On a recent trip to Manhattan by way of Newark, I encountered a new cancellation scheme some Uber drivers are employing to preserve their rating at the disparagement of their riders.
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It’s Tough To Get A Ride(share) at Newark
I flew into Newark, NJ on United this week ahead of an event and bypassed the train to take an Uber into the city. I had a work call and didn’t want to disturb others or manage switching trains on the phone with bags. Booking a professional driver and utilizing a car service made the most sense.
I was out on the curb, opened the Uber app, and typed in my drop off location, the Hyatt Grand Central Station, New York. I received a fare estimate and the Uber cost was in line with what I expected. I requested a ride, I tracked their arrival in real-time, and as the car approached on the app I spotted it further down the very full lane. As I confirmed the vehicle details matched my Uber trip I was disappointed for the first time of the morning; the driver cancelled. The second, an Uber black car driver followed the same process. The third arrived approximately 20 minutes after I first requested an Uber, and luckily, the only estimate change was in terms of arrival time and not cost.
Drivers Cancelling Rides Under New Reasons to Avoid Blowback
Drivers who cancel on riders can be penalized which is why most drivers ask a user to cancel a ride instead. Drivers cancelling has been an issue for different reasons, like this issue raised on ThePointsGuy whereby drivers would ask riders their destination to make their own price estimate and ask riders to cancel the ride awarding an automatically charged fee to the driver. Not all Uber drivers do this, I have met more great drivers than I can count.
But on my morning ride, both of the drivers cancelled and stated that I wasn’t wearing a mask. I got a notification about this in Uber. To be clear, not only was I wearing a mask outside as I was ready for my ride, but the drivers that cancelled were not even close enough to see my face. I only confirmed that the suspected cars were, in fact, my ride when they drove close enough for me to confirm their license plates.
I did not incur a booking fee for either of these cancellations, but that’s beside the point. The drivers were clearly shopping for better fares. By saying that they cancelled because I wasn’t wearing a mask (there’s no dispute to this that I am aware of, just a link to the CDC website) they were able to shop for more expensive rides without damaging their own rating or risking a rider reporting them cancelling due to destination. The 40-minute ride was slated for just less than $60 according to the Uber fare estimator at the time I called the ride so it wasn’t a case of a driver waiting an hour for me to request a five-minute ride.
Better Options For Travelers
Travelers may avoid this mess entirely by choosing alternatives. One such alternative is Blade, the helicopter service from New York JFK International and Newark Liberty International (as I arrived on this trip) straight into Manhattan. The flight is only five minutes long and drops you at one of a handful of convenient locations in the city. However, you may have to wait for your helicopter and ride with others which adds time to the five minute ride. It’s also $199 each-way so it’s drastically more expensive for what could be the same total transit time from landing at the airport to landing in Manhattan on the helipad.
Considering a JFK car service could add a little luxury and simplicity to the process. It’s helpful to have an extra set of hands loading your luggage, a nice clean sedan or SUV for the ride in, and the ease of knowing that you won’t encounter these sorts of issues when you arrive.
Consequences For Riders?
There’s certainly an irritation for riders who wait for drivers just to have their trip further delayed. The question that remains is whether or not this will result in a further penalty. I suspect that it will not negatively impact riders as I had just two cancellations in a single market. However, I’ve known others who have been locked out entirely from Uber without any recourse at all.
Further, I was fortunate that the third driver was able to take me honestly to my destination but had the wait been longer I could have been subject to surge pricing not to mention the loss of time.
Conclusion
I understand that all (Uber X, Uber Black drivers, and even Lyft) drivers, are just trying to feed their families and it’s tough right now. Looking at the fare calculator, Uber added just $0.55 in a fuel surcharge when that wouldn’t account for the difference in a single gallon of gas over the two months. It’s also clear that Uber doesn’t give drivers enough options to cancel rides for legitimate reasons to make rides a worthwhile opportunity. That doesn’t make this ok and penalties to bad behaving drivers as well as unsuspecting riders should be made clear.
What do you think? Has an Uber driver cancelled your ride nefariously for mask compliance despite being compliant?
Take a [redacted by admin] taxi.
There’s nothing NEFARIOUS about an INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR trying to pick and choose the best ride. Driving for Uber/Lyft is extremely dangerous and expensive.
