king, and I know that the person really did tip. (unlike the false promises from riders promising to tip in app)
My default passenger rating is 4* unless they tip in cash, and once we drop off and rate, we can't change our rating.
If tickets can be issued based on private photos, can we begin to submit pictures of bicyclists riding illegally too? Where can we send dashcam video proof? Where would this madness end? Unless the person submitting the evidence is a sworn officer, I don't see how this could be upheld in court. When did the infraction occur? What address? Was the shown address within the citys jurisdiction? How do you prevent abuse, and stop rogue bicyclists from recycling old photos?
You can drop someone off across the border if you have a passport, but you wouldn't be able to pick anyone up until you return to your own market.
No. I decided to be a bird charger instead.
For clarification, are you looking for a ride to Niagra Fall/metro Buffalo, or are you trying to travel to NYC? While Uber does operate 24/7 in some areas, I don't know how many drivers are available in Hamilton at that hour. Further, since the driver would have to be carrying their passport in order to travel across the border, the odds of finding anyone who can get any further than the immigration checkpoint is slim/none. If you can get a ride to the checkpoint, you may be able to summon a new ride on the other side.
I wish that was true, but around here, many/most of the birds only make $3-10 each to charge. Unless you have a lot of outlets to charge em', it's really not a very good opportunity.
Instead of charging, I think maintenance is a better job with bird. Tighten wheels, check to make sure everyhing works, and get paid $10 per "maintenance." (5 minutes worth of work)
Did the driver know that you were the one that ordered the ride? Did you wave or motion to him to you? Was the area that you were summoning him to a bus lane or other no stopping zone? Did you try to contact him via phone or text before he drove away? Do you frequently take Uber short distances? Had you ever ridden with that driver before?
This morning I had a rider text me because her Uber app said I was "on the wrong street." I texted her back with a picture of the building number. (The picture showed her standing there...*sigh*)
A few days ago I had a rider call me to his location. I told him that the street he was on is BUSSES ONLY, and if I dared to even turn onto that street, I'd get a ticket. He threw a temper tantrum claiming that I was trying to scam him. His pickup timed out and I collected the no show fee. His fault, not mine.
It's not unheard of for drivers to drive by to set off the pickup timer to just collect the no show fee, but that usually only occurs if they know that you're a unprofitable ride. They can pick you up, get stuck in traffic and burn 20 minutes to make $5, or they can drive by, burn 5 mnutes off the clock and collect $3 - $4. A lot of it comes down to how you use rideshare. If you take short trips and never tip, your passenger rating will bottom out and nobody will accept you ride requests. Take care of your drivers and they'll take care of you.
Impatient passengers annoy me. Last time one texted me asking "where are you?" I replied "sorry, the line at 7-11 is really long. Will be there as soon as I buy a drink and fill up gas."
GUARANTEED PASSENGER CANCEL.
What he did may not have necessarily been illegal, but it certainly lacked common sense and was done without regard for the safety, security and privacy of the passengers in his car.
I *ALWAYS* have recordings rolling while driving rideshare, but I make sure that passengers are aware that thy're being recorded, that they see my sign informing them that accepting a ride in my car constitutes an agreement to being recorded for the safety and security of both passenger and driver. Also,for safety sake, I have multiple videos rolling, not just on my dashcam, but also on the Google Nexus tablet mounted on the passenger seatback as well as on the 10" GalaxyTablet that I use for navigation. (I make sure to CMA)
Define "long trip." Drivers may be hesitent to accept your ride request for many reasons, like time to your destination and back, existing personal commitments outside of driving, and earning potential working special events, etc.
I occassionally get ride requests that take me 100+ miles from home, but even though I may earn a decent fare taking someone there, I also have a 100+ mile drive home during which I'm burning my own gas and earning ZERO compensation. Had I declined the 200 mile (roundtrip) ride that took 4 hrs, I could very well have taken a dozen surged rides and made more money.
Sometimes I also get unexpected long trip requests that I just can't accept, like two weeks ago when I got a request that conflicted with a critical doctors appointment. Not ideal, but sometimes our personal lives need to come before potential earnings.
Sadly, the fast food discussed is often an integral part of a rideshare drivers diet. I guess that in a way, that makes it relevant?![undecided]()
If you can't make a living wage in the maximum time allowed, it's probably time for you to pursue another career path rather than jeopardize your safety and the safety of the community in general. If you can't make money driving 60-80 hrs a week, you'd probably do better delivering pizza or working fast food.
Base fare (not including tip) for both services will probably run approx $40, depending on the day and time that you travel. Open up your apps and you can see the "live" estimates for yourself.
Hehehe... look at that flock of birds just waiting to be captured, charged and released. You see a pile of scooters. I see a pile of cash. Yay for Bird chargers!
Lyft is a bad as Uber. Worse at times. Both companies neglect their drivers, continually devising ways to shift expenses to their drivers, and raising rates charged while cutting driver pay. "Better" is just personal perception, since you still have the same driver driving the same car making the same menial wages regardless of company.
The only reason they're interested in rideshare is because of the growing number of travelers using rideshare instead of taxi and car rentals.
Is this a good move on their part? Maybe, depending on the future of DidI. Hopefully this choice by Priceline is better than their decision to choose William Shatner as their spokesman. 😷
Both are doomed technologies with no realistic future.
People can't even drive on the ground. Do you really trust others to gauge altitude and other flying variables? If you're walking down the street, will you feel safe with unknown flying cars overhead? No thanks. People can't even operate drones. I sure as hell don't trust them to fly cars.
For the hyperloop, the concept is neat, but unrealistic. Proposed costs in California are almost $12 million per mile, (which we know will end up costing 3x as much) and I'm not sure that screaming across the desert at 700 Mph in a windowless pod sounds very safe. (or appealing) At that speed, all it takes is a smal earthquake and a small bump can have disastrous consequences. (Hit a pothole at 10 Mph and you feel it. Now hit it at 80 Mph and feel what a huge difference speed makes. Raise your speed to 700 Mph and take a guess what that would feel like) I like to travel quickly too, but for long distance commutes you're better off developing a cost effective way to improve air travel speed. The concorde proved high speed air travel was possible. We just need to do it more efficiently.
In Melbourne, Australia? What service are you using? When are you traveling? What service level do you require?
Passengers don't care about our rating. That they abuse the rating system as they do makes that blatant obvious. What I find works is instead explaining to them PASSENGER RATING, telling them what their rating is, and explaining how their rating is the equivalent of a credit score. If your score gets too low, drivers reject your "applications" for a ride, and you wait much longer for ride requests to be answered.