Therefore, not too passionate in either direction.

Interesting perspectives from Uber drivers on passenger blacklisting

http://uberpeople.net/threads/does-a-passengers-rating-influence-whether-you-pick-them-up.8047/

how charming.

Not sure that is the thing to harp on.

Flyer Talk, various travel boards.

NR Pax - Non Revenue passenger i.e. crew, frequent flyer, Air Marshall, etc.

Hardly nasty.

In fact the only way it has affected me is that there are at least two apps on my phone for summoning taxis.

I've used then maybe twice.

Uber has a big presence here. There are also a lot of startup hipsters with trust fund fund money. They must be the ones who use Uber, because I can't afford a $30 ride, when the same taxi ride will cost me $7.

And the rating passengers thing is unacceptable.

a coworker and I went on a long walk but it was very hot and she had some difficulty on the way back......a Philly guy overheard our discussion and told us to just wait for the Philly Flash, I think it was called, and not five minutes later a purple bus picked us up - I think it went around in a big circle in the city or something like that......we were very impressed

My experience with conventional cabs has been so bad.

After riding in filthy ex cop car cabs, with grouchy drivers that needed a shower, I gave Uber a try. Clean late model car, courteous driver, what was there not to like?

Recently used a cab in Portland and was pleasantly surprised. Looks like Uber resulted in some change.

This is good.

The whips around here were mostly what you described - retired cop cars amd minivans with way too many miles.

In 2008, a man with no previous taxi experience, but plenty of experience in sales and customer service, mortgaged his house and entered the business with new and barely used hybrids. When they got dirty, the fleet manager cleaned them. And whereas most operators would only spend enough money on the cars to keep them rolling, he would make sure comfort and appearance items got fixed.

Within 3 years, he and a core group of drivers and dispatchers had built the largest fleet in Oakland County. Ask almost any hotel clerk, bar manager, or discharge planner in the area who they recommend, and we are the first choice.

In the process, the nasty cabs have started cleaning up their act, but we are still a ways ahead of them. And still remaining cheaper than many.

The taxi industry CAN still compete with Uber... but not by being rude lazy slobs. Uber's impossibly low rates are pushing better drivers out, or down to prime time only. And the drivers replacing them are, according to some of my passengers, starting to come down in quality. I even had to rescue somebody a couple weeks ago who was left stranded mid ride by a religious nutjob driver who didn't like his conversation.

Keep up leading the way, your industry needs it.

My absolute worse experience was in Philly. Ancient cop car, seat so bad the springs poked my ass, and a driver whose only way of communicating was yelling either in very bad English or some unknown foreign tongue, can't decide which.

I find have found the Uber experience to be a pleasant one. And there are significant cost savings.

I do think that the insurance levels should be sufficiently high to protect all parties - passengers and others - in the event of driver liability.

No rating. That way drivers don't have much to go on. I bet if ratings were studied, race and neighborhood would come into play. I'm sure it's discrimanitory.

but if I were an Uber driver, I would definitely want "much to go on".

I see no problem whatsoever with rating passengers.

Would you have a problem if people of certain racial backgrounds were rated lower?

And when their rating drops below 4.5 they are let go.

But of course, by then the damage is done.

Where I drive, if you have a problem with any of those, you are not welcome.

But no one from Uber ever sits down in person with the drivers to evaluate their willingness to take care of customers regardless of those factors.

Have faith all. The taxi industry is evolving, whether they like it or not (and most don't).

Yes, I would have a problem with it, but I still think passenger ratings are a good idea.

Uber should clasify them as "Acceptable" or "Not Acceptable." Passengers should also be smart about ratings. Wait till the last possible minute to submit a rating.

to only see "Acceptable" or "Unacceptable"? If you're concerned about racial profiling, then this does nothing to address that.

Furthermore, each driver should be able to decide for themselves what number equates to acceptable or unacceptable for them at any given time.

No more of this 4.5 vs. 4.6 nonsense. They should block customers that are personally dangerous in some way. But the driver shouldn't be able to control this in any way. Let the company decide. The star rating is no different than this... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-larosa/nyc-cab-drivers-blacks_b_6116602.html

If it's my car, I should absolutely be able to block anyone I want to from riding in it, i.e., I should have total control.

