Uber's New Policy Fines Riders Who Are Two Minutes Late 172
Uber says it has revised some of its policies to better compensate its drivers. As part of which, the company is testing charging customers a fee if they make a driver wait for more than two minutes (current waiting time is five minutes). Furthermore, the taxi aggregator says it is changing the ride cancellation grace period from five minutes to two minutes, adding that the fees can range from $5 to $10, depending on your city. Our very own Logan Abbott aka Whipslash faced this issue today. Though he tells us that the company refunded his money after he emailed and filed a complaint. The Verge reports:The feature was built in response to drivers' complaints about waiting for passengers, Uber said. In a statement released to The Verge and TechCrunch, Uber noted that these updated terms would ensure that "the whole system runs more smoothly and the Uber experience improves for everyone." Reduced wait times and the ability to charge for idle time, as well as compensation if riders cancel after two minutes, obviously benefit drivers, earning them a few extra dollars and allowing them to move onto the next fare sooner. But how this will make the passenger experience smoother is unclear. Traffic, wrong turns, and faulty GPS all contribute to making pick-up times unreliable. This can leave passengers out in the cold, waiting for drivers to arrive. Uber explained that if a driver is more than five minutes late for an estimated arrival, users can cancel the ride with no penalty.
What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY? (Score:5, Interesting)
$5 to $10 for being a few minutes late? Yeah... No.
I'll call a cab or maybe Lyft...
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It's fair enough too - you can't expect people to wait for you, without some level of charge, when you've booked them for a certain time
Sorry, but $10 for a few minutes late is not "fair".
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Sorry, but $10 for a few minutes late is not "fair".
A better solution would be to have a two minute grace period, and then charge $1 per minute after that. $10 seems fair if you keep someone waiting for 12 minutes.
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Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY? (Score:5, Insightful)
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30 years ago, cab driver was a respected and honorable profession. Not so much these days.
Sadly, since the days you were driving, much has changed.
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They can just leave after 2 minutes. Any normal taxi service will wait a while and then leave.
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I never even summon an Uber unless I'm already where I need to be. If you're some kind of slack asshole, you're the reason they're doing this.
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And you expect an Uber driver to show up in the next 30 seconds? What if you need an early morning ride to the airport, do you really expect that "8 am sharp" to be within 2 minutes? No one is tuned to the clock that tightly.
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Considerate people are, in fact, where they say they'll be before the designated time. I'll wait a few minutes rather than rudely force the other party to wait.
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Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY? (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you get a credit if the driver is late?
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Were you walking on broken glass? Normally walking two or three miles is uneventful. If some freak accident occurred, well, that's just bad luck. That same bad luck could have happened the other way around if, say, the taxi got in a collision.
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You must've had some pretty severe pre-existing injuries if your body couldn't handle walking 2.5 miles.
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I've been stranded by an Uber driver before he got there. I dont even know the recourse should be. I was stranded and had to wait another 20 minutes for another Uber in inclement weather. Uber is getting more anti-rider and from what I hear from drivers they are fairly anti-driver AND they are trying to remove the driver in favor of self-driving computers.
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You should probably just look at the app. You can contact Uber support and report drivers that don't perform. You can rate drivers that do unpleasant things, and low ratings will pretty quickly get them removed.
I got stranded by cabbies more than once, and the last time resulted in a permanent injury to my right foot because I had no choice but to walk home in the middle of the night in shoes that are not intended for walking.
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What the fuck kind of shoes are not intended for walking? This is your own fault, for no contingency planning. If you were wearing a costume or whatever you should have brought a spare pair of shoes.
You have told this story about how your foot is somebody else's fault, four times now.
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And you know the circumstances? And how reasonable it would be to expect a cab to show up, once summoned?
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2 minutes is not sufficient leeway given a $5-10 fee - it is not a very long time at all.
Any large building with lifts etc can have exit times easily unpredictably vary by 5 minutes depending purely on the positions and traffic in the lifts - especially if you are visiting (normally a usual reason for using taxi or taxi like services).
