What's your Uber experience?

[straitman]

I doubt drivers avoiding pax with low ratings is even a minor possibility for all but the worst of the worst customers. The money simply isn’t good enough for drivers to be picking and choosing who they take. I don’t even look at the rating. Just click the accept button as fast as possible.

In KL last week we had two drivers in a row accept them cancel on us. It was actually quite a long trip for them.

 

[NoName]

In KL last week we had two drivers in a row accept them cancel on us. It was actually quite a long trip for them.

The passenger rating appears on the screen as part of the info before you accept the job. If that was the reason they wouldn’t have accepted in the first place. Drivers cancel for a number of reasons, some justified some not. I doubt passenger rating is a reason in the vast majority of occasions.

 

[odysseus]

I doubt drivers avoiding pax with low ratings is even a minor possibility for all but the worst of the worst customers. The money simply isn’t good enough for drivers to be picking and choosing who they take. I don’t even look at the rating. Just click the accept button as fast as possible.

Just passing on feedback I've heard from other drivers. Some say they start to get picky around the 4.6 range, and moreso 4.4 and below.

 

[NoName]

Just passing on feedback I've heard from other drivers. Some say they start to get picky around the 4.6 range, and moreso 4.4 and below.

Exactly! As I said, only the worst of the worst. You don’t often see passengers with ratings that bad.

 

[durbrain]

Exactly! As I said, only the worst of the worst. You don’t often see passengers with ratings that bad.

4.5 or less is on the spectrum/defecate on the seat bad

 

[andyhui01]

I doubt drivers avoiding pax with low ratings is even a minor possibility for all but the worst of the worst customers. The money simply isn’t good enough for drivers to be picking and choosing who they take. I don’t even look at the rating. Just click the accept button as fast as possible.

You will eventually find a driver. However, it may not always be the closest driver and you will have a longer wait time. The Mrs has a rating of 4.1 and never gets the closest car. So the App will quote 3 mins but the car that gets the job is 12 mins away. This is because every driver between you and the driver 12 mins away has rejected the job for multiple reasons (ratings may be one of them).

 

[Forg]

Here's a non-Uber Uber-experience from this morning ... it's on-topic, I think, so I shall poast here.

Due to what looks to be the 2nd campaign in the Battle Of Wounded Knee & the fact that driving the manual 40yo project-car seems to aggravated it (clutch knee ... the clutch didn't feel heavy 'til yesterday!), I tried something this morning which I can't see isn't a dead end project ... an on-demand bus.

Transport for NSW "On demand transport" page

Using the app is basically like using Uber, except you have to book at least 30 minutes in advance, and you have to select a 30-minute time-frame.
It also costs way less, so this morning's trip was $4.20 when Uber is about $14 and a taxi about $18.

They don't pick you up directly at your nominated point, they find somewhere that I suspect would be en-route once more people are using it. The next parallel street from mine has a couple of bus stops (not a busy route - buses maybe every hour at peak times), and that's where it sent me, so only a 200m walk or so. I booked for the 7:30 - 8:00 time-slot, at 7:25 I got an SMS saying the bus was 5 minutes away, wandered around the corner, I was the only one onboard the brand-spankers high-roof LWB Sprinter or Master or Transit (unsure - one of those "supersized Hiace" style buses, 13-ish seats), and apart from the uncertainty of not being sure how it was going to work it was basically an Uber for 1/4 the price. Except unlike Uber you get the feeling that the driver knows what he's doing & isn't going to plough up the back of someone stopped "unexpectedly" in the 500m-long queue at the lights ...

I'm not sure what the business-model is though, how it can work. I know public transport isn't supposed to make money, but they can't just throw money at such things endlessly. And the driver was a professional, he knew what he was doing, so I presume he's an employee & not taking a cut of the (small) fare.

Still, while the trial continues & my knee continues to misbehave (why does this have to happen 8wks before my first holiday over a week in 6 years, which involves my first long-haul trip in J & is also supposed to involve a reasonable amount of walking & a manual rental car?), I'll continue to use the service. Will be a shock if I ever don't have my own personal driver though ...

 

[andyhui01]

I wonder how that will be profitable without gov subsidy outside of morning and evening peak. Even filling 13 seats at $5 is barely profitable if the entire trip takes an hour inc picking up and dropping off all pax

 

[Forg]

I wonder how that will be profitable without gov subsidy outside of morning and evening peak. Even filling 13 seats at $5 is barely profitable if the entire trip takes an hour inc picking up and dropping off all pax

Yep, this is absolutely what I'm wondering.

Mind you, a few points ... firstly, public transport is generally subsidised to some level, there might be justification in taking vehicles off the street. Secondly, according to the website the trial only works 7.5km from the commercial area & looking at the map it shouldn't take an hour for the trip even in peak. Thirdly, the trial is only during peak (6am-10am and 3pm-7pm).
Having said all that; I'd still be surprised if it's not just a massive sink-hole of cost.
And yet ... the M-buses (for those not in Sydney, these buses zig-zag all over the place & are really long, filling-in large gaps in the bus & train public-transport coverage) probably are money-sinks too.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I wonder how that will be profitable without gov subsidy outside of morning and evening peak. Even filling 13 seats at $5 is barely profitable if the entire trip takes an hour inc picking up and dropping off all pax

I think the whole concept is to be gov. subsidised.

