RIDEGURU
Angela Taylor (RedANT)
Ride Scholar from Seattle
1072 Rider DriverActivity
Posts by RedANT
No posts found.Featured Answers 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)
What are your rates here in Seattle?
@ScottCarroll I can understand the outrage that you feel by having to wait a few extra minutes for your ride to start. Drivers feel that way all the time when we have to wait for our passengers to show up curbside for pickup.
A couple of weeks ago I got a ride request at the airport. Upon picking the person up, I found that they were headed 45 miles south of the airport. (90% of rides head north, and 10% south) I explained to the guy that I had to cancel the trip, and like you, he got mad. I'm sorry that waiting an extra minute or two hindered his plans, but I had a doctor's appointment north of town, which would have been fine for 90% of trips, but it just wouldn't work for that one. For the sake of expediency, should I have just taken the $45 trip and missed my appointment that I waited 3 months for? (and pay the $25 late cancel fee)
My thoughts are this... we're RIDESHARE drivers, not taxi drivers. I'll gladly share my ride with you under most circumstances, but there are times when things just don't work out. Rideshare usually requires a little bit of flexibility . If you absolutely can't wait and must be picked up NOW, a taxi may be better suited for your needs.
Incorrect.
I pull up, a guy walks up to the car, I say "Hi Frank," he says "Hey" and he gets into the car. I start the trip and we head down the road. I arrive at the destination and wake up "Frank" who is drunk and passed out in the back seat. When he wakes up he looks at me and asks:
1. Where are we? This isn't my house.
2. Why are you calling me Frank?
Congratulations on picking up the wrong passenger, forfeiting your fare, leaving the actual rider stranded, and wasting everyone's time.
Why did this happen? It's because you surrendered your sole piece of verification to appease a probable minimum fare rider.
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What you should have done was pull up, and when they walk to your car you say "Hi, I'm RadarRider. Your name please?" Once you've verified their name and have confirmed that they're your passenger, you're free to play all the name games you want. (or that you'll tolerate)
Following this forces them to confirm their identity. This is for your protection to prevent unknown/incorrect riders from getting into your car.
While I support this "strike," I think they're going about this wrong.
Boycotting service during the slowest day of the week does the least amount of damage, and will hit business riders hardest. We need the backing of the business community, not to alienate and annoy them. This should have been planned for a Saturday when it's busy, but has the least amount of impact on businesses.
(Just my opinion)
Ok. You weren't drunk and belligerent. You just went out for drinks, don't remember anything, and part of what you "don't remember" was the details of the fight you picked with your driver that caused you to be thrown out of his car. MAKES SENSE.
FWIW, your rights don't supersede the right of the driver, and, in fact, the driver has MORE rights than you do because all this transpired in their vehicle.
Count this as a lesson learned to not pick drunk fights with others. That rarely works out well.
If you have three recent moving violations, that pretty much disqualifies you from driving Uber and Lyft everywhere.
If I could have upvoted your post again, I would have.
Whats sad is that these lawmakers think that they're improving safety, but in reality, they're just making things worse. Not only is a lighted sign easily obtained by anyone on Amazon or eBay, but the biggest flaw is that THIS ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO "VERIFY" THEIR RIDE BASED ON A SIGN. People need to verify license plate numbers, NOT signs.
I have paranoid passengers on occassion, and I'm a 60+ disabled great grandmother! If they're too afraid of me, they just need to play it extra safe and drive themselves.
I don't play the "what's my name" game. People tell me their name, or the timer ticks down and I collect the NO SHOW fee after 5 minutes. My safety comes before name games.
Lyft will NOT pair you if your location is too close. This is to prevent people from arranging rides outside of the platform or taking street hails.
If you're on a ride and the passenger wants to continue to a second location, they need to change their destination, then add the first location as a stop.
I vaguely remember an in-app notice explaining this, but the reasoning was supposedly for "passenger safety." It's really irritating when you navigate to a pickup location, arrive, you verify the listed address with the number on the house, then a few seconds later the house number changes and the passenger emerges from across the street of a house of two down the road.
Just another example of Uber "fixing" something until it's broken.
Basic duty of care? I think you fail to grasp the core difference between a RIDESHARE driver and a TAXI.
A taxi is a regulated public utility, and subject to many legal requirements and restrictions. Requirements vary by jurisdiction, but generally, because they're a public utility, taxis are painted in a specific way to denote that their drivers are well vetted. Because they're a public utility, they are allowed to pick up people hailing an unscheduled ride on the street. Because they're a public utility, their drivers are required to help with your luggage, and to transport you to your destination. This is why taxis cost more.
A rideshare is nothing more than a carpool service. Rideshare drivers are very loosely vetted, they're not allowed to pickup street hailed rides, and they're not obligated by law to assist you with baggage, etc. If you're in an argument with someone you're catching a ride with, they're under no obligation to continue transporting you.
If you were drunk and belligerent and picked a fight with the driver, they're totally within their right to put you on the curb and terminate the trip.
