What's your Uber experience?

[LionKing]

I don't understand why Uber drivers are allowed to select rides which means now I have to wait 5 minutes + to find a Uber Driver and then another 10 minutes to wait for the ride.
In Malaysia, Grab will disqualify you for 15 minutes if you decline a ride request for 3 times in a row.
I think this must be enforced here in Australia.

 

[kpc]

I took 45+ Ubers in South America over 2 months recently...it was a God send...no language barrier, no local cash issues and no airport transfers rip offs

 

[VPS]

I caught an Uber home last week from the city to inner suburbs. A friend lives only two blocks from me so I asked the driver if he could stop on the main road just near her road.

He carried on a like a pork chop and said I should have booked two destinations and Uber would know that he had stopped and he would get into trouble. I wasn't asking him to go out of his way at all. I asked him how Uber knew that he stopped and let someone out as opposed to just stopping for traffic. He whinged and moaned but did it - I was going to give him a tip to say thank you but his attitude just really annoyed me.

 

[dajop]

Uber x prices going up 9.5% in Brisbane next week. Not a fuel surcharge for the drivers, but a general increase, i. e. Uber will take their margin from that.

It’s an American tech company.. What do you expect? Morals? Fairness?

 

[Brissy1]

I caught an Uber home last week from the city to inner suburbs. A friend lives only two blocks from me so I asked the driver if he could stop on the main road just near her road.

He carried on a like a pork chop and said I should have booked two destinations and Uber would know that he had stopped and he would get into trouble. I wasn't asking him to go out of his way at all. I asked him how Uber knew that he stopped and let someone out as opposed to just stopping for traffic. He whinged and moaned but did it - I was going to give him a tip to say thank you but his attitude just really annoyed me.

Interesting, so I did a test booking adding a stop (few doors down the road) on the way from A to B and the price was higher. Well done.

 

[Aeryn]

Uber taking the p!55 today. Wanted $55 to SYD T3 late morning usually $30 or 35 if traffic. Waited 10mins dropped to $43 didnt have luxury of wauting longer.

As vehicle was elevtrix shouodnt have been any petrol levy.

No surge from MEL T1 that i could see

 

[Aeryn]

This morning booked and uber from CBD hotel to MEL, app showed car around the corner, driver messaged me to ask if i was going to the airport and didnt start to move towards me until i replied.

I assume if i had said no, he woukd have cancelled or ask me to cancel. I will be sending feedback.

 

[Quickstatus]

I don't understand why Uber drivers are allowed to select rides which means now I have to wait 5 minutes + to find a Uber Driver and then another 10 minutes to wait for the ride.

It is a bit more nuanced than that.
Uber drivers dont know the destination of the ride, though higher tier drivers can see estimated duration of ride and its general direction. They can cancel rides but if they cancel more than 3-4% per rolling period, they get dropped down a tier . These tiers come with certain benefits.

 

[SydneySwan]

Does anyone have recent experience of getting an Uber from CMB airport to Negombo (we are going to Goldi Sands Hotel)? We are arriving on UL607 at around 11pm. I have tried simulating a trip in the Uber app and estimates seem very cheap (around 2-2.5k LKR (around $AUD10). There is also a competitor called PickMe if anyone has tried that.

 

[kookaburra75]

Does anyone have recent experience of getting an Uber from CMB airport to Negombo (we are going to Goldi Sands Hotel)? We are arriving on UL607 at around 11pm. I have tried simulating a trip in the Uber app and estimates seem very cheap (around 2-2.5k LKR (around $AUD10). There is also a competitor called PickMe if anyone has tried that.

Uber in Sri Lanka varies greatly. An Uber Economy is just a tuk-tuk. The drivers also have big issues with credit card payments. It's not far to Negombo, and the best way would be to contact where you are staying and organise a shuttle or bus pick up. Getting into CMB during the day is hectic, at 11pm it will be far worse. Ordering a minibus will save you a world of hurt.

 

[Zulu0929]

This morning booked and uber from CBD hotel to MEL, app showed car around the corner, driver messaged me to ask if i was going to the airport and didnt start to move towards me until i replied.

I assume if i had said no, he woukd have cancelled or ask me to cancel. I will be sending feedback.

As an Uber driver and being tired of all the To55ers that let passengers down time and again, I advise that when you get a call asking where you are going, they are fishing for a longer trip, so, you tell them it is a long trip, a destination you are familiar with and then when you get in the car, apologise by saying something has just cropped up and you have had to change the destination. That will teach the driver a lesson. Moreover, NEVER cancel when a driver asks you to, you WILL get charged. Just hang up because he then has to cancel to be able to switch off or accept any other trips. And yes, we only learn the actual destination when you get in the car and the trip is activated.

 

[SydneySwan]

Uber in Sri Lanka varies greatly. An Uber Economy is just a tuk-tuk. The drivers also have big issues with credit card payments. It's not far to Negombo, and the best way would be to contact where you are staying and organise a shuttle or bus pick up. Getting into CMB during the day is hectic, at 11pm it will be