A few years ago I started dating a girl who had nearly a 5 star rating. She eventually moved in with me and since then nearly all my trips are together. We are often late arriving to the meeting point, she has no hesitation to ask the driver to change the air temperature, adjust the music station or volume, open or close windows, always takes water when available, and asks to be dropped off at a given point regardless of traffic lights or inconvenient turns for the driver. Since this started, my rating has steadily climbed and is now around 4.8.
Have you tried asking? I asked a few drivers, at the end of a ride and after I’d rated them, what I could do better. Two complained about my taking work calls in the car. I started requesting permission, at the beginning of the ride, to take a phone call. (It’s their car, after all.) Never been refused. Rating jumped from ~4.4 to ~4.9.
I’ll also note that some of the sweetest people I know have terrible ratings for constantly being late, at the wrong pick-up spot or other little reasons. It’s mostly a rating around if you’re observant and treat the driver like a human being more than if you’re a good person.
(Note: I’m a guy. I don’t think gender is as powerful as other comments assume.)
Seriously? It's their car that you've contracted to take you from Point A to Point B. It would never occur to me to ask permission before making (or taking) a phone call.
It wouldn’t have to me, either. But I was curious and so asked, and in between the useless answers I got that repeating point of feedback.
Note that I didn’t stop taking calls. But I did think “how would I behave if I were in a friend’s car?” I figured I’d at least give a heads up that a call was coming in. So I tried that one thing and it worked.
Furthermore if I were driving with a friend someplace and they got a call, I’d think nothing of them answering it and having a conversation.
This is a fair view. It’s also fair to treat a driver as a new acquaintance. And it makes sense that the drivers who have a choice (i.e. are higher rated) will choose riders who treat them like that.
My point isn’t everyone has to do these things. Just that if you care about your rating, asking for feedback and offering common courtesies cab go a long way. (I’ve also found it improves my disposition, but that’s a separate matter.)
On the rare occasions I use Uber or Lyft today, I’m polite and friendly/chatty enough depending on the circumstances but someone’s doing a job for me and I don’t owe them anything beyond basic politeness.
It monopolizes the noise in the area and puts everyone else in some sort of awkward space where they have to eavesdrop and pretend they aren't. Sometimes I think about obviously watching a train commuter have a long and loud phone conversation, but I don't because it would be rude and aggressive.
I guess hired cars are a little different in most respects but people can still feel bad or awkward for listening in on something they aren't part of. Especially if the conversation is loud, personal, or confidential.
It's much better if the phone call is urgent, short, or important. But even then it's polite to be conciliatory as the phone call is made or picked up.
OTOH, while they can do whatever they want, the expectation seems to be that both driver and rider give top scores barring one or the other doing something that clearly deviates from the norms of taxi driver or passenger behavior.
In any case, I'm pretty confident that I'm normally polite and if someone gives me a lower score now and then on one of these services, I really don't care.
It's only fair if the expectations were made known before you ordered the ride.
Generally in the rides I'm in the driver is still listening to whatever music they like, which obviously they can't do if the passenger is trying to have a phone conversation.
That's ridiculous. Who is paying who again?
It’s a two-sided market. Nobody likes being treated like a commodity.
And no, I've never considered asking "how I can do better". They're providing the service, not me, and I'm paying them.
That's insane. Do those drivers think that it's part of the deal that you should be entertaining them?
If I had to bet, I would say both factors (and others we aren't considered) are at play.
I always try to be very autonomous and ask the minimum favors/services from people, trying not to bother them. This has caused me trouble several times, from people that were supposed to help me. When I was doing track and field two decades ago I had a sports sponsorship cancelled essentially because I didn't ask any extra gear.
When you ask a favor and the person fulfills it, they get to be useful and it gives them purpose. I have found that this varies from people to people.
The Uber driver will most likely feel good if you actually need his help as a human being rather than just be a mindless vehicle operator.
Of course, occasionally you’re going to get low rated passengers who are just straight up assholes. So there’s some risk.
It would be interesting to see how the average rating compares between young women vs men.
For me, I often rate drivers below 5 for the following common reasons:
1. Check engine light is on.
2. TPMS sensor light is on (major safety risk)
3. Poor routing choices (deviations outside the directed route)
Edit: Yes TPMS is super flaky. I own three cars equipped with TPMS and I've invested a great deal of time/money in maintaining them. But I keep them all in working condition. I can only assume that some of you poo-poo'ing TPMS are unaware of the Firestone Ford Debacle that caused close to 300 deaths [1]. Under inflated tires are no-joke. Suggesting that it's ok to defeat a critical safety system is laughable. Also I live in CA so it's not a snow-tire issue.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_and_Ford_tire_contro...
So if you are going to downgrade for that, at least have a look at the tires directly and see if one is obviously lower than the others.
https://info.kaltire.com/all-weather-vs-all-season-vs-winter...
[1]: https://m.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=27...
My previous car, 2010 VW I could switch from summer to winter wheels/tires and drive away. TPMS would figure it out just fine. Now I have a Subaru and am debating buying a $100 tool to reset them. It won't take long to pay for itself, but as it is now, the light is still on.
