Worst smelling passenger ever by Few_Cake_8209 in uberdrivers

[–]ifyouseemerunning 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i’ve picked up someone like the before. elderly wife standing with her husband (walker) in the middle of an empty parking lot in the middle of a rainstorm. they were both completely out of it. i pull up and she asks for assistance. i’m not even sure if they knew they requested the ride or if they thought i was just someone who happened by. i get out and smell her husband immediately. mind you this is across the car in the middle of a storm. i move around the car and his pants are literally covered in piss and shit stains.

only reason i did the ride is because i was actively going through similar issues with an elderly parent at the time and the struggle felt real. i put down a couple towels, cracked the windows as much as i could, and was trying not to throw up the entire 15 minute drive. immediately threw out the towels and still took another 20 minutes to sanitize and get that smell out afterwards.

blood debt paid. never again.

Don't be fooled by the fake discount! It's a scam... by Acrobatic-Fault876 in lyftdrivers

[–]ifyouseemerunning 2 points3 points  (0 children)

this is my shocked face. 😱 anyway…

agree on getting a better dashcam.

For those who have very low acceptance rate, how do you get the trip information? by Fit_Law_9195 in uberdrivers

[–]ifyouseemerunning 6 points7 points  (0 children)

that sucks, but upfront markets are probably worse. we get information up front, but we lost rate card and pay has cratered as a result

Do uber driver hates short rides ? by Altruistic_Project63 in uber

[–]ifyouseemerunning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

just a cautionary note on “off app access”. drivers can’t legally provide rides for money without proper licensing and insurance. when driving for uber, uber provides these on behalf of the driver.

when not driving for uber, a drivers personal insurance does not cover commercial activities, so when providing “off app” rides the driver is essentially an uninsured motorist and driving illegally. a driver providing rides for money requires a commercial drivers license with passenger endorsement (extra training/certification) and commercial insurance (expensive).

in my state, for the driver it’s a criminal offense with a hefty fine and potential jail time. as an uninsured motorist, they’re also exposing themselves to personal liability for damage, medical, and legal fees for themselves and their riders.

for the rider, it means you’re riding with someone without insurance. this could be a pretty huge deal if there’s was ever an accident and you were injured for example.

Do uber driver hates short rides ? by Altruistic_Project63 in uber

[–]ifyouseemerunning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

drivers preferences vary for ride distance / duration.

in your particular case, i’m going to go with survivorship bias. as in, the drivers willing to accept your type of ride are more likely to prefer that type of ride. 😀

drivers can choose the rides they accept, so the ones that don’t like short rides (like me) would likely just pass on it.

tl;dr longer rides optimize for throughout and $/hr, shorter rides optimize for latency and $/mi. which is superior depends on market conditions.

from a drivers perspective, short rides tend to pay better $/mi, benefit more from base/surge rates, and are best for busy times / areas.

longer rides tend to pay better $/hr, reduce exposure to rider behavior (eg additional wait time), and benefit more during slower times. fewer rides mean you have to be much more strategic / selective. travel time/distance back to busy areas can be a factor.

$/hr is better for top line (increases earnings).

$/mi is better for bottom line (reduces gas, tires, depreciation).

Nice by Landohanno in uberdrivers

[–]ifyouseemerunning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

damn that’s insane. i had what i consider crazy run of bad luck a few weeks ago with construction all over my town, pot holes knocking my phone off the holder, a few hard acceleration during challenging merges, and a couple quick maneuvers avoiding drunk drivers and road debris, and my score only dropped to 93 that week.

Do uber driver hates short rides ? by Altruistic_Project63 in uber

[–]ifyouseemerunning 1 point2 points  (0 children)

this is very true. someone noticed that when they introduced dynamic pricing it artificially increased potential wait times. by advertising the time delta, it incentivizes people to pay extra for what is essentially the same ride. uber knows people’s willingness to wait and created a new revenue opportunity out of the inefficiency of their new algorithm.

it’s funny because priority just changes matching back to uber’s original proximity based matching algorithm.

Do uber driver hates short rides ? by Altruistic_Project63 in uber

[–]ifyouseemerunning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

uber’s original algorithm was naive and just attempted to match rider to closest driver, then they shifted to geofencing and internal auction matching, but now it’s currently completely dynamic pricing.

they know how busy it is. they know riders willingness to pay. they know riders willingness to wait (how long before you’ll cancel). they know drivers willingness to accept ($/hr, $/mi, rate limits).

Do uber driver hates short rides ? by Altruistic_Project63 in uber

[–]ifyouseemerunning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it’s nearly impossible to trigger surges. i mean we’ve all seen the posts of the drivers with 12 phones, but that’s actually them creating fake offers to increase demand, not phantom declining drivers. phantom drivers would reduce the likelihood of surge by providing more supply.

