For me, the per/minute rate is very low ( 10-11c/minute). So if I get 10 minutes of extra time, I make $1. Therefor, squeezing extra minutes out is not helpful. I’d rather the passengers see me start it, and have the $5+ cancellation fee still at hand should something happen. I also bring up Waze for traffic issues(and so i can finish faster and start the next ride sooner) rather than sit in traffic for pennies in some cities (manhattan for example is 35c/min) you may or may not adjust strategy
Okay this is what I was thinking as well. I basically start the trip the moment the door opens. Maybe a couple seconds earlier if I’m in a complicated location and wild like to get a head start on the navigation to their destination.
On occasion I’ll start as they’re walking out of the house to my car. I don’t do this for the extra pennies it generates. I do it so the destination will be in and my nav up and running the second they’re ready to go. Riders don’t like those awkward ten seconds it takes for Google Maps to figure everything and let you know whether to head right or left to get going.
After a scary incident with some drunk pax I got some good advice to start the trip after driving a 1/2 block or so. To get a sense of what type of pax they are. If I feel unsafe or they jerks I can pull over and kick em out without a rating ding.
But then again I’m a female and the only two nights I did the 12am-2am bar crowd ended up with 2 separate bad experiences. So I found a new part of town to drive. It’s a hike but it’s an underserved market and I don’t have to deal with drunk pax. Or the downtown min fare.
Number one reason is too many people. No you can’t stuff one in the hatch, no she can’t sit on your lap… no no no. 4 seat belts four passengers! This happens all too often. One or two come out, get in the car, you start the trip they say oh wait… okay… 3 more come out.
You think about the ping location and what type of neighborhood you’re going to. Keep the doors locked. You confirm you have the right pax, that there are a maximum of four, you aren’t taking minors alone, parents have a child or booster seat, the pax isn’t super drunk or on drugs where he can go from super nice to attacking you, you run over your plan on what you will do when attacked, and then you smile and unlock the doors.
Do a quick read and see if you even want to stop to pick them up in the first place or just drive on by. Then make sure no crazy food, smoking and drinking items coming in the car. Everyone is accounted for and understand exactly where they are going. Then I start.
I agree with you on those few seconds. I typically start the trip as soon as I see my pax approaching the vehicle. This is usually only done in low traffic type areas such as a home or specific business. It’s not a tactic that I use in busy areas such as nightlife areas, malls or colleges.
I’ve noticed that a lot of pax assume that I knew their destination as soon as I accepted the ride, thus they’re ready to takeoff as soon as they get in. In an effort to feed the illusion, I start off with that banter immediately.
I’m able to confirm their destination and ask about preferred routes based on traffic reports since I already have my Waze navigation screen loaded when my pax is seated.
After one of my rides started the pax called me the C word that rhymes with runt. So had I started driving a 1/2 block before starting the clock I could of kicked the pax out without a ding to my rating. But I didn’t. By the time I was on the highway it was intensifying.
Once they are in the car and start the trip, you have to deal with them. It can escalate the situation by trying to kick them out and it hurts your overall income as well.
Not if you cancel the ride and kick them out. You get the cancellation fee. Hindsight I would have been better off kicking them out at that point. I was downtown with lots of people and cops everywhere. The stupidity on my part was to continue the ride and put myself in that position.
I dont blame myself. I just know what to do differently. I wouldn’t use this tactic all the time but I do use it when I smell alcohol on a mans breath I’m driving.
Seems to me if he grabbed you, I would report to the police for assault. How do you know the pax got deactivated? Uber tends to simply say they will review a rider’s account for “possible” deactivation and possible simply block any rider requests from the rider to you. Uber won’t remove a rating, though, since their argument is that the rider paid for the ride and has the “right” to provide a driver rating. Uber’s logic is dizzying sometimes.
I wasn’t hurt, if I was you better believe I would have reported. I took my $10 and ran. Wanting nothing more to do with them. I didn’t want to waste two hours of my time filing a report. It was 130osh in the morning and want to go home.