Worse, my Ram has positional sensors and I haven't seen any "cheap" tools. It happens to be the same set of wheels, but I rotated them and it expects different pressure in the front vs rear. The light is on and it yells at every start because the rear tires are underinflated. How hard can it be for a car to learn which tire is on which corner of the vehicle?
It would be worth looking into getting.
It doesn't help that it is completely opaque what the thresholds are for when the warning light goes off; I also don't know whether one is supposed to recalibrate anything if you change the type of tire that you are running - for instance, I run snow tires during the winter that have a different PSI rating than my all-seasons the rest of the year...
On many cars, TPMS sensor problems cause the light to blink at startup, then stay on steadily just like you had a low tire. That includes "the tire doesn't have a sensor", which can save about $200 on each valve stem. Given how quickly an Uber driver can rack up mileage, I wouldn't be surprised if many of them are just saving money on tires by getting sensor-less ones.
(Admittedly you can't tell if they're checking the pressure manually; I would think so to save on tire lifespan, but it's obviously not guaranteed. Of course, not seeing the light isn't a guarantee either.)
What kind of car requires $200 TPMS sensors? Most are in the $35-$55 range, even on very high end cars.
Otherwise, you need to put your dirty tires in the back seat, drive to a shop, pay $100 and wait for an hour or two to get them swapped and balanced.
And if you're paying that much for the added safety/performance, you're not the kind of person who needs TPMS to nag them into inflating to the proper pressure.
Presumably you're buying snow tires for safety reasons. Proper tire pressure is important for traction, thus safety. And winter is the time when tire pressure fluctuates the most.
genuinely curious, why? I thought tire pressure fluctuations were linearly related to air temperature fluctuations. does the temperature vary more in the winter than in the summer?
That said, I mostly end up checking my tires more in the winter because I care more; if a tire is only a few pounds low I'd still prefer to handle it before I have to go drive on snow during a cold snap.
Same with "check engine." My last car had the check engine light on from years 3 to 15, when I sold it. The reason was a faulty sensor but the actual mechanics were sound and not worth fixing.
I'm amused that you think you're holding drivers to professional standards. Professionals know when to ignore the dummy lights intended for the masses...
...which is not to say you should change anything, because Uber drivers ARE the masses, so it makes little sense to treat them like professionals!
Uber simply organized hitchhiking.
Some Nissan models used to have a fun version of this where the check engine light came on to notify you about a problem with... the check engine light. It was a bug, obviously, but not a sensor wrongly detecting a fault. Rather, the car's only way of saying "if something goes wrong the check engine light might not activate" was to activate the check engine light.
Whatever the underlying issue, I assume software, replacing sensors didn't work and resetting the light would only last for a few hundred miles. It was effectively impossible to keep the light working, so the mechanic-recommended fix was to just disable it.
Which can make it impossible to pass state emissions/safety testing, because they expect to see all the lights turn on at power-up.
The trick is to rewire the light to some other light instead ;)
> That light will pop for reasons ranging from synchronization issues
Yes that exactly correct. It's based on an engineering principle called fail-safe:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fail-safe
When the light is on, you have no assurance that the tires are properly inflated. Period. If the TPMS light is off, you can be well-assured that tires are inflated properly.
Yes, the system is finicky (by design). Yes the system can be costly to maintain (I do it myself it's it expensive and time-consuming). These are the responsibilities one must take on if they wish to be transporting the public.
I mean, you could always, you know, check. With a tire pressure gauge. Like on every car ever that didn't have this TP thingy. Honestly, you don't even need to do that - if the tire is low enough to be a safety risk, it will be visibly flat.
Would you down-rate an Uber just for not having this sensor at all?
Doesn’t always work for gradual pressure loss, and doesn’t tell me which tire, but that’s what the gauge is for.
I highly doubt that 95% claim though.
Maybe it's reasonable to report the CEL in that situation since it's something most riders will notice and can easily be verified by Uber with a photo unlike the condition of the mechanical bits themselves.
It really isn't. (very) low tire pressure is a major safety risk. The TPMS sensors I've had all seem to go off at minor deviations (few psi) from the tire pressure; deviations that aren't a safety risk.
A useful reminder that the winter is coming, but hardly a major safety risk.
> The TPMS sensors I've had all seem to go off at minor deviations
Good (IMHO)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_and_Ford_tire_contro...
If that's your level of risk sensitivity, don't get in a car.
Still, both statistics illustrate the point - 300 deaths a few decades ago involving faulty tires that may have been exacerbated by manufacturer-recommended underinflation have basically 0 bearing on the marginal risk of driving with a TPMS warning light illuminated.
Not necessarily, it could be that the sensor is either defective or missing, which doesn't mean the tire pressure is wrong.
Read about:
We do have to swap our tires for winter tires up north, so I'm not getting tires with the sensors.