Exiting a bar/restaurant etc can easily be delayed by 2 minutes either due to the staff being slow handling things or some other customer just getting in the way.
If you don't
Re: What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY? (Score:4, Informative)
And the award for best flamebait post right there.
I'd argue differently. Customers are money, happy tipping customers even more money. If you piss of your customers because you excessively fine them (or even just act annoyed) for a few additional minutes waiting (which will likely be insignificant compared to traffic delays anyway) you have no customers and therefore no money, and lots and lots of time. That and the journey cost should have some padding already built in for that wait time, trying to screw even more money out of your customers is just greed.
Even if you say the driver should be getting paid for those minutes, taking the current US median taxi driver wage of around $16 per hour (source http://www1.salary.com/Taxi-Dr... [salary.com] ) (which is likely more than an uber drivers average hourly wage) that extra 5 minutes at most should be $1.33. Charging $5-$10 is excessive.
Re: What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY? (Score:4, Informative)
So, yeah, $1.33 for the driver; $8.67 for Uber. Fair is fair.
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So, yeah, $1.33 for the driver; $8.67 for Uber. Fair is fair.
Expect more of this from Uber in the future as they're haemorrhaging more and more money each quarter.
This is what happens when you support a race to the bottom. Its reminiscent of the US airline industry which has pretty much completed nickel and diming everyone for absolutely everything, expect the low cost taxi industry to do the same... well if they dont go bankrupt in the process which at over US$100 million a quarter is a distinct possibility.
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You're an idiot. Proper planning is key. If it might take you a few minutes to get down, and the ETA in the app (visible before you even set the ride up, by the way) is less than that, be at least a considerate human being and wait until you're near the spot where you will be picked up.
These drivers are human too, and much better ones than the scumbags that own cab companies and drive their cabs. Try to be at least a little considerate.
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No it is not fair for me. If I hail an uber for 3:30 and they do not show until 3:40 am I compensated? And what am I supposed to do when I am now late for my meeting?
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Sounds fair... can I fine the driver for being late? because most of the time the driver is 5 minutes late arriving.
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But that would mean they would have fix their crappy software. "Scheduling? No one told anything about scheduling...."
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What do you want them to do? Honk for 5 minutes in the middle of the night? That's what's happening with regular cab companies in my area.
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Or don't be late.
You can decide to have some basic courtesy towards these people who are trying to make a living with this. We all now have phones that are accurate within a couple seconds to each other. You shouldn't need to be late. If you are then it is because you are just not being courteous to other needs.
Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY? (Score:5, Interesting)
Have you ever actually used an uber? Try doing it on a crowded street or by a hotel. It can take more than 2 minutes to find the damn car, its not like they're easily marked taxis. I've had ubers go more than 5 minutes late because they decided to park in the lot across the street, how the fuck was I supposed to know that?
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I've had ubers go more than 5 minutes late because they decided to park in the lot across the street, how the fuck was I supposed to know that?
The Uber app shows the location of the car. You can zoom in to see where it is within a few meters. You could also use your cell phone to call them and ask.
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Try that for instance at the Paris airport where you have multiple levels. Getting the exact position doesn't help when your Uber is waiting on the wrong level. It can take you quite a long time to climb that level with all your luggage....
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You have far more faith in GPS than you should- its not unusual for it to be off by 10s of meters in a cell phone unit. Not that it really helps all that much- great I know he's one of the dozens of parked cars on this block. Its still going to take me a minute or two to find him. I was ok with the 5 minutes, but its not unusual to take more than 2 to find the car. Even if I know he's there I'll spend 30-60 seconds trying to find it myself, then call him, then spend 30 seconds listening to his descrip
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You ignored the bit about "you can call the driver and ask"
You can even text them. The app makes it easy.
And Lyft will adopt this too, I'm sure.
Good luck with the taxi. Enjoy the high bill, long wait, and surly driver.
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Nope, I addressed it. The number of times I've found my Uber in under 2 minutes can be counted on one hand- and I've used it dozens of times.