You really want Uber drivers to be paid less AND have less power?! You really want them to have less choices on how they make money and *TRY* to stay safe?!
Only thing nefarious, and anti-working class, is you and this article.
Stop pretending you care about the drivers.
Go [redacted by admin] yourself.
If a driver just cancels – fine. But don’t lie about me to do it. If their issue is with Uber why blame it on the rider?
If a driver cancels a ride after 2 minutes, they should have to pay the rider $5 for wasting their time. You’re probably one of those [redacted by admin] drivers that takes advantage. Selfish[redacted by admin]
If you are unhappy with your remedial job, then that’s on you. A paying customer who is trying to get to work, get to school, get to a medical appoint, or go shopping for groceries is relying on the fact that when they press that button and the app says the driver will be there in 20 minutes, then that’s exactly what should happen.
I had an Uber driver tell me to my face that drivers are canceling on me because it wasn’t worth their time to drive 10 minutes to pick me up, just for a 5 minute rude.
Well it’s worth my time, and I paid uber for that ride to get to work when I needed to get to work. The customer has nothing to do with how Uber is paying drivers, so drivers need to stop taking their frustrations out on riders.
Same goes for choosing rideshare over a traditional service taxi. You say the job is what you get and I say the ride (or lack thereof) is what you get.
>Well it’s worth my time, and I paid uber for that ride to get to work when I needed to get to work. <
You haven't paid for anything until the driver starts the ride.
If you don’t like the practices of Uber or Lyft drivers and their wanting to make real money you can walk, jog, run, roller skate, Getty a piggy back ride, ride a hoverboard, jump on car hoods, skitch, hitchhike, take a cab, take the bus, take a train, subway, drive yourself , quit your job, quit school, or go f*** yourself.
Wow!! Your crazy Rude. Are you one of those drivers!
Thank-you for sharing your story. I’ve grown less and less fond of Uber and other car services due to issues like this.
Yet another reason to end all this mask nonsense!!!!
It’s not nonsense. Sorry to say this but the mask issue is nonsense to white Americans who are selfish and don’t care for the well-being of other people. I usually see hardly any issue with masks among the Asian community. They understand that it’s not just for themselves but for the protection of others. It’s a total bewilderment to me during these 2 years to see the mentality of the lack of sympathy, empathy, care for other people and only care for themselves and their “freedom.”
Not sure why you make this a race thing. I’m Chinese American and masks are nonsense. Plenty of normal Asian Americans where I live understand that masks are mostly useless and it’s just there to make a few people “feel safer.” If you’re so concerned about people wearing masks, just go live in China and see how life is like under “zero covid.”
Asian Americans (and Asians in general) tended to wear masks for various reasons even before the pandemic. So not sure if what you are saying is true…
Fauchi said masks don’t work. Why do racist Asians defy Fauchis declaration that masks don’t work?
when exactly did he say this?
Funny thing about that comment is that is you looked at early COVID with all the street and house parties being busted, they were mostly in black neighborhoods. Also, if you look at infection rates and covid deaths, they were – again – highly focused in black/minority neighborhoods (take a look at the NYC borough map). How exactly is that the fault of white people when it was their own neighbors?
With vaccines readily available for free to everyone, if you are vaccinated and boosted, what is the risk? Tell us Al, what data are you using to come to your conclusions. By data, I mean actual numbers, not an opinion based on a meme on FB. I’d also love to hear how that data points to this being because of white people who don’t care about anyyone – what also makes your comment so amusing is that if you look at violent crimes against minorities the past two years they are almost 1`00% committed by other minorities. Major cities like Chicago, NYC and SanFran saw massive increases in gun violence and murder (almost all black on black). Again, where is your data suggesting that the problem is white people? Oh, and violent crimes committee against whites in those cities were overwhelmingly perpetuated by blacks. The number that’s low – violent crimes against blacks committed by whites. Please, give me some facts to show I’m wrong (reminder, your opinion is not a fact).
My guess, we’ll never hear a response from you, proving I’m right or response will just be to call me ignorant while not actually addressing anything I’ve said.
It’s really location dependent. My only experience with Uber is in the five boroughs. The only issue I’ve had is availability and that was 6 months ago. Uber has gotten a lot better the last 6 months where I am. The conclusion from this is it is probably better to take a taxi from the taxi stand at the airport for this reason. Airports have gone out of their way to make it complicated for Uber and it’s too much of a risk after a flight. Gas prices really have stung drivers.