Regardless, it seems an incredibly insensitive thing to give a poor rating over.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Firestone_Ford#Family
Maybe it's just because I'm a gringo in Mexico? Maybe I should use a little more small talk charm? Or offer them gum? Improve my accent? Bring them a bottle of S.Pellegrino, nicely chilled? It's a stupid system.
Edit: A sibling comment inspired me to ask my girlfriend for her rating. It's a 4.89. Yet she always stays inside until the Uber driver arrives to pick her up, often honking outside for her while she finally starts turning off lights and shutting the house down.
I also am white and live in Mexico (Playas de Tijuana). My rating is 4.81. I have been going on the assumption that I am kind of ugly looking, although its hard for me to be objective about it.
I do always give tips though. They usually have three choices, like 10, 15, or 20 pesos, and I always pick the highest option. Sometimes for a longer trip I will put like 38 pesos tip. Maybe there is some way for drivers to track tips and somehow that can affect a rating?
I always say thanks for the ride when I get in and out.
My Spanish is very limited and I rarely attempt to say anything in Spanish except for buena noche or something like that. In this area around 33-40% of the drivers speak English.
[1]: https://ride.guru/lounge/p/do-uber-drivers-give-negative-rat...
I started tipping the drivers cash which helped, but then I realized it was easier to just use a taxi at the airport. It would only cost a few dollars more, and I wouldn't have to wait for the driver to get through 20 minutes of airport traffic to pick me up. I also didn't have to worry about my rating if I pissed off the driver (especially for short airport fares the drivers seem to like telling me that their credit card machine was broken. Argue with them a bit and the machine magically starts working).
I found out by talking with some other drivers who revealed such a scheme. It was discussed on local passenger forums as well.
This is almost all that matters now. Any drivers forum will be full of drivers basically talking about how they give lower ratings if you don't tip cash. A few are even full-on blatant about it in person if you bring it up.
After time I think we'll see things coalesce around only riders who pay cash tips get 5 star ratings.
Does Uber deactivate drivers that fall below a certain rating? Even if they don't, I presume lower ratings would hurt a driver more than they would a passenger.
So if a driver is trying to pull this it wouldn't end out great for either party, I would presume?
I also feel compelled to give drivers 5 stars because people IMO tend to look down at anything less than the best. I realize it's not the most accurate comparison, but would you buy from an ebay/amazon reseller who had a 80% approval rating?
I take short trips, that's the only reason I can think of for a low rating.
It's crazy that you won't be able to take public transportation like Uber because of your political beliefs or because of who you are.
Start? Uber already blocked police from using their service in certain jurisdictions.
Not so much ideologically motivated, rather trying to evade the enforcement of local laws.
> For drivers, they face a risk of deactivation if they fall below 4.6
Anytime I get a low rating, I reciprocate with the same, or lower.
The ones who will give you 5 stars usually do it right away in front of you; if they seem weirdly secretive about it, you're probably not getting 5 stars.
Won’t work too well if you frequently take a lot of rides.
This is me as a rider:
a) Always at pickup on time (or I message "be right there" if I'm a minute away)
b) I enter and say "Hi, how's it going?" and acknowledge.
c) I then put in my headphones for audible. I say nothing else the rest of the trip.
d) I get out where it's most convenient for them, and I say "Thank you", and gently shut the door.
Yep, apparently they don't care - my rating hangs out in low 4.7s.
However, Uber Black always boosts my ratings, because the drivers are more mature and rate based on what actually matters.
I’ve noticed that my friends who are not great at marketing themselves usually have a lower rating.
With Uber you’re paying for a professional driver (they’re being paid, so they’re a pro by definition) to take you from A to B. There shouldn’t be any obligation to engage in anything but pleasantries.
But this is their job, and I'm paying for the service with my money. It's not the passenger's responsibility or obligation to socialize with the driver. The passenger's responsibility is to be there on time, not mess up the car, and pay.
As for racial / protected class bias in ratings - I'm not sure what Uber would hit that something like Tinder wouldn't, since all the ratings are from other "users".
Posting racially-discriminating for-rent ads gets both the landlord and the newspaper in trouble. "We're just a platform" doesn't work as an excuse.
It's also not hard to detect statistically - with enough data you can see that a given driver is giving worse ratings to protected class members compared to similar drivers at the same time and place.
And the account holder won’t account for all riders (and could be different than the account holder entirely).
This will of course lead to a situation where some hooligans opt into a protected class just to mess with the system. Even still, on large number of rides it will even out.
My rating did go up after going to India. (Probably because of the numerous amounts of rides I took there)
When I've driven people around, even people I've barely met (say friends-of-friends), I've always preferred that they sit in the front. I was never a pro driver though.
Driving around even casual acquaintances (e.g. friends-of-friends) is a totally different dynamic where it would seem a bit odd for them to sit in the back seat as if you were their chauffeur even if you sort of are.
That's how you answer that question I guess... :)
I'm in Brazil, no idea what my city average is.
I'd be curious to know what the passenger cut-off ratings are, and what thus what kind of behavior is actually kicking people off the app.
Also, if there's some inherent racial or other protected class bias in the kinds of ratings that people get, then Uber could be in a world of trouble here.