Thousands of ride share drivers’ certifications revoked or suspended

When Uber began the uberX standard after initially being limited to black car, they were a very small start up company and eventually started doing background checks.  I'm sure they chose a company to do them that was affordable and provided reasonably adequate checks.  Back in the day, Uber appealed to folks that had nice cars and were generally a class of quasi-professionals.  Cars had to be newer than 10 years (and less in some markets) and there really were standards to follow. 

Today the rates are less than 1/2 of where they were then, and the driver base has migrated downward.  Today cars can be 15 years old (in our market) which honestly folks is really drawing some raggedy old junkers into the mix, and the quality of drivers has depreciated immensely.  I hear comments from my passengers often such as "wow, this is the nicest Uber car we've ever been in" etc....

Is my car nice?  Yes, BUT, the key is that it is immaculately CLEA…

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When Uber began the uberX standard after initially being limited to black car, they were a very small start up company and eventually started doing background checks.  I'm sure they chose a company to do them that was affordable and provided reasonably adequate checks.  Back in the day, Uber appealed to folks that had nice cars and were generally a class of quasi-professionals.  Cars had to be newer than 10 years (and less in some markets) and there really were standards to follow. 

Today the rates are less than 1/2 of where they were then, and the driver base has migrated downward.  Today cars can be 15 years old (in our market) which honestly folks is really drawing some raggedy old junkers into the mix, and the quality of drivers has depreciated immensely.  I hear comments from my passengers often such as "wow, this is the nicest Uber car we've ever been in" etc....

Is my car nice?  Yes, BUT, the key is that it is immaculately CLEAN.  I'm appalled at the condition of some of the cars I've ridden in as a passenger.  Yikes!  I can only imagine how they live at home - as this is apparently their "normal" and perfectly acceptable based on their personal standards.

The ONLY way this will ever improve is for Uber to genuinely start vetting their drivers, insist on thorough background checks, and insist on car inspections before they do their first ride.  I think the first step would be to make the drivers PAY (make a little investment) for their own background checks and to receive a copy for your personal files.  Secondly let's do automobile inspections - with a test drive for a few blocks with the driver.  Third let's develop a real "standard" for dealing with folks under 18.  If it's okay, then let's have a set of guidelines that make it "ok".  Uber tends to not comment at all until an accident or situation raises the issue.  It would be SO easy to ask the rider their age when requesting a car if their name is different than that on the account- and if they intentionally falsify their information, then it's on them and not the driver.  Let's increase rates so that we can actually make a profit.  The easiest and best solution IMO would be to increase the rates, but decrease the surges to a more reasonable level such as double or triple at the very most.  And how about a help line that is actually informed.  I keep reading and even seeing video's of horrific help line experiences.  This is inexcusable for a company doing billions of dollars in business.  And lastly, let's create a class of "child seat" cars where the driver will make an extra buck for installing and making available a child seat which is required by law!!!

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