Yes, Kyle, you are
ABSOLUTELy RIGHT
to be concerned about consequences for riders. I had the very same thing happen to me. It happened
THREE
times, and I was suspended. In each of those cases, I was either wearing a mask, or had not even approached the vehicle. They canceled the trips because I asked about the drivers’ vaccine status.
Thank you, Kyle, for writing this story. Being suspended from Lyft when I had done nothing wrong was highly distressing. Not so much because I couldn’t use the platform (actually I was with my partners’ family and there were plenty of cars during my suspension period) but because being made to have violated rules that I never violated is truly horrible. I am deeply sorry that you’ve experienced this, Kyle, and there is a very real chance it will hurt you.
Wait what? You asked the driver’s vaccination status? Is it a requirement for them to be vaccinated to drive?
No, it’s not, which is a real shame. Why it isn’t is completely beyond me. But, for me to ride in an uber or lyft during the Delta and Omicron surges, it was. I make no apologies for that, regardless of what the folks at the companies say.
So YOU are the [redacted by admin] who believed Maddow when she said the vaccinated can’t get Covid.
What an [redacted by admin] you must be in real life. I pity anyone who has to sit at a table with you for business.
Wow. That’s a bad take. Medical freedom is a fundamental human right and no one should ever be disenfranchised economically because one doesn’t want to put someone unnatural in his or her body. If vaccines worked, it shouldn’t be an issue if someone doesn’t have one. The hpv vaccine, chicken pox vaccine, rabies vaccine, and tetanus vaccine don’t require everyone to be vaccinated for it to work. Either it does or it doesn’t.
It’s medically proven to work, and it is the tool that gets us back to normal. If you’re not vaccinated, I ask you politely to not drive for uber and lyft.
Only AN idiot would think that another person’s private medical information is relevant to their own health. Vaccines administered to a driver do not protect passengers. Maybe we should ask passengers if they have the HPV vaccine before letting them in the car how does that sound to you? We wouldn’t want you spreading HPV all over the car seats.
What an asinine comment.
Brainwashed!!! You are so out of touch!!! My neighbor is a huge Lord Fauci fan, he thinks he is God. Poor guy spent all night when vaccines came out to be one of the first to get it. He felt like trash. He could not wait for the second dose. He felt like trash. When booster was announced he went nuts. He was the first in line. He felt like trash. Guess what??? He and his family of four went to Disney Woke in California for Spring break and they all got Covid. He did not feel like trash. He felt like he was hit by a semi. He shared with me he never felt so bad in his life. He hasn’t left home in 10 days.
Thus, being vaccinated means absolutely nothing and asking a Uber driver for his vaccination cars is so moronic that you should be ashamed.
It must be exhausting being you.
Yes, for losers like you.
Nah, boo, wrong on that account. Well, the part about you being exhausting is true.
You don’t know if those actions mitigated the symptoms enough to save his life, or to have the need for more care such as a ventilator, or ICU treatment. It can always be worse. And even though your case is anecdotal the numbers never claimed 100% at blocking it. Could be this family had circumstances that were the cause of the exception. But I’m just pointing out the argument of mitigation for those who still get it. I know that you think it wouldn’t matter without the shots. But there is no proof of what might have happened.
Whether or not someone else is vaccinated is none of your damn business.
Nj Ubers aren’t allowed to pick up in new York due to regulations and an agreement with the nyc tlc. They likely just didn’t want to go there, not wait for a more expensive fare.
Long trips like ewr to nyc is a money losing or break even trip for uber drivers cause they can not pick up riders in NYC and most like deadhead back to NJ. What I don’t understand is why they accept the trip in the first place since they know where you are going now before they accept.
Uber drivers in NJ do not see any upfront info on fares (yet). I drive Uber in evenings and on weekends sometime and live 3 miles from EWR and typically pick up a lot of fares there. If the drivers cancelled for no mask, they cancelled before they knew where the trip was going, and would have to drive 3 miles from terminal C back to the holding lot at the south east corner of the airport before getting another fare. You used to be able to pull up the Uber app on a second device, and put that device in airplane mode and start the trip to see the destination, but Uber fixed that in an update a few months ago, and it wouldn’t make sense to wait until at the terminal to do that.
