Uber will make you pay if you keep your driver waiting more than two minutes

[FrodosPet]

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2016/06/06/uber-will-make-pay-keep-driver-waiting-two-minutes/#gref

by NAPIER LOPEZ - June 6, 2016

If you’re the type of person who orders an Uber before you’re even done getting ready, you might want to think again; the company will now charge late fees in more places if you keep your driver waiting.

If the rider is more than two minutes late, they’ll begin getting charged (rates vary by city). That said, drivers must still wait at least five minutes because they can declare a customer a no-show and charge them a cancellation fee.

After piloting the late fee system in New York, New Jersey, Dallas and Phoenix back in April, Uber found riders were consistently more prompt about getting into their cabs. And now it’s expanding to Houston, Portland (Oregon) and 10 other cities, with more to come in the future

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[hr]
It is about time. Literally. Driver's time is money, which they are making far too little of already. DON'T order a car and keep your driver from pursuing good runs while you futz around unprepared on THEIR dime.

[d_legendary1]

1. Cab drivers already do this

What took so long?

[yeoman6987]

41. Sometimes cabs start from their destination

I bet some über drivers waited 20-30 minutes while the rude customer went along slowly getting ready. Good for uber.

[Nye Bevan]

2. Sounds more than fair (nt)

[Gormy Cuss]

3. Does Uber pay passengers when drivers are late?

I know that cabbies don't discount the fare when they show up late. If hired drivers deserve pay for short waits then surely passengers deserve discounts when they're ready on time and car hasn't shown up.

If five minutes is the cancellation mark, then waiting longer than five minutes should be when late fees kick in -- not before. Most freelancers experience wasted (that is, unbillable) time. It's a cost of doing business.

[FrodosPet]

4. So if you are a driver, and think you will be tied up by the traffic

Then you should refuse the run. Or just quit driving altogether.

So how long have you driven cab or rideshare? What was your secret for bouncing out passengers who want to go somewhere other than their original destination and make some intermediate stops enroute?

Planes, trains, and buses, which travel the same well timed route, are frequently late. How in the HELL is a car, traveling from one random place to another random place, with random stops and random traffic conditions, going to EVER have a better on-time record than scheduled fixed route modes?

[Gormy Cuss]

5. So, if you're a potential passenger and your kid start screeching and you need to calm him down

before leaving, or you have an urgent need to use the bathroom, it's your fault that your late. When traffic slows down the driver, it's not his fault. The imbalance there isn't subtle.

The thing of it is, we all have unexpected events impeding our on time arrivals, so why is it acceptable to charge customers for being late by a measly TWO MINUTES but expect customers to just shrug it off when the driver doesn't show up on time?

And BTW, when planes are very late there is usually compensation offered. Sometimes even mass transit comps rides when the system is severely off schedule unexpectedly.

[FrodosPet]

6. Uber certainly needs to do a better job of offering real world ETAs

And not the insane fantasy that someone 8 miles away can make it across surface streets with stoplights in 10 minutes.

What you advocate would cost drivers enough that many, probably most, would quit. Then more and more people can see "No UberX Available" much more frequently.

The passenger wins because?

[Gormy Cuss]

10. All because I'm advocating against penalizing customers for a two minute delay?

Don't forget that driver delays can cost customers too -- missing an appointment, losing work, paying extra for sitters, etc.

Two minute delays aren't that big a deal and fining for it will drive potential passengers to alternate transportation. That won't benefit Uber drivers and could hurt revenue if enough customers bolt (and trust me, there are many people who are scrupulous about trying to stay on schedule who will hate this fee.)

[FrodosPet]

14. What should be the wait time before a passenger gets charged a "waste your driver's time" fee?

5 Minutes? 10 minutes? 15, 20, 30, or straight up the driver must stay there and wait unpaid for however much time it takes?

[Gormy Cuss]

16. Well, there's a five minute window for cancelling, right? Why isn't the late interval at least that?

n/t

[whatthehey]

21. The last time I called a cab it ws 45 minutes. I got fuck all.

Why is your time worth more than the customer's?

