Uber's New Policy Fines Riders Who Are Two Minutes Late

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.

Comments

What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[Frosty Piss]

$5 to $10 for being a few minutes late? Yeah... No.

I'll call a cab or maybe Lyft...

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[rupert.applin]

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 - if you knew you were going to be late, then you should book the ride for a later time. Two minutes should be ample to exit the house/foyer of the building to where the ride is waiting. Whereas giving a little more grace period to the driver is fairer as there are things outside their control with regard to getting to your location on time - they can't control the traffic etc.

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[Frosty Piss]

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".

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[jellomizer]

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?

[AuMatar]

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?

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[ShanghaiBill]

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.

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[thevirtualcat]

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.

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[Anonymous Coward]

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....

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[Zeio]

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.

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[mindwhip]

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 book in advance you can easily end up waiting 10 to 20 minutes for the driver which makes this unfair at best, and unsafe for the user at worst.
Entertainments etc overrun. Should you really be penalised so harshly just because the show you went to overran by 12 minutes when you only allowed yourself 10 to exit the building after the posted finish time?

The fact is the drivers are ultimately providing the service to the riders. If they feel that 2 minutes waiting (with no real cost other than their time) for the customer in what is basically a customer-centric service job is too much then they should possibly look for a different income stream.

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[sycodon]

Do you get a credit if the driver is late?

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[AuMatar]

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 description of where he is, then try to find him again. I'd say that half of my ubers I don't find within 2 minutes. Especially if I'm doing something totally insane, like waiting in the lobby of a building due to rain.

Yeah, this is a horrible policy and enough to make me use Lyft or call a taxi instead.

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[stabiesoft]

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?

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[TapeCutter]

This was never a problem when I drove cabs 30yrs ago, first you make contact with the customer in person, then start the meter, then wait for them to get in, simple and fair for both parties. Yes it may mean you have to get off your arse and knock on the door to make contact. No contact after 5-10min trying, leave empty handed and put their name/address on the dispatcher's shit list.

Re: What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[mindwhip]

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... ) (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?

[Swave An deBwoner]

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.

So, yeah, $1.33 for the driver; $8.67 for Uber. Fair is fair.

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

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.

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[Paradise Pete]

Given that I now have a permanent injury to my foot because a cab driver was a no show for 2 fucking hours and I had to walk home

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.

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[Gavagai80]

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.

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[hackertourist]

Yes. The bigger question is, why does every fart they make merit a Slashdot article?

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[FormOfActionBanana]

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.

Re:What is Uber, a CAB COMPANY?

[Kielistic]

Not getting where you need to go is a bit of a penalty.

It's bad enough they don't tip

[NotDrWho]

Can't they at least show up on time??

Re:It's bad enough they don't tip

[93 Escort Wagon]

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.

Re:It's bad enough they don't tip

[dbIII]

They are doing piece-work and are effectively employees with a just a tax evading fiction to prevent them from being employees.

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 essential even if it is expected.

Re:It's bad enough they don't tip

[Anonymous Coward]

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 with not having cash on you or forgetting to tip, and saves travelers from non-tipping countries the confusion of colliding with a tipping culture - so wins all around. Tipping seems like an annoying and round-about way to do things.

Two things

[H3lldr0p]

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?

My driver was 8 minutes late yesterday

[idji]

I didn't get a pop-up at 5 minutes asking me if I wanted to cancel. NOR could I see on the display how many minutes ago I requested the driver.
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?

The long view

[robotvoice]

Ha ha ha. What do you think will happen when Uber has put many of the cab companies out of business? That's right, they will jack up the prices to the level of current taxi prices. Leaving you in a car with substandard insurance, drivers without criminal background checks, no ability to get a ride in "less desirable" areas, and no ability to get rides at hours that the Uber drivers deem undesirable. At the same or greater price than current taxis.

Right now taxis provide a service that has been regulated by local governments for scores of years. It's close to being a ****public utility****. They run 24 hours a day, and all areas of a city have a chance to get service. It's a system that works remarkably well, considering the complexity and logistics that are required.

In addition, taxi companies maintain the cars, do criminal background checks on drivers, and provide sufficient insurance in case of injury in an accident, and require drivers to take rides - like crappy little grocery store rides a few blocks from your house - that many drivers would not take if they had a choice.

Uber and Lyft are "disruptive technology" that, through the magic of tons of venture capital - and shoving most of the uncompensated cost of operation onto the driver - have been able to grab up to a 1/4 of the taxi business.

Local US governments have been regulating taxi companies with strict rules for generations, but suddenly are strangely unwilling to regulate these "ridesharing" businesses.

When you are unable to get a ride to work from a "bad area" of town, at an inconvenient time, or have to pay twice or three times the usual rate for a ride - don't blame the taxi companies. Blame customers' shortsightedness, and local government's failure to see the longer term picture.

You, for one, welcome your new Uberlords!