I should think passengers who do not smell awful, who do not vomit in the car, who are polite to the driver, who don't scream, yell, distract, demand an irritating radio station, and who offer a nice tip at the end of the ride are likely to get a good rating from drivers. Who doesn't want to drive someone like that?

Uber drivers in San Francisco can deny service on a whim. Taxi drivers, by ordinance, cannot.

Three times in a month and a half I had to take my ill cat by cab to the vet. The entire time he yowled in the most annoying manner, even to me and I love him, and he peed all over his carrier. I had towels down but the smell permitted the cab.

Perhaps after the first time, and definitely after the second, no Uber driver would be willing to pick me up. Thus, my cat would have died. He had not much life in him on the third time and the 30 minute bus ride would have been his death sentence.

What about the grandma or grandpa with the leaky colostomy bag? Or who has chronic farts? Nope, downgraded and can't get picked up. (My grandma reeked when she was dying but she still needed to get to her doctors.)

What about the person in a wheel chair? No one available to pick her/him up? Oh too fucking bad.

Wanna go all the way out to Bay View/Hunters point? I'll pick you up the first time, because… you know… I'm new in town and driving a car my parents bought me and I had no clue that Bay View/Hunters Point is the "black" neighborhood and I won't get a pick up fare on the way back to the hopping gentrified neighborhoods.

All of my scenarios above is why the cab industry became regulated. Cabs, in San Francisco, anyway, are mandated to pick up everyone in every neighborhood in any condition.

I've little doubt if I had to rely on a Uber driver rating to transport my yowling, peeing, barfing cat to the vet for the 3rd time… He would be dead today.

on the basis of a passenger being a shitty customer, but not on the basis of disability. The state of California has told UBER that in no uncertain terms. UBER is resisting providing data that demonstrates that they don't discriminate on that basis, and they're in court over that right now:

http://www.govtech.com/transportation/California-vs-Uber-State-May-Serve-as-Model-for-Other-Jurisdictions.html

Look, bring a towel and some air freshener, be empathetic, and tip well. Be honest about your issue and engage your driver human to human.

Much can be forgiven for a tip, I should imagine. AND ensuring that you don't leave 'fluids' in someone's cab. If you know you're leaking, take steps ahead of your journey to mitigate that.

OR....call a regular cab. And pay more. Or call LYFT, which has complied with the state's requirements.

It's choice, is what it is.

I hate to tell you this, but when Danny Glover can't get a taxi in Manhattan, it's not just "disability" or "pets/service animals" that is the issue--and that's with licensed cabbies. That happened to him in 1999, and ten years later, guess what?
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/race-cab-hailing-ride-black-white/story?id=7223511

So it's not like TAXI companies are perfect and never discriminate.

It looks like California is already on this issue, and has been working it for a while--apparently LYFT has their act together and has gotten the thumbs up from the state, so maybe you want to call them while UBER sorts it out:


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-uber-puc-20150717-story.html


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lyft-ridesharing-20150716-story.html

This new transportation methodology isn't going away--it's the new paradigm. Taxicabs are going to have to compete, or die.

Drivers mostly do not check passenger rating.

but I do know it's convenient for many. I've never taken one, however.

The idea of refusing to pick up poorly-rated passengers is a satisfying one, though, I have to admit. Hehe.

Actually it's a little higher in most cases.

It's the same as a gypsie cab to me. There is much less protection in the event that something goes wrong in an uber.

UBER claims no responsibility for its drivers' offenses --= not threats, not pedestrian deaths, not criminal behavior. All that UBER claims is profits.

Drivers are rated by the passenger. Offensive drivers will be removed through ratings. How are cabs better? Also Uber has a 1 million dollar insurance policy covering you every time a ride is started.

stuck with the drivers personal shittier insurance.

Will probably be denied for policy term restrictions against using your vehicle in livery service. So you will be stuck suing the driver.

First rule of lawsuits... don't bother suing poor people. Winning a lawsuit is not the same as collecting on a lawsuit.

They also have suplimental insurance on the way to pick you up.

and His passengers are paying a fee for his services they are not covered in the result of an accident by said insurance company.