I've been an advocate for free or near to free public transport for many years. Looking into the future, we simply cannot have everyone owning a car, and expecting to drive that car into the city everyday with just themselves on board. It's not sustainable. People won't use public transport unless it's cheaper or quicker or more convenient or a combination of those, than to own and drive.

Councils and State governments need to look at the big picture. Budget a large amount toward subsidised, safe, clean (ie renewably powered) public transport.
It's far easier and of recent times, as economical to run electric public transport that is totally renewable.
It's safer to take a whole swag of cars off the roads and get people onto trains, trams and buses.
It will decrease the health risks of thousands of associated fossil fuel driven vehicles.
It will decrease the funding needed to build and maintain new and bigger highways.
New car production has been sent off shore in any case, so why continue to funnel large sums of AUD to foreign companies.
Built new renewable power stations (providing Australian jobs, increased knowledge base and new research) to power everything.
Build the trains, busses and trams in Australia (providing Australian jobs, increased knowledge base and new research).

In the long term, there will be significant savings and the subsidy needed will decrease.
Expenditure on health will decrease.
Expenditure on roads will decrease.
Balance of trade will benefit.
Road fatalities will decrease.
Cities could be slowly made less car-centric and more people friendly.
It will make public transport more accessible.

But it has to start with shifting the mindset away from own transport and onto public transport and gov subsidies are the best way to do that. For a public transport service to be effective it needs convenience and patronage and making a financially attractive "hail and ride" (almost) service will possibly achieve that. Certainly worth a trial IMHO.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

To circle back to the broad topic of Uber, a range of articles about Uber and car ownership:-

Uber Wants To End Car Ownership, But The Market Doesn't Buy It - Forbes (2014)

Uber CEO explains his company's highly ambitious goal to end car ownership in the world - Business Insider (2015)

Uber and Lyft could destroy car ownership in major cities - Business Insider (2017)

Uber and co don't want you to own your own self-driving car - TechRadar, or alternatively Uber And Lyft Have A Hot New Idea For Screwing Over City-Dwellers - Gizmodo Australia (Feb 2018)

Uber's CEO already told Goldman Sachs the real plan: It's not to replace taxis, it's to replace your car - Business Insider (Feb 2018)

Studies are increasingly clear: Uber, Lyft congest cities - 9Finance (Feb 2018)

 

[QF WP]

Umm, thanks Uber for a promo that I can’t use - was thinking $15 off my upcoming 3 Uber trips to see client in Canberra until I saw the date. They must miss my custom...

 

[Forg]

Yah I had the same promotion last week only 2 rides for me (I obviously don't use it as much as you do ); and same for me, the one time I thought I'd use it was the day after it expired.

So instead I'm enjoying this "on-demand public transport" mentioned a coupla poasts back, it's costing me ~15% as much & it's actually more convenient because at the moment it's arriving at the time I ordered it to the minute (will change as it gets more popular & I'm not the only passenger of course).

 

[Quickstatus]

In KL last week we had two drivers in a row accept them cancel on us. It was actually quite a long trip for them.

But I thought the drivers could only see destination when passenger picked up?

After 2500 rides I have only delivered 2 parcels. One was flowers on Valentines Day 2017 and the other was a parcel from a business in Kirrawee to Willoughby.

How could you guarantee that the parcel will arrive?

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Good luck leaving your Uber driver less than five stars - Quartz

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Good luck leaving your Uber driver less than five stars - Quartz

That's a very interesting study. something Uber probably needs to consider, unless of course, it's entirely happy with rating inflation.

I really like this comment:
"How did Uber’s ratings become more inflated than grades at Harvard?"

 

[odysseus]

That's a very interesting study. something Uber probably needs to consider, unless of course, it's entirely happy with rating inflation.

I really like this comment:
"How did Uber’s ratings become more inflated than grades at Harvard?"

While it's true, it's been around years before Uber.

ebay introduced 5 level star performance ratings ~10 years back , and the default expectation moved to 5 star within a year. Following that ebay imposed performance expectations based on the ratings given (with penalties kicking in below ~4.7). ebay also removed their guidance of the ratings e.g. 3 being average.

So this was established before uber and similar started up.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

The study discussed in the link is about an "unnamed gig economy platform" that dates back before Uber. (Though Uber is not that young with a beta launch in May 2010.)

In the early days of the platform in 2007, the average worker score was pretty, well, average at 3.74 stars. Over time that changed. The average score rose by 0.53 stars over the course 2007. By May 2016, it had climbed to 4.85 stars.

 

[UP4014]

Yep, this is absolutely what I'm wondering.

Mind you, a few points ... firstly, public transport is generally subsidised to some level, there might be justification in taking vehicles off the street. Secondly, according to the website the trial only works 7.5km from the commercial area & looking at the map it shouldn't take an hour for the trip even in peak. Thirdly, the trial is only during peak (6am-10am and 3pm-7pm).
Having said all that; I'd still be surprised if it's not just a massive sink-hole of cost.
And yet ... the M-buses (for those not in Sydney, these buses zig-zag all over the place & are really long, filling-in large gaps in the bus & train public-transport coverage) probably are money-sinks too.

Bit more than generally I think. Is there any transport that doesn't have a cross subsidy or special tax break of some sort.

 

[kelvedon]

Just got out of my uber. In addition to the lift home I was educated on the merits of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey.....an interesting subject, but probably not what I wanted after an evening of lectures!