[Demonaut]

34. and if you called a ridesharing service then you might have waited 15 minutes at most

with a cleaner car and a guy/girl who needs/wants a great review from you to keep his job

and you would have paid much less for that service

[whatthehey]

38. Not available in the far burbs sadly.

I have had better luck with cabs in bigger cities (not compared to Uber, where I have very little experience indeed, but compared to where I live) and the last time I price checked a comparison, yellow cabs were cheaper (JFK-Manhattan so likely fee related) but if I lived closer in to a major city I would indeed probably go the Uber route. Outside saturated mega-dense areas like NYC and DC I've always had a terrible time with regular cab service. Unreliable, tardy and overpriced. There's a reason Uber became a billion dollar+ concern essentially overnight; its entrenched competition was/is a truly awful monopoly.


Oh BTW to clarify it was 45 minutes late. And this was not in traffic-choked Manhattan during some monstrous storm but on a clear and dry NC weekend well outside the traffic jams.

[FrodosPet]

42. With all the Uber rate cuts, a lot of Metro Detroit turned into the far suburbs

The trouble with traditional service is, no matter how well you try to plan, you either have too many cars, and everyone is sitting, not getting paid, and you will run out of money and close shop, but service is responsive (until you go out of business because expenses exceed revenue). Or you don't have enough cars, people are waiting, and getting pissed, with clueless people jumping on the Internet and trashing you for not having the ability to teleport a car 15 miles in 30 seconds.

Or you let a customer whine and cry you into booking a run that, as a dispatcher you KNOW you should refuse, with an ETA that is impossible, just so they will quit calling and tying you up while other people with runs you CAN do are getting frustrated trying to get through.

Or perhaps you have this lovely arrangement of assignments, where everything will work out wonderfully, until one of the drivers calls to tell you that they just got a flat, or a wreck, or a 5 year old just puked in the car, or their current passenger wants them to wait while they are grocery shopping, or they are tired and just don't feel like driving anymore, or the hospital that you have a courier contract which needs an impatient inpatient pharmacy pick up from 15 miles away, or ...

A Goldilocks shift (not too hot, not too cold) is a rare and beautiful beast indeed.

[whatthehey]

47. I understand the challenges, but gave them an hour's notice

This was in a suburb of 40k just (3 miles) outside a pretty major city's orbital/beltway, at 11pm on a Saturday. Not late enough to be dead time, and before the bar-close rush. You'd think that would be a pretty manageable schedule when you call at 10pm and ask for the pickup at 11:00 (they advertise 24/7 BTW). Because though it's outside the core conurbation (but only 15 miles or so from DT and in heavily populated areas) there is only one company who deigns to serve the area, and their service level is take it or leave it because...it is. I waited 45 minutes and got zero discount but you guys piss and moan about waiting a couple of minutes? The cab companies want EVERYTHING their own way - no restrictions on their timing but fuck you if you're a few seconds late out the door. No restrictions on them but the freedom to decide to offer service or not based on being a few miles further away than they'd like. No competition but no service commitments. This is why rideshare grabs massive market share wherever they go.

[Demonaut]

15. we ARE the alternate transportation...unless you like bicycles

your argument is about the rider not being ready and getting charged a little bit more for being late

"and trust me, there are many people who are scrupulous about trying to stay on schedule who will hate this fee"

your logic boggles the mind

[Gormy Cuss]

20. Want to know why the scrupulous will hate it?

They've called Uber/Lyft two dozen times and have always been ready and waiting before the driver shows up, but on the 21st call they're late by 3 minutes and they're being treated the same as people who make a habit of tardiness, IOW, they're not good enough customers to get cut some slack for a slightly off day.

Cabs, rides from friends, public transit and yes bicycling or walking are alternatives, among others.

[Demonaut]

23. they sound like republicans

your area needs more drivers obviously which is why you need to be ready when the driver arrives

Supply and demand

[Gormy Cuss]

25. My area is where Uber and Lyft started

[Demonaut]

27. lol

[Demonaut]

11. Gormy, I guess you've never driven with Uber or Lyft

if you're not ready for the ride then CANCEL, it's not charged within a certain time.

I've driven for them for three months and I've called riders after waiting for three minutes and been told they'll be right down!
another 3 or 5 minutes and still no rider...off I go...I'm not your mother

If you're not ready then don't order a car, this service is a bargain and barely worth driving for

what happens if you miss your flight because you were late...does the bus or train await your presence only when you are ready?
How do you handle it at bus stops?