Link to article discussing two cases, one where the driver beat a passenger, another where a driver killed a little girl when the driver turned into the crosswalk and hit her. In the second case, Uber claimed no responsibility because the driver didn't have a passenger in his car at the time (although he was actively "working" for Uber at the time, chasing fares.)

http://www.cnet.com/news/how-risky-is-your-uber-ride-maybe-more-than-you-think/#ftag=CADf328eec


More recently in San Francisco a driver harassed a woman by phone, threatened bodily harm and death because she wasn't standing on the side of the building where his GPS erroneously indicated the front door.

In all three cases, Uber's response is basically, we'll no longer let the driver get rides from us. Big whoop.

And that's just the incidents that I can recall off the top of my head. Had a cab company employee been involved, different story.

Highlighted from the link:

My husband was a cabbie, and we are an anti-Uber family.

The falsely label drivers as contractors, illegally spied on a user for being a journalist reporting on Uber, has set up rides with other companies for the sake of disrupting by then canceling at the last second.

I will never take an Uber.

That needs to be cut out. Sad that so many can't see it for what it really is.

I've been using Uber over Taxis for over a year now. However, if there was a good taxi company with decent clean cars and pleasant drivers, then I would switch back.

If everyone were satisfied with existing taxi companies, then Uber wouldn't exist. Time for the taxi's to stop trying to block Uber and start competing with them. Sounds like your company has figured that out.

That's why we have 27 cars rolling, accounts with the premier hotels in Oakland County and one of the biggest hospitals in the U.S., and our main competitor is down to 9 broken down minivans.

I don't trust you guys at all.

"Oh, sorry, the meter is broken. It will cost $X".

Sorry, cabs are a scam that have been allowed to last for too long, and millionaire medallion owners have made too much money off of it already.

It's time for this parasitic business model to die.

I've been in the city for 30 years and have seen it all when it comes to cabs.

The shady "long route"

The Nantucket sleigh ride of terror down Lake Shore Drive

The "I don't have change for a $20 but I'll drive you to a convenience store so you can go inside and break it" (yeah, because convenience stores love making change and I'm not late for work)

Not one single cab has a/c on unless you demand it. Then it's barely working. Always fun to sit in a sweat box in a suit on the way to a customer appointment. Even better when it's raining AND really hot.

Smelly fucking cab. See: no a/c

The old "whaddya mean you are only going 6 blocks?!?!? You better not pay with a big bill" - um, it's pouring rain and we are in the nightclub area. You were expecting airport fares? And yes, exact change is what you are getting, asshole. No tip.

"I don't go down that street. You are buying drugs" - yeah, I'm dressed for a Christmas party and have flowers and champaign for my client's house warming party in their $400k condo we just closed for them. And it's pouring fuck snow.

The last straw: getting pissy about taking a credit card even though they take credit cards.

For some reason, credit card readers in taxis are the least reliable piece of modern technology that is manufactured in the world today, with an empirical failure rate of well over 50%.

Even when the mag stripe reader break down, we can punch in the number by hand. Worst case, the dispatcher or the bookkeeper can run it manually.

I'm not saying it never happens, but drivers who play that game are shuffled off quickly.

You can book an Uber car without a phone and pay in cash here. Maybe that will move to the US soon if there's a market for it.

I see it as a form of protection. If no one's carrying cash, it's less a target for robbery.

Cons:
<Insert Cab Company Name Here> left me stranded for two hours after I made a reservation a week before. Then tried to charge me a fee (two days later) when I found alternative means of getting home.
<Insert Cab Company Name Here> was not nice.
<Insert Cab Company Name Here> tried to take advantage of us when we had too many drinks.
<Insert Cab Company Name Here> cars usually smell funny.

Pros:
<Insert Cab Company Name Here> does have a number that is really easy to dial if you have had too many drinks. And you don't need an app to get a hold of them.

Cons:
Uber drivers are under-paid.
Uber vehicles are not licensed by the municipalities.

Pros:
Uber showed up in 15 minutes while <Cab Company> was leaving me stranded.
I can tell you the first name of all of the Uber drivers I have ridden with.
Uber did not try to take advantage of us when we had too many drinks.

Safety first, saving second.

