Uber introduces waiting time charges
Make your driver wait for more than two-minutes and you'll pay the price.
Rideshare app Uber has introduced a 55 cent per minute fee to Uber passengers who run late and make their drivers wait.
The new charge was rolled out silently last Wednesday and stems from feedback provided by Uber drivers who have been left frustrated by late passengers.
Passengers will be happy to hear that there is a grace period of two minutes before the fee takes effect. That's just enough time for passengers to lock up, get down the stairs and catch your ride. Following this, users will incur a waiting charge of 55 cents for every minute they make their driver wait.
Once drivers have waited for five minutes, they can either choose to continue to wait or cancel the trip, with the cancellation fee being imposed on the user.
This isn't the only change that Uber has rolled out either. In addition to this, drivers have been given the added power to decline requests immediately, as opposed to having to wait 20 seconds for a request to time out. This option is provided via a new "no thanks" button, which pops up alongside new requests on the driver app.
Any declined requests are sent immediately to another driver, so the user isn't left in wait.
If a driver declines three requests in a row the app will take them offline and the driver will have to sign back online to accept trips again.
“Riders can track their Uber from the moment they request a trip all the way to the pick-up location,” says Uber Australia's head of city, Henry Greenacre, of the decision to penalise tardy passengers.
“We know it can be frustrating for drivers when a rider is late to a pick-up point, so we’re introducing paid wait time from two minutes to ensure drivers can make the most of their time on the road.”
Users are slowly being notified of these changes via push notifications when they ride over the coming weeks.
The moral of the story? It doesn't pay to be late.
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