I’ve been refusing pings that are more than 10 minutes away and now I’m getting emails from Uber stating I could be deactivated because my acceptance rate has dropped significantly. I emailed them and told them its not worth driving 10-20 minutes for what is often a minimum fare or even a no-show. I got some canned response.
Where I am is north of Sacramento in the 'burbs. I will usually go about 10- 12 minutes (about 6 miles) as many rides are to downtown or airport and I can usually get a ride back or not drive much to get another ping. I prefer not to drive any more deadhead miles and by taking a ping from my house the second insurance mode is already in effect (for what it’s worth)
Length of my Driveway! I’m getting longer and longer Pings and I have asked if there was a length that one can request! Answer “Thank You for reaching out!(Did you expect this not to be in the email?) There is no length from your location to accept a Ping!” I sent back an email then the desitination should be in the Ping as well! That way we can determine if we want to take it!
I know! Lucky you! You work in my favorite city in the US. SF is my favorite US city and Stockholm is my favorite Eurpoean city, followed closely by Cardiff.
I started out taking any pings, then I went on one where I drove 8 miles to move a fat lady 5 blocks for a lousy $2.40 I stopped taking pings > 2 miles.
Since the rates have dropped, I have noticed a couple of things: an increased number of cancellations by customer and a significant increase in ‘drive to’ miles. The cancellation issue seems to have been addressed by Uber with their new cancellation policy while ‘drive to’ miles is still an issue.
I too have seen this, I take what I think will be there when I get there, In the old days, you saw the persons name as well as their rating but now just the address and their rating! I’m about finished, I’m not playing on the slopping upward hill field of play!
You can’t have one answer to this question. It depends on traffic, it depends on if a surge is in effect where the customer is, it depends on if you’re in the suburbs or a city and it depends on the time of day, way to many variables for one simple stock answer.
I live a good 18 miles out of town so its never busy but jobs are long. Get a Ping about 10 mins, its says 26 mins away. Accept, ring the rider, work out its from a private house on a main rd only 10-15 away. The request was for a SUV and I ask how many pax. “One” I’m told. Strange for her to choose an SUV for 1 pax, so I expected to find a mound of gear to load.
Looks to me like you got near $4 a mile including travel to miles. X rate in the U.S. for that same trip would have been about $18. prior to Uber’s take.
Those are amazingly good on the highway. A while back I was part of a group that was tasked by Audi to take a small fleet of cars from LA to NYC in less than 48 hours, but were told to maximize our fuel economy as much as possible.
Funny you should say that! We got to talking and the Hooker had been on a all day job, thinking she was through for the night. But a regular client of hers called, begging for her to go around.
As always, I’m paying attention to the voice of the drivers on the street. There appears to be a growing movement among drivers about accepting pings that are more than, say, 10 minutes away for the pickup spot. The comments drivers are making is that with recent rate cuts that it is often simply not worth their time to drive 10, 15, or 20 minutes for a pickup that results in a small fare.
I think this is shitty customer service. I understand everybody wants to make the most money, but service like this puts a bad taste in the riders mouth, and sets up the next driver for a less-than-happy pax, perhaps resulting in a sub-5 rating through no fault of the driver. It also risks chasing the pax from the industry.
I understand and agree with most everything you said, I also see the cherry-picking side of the argument. This has nothing to do with work ethic and everything to do with basic economics. With Uber cutting rates in so many markets, why would a driver be interested in incurring $10 in costs for an $8 fare.
Now 6-8 miles or about 8-10 min. My first week driving ,got a ping in Carp. about 15-20 min south of SB . Came back to SB , good fare +cash tip, Then most of the pings from Carp. 1/2 mil to downtown or the beach. fare $6-8. Will not pick up now. but will drop off. Most Drivers from SB will not pick up Carp. now .