On your questions:
1. I don't know. The passenger and driver apps are different, and as a passenger I've never been ejected from a rideshare before, so I have nothing to reference.
2. I don't see how a "phoney" trip could have been ordered and cancelled. Uber is app driven. There is nobody in an office that could manually order a trip. That would have to have been ordered on your phone. Perhaps it was one of those things that you "don't remember?"
3. Enter what by accident? (See #2 above)
Actually, most restaurant chains already have delivery contracts with these companies. Applebees, for example, can be ordered for deliver through DoorDash, GrubHub, Caviar and Amazon.
My guess is that UberEats is catering to the fast food crowd to grab marketshare and to get people to use their app on a regular basis. Like rideshare, they don't care about profitability, they just want to control the majority of that market. If they can pull that off, then they'll try to use that influence to force out the other companies and take over the "higher end" restaurants.
Thank you for the coffee. (Yes, it is legit)
Actually, we don't have the destination until after we start the trip, which leaves our only safety verification as the passenger name (which is usually fake), and a pickup location that Uber purposely changes for "passenger safety." (i.e. 214 Main St is the passengers real address, but the address we're given to navigate to is 221 Main St. Sometimes the address updates once we're there, sometimes it doesn't, but regardless, address isn't a very reliable verification either)
The last person to play this "Say my name" game refused to verify their name for me, so I sat there until the pickup timer hit 5 minutes, then I NO SHOW the ride and collect the no show fee because I didn't have a verified passenger show up for the trip.
My safety comes before say my name games.
Nope. No codes in Seattle. (Yet) Hoping that such nonsense is avoided, but if it does come, I hope we'll be able to extract at least a little fun from it.
Driver earnings have plummeted over the past three years, but thousands of ants continue to sign up everyday. The rideshare companies already have a ~95% annual turnover rate. They don't care if you turnover as long as they can find a replacement.
You mentioned that you uploaded a copy of your driver's license.
Last week while renewing my vehicle inspection at the Greenlight Hub in Seattle, I spoke with a couple of other drivers, one of whom told me that he had a problem with his driver's license after he updated the license info in their system. He had upgraded from a standard to an enhanced driver's license, and in the process, his driver's license number changed. (When I upgraded mine, my license number changed too) Somehow the system flagged his account because of the change in license number. Could this also be your problem?
FWIW, if you can't get anyone to assist you, I find Twitter to be a great medium to communicate with a real person. Their reply-bot will blow you off in an email or message, but they have a live person replying to their Twitter feed, and they hate when dirty laundry like this is posted for the public to see. (Especially as they close in on their IPO)
I doubt rideshare is going to work in that situation. The challenges I see are:
1. Grants Grove is inside King's Canyon, which charges an admission fee. Whoever picks you up will have to pay that $35 fee UPFRONT and OUT OF POCKET, to pickup an unknown person that may not even show up. As far as I know, there is no reimbursement for the park admission fee.
2. If the pickup person doesn't manually map the route beforehand, they may not be able to find your location. Good luck getting the Ethiopian immigrant to your location with the Uber or Lyft apps that aren't even reliable in a city with a strong cell signal.
3. No cell service means there's no way for a driver to start the trip. If the trip doesn't start, the driver doesn't get paid;
4. If anyone picks up this fare, they're going to lose a lot of money. 50 miles @ 60 cents a mile = $30 + 60 min @ 10 cents per min = $6 The driver will make approx $36 for driving 100 miles, (50 miles each way) pay $35 for park admission, Leaving them with earnings of approx $1 to pay for gas (which is already ~ $3.69 /gal a full month before we even get to Memorial Day!)
My understanding is that if you order delivery through a company like UberEats, your delivery fee and approx 30% of the order price is taken by Uber as their "cut" for brokering the delivery service. They don't actually perform the service, they just act as the middleman to coordinate the delivery through their "independent contractor" delivery drivers. Some of the fees may trickle down to the drivers in the form of incentives, but the lions share still goes to the companies.
As a general rule, I tip 25-50% of the order total, with a minimum tip of $5. (FWIW, $5 tips were standard when I delivered pizzas to work my way through college in the 70's and 80's)
No. Uber has already hinted that the cuts will come from driver pay cuts, not from customer fare cuts. Prices will continue to drop, driver pay will plummet, driver turnover will accelerate, and the companies will continue to bleed money until one goes bankrupt. When only one company remains standing, prices will skyrocket. (But drivers still won't get paid a fair wage)
Convenience has a price. It's not free. If you're "too broke" to tip your driver, then you should get up off your butt and drive to the restaurant and pickup your food yourself.
Too inconvenient? Don't want to deal with the traffic? Don't want to go out in the rain/snow? Don't want to climb several flight of stairs? Don't want to fight for a parking space? That driver does all of the above so you don't have to. Do you not think they deserve to be compensated for their time and efforts?
Delivery drivers do all of those things so that you don't have to. Why wouldn't you tip them? (Or do you think that they want to spend their evenings delivering your food for free instead of spending it with their families?)