All I can think of, if the app was quoting the rider a $60 fare to Manhattan, is that there was no surge for riders or drivers when he originally booked, and then one appeared for drivers, and the drivers saw that and cancelled to get the surge.
Because Uber don’t tell the driver where the rider is going till you do the pick up
It’s not that they are searching for higher fares.
What is going on here is an issue between the NYC TLC and New Jersey. New Jersey drivers are allowed to take a fare INTO the city but, once there, aren’t allowed to pick anyone up (not even to bring back to New Jersey). Only NYC TLC medallioned drivers are allowed to do so. So many NJ drivers do not want to take anyone into the city because they will not be able to get a fare on the way back. Hence, they cancel your fare when the app finally tells them where they would be taking you.
It’s really awful and annoying that they (local governments) can’t come up with a solution here. You would think they would figure something out where these drivers, at the least, can take a fare back to NJ (even if that means paying some small monthly permit/fee to the NYC TLC), but it hasn’t been improved in the 4+ years that I have lived in New Jersey. Perhaps we can start a change.org petition so that we can see some of these changes made and these drivers will actually be willing to take folks into the city and not cancel.
@Andrew – Thanks for this, others have said it too. I find it difficult to understand how Uber can add every NYC cab to their system, but can’t program the same software to exclude those who wouldn’t be able to get a return fare. Stranger things have happened and Uber is not perfect. I would think that drivers and riders would be “super pumped” about being able to avoid this mess through simple software changes.
I think if they did that, you would have too few drivers to take riders into the city. I think what I suggested is probably the only way to do this… the TLC wants to give their drivers the exclusive ability to take fares in NYC, fine. But I think something can be accomodated where NJ drivers can at least take passengers back into NJ (pay a fee to NYC for this privilege if they must but it needs to be fixed). It’s a huge problem for those of us who have to deal with cancelled drivers (as you experienced) and is better for the drivers. Plus, most NYC drivers aren’t super thrilled to have to go to NJ, so I’m sure some, if not many, would be willing to give up those fares to the drivers who actually want and need to go back.
The Uber queue at EWR is split into a NYC queue and a NJ queue, if there are NYC based drivers available in the queue (license plate that starts with “T” and ends with “C”), a NJ car should not be getting any trips into NYC. Right now (7:26PM on a Sunday) there are 50 NYC cars and only 10 NJ cars sitting in the queue. The only time I usually see that queue empty or low on NYC cars is in the late evenings.
Also, if the issue was not wanting to go to NYC, I don’t know why they would cancel for no mask. In NJ, they would not have known the destination of the trip before cancelling for that reason.
Hi, I am an Uber driver. I am one of the driver that still drives a rider to NYC, because I feel is not fair for none of us to leave the rider after they waited, and after I drove to their location. The problem is the time and gas lost when returning back to NJ. If the trip is to Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Long Island or Staten Island, when is rush hour and there is lot of traffic takes me up to 2 or 3 hours to be back on NJ. From Manhattan, West Bronx and Yonkers takes me from 1/2 hour up to 1 to be back to NJ. Who pays us for time loss, no one does. But if the state allows us to take a ride back to NJ or at least few rides taking us in direction to Holland, Lincoln or GWB, this would maybe less harmful for us. At the same time fair for both parties, so riders moving from NJ to NYC can continue having their rides when needed.
Kyle Uber gives out bonusus based on the number of rides a driver completes in a week. A driver needs about 20 rides a day to get the max bonus. If I spend more than an hour on a single ride Im screwed. Since this bonus system has been in place it is much better to get in several 5 minute rides instead of one that is an hour long.
I think these comments really miss the point of the post. To try to justify reasons is not important at all. In all, true seriousness, I don’t care one lick about the potential reasons why these folks are doing it. It is so wrong and so unethical. Us trying to speculate on why these things happen is not going to make it stop. We need to speculate on why drivers find it in themselves to do something so morally depraved. Folks, let me tell you what this behavior is, it’s lying. You lie like this at work, you get fired. Why is there no way to kick these people off the platform for the lives they are harming? It could have kicked me off the platform for good, all because these drivers lie. It doesn’t matter why at all.
It’s best to use a pre-arranged car service these days to/from EWR if NJ Transit is not an option (Carmel is cheapest and they show up).