[Jim Beard]

17. If it is barely worth it, don't do it

[Demonaut]

24. I said "Barely" ..so I will continue

but I don't plan to do it much longer

[FrodosPet]

45. And you just revealed Uber's biggest challenge

Every day, the world is filled with more and more former Uber drivers who quit in frustration or are deactivated.

Travis Kalanick is counting on an unlimited supply of fresh drivers until he can fire them all. But is that a practical expectation?

[Demonaut]

49. Unlimited supply is correct, I like the lawsuits to keep him in check

1 leaves 2 replace the departure

[Gormy Cuss]

19. I've been held up by late customers my whole career.

Arrive on time, twiddle thumbs for half an hour. As a salaried worker it didn't take cash out of my pocket but it did mean that I had to make up the time because it threw off the whole day.

As a consultant I've cleared a day to meet with a client just to have them cancel at the last minute.When I'm lucky I have other cleints' work available to fill up the time, When I'm not, it's tough luck for me. Most clients won't agree to pay for their own poor scheduling -- they'll just give the work to someone else.

As I wrote above, it's just a cost of doing business. You learn strategies to deal with it (as an employee, always having something you can do productively while waiting;as a consultant, having enough clients to be able to say no to the chronically poor schedulers.)

Uber and Lyft may well be barely worth driving for because the model does not take into account minor delays by passengers and traffic jams, yet the companies are still making money. Do the math.

[Demonaut]

22. when you press "request" you've entered in to a potential contract, when the driver arrives you've

agreed to that contract.
Right now Uber in Denver gives a five minute wait window, Lyft dropped to two minutes

it's quite simple

don't order if you are not ready

[Jim Beard]

7. We all know the good will late fees did for the movie rental business......

It helped accelerate the move to Netflix and mine included a huge middle finger.

I am beginning to think Austin did a good thing.

[Demonaut]

8. soon people will travel on the internets...a series of tubes

really Jim?

[Orrex]

9. .

[Jim Beard]

12. you first!

[hobbit709]

13. No problem since I will never be using Uber.

[Demonaut]

18. good because hobbits are rarely on time

unless its meal time

[hobbit709]

26. I'm usually early.

[TeamPooka]

28. of course your driver might be a killer or rapist but whatever.

[Jim Beard]

29. Or the back seat full of dirty diapers.

[Demonaut]

33. where did this come from?...I never wear diapers

[FrodosPet]

43. Have you been reading UberPeople?

http://uberpeople.net

Or Uber's Facebook page?

https://www.facebook.com/uber/

There are a lot of horror stories from both passengers and drivers. Some of which are BS, but a lot of which are not.

[Demonaut]

32. or some guy trying to make an honest buck so he can feed his kids.

[Jim Beard]

37. How can we tell the difference?

[Demonaut]

39. moot point , there are plenty of instances of taxi drivers or bus drivers acting out of line

the term "going postal" didn't stop mail service

[FrodosPet]

44. Driving people for a living, regardless of the mode, is a frustrating occupation

It is dangerous and stressful and underpaid. It is not only "not for everyone", it is honestly "not for most people".

Good luck, roll safe, never accept or pick up a fare that trips your spidey senses. It almost never goes good.

[sarcasmo]

30. It's called wait time and the Taxi industry has been doing it for years.

[Jim Beard]

36. So now Uber is going to be like the established companies?

[FrodosPet]

46. Uber drivers are not slowly turning into disgruntled cab drivers.

They are QUICKLY turning into disgruntled cab drivers.

[Eleanors38]

31. "The speed up! The speed up!!" Line from the labor movie "The Inheritance" Then a walk out.

[Jim Beard]

35. Let me get this straight.... Uber is new and innovated so it IS the future......

but now they are doing the same as the established companies INCLUDING the people of the cities of the US. Congrats to the PEOPLE of Austin for voting to tell the corporation to ship out.

[Demonaut]

40. and they use petrol in their cars too!..oh, the carbon footprint!

[Jim Beard]

48. A nice article in USA Today with a good video that explains how evil Uber is.

They are making sure there are NO unions in uber. Austin voted it down. They refused to be bullied!