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Have you ever actually used an uber? Try doing it on a crowded street or by a hotel. It can take more than 2 minutes to find the damn car, its not like they're easily marked taxis. I've had ubers go more than 5 minutes late because they decided to park in the lot across the street, how the fuck was I supposed to know that?
Minicabbers in London will either call you or beep/signal in another way.
But no doubt Uber will start offering that as a paid service shortly.
Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY? (Score:4, Insightful)
Most cab companies I've used charge for every minute they have to wait.
That said, two minutes to find a nondescript car that may or may not be where the app says they are is a bit unreasonable.
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That's only after the rider is in the cab and the meter's been dropped. Cab companies don't charge you if you live on the 15th floor and the elevator takes more than 2 minutes to get you downstairs.
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Most cab companies I've used charge for every minute they have to wait.
Bullshit. The meter doesn't drop until you get in the car. Now, if you have hailed a cab and then have them wait, that's a different situation.
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It's not SUPPOSED to.
Get back to us when you live in a city where 95% of the cab drivers aren't Haitians that spend the entire ride talking in creole on their cell to family members. Those guys don't give a shit about the rules. They drop the meter when they want, and they drive you the long way even if you give them specific directions "sorry boss, I don't understand".
No, it's a racket (Score:2)
users can cancel the ride with no penalty.
Seems to me that if the rider has to pay if the driver waits even two minutes then "allowing" the rider to cancel after 5 minutes of no-show isn't equitable. Shouldn't the rider get credit for the time that they have been kept waiting? And, although I acknowledge 2 minute accuracy might be hard for a driver in traffic, is it fair to require 2 minute accuracy with financial penalty for the rider but only five minute accuracy with no real financial penalty for t
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This shows that there are distinct advantages to paying with cash.
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Instead of cancelling the ride for no penalty, how about letting the late fees cut both ways? We all have time synchronized cell phones, both rider and driver should endeavor to be at the pickup 5 minutes early - if one or the other is more than 2 minutes late, let's respect both sides - drivers compensated for late customers _and_ customers compensated for late drivers.
I'll call a cab (Score:2)
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Yes. The bigger question is, why does every fart they make merit a Slashdot article?
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Or how about a fine for drivers who cancel a pick-up right when a surge pricing change kicks in? Fair is fair...
It's bad enough they don't tip (Score:3)
Can't they at least show up on time??
Re:It's bad enough they don't tip (Score:4, Insightful)
Why should Uber riders tip the driver? I mean this as a serious question.
Uber has represented itself as a way for it's drivers to make extra cash. We're already paying for the ride - so why should we have to tip? If the drivers aren't getting the bulk of the fare already, then we're basically paying a lot of money for a middle-man who does very little... which seems to go against the whole reason Uber exists.
When I tip a hair stylist, I'm aware he/she is getting very little of the price I paid for the haircut. Same thing with a waiter at a restaurant. But in those cases, the owner is providing material support (space, tools) to their employees. The relationship between Uber and its drivers doesn't seem analogous to that sort of situation.
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As for tipping, the whole concept of being able to drive wages down to well below the poverty line because charity from customers bridges the gap kind of creeps me out in the first place - I didn't grow up in that sort of society.
If they are poor enough to need the charity of strangers to make a living then tip I suppose. If they don't need your charity then that tip is not essent
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I've never really understood the logic of tipping. Tipping only seems to happen in countries that underpay workers, so you add x% to the price to ensure the poor guy gets a living wage (or some approximation). So why not just increase the price by x% and pass that on to the worker directly? That saves you the hassle of working out x% on the price, makes the worker's life a little more predictable in terms of day-to-day income, the real price (label+tip) doesn't change, it removes the guilt associated wit
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I understand tipping people who are in service jobs (and Uber is definitely a service job, from my perspective as a guy who needs a ride).
I tip absurdly excellently for excellent service, I tip well for good service, I tip almost nothing for mediocre service, and I tip absolutely nothing for lousy service.
Period.
I've tipped people who don't expect it, I've tipped people who can't accept it, and I've withheld tips from people who did expect it but didn't deserve it based on their quality of service.