Taxi is once again my preferred method from LGA or JFK as well (unless timing works for public transport).
yep… I’ve had this happen multiple times… even enough times where Uber for a time was requiring me to upload a picture with me wearing a mask… I did make a formal complaint and they removed the restriction (picture before confirming my ride).
I have ALWAYS worn a mask… I also almost exclusively use Lyft now because of the added Chase rewards 🙂
One better than me. Lyft didn’t, when I complained. Again, I blame the drivers.
When I land at home in ORD I head straight to the taxi rank (ditto LGA). Rides to the city are pretty much the same price and so much more convenient. There’s rarely a line at ord.
This happened to me at LAX–three times in one hour!
I’m a flight attendant for United and have this problem frequently but it’s due to NYC not allowing Jersey Uber drivers to drive into NYC and then return with a fare. So the driver will cancel to avoid the down time and tolls of going into NYC and returning without a fare.
This happened to me with Lyft. The insulting part is that you can follow the Mask mandate perfectly then Lyft sends you a condescending note about health safety and makes you prove you’re wearing your mask with a photo. It’s just so condescending, and you have no recourse against the driver who falsely reported you.
Go TAKE A TAXI , WHY U BOTHERING UBER DRIVERS FOR UR $60 RIDE?
U NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE COST OF BUSINESS AND OPERATING THE VEHICLE IS BEEN HIGH AND UBER DONT PAY DRIVERS AS MUCH AS SOMETIMES UBER TAKE 37-45% FEES FROM DRIVERS DEPENDING ON WHERE THE RIDER GOING
ALSO RIDERS SITTING DOWN IN BRAND NEW CARS 94% THE UBER CARS ARE NEW IN NEWYORK CITY,
REQUEST UBER BLACK IF U DONT WANT TO WAIT THATS WHAT MOAT PEOPLE DO INCLUDE ME, REQUESTING UBER BLACK IS THE BEST THING TO HELP STRUGLING DRIVERS AND TO MAKE THEM HAPPY , DO NOT COMPLAIN AND WRITE ARTICLES AGAINST DRIVERS CANCELATION POLICY, ITS A RIGHT TO SPEAK BUT TO SPEAK GOOD TO BENEFITS OTHERS.
NOT EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD GOING FORWARD ACCORDING TO OUR DREAMS.
Your keyboard might be broken.
So you’re saying take a taxi, but don’t take a taxi and take uber black for $60 from an airport, on what planet? – uber black is twice as much as regular uber if not more. Also, the article is talking about an actual problem with something the drivers are doing, it’s not just a mindless bashing of uber. Nobody is forced to be an uber driver, if you don’t like the pay structure, do something else. There is a worker shortage in the country, you have options. You can’t always get everything to go according to your dreams after all. If a driver reports you for not wearing a mask they should have photo proof of you in the car not wearing a mask.
If you don’t like Uber drivers, who are independent contractors trying to make more money because of Uber’s nefarious business practices, complain to Uber about that. Nobody’s forcing you to take Uber. If you don’t like the cost of Uber Black, taking a taxi, or a helicopter you should quit your job and get a higher paying job. What you’re able to pay is not my problem. It’s no different than getting poor service at a restaurant- you don’t like it, don’t go there anymore.
I’m sorry for your trouble, but in reality the airport attracts a large quantity of bad drivers (I’m a driver, I know), some former taxi drivers I guess.
The reason they cancel the ride is not for a better ride, it to force a surge. By cancelling the ride they may maintain their position in line and get a surge with it.
Due to the fact that Uber does not treat drivers as business owners, ( does not give destination to the driver so driver cannot make a business decision until they hit arrived at the pick up unfortunately causing some drivers taking it to extreme and cancel undesirable rides. However if Uber did in fact give full information to the driver most importantly the destination, eventually request will go to a driver that wants it , will take it and you will not be canceled. The root of the problem is Uber fiddling with the app way too much, versus giving an honest upfront information. To the driver , to give ability to make a business decision. So everyone is happy.
You consider Uber drivers to be professional drivers? I suppose they are paid, somewhat…
I too had an Uber cancel in Mexico stating I was not wearing a mask, I was literally standing next to the Uber car with my mask on!!! The driver did not want to take me on the Uber app and me pash cash instead and left me stranded for over 20 minutes. Uber has been becoming more difficult to trust the rides. A LOT of cancellations close by.