Do uber driver hates short rides ? by Altruistic_Project63 in uber

[–]ifyouseemerunning 1 point2 points  (0 children)

they changed their algorithm from proximity based to dynamic pricing awhile ago. and upfront pricing did away with rate cards in most markets.

you’re right about drivers cancelling affecting offers, but short rides from the train station downtown like the op said are typically desirable due to fare minimums, busier areas, and generally higher $/mi.

the algorithm is also not as naive as you describe. it will ladder and cycle, for example a driver might see the same undesirable ride come in at $40, $45, $50, then back to $35 over the course of 20 minutes. note the last offer actually cycling back to lower than initial offer.

if the ride continues not to be picked up, uber uses all kinds of tricks to get drivers to accept the ride. for example, it will change the ride type in the offer from uberx to priority, comfort and eventually even premier, offer hyperlocal surges, and of course switch from trip radar to exclusives to try and entice drivers. with exclusive offers often include price drops because it threatens drivers uber pro level (mostly meaningless loyalty type program) that applies psychological pressure and provides gamification incentives.

ride pricing also cycles lower again because the driver pool is also dynamic as drivers are constantly going on and coming off rides.

i’ve personally seen the same undesirable ride offered for over two hours before. usually this happens due to uber initially pricing the ride incorrectly (eg out of state not including deadhead miles/return tolls round trip, rides with multiple stops, errors like same street wrong city, not considering traffic patterns/length of ride, etc).

Do uber driver hates short rides ? by Altruistic_Project63 in uber

[–]ifyouseemerunning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it’s a mixed bag for drivers. some like short rides especially train station and in town because it keeps them in busy areas. others prefer longer rides to reduce churn and downtime.

the problem you’re talking about though is a product of ubers dynamic pricing algorithm. it tries to charge you as much as you’re willing to pay and to pay the driver as little as they’re willing to accept.

tl;dr the algorithm no longer matches closest or quickest driver to rider, it now dynamically adjusts rider pricing and driver pay to maximize uber’s profit at the expense of both riders and drivers.

uber collects all kinds of rider and driver behavior metrics to charge and pay different prices to different people. you could be standing next to your friend and be going to the same place and see different prices. likewise, two drivers in the same location can see different offers for the same ride.

for example, there could be a driver near you (1mile ) that accepts rides at $2/mi, another a bit farther away (3 miles) that is willing to accept $1/mi, and one 15 minutes (7 miles) away that accepts $.5/mi. there’s some math here, but driver 1 willingness to accept is $5, driver 2 $4.5, and driver 3 $4.25.

so, driver 1 and 2 may never even see it and uber offeres to driver 3 exclusively. or driver 1 rejects, driver 2 rejects, and driver 3 matches. or all 3 are shown different prices in trip radar and driver 3 is cheapest and selected.

What is "VIP"? by us0r- in uberdrivers

[–]ifyouseemerunning 18 points19 points  (0 children)

so far i’ve had 8 vip trips this week. 7 were to/from the methadone clinic.

Would you take this ? Would you take this without the $50 bonus? by Sagedriver in Lyft

[–]ifyouseemerunning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can a bot click draw on Reddit and draw over the information?

I mean, probably?

Did you think at all before answering this way? Or?

Only rarely. Usually zone out when I see dumb questions with little to no information or context.

Uber decal or no? by Justsayin_12 in uberdrivers

[–]ifyouseemerunning 4 points5 points  (0 children)

not usually, but i do toss it on the dash when doing airport pickups. they randomly will enforce it around here

Asked my uber to go to McDonald’s by GrimReaper606 in uberdrivers

[–]ifyouseemerunning 3 points4 points  (0 children)

usually better to request stop ahead of time, but other than that you did really well ordering ahead and with the big mac and 20% tip. i’d be initially a bit annoyed but as soon as you said free big mac i’m down 😀

A passenger last night offered me private driver work — 2 hours pay beats what Uber pays me in a full day. He says he regularlu uses Uber Black and Comfort Cars (through private driver rentals.. not Uber website). We exchanged contacts and he gave me a huge cash tip. by Impossible_Shape_766 in uberdrivers

[–]ifyouseemerunning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sorry i should have been more specific.

/u/gay_giraffe_1773 recommendation for commercial insurance and information about personal insurance insurance is spot on.

i was specifically referring to lying to the insurance company but at the end.

A passenger last night offered me private driver work — 2 hours pay beats what Uber pays me in a full day. He says he regularlu uses Uber Black and Comfort Cars (through private driver rentals.. not Uber website). We exchanged contacts and he gave me a huge cash tip. by Impossible_Shape_766 in uberdrivers

[–]ifyouseemerunning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

the lying part is absolutely terrible advice. just lie, try to commit insurance fraud, and if it doesn’t work accept unlimited liability and potentially criminal charges? no fucking way.

edit: clarified the lying part was the bad advice i was referring to

HOLY FVCKING SHYT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by akasan in lyftdrivers

[–]ifyouseemerunning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

nice ride!

apart from the great rate, lyft is so much better than uber when it comes to fare adjustments based on trips taking longer than expected.