If more p
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Two things (Score:3)
First, this is a new one. Calling Uber a "taxi aggregator". Is that from one of their legal filings or something? It's disingenuous at best.
Second, isn't this just setting up a adversarial relationship between driver and passenger? It looks like it to me. How is Uber going to decide who was late? How are they going to keep people from gaming an already gamable system? Start charging both parties for acting like a dispute resolution company?
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How is Uber going to decide who was late?
By looking at the GPS data.
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Which can be wrong or miscalibrated or have any number of other errors. It's not reliable when not in your hands is what I'm saying. That's a basic security rule. One which I doubt has been taken account of in these plans.
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I don't know about your phone, but my phone is accurate to 9 ft most of the time. Even when it isn't accurate to 9 ft (3 Meters) it is still fairly close to accurate, within 40 meters or so. Which is close enough to be accurate enough to show you aren't "late".
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All errors and miss-calibrations are defined by your phone. It knows how accurate it is and that is passed on to all the apps which request location data.
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GPS on mobiles is *NOT* that accurate in built up areas (10s of meters is common) with restricted view of the sky and don't work at all if the driver/user is in a covered parking lot/pick up area or similar. The phone/app often falls back to alternatives such as cell tower and wifi location methods which are usually only accurate to 10s if not 100s of meters.
So, what's the problem here? (Score:2, Insightful)
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Because most people dont want to have to wait 15-20 minutes for a pickup during busy times, so they request a ride before they're really ready, and misjudge their time.
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The geek as Peter Pan. (Score:2)
Why call for a ride if you aren't ready to GO? How long does it take to get outside from inside, all of 15 seconds?
Ask your mom, or your grandmother, if she is still around.
Better still, wait under ten or twenty years or so and a day when it is wet, cold and icy, with a bitter wind, and see how long it takes you to get out that door.
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And what if the Uber car is on the other side of a busy road? Crossing legally at a crosswalk can easily be more than two minutes to walk to the crosswalk, wait for the traffic light to let you cross, then walk to the car.
Or it can easily be more than two minutes to cross in the middle of the street.
And finding the car is hard enough - perhaps there should be a button saying "Where are you" which tells the driver to honk so you can find them. Because looking for them can easily take a good few minutes as we
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Sounds reasonable, as long as the same policy applies to the drivers when they show up late for a pick up leaving someone out in the cold waiting.
Not quite the same though. A driver has to fight through traffic, stop lights, weather, etc. You have to walk outside. Much smaller chance of delay. As long as the driver is moving, I'd say a 2-5 minute delay is acceptable, depending on the distance. If he's just pulling the pud in a 7-11 parking lot, then yeah.. dock 'em.
Uber's drivers? (Score:2)
Didn't Uber just win a legal case stating the people who drive for them are not their employees but freelancers?
If they're not Uber employees why is Uber trying to compensate these people for an insignificant wait time for someone hailing one of their cabs?
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As far as I'm concerned, great idea (Score:2)
Our whole society is held up by jerks that don't realize when you say you will meet someone at a specific time you should try to be there beforehand. This fine for not being realistic about what time you will be ready is something I think should be emulated wherever possible, to teach people a lesson and train them to be good.
I don't even hail an Uber until I'm standing where it will pick me up! You shouldn't be able to "hold" an Uber by calling it well before you are even ready...
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You have a fucking app that shows you exactly where the driver is. I've never had a driver NOT come to where I was and expect me to cross a road.
Are you perhaps a cabbie?
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If you are ready and standing in your pickup spot, you can literally see the driver approach on the app and know which car it is just from that. I've had a driver accidentally go a half block too far but it wasn't a problem because I could see him drive past, both on the app and in front of me, them pull into a parking lot down the street...
There is no excuse for not being ready when the driver shows.
Glad I just drive myself (Score:2)
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Good for you?
Uber is a great alternative for people who don't OWN a fucking car, or might be out drinking and want to play it safe (and don't trust cabbies because of prior experience).
Are you going to tell us you don't watch TV next?