When I first moved to Hudson County in NJ (the county right across the river from Manhattan), I noticed Ubers didn’t like crossing the river into Manhattan. So, I just gave up on it and started taking the PATH or ferry across the river and then taking an uber from there. This was very frustrating and as others have mentioned, it’s ridiculous that the tri-state area cannot operate more like a unified metropolitan region. I get it, they are different states and plenty of municipalities along the way but the same can be said for all great city regions: London, Paris, Tokyo etc.
Interesting what others have flagged about the NJ drives not being allowed to pick up in NYC. I didn’t know that.
Twice last summer I missed my connection in Denver for incompetence of United and with a shortage of rental cars I was forced to order a Uber to get to my destination. It is a 2 hour drive from Denver. Twice I order a Uber Black and was quoted $450. Twice the Uber black arrived, I placed my luggage in the trunk, got in the car and the driver started driving to suddenly stop and kick me out of the car because they didn’t want to take me to my destination. I asked why they accepted my ride and they gave me all types of excuses. Totally unprofessional and I try to not use Uber if I have other options.
How much would a cab cost you for the same trip? Probably cost 2x as much. Since Ubers only price a one way trip, the driver would make not much so a wasted trip for the driver.
I ended up taking a regular taxi and it cost less. I don’t know how Uber works but the fact that the driver accepted the ride means he should be aware of the type of trip.
Blame Uber for that. In many markets, Uber hides the destination from drivers. They only show destination AFTER they start the trip. Your drivers probably saw you were going two hours away after they started your trip and decided to cancel.
I had a driver not wearing a mask and refuse upon arrival to pickup my wife and I – cancelled my pickup. I reported this to uber and the rep indicated the driver reported me and my wife as not wearing masks/non-compliant, My account was in progress for cancellation for violation of terms of service to wear a mask for all transport. Luckily the rep noted the details and started a investigation. I did have to send pics of car plate and driver which I had taken. Uber weeks later did not cancel my account after reviewing photos and my report, Got lucky. Makes a huge difference why a driver reports cancelling the pickup.
This is extremely common. I work at a hospital and rely on Uber and Lyft to commute. If a driver cancels on you, they are somehow penalized. However, if they cancel stating that you weren’t wearing a mask, they are not penalized. I was falsely reported several times during the pandemic, and you basically get “3 strikes” then you’re suspended from the platforms. I had to email the CEO’s and get the executive team to fix this. If you get an email or some kind of indication about this, you should contact them immediately to report that this was false.
In Sri Lanka, drivers on Uber very frequently call and ask destination and whether payment is by card or cash. If they don’t like either answer, some will say they are coming then cancel; others ask the rider to cancel.
A practice that I have experienced many times now is they will head off in the wrong direction or drive in circles, or nowadays with the fuel shortage just stop about half a mile away and try to force the rider into cancelling. Of course there not being a local number, you can’t call to complain; you either grit your teeth and cancel, or wait till they get bored. Sometimes I walk towards them and when they see me getting closer they cancel. Another time I got a cab from another company and the driver waited almost an hour until I sent a message saying I was nearly home!
This is due to Uber taking huge cuts of the fare. It’s just not worth it in a lot of cases.
Same thing happened to me. Driver didn’t stop, but accepted the fare, saw my destination, then cancelled and reported me as not wearing a mask. No appeal option, but i told Uber support.
I think Uber’s feedback system is badly broken. The exact same thing that Kyle reported happened to me (I was also wearing a mask) but I had another issue with Uber where there was no real recourse.
The Uber driver dropped me off a the wrong location (it wasn’t the driver’s fault) as Uber’s navigation system place the stop on the opposite of a small river. Both destinations where commercial buildings without easy to recognize street labeling. I had to call another Uber ride and tell the Uber driver to just follow my directions and of course he was concerned about not being paid properly for the new destination. I explained worry about it I will pay you fairly in cash. Which was fine.
But what wasn’t fine was that it was essentially impossible to report in Uber’s system the incorrect destination since I had no issues with the driver. Uber has built a customer service system where certain errors on their part can’t be reported or receive compensation for.