Call three cab companies. All three will promise to be there in 20 minutes. Two will cancel an hour later after making excuses every time you call to find out where your taxi is. Two hours after your call, a dented minivan smelling vaguely of vomit and driven by a chain smoking born again Christian with rows of religious tracts lined up in the back will pick you up. The cab driver will attempt to sell you on his version of Christianity, and when you try to stop him by explaining that you're a bisexual, he'll look at you and say, "Sorry, you don't look like a faggot, I didn't mean to offend you." So, to avoid offending you, he'll switch the topic of the conversation from Jesus and gays to Jesus and those awful illegal immigrants. When you get to your destination, he'll explain that he doesn't have a meter, but it's OK because he "looked up the distance" on his phone to make sure "the call was worth it".

That was the last time I hailed a cab in Modesto. Now I summon an Uber car. Every time. Fuck taxi services in redneckistan.

Rude abrupt dispatchers who bark "15 minutes" when you call for a cab and then bark "15 minutes" equally rudely when you call 20 minutes later asking where your cab is. Banged-up vehicles with shall-we-say "interesting" smells. And where finding the rear seatbelt latch involves a prolonged and fear-inducing deep-digging expedition into the unknown.

I love Amazon because I don't have to go to malls anymore, and I love Uber because I don't have to deal with crappy cab companies anymore.

And should be avoided whenever possible.

Does that about cover it?

Knowing that your customers will rate you between 1 and 5 stars is a great incentive to take a shower.

You've grossly mischaracterized what he said. Can I say the same to you if you're in a restaurant and find hair in your food? Humans are just creatures, eh?

When they provide service, cleanliness is expected. Sorry.

because you aren't going far enough or have the nerve to ask to be taken somewhere other than the airport.

Oh wait, they do!

http://uberpeople.net/threads/f-short-rides.35189/

I have never had an Uber car not show up or tell me to fuck-off because I'm not going far enough. Trying to get a taxi from John Wayne Airport to my house that is really, really close is practically impossible. Disneyland or GTFO!

You DO tip them, correct? You have pleasant conversations, don't slam the door, don't ask them to help with baggage? Because if you irk the driver, he will throw you low stars. Low stars equals fewer drivers willing to pick you up.

If you don't know what your passenger rating is, you should check with your next driver. If it dips below 4.3, you are going to start getting disappointed.

But they seem to materialize without much fuss, the only time I perceived any real attitude was when I had my mother in a wheelchair with me recently and the guy had to move some of the shit in his trunk into the back seat.

Can I order an uber on my phone, with a credit card properly connected etc., put in the address of my son who is 230 miles from me and then the address he wants to go and they still pick him up?

I see now you are NOT a UBER driver...

Never mind.

Never once a problem. Funny how that goes.

I am always happy to hear about people satisfied with the services they receive in their life.

I've always rented a car out of John Wayne, so that's never come up for me, but somehow i can picture what you're describing happening every day!

Disney area hotels are about $55-$70

but they sock you with a $15 minimum fare!

Or that they didn't show up?

Did you post the wrong excerpt by mistake?

Giving someone a 1 star rating because they are only going a few blocks, or they cannot or do not tip, sounds like a "fuck off" to me.

Again, I am not defending the asshole cabbies doing that crap. I am just saying that the reports of the industry's demise are premature. Uber doesn't only take on angels. OK, and boosting my ego by reminding myself that I really AM an amazing driver, better than most other cabbies AND Uber people, for one of the few good guy companies in the field.

If you lose something in a cab good luck getting it back.

If you lose something in an Uber you can contact the driver in minutes.

Uber drivers are rated and lose their access if they don't provide decent service, good luck with rating a cab driver unless you take the time to call in and complain and even then will anyone actually keep track?

The Uber app gives you an estimate of your fare and will even give you turn by turn navigation to get there so there is no long hauling and if there was you can dispute the bill and they will refund your money because the ride route is stored. Good luck with a cab on that.

When you request a ride not only do you get an ETA of pickup based on GPS maping but you can see the car on the street map coming to you, there is no wondering when it will get there or if it will. Again good luck on that with a cab.

The idea cabs aren't congregating in the busy areas and refusing to pick people elsewhere or refusing short rides is exactly what gave Uber the opening in the first place. You can see stories in this thread from people who have been abandoned by the cabs.

Glad you are taking care of your cars you are the exception not the rule. I hope you do well but if you do it will be because you adapted to the Uber model not because Uber adapted to yours.