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My driver was 8 minutes late yesterday (Score:5, Interesting)
And my driver took a wrong turn coming to me making him even later.
And my driver took 3-4 minutes AFTER the trip before he closed it. Did I pay for that too?
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This. After a handful of rides with Uber in Sydney I have stopped. It should be an easy market the local taxi industry is monopolistic and overpriced e.g. customers pay a 5% charge if you pay with a card. But Uber went quickly downhill after a handful of rides.
Started with trying to catch a ride in the city. The map showed the usual bullshit - ubers swarming everywhere around me. But I got a pick up time of ten minutes. And almost ten minutes passed with the driver no closer, and looking at where he's going
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That's fantastic, if you're in a city with good transit. Where i live, buses stop running at 10, and even when they are running, a 7 mile journey typically takes 45 minutes each way.
When I was in London, I only needed to take a black cab once or twice. In the US, unless you enjoy waiting, and doing things before the bars close, you don't really have an option, if you don't have a car, or are out drinking.
Frequent Uber client here (Score:2)
My Lyft app looks awfully attractive about now.
What about drivers who "arrive" five minutes early (Score:2)
The last 4-5 times I've used Uber, the driver/app has told me that they're arriving, and I've gone outside to wait. Then I've continued to be outside waiting for another 3-5 minutes before the driver shows up. I'm not sure if this is the app screwing up, or the driver declaring they're there early, but it's annoying in the middle of the rain and even more so in the middle of Canadian winter,
I figure, if you're going to penalize me for being 2+ minutes late (which can easily be the time it takes to transit f
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Well the solution to a driver reporting present early (and from what I know about the system, that's automated through the app anyhow) is reviews.
Rate them a 1.
a driver with a rating below a point, I think it's something like 4.6, will be fired.
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It should go both ways. (Score:2)
Ridiculous (Score:2)
Charging extra for the privilege of flawed service isn't going to work at all.
The long view (Score:2)
Right now taxis provide a service that has been regulated
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Hey guys!
I found the cabbie scumbag!
Taxis around here go to bad areas of town either.
The regulations on cab companies are entirely in place to prevent competition from entering the market. There is zero other reason.
I have a permanent injury to my foot because I was forced to walk home 2.5 miles one morning at 2 AM because the taxi company failed to pick me up. I saw the cab come into the parking lot on tracking, and then go to a different bar and pick up a more profitable fare. The cab app said I had been
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"Taxis around here don't go to bad areas of town either." is how that should have read.
Also the shithead owner involved is named Jesse Gaddis.
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I have a permanent injury to my foot because I was forced to walk home 2.5 miles one morning at 2 AM because the taxi company failed to pick me up.
So you're blaming the cab company ... because you hurt yourself walking ... which you decided to do instead of calling another cab or not walking?
Your entire post was wasted because you made this single, crying/whining baby comment. You lose all credibility from this one ... the cabbie hurt your foot because he didn't show up.
Grow the fuck up and stop blaming others for your own incompetence.
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in Miami-Dade county t
Ahh, a south florida asshole, confirmation of my original statement.
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They run 24 hours a day, and all areas of a city have a chance to get service.
Have you ever tried to find a taxi (or even call a taxi to) "all areas" of a city? You might have a chance, but that chance can be extremely small.
In NY (at least) it is also common for the taxi driver to drive away if they don't like your destination.
Uber has all sorts of problems, but taxis are a horribly broken system that is far from working remarkably well.
What if the driver can't find me? (Score:2)
Where I live now had all the uber drivers looking for my house about 300 feet away. The cab companies make the same mistake. So I just call and wander down to where I know they think I will be.
Obviously their mapping software is
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It's often considered polite to continue to and read the second sentence of the comment before replying to it.
Remember when... (Score:2)
Pizza delivery drivers were killing people in their haste to avoid their wages being docked for being late with deliveries?
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sounds good.
internal memo
ETA= $ETA + 300
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A cab would be cruising around and picking people up who just wave it down from the sidewalk. There is no waiting on an appointment with a flagged down cab.
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