Uber also keeps more then %75 of the total fares paid by the rider. So your $60 bill only about 15 went to the drivers bank account and now Ubers new feature makes the drivers pay a $2 fee to access they funds to get gas or snacks.
Uber is a scam
WTF? Uber drivers are not your slaves and are free to cancel for whatever reason they want at any time they wish.
Also, if you are driving into New York from New Jersey. Many drivers from New Jersey aren’t allowed to drive in New York so they would have to drive all the way back to New Jersey without a passenger which essentially wipes out any profit they made on your ride.
Finally, Uber takes 50 to 60% of the fare even though the driver is doing the bulk of the work and sacrificing their own vehicle so don’t think that $60 you’re paying is mostly going to the driver. Only about $20 to 30 goes to the driver. Uber has been allowed to go unregulated when it comes to this for far too long.
Look at other companies with service fees like Airbnb. Their cut is 3%. I think credit card processing companies charge about the same or a little more. Uber is extremely greedy and needs to be stopped.
Then cancel for a legitimate reason, but if an Uber driver’s beef is with the rates they are paid, or the inability to catch a return fare due to NYC/NJ laws then just cancel properly.
That’s the thing though. Uber doesn’t provide a reason in the app for cancelling due to being unable to get a ride back to NJ. Drivers are forced to use the next best option which won’t penalize their account.
Uber claims drivers are independent contractors yet Uber tries to control them so much like employees. No driver will use those options then.
Personally, as a rider, I feel guilty on the very rare occasions that I cancel (the last time was because I was locked in my apartment building) since I feel that I have wasted the driver’s time. I try to behave similarly when I do contract work (not driving, admittedly), because I don’t want to waste my clients’ time, either.
Still, I recognize that people often have reasons for canceling, so it does not bother me when they do it occasionally. Maybe it is the end of someone’s work day and they are exhausted, for instance.
What does bother me is when several drivers cancel in succession, and they do not do it immediately. This does not seem to happen too often in the United States, but it has happened to me a fair amount overseas, for both shorter and longer trips. Even though the drivers’ reasons for doing so may be understandable, when I am stuck with heavy luggage for an hour or two while waiting for someone to accept, it is not pleasant.
It also bothers me that if drivers’ concern in these cases is monetary, there is no easy way to assure them that I can leave a larger tip to make the trip worth their time.
Uber and Lyft driver are independent contractor, therefore free to accept or refuse any job (ride).
You have contracted Uber for your ride and NOT the driver, your grief should be with Uber.
It’s a business and not a charity, any smart driver will and should cancel, any money loosing ride.
Your article should be about why Uber doesn’t pay driver enough and force driver to cancel under paid ride, penalizing the passenger.
Have a nice ride and don’t forget to tip your driver if you want him/her to pick you again.
Then cancel right away and for the right reason. They both pulled up before they cancelled which suggests to me that they did so only so they could hit the mask button and avoid backlash.
We (driver) are not penalized for cancelling on a passager we just don’t get paid, the no mask or other excuses for when canceling is to get a $2 cancelling fee credit to the driver.
I drive for Uber/Lyft and I always cancels rides heading into NYC. The traffic heading into the city is unbearable and then we have to drive out of the city which can turn into a 4 hour ordeal. We don’t get paid to sit in traffic and out of town Uber/Lyft drivers are not allowed to operate in the city because of taxi unions. It turns into a big loss of time and money. It has nothing to with scamming the rider, or manipulating the surge, it has more to do avoiding rush hour traffic.
put them in the penalty box for a month. they can consider that when they find a cuter date.
Drivers have also been doing this to avoid taking riders with service dogs and wheelchairs. It’s happened to me (wheelchair user) and my roommate (guide dog user) multiple times over the course of the pandemic even though we’re clearly wearing brightly colored masks when waiting for our rides. And it’s been getting worse. One time the driver barely slowed down before seeing my wheelchair and bolting. In the freaking rain.
There is an easy solution to this problem. Find out what the driver is paid at the end of a trip and compare it to what you were charged by Uber. Then contact support demanding to know why 50-60% of what you paid went to Uber and not the driver. If enough passengers do this and the bad PR forces Uber to go back to the old 20-30% cut, you’ll find drivers to be much more accommodating.
