Uber has been making a lot of changes lately, which they’re branding as “180 days of change.” This is largely intended to help out drivers, who feel they’ve been underpaid and didn’t have proper support. For example, over the past few months Uber has rolled out in-app tipping, in hopes of boosting the wages of drivers.
Uber also knows that one point of frustration for drivers is bad behavior from riders, so Uber is displaying rider ratings more prominently. While ratings on Uber have long been reciprocal, riders could only see their rating if they specifically searched for it, while now it clearly shows in their profiles. I think this is surprisingly effective, in the sense that people get butt-hurt when they find out they don’t have a great rating. I’m not sure whether that’s good business or not, though.
Well, today Uber has rolled out some further changes, and I find one of them especially interesting.
Starting today, UberX and UberPOOL drivers in the US and Canada will be able to leave feedback for riders when they don’t rate them five stars. Riders have been able to do this for years, though this is the first time that drivers can leave feedback. Here’s how it will work, according to Marie Claire:
This new update to the Uber app allows drivers to offer feedback when giving a passenger a rating of less than five stars, in the same way riders can leave comments about their trips. The feature is meant to provide riders with constructive criticism and to inform passengers what’s expected of them when getting into someone else’s car using Uber. The categories for which drivers can provide constructive feedback include: the passenger’s attitude, how long it took for the rider to show up, the number of riders, patience, wanting a new route, and cleanliness.
If a rider gets a tag from the same category three times in a 30-day period, a notification will pop up on the screen the next time he or she opens the app. It’s not clear if this is simply a warning or if it does major damage to your Uber rating. But this new feature could definitely answer any pressing questions you have about how to be a better Uber rider. According to Uber, the purpose of this new addition to the app is to create a more respectful community that provides feedback from both sides of the exchange between rider and passenger.
As you can see, this probably isn’t quite as brutal as it could be. That’s to say that the passenger will only be advised of the feedback if they get the same type of feedback three times in a 30 day period, which seems highly unlikely. In reality I suspect the main benefit is that it will make drivers feel like they’re being understood and have more control over situations, even if the feedback doesn’t directly make it back to riders.
What do you make of Uber’s new feature allowing drivers to leave feedback for riders?
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