It's been a challenge integrating the customer access to our GPS system, but it is about to be launched. In the meantime, passengers could call dispatch and they will let you know where the cab is, if the driver has not already called to verify the info and give you an ETA.

We've had online ordering from the start, and we've been doing the water bottle thing (the COMPANY pays for our water, drivers don't have to) since 2009.

As a driver, if some jackass in a 2009 Dodge Ram pickup (or any other make and model) backs out of a parking spot without watching, then I will be rolling and earning again within a couple hours. In an UberX, your insurance company will say you are violating the policy by running livery and cancel your coverage.

I'm not about to defend the crappy cab owners and drivers out there. And I am not going to trash Uber. But I did want to point out all cabs are not bad, and all Uber drivers are not saints in it for public service.

You have a bad rep to beat that you didn't make hopefully it works out for you. it must be hard to fight the rep left for you by the many cab companies around the nation not making a good service.

As far as insurance goes there are several companies offering ride sharing insurance now farmers is one of the big ones. The idea the claim will be denied could happen if the driver isn't aware of restrictions on his policy but there are policies available for people driving for the TNC services.

Best of luck to you there is certainly room for you to make a run of it hopefully you can overcome the negative stereotypes built into your business.

The language they used in complaining about it was uber Libertarian whining about regulations and and big gov'ment so they are not really something I concern myself with.
https://newsroom.uber.com/oregon/2015/04/despite-your-support-uber-is-unable-to-operate-in-eugene/

They pulled out of San Antonio for a while for similar reasons. But Uber is so popular that the city eventually caved and gave them pretty much everything they wanted.

http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/City-unveils-new-proposals-for-Uber-Lyft-6112873.php

lower prices by ignoring government regulations that provide safety to the consumer and are required to follow.

I feel sorry for anyone working for them and say F you to anyone promoting them.

I think uber could add online dispatching in the future.

I can practically see the tea-market zealots in government proclaiming that, thanks to Uber, buses are obsolete. I can't cite the article but I am pretty sure I saw mention of future ventures such a Uber-type shuttles and driverless cars.

quo, at least in many municipalities.

I don't think it's as simple as "libertarian silicon valley anarcho-capitalists who don't give a shit about workers and rules" on one hand and "put upon unionized employees of a fully functional industry that meets or exceeds all the public's transportation needs in a universally exemplary fashion" on the other--- even though that's how the debate shakes out on DU most of the time.

I still haven't found one.

(No, the NTWA doesn't count. It's not a union in any normal sense of the word, and it doesn't have a collective bargaining agreement with any cab company or medallion owner.)

either way, it has developed in response to a real need. Whatever regulatory modifications might be warranted, the fact is the status quo on cabs hasn't been adequate.

I've stayed at a hotel within three blocks of the basketball arena, Toyota Center, because I sometimes go to major rock concerts there.


I have had the desk clerk call a taxi. I wanted to go across downtown. They called 3 or 4 taxi companies. Eventually somebody showed up. He gave me his business card. He took us to a restaurant. After we got through eating around 11, when the restaurant was closed, I called this guy back. We stood around and talked to the restaurant manager a long time after he closed the place up. This was a high end nationally known chain restaurant. Called the cabbie four times, and eventually he showed up. I think I waited an hour. Or more.


I got the business cards of two different cabbies who swore they would show up and be prompt. They weren't.


I would think that downtown Houston with concert halls, smaller live music venues, bars, sports arenas, hotels and restaurants, would have licensed taxis all over the hotels and restaurants. The opera house in Houston is so big that it covers two city blocks, has a street running through it, and holds two large theaters, not just one.


Houston is the FOURTH largest city in the country, after New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Two and a half million people in the city limits, four million people in the metro area.


In my experience, in several stays at this chain hotel on the SE side of downtown, getting a taxi has been a real ordeal. I don't understand it. I have no idea what the licensed taxi business is like in Houston, but I think they must not give a damn. I suggest FrodosPet open a branch office in Houston. Warning : Houston is about 40 miles across. It's massive. The only town I've seen that's just as big and sprawling is Dallas/Fort Worth.


I haven't tried Uber yet but after my experiences of utter apathy in downtown Houston, I may try it out.

I've been looking for a single example of a W-2 taxi driver in the country for a while now; if yours are that means I've finally found some.

Needs to be regulated out of existence.

They're much more abusive of workers and customers.