Having driven rideshare (both Uber and Lyft) since 2014, I don’t buy the author’s contentions. Twice (at least) he claims to know WHY drivers acted as they did, and neither rings true for me. Now, I freely confess that I have no idea why the drivers chose to cancel, but I suspect it has nothing to do with wanting a bigger fare. Now I grant that I can’t speak for New York, but driving in Atlanta metro, I can confidently state that 90% of my fares–or better–are less than 40 minutes. Canceling provides no guarantee that a larger fare would come next; I would venture to say that the likelihood is great that the fare would be LESS. A driver gets no money for a cancelation of he doesn’t both ARRIVE AND WAIT for five minutes. Not to mention that that driver might have driven a few minutes to get there; why go to all that trouble if the motive were to try to get a larger fare? It makes zero sense.
Yes, some drivers–just like some riders, trust me–are unscrupulous; some people are just lousy people. But absent more proof than the writer offers, his conclusion just seems far-fetched.
Oh, and there are other reasons a driver might ask a rider to counsel that have nothing to do with ripping anyone off (I can happily explain).
that is not the reason why the driver cancels you, the reason is that a trip to New York implies 2 hours that New Jersey drivers cannot pick up passengers in NY and have to return to NJ without passengers, they are not well paid by Uber or Lyft, that’s why.
If the driver had true independent contractor status and was allowed to set his own rate and seen where your going prior to accepting the ride do you think this would have happen. No.
A similar scenario happened to me in Miami a few weeks ago. I waited about 15 minutes for a Lyft driver (at a hotel, not the airport) and he canceled on approach. The driver (not a professional Black Car) never came close enough for me to see him; he canceled after he dropped off his previous ride and was heading in my direction. The driver then falsely reported me for a mask violation. Lyft indicated that they would require me to take a selfie showing I was wearing a mask before my next ride. I have not attempted a Lyft ride since.
To avoid being ‘cancelled’ at EWR, I gently suggest using a professional livery service like Empire/CLS, GEM or RMA. They all do curbside pickups so you will be on your way in no time with a trained chauffeur, a quality vehicle and good insurance.
It seems to me that many Uber “drivers” are spoofed and don’t even exist but are people sitting at home pretending to be drivers and scooping up cancellation fees. Especially in certain cities, mostly outside of the US, you have fares accepted and don’t see the “car” moving at all and are completely non-responsive, clearly just waiting for you to cancel and for them to get their cancellation fee without ever intending to pick you up or drive anywhere. Uber takes their share of this fraud, and has little to gain by cracking down, and their arbitration agreement makes it infeasible for anybody to ever hold them to account for what must be tens of millions of dollars of ill-gotten gains.
Neither Uber or Lyft are honest or reliable. Time estimates of driver arrival are ridiculous, with time lost sometimes equivalent to the time required to get from point A to B. And that only if the driver doesn’t cancel and force you back into the cue…
I’m afraid you’re gonna get more canceled rides after they (Uber Lyft) are stealing from drivers now with upfront fares. how is it OK for me to get a ride request to drive 47 miles for $35 how is that OK in whose world? so I’m gonna cancel it even if it means losing risking this job do you think drivers are driving because they want to? No it’s because most of us don’t have any other choice most of us work two jobs you are entitled you don’t wanna wait 20 minutes so you would rather I pay out of pocket so you can get a cheap ride! Gtfo
Uber’s recent changes related to how fares are calculated and the the increased amount of Uber’s commissions is the main reason why drivers cancel rides. Uber charges riders the second they request a trip, however, drivers receive get paid AFTER picking up the rider, Uber keeps 100% the amount charged before pick up. So, it’s in Uber’s best interest to match you with drivers located far from you, in order to cash in on pickup fees.
Plus, Uber’s recent commissions has gone up to 78% and sometimes more. I had seen this spike in Uber’s commissions for over two months. Last week, I had multiple ride requests to the airport with upfront fare amount of ONLY $16 to $21, but when I logged into the rider app and requested a trip to the airport based on the same route, the estimated fare was $66 to $74.
Uber needs to stop scamming riders and drivers so everyone can have a better experience using this sketchy platform. Otherwise, take a cab, or fine another gig to make money.
Your cheap a** doesn’t want to pay for a taxi so go f*ck yourself trying to scam hardworking people stupid f*ck. Independent contractors can choose to do a job or not. Uber drivers are not employees dickwad
You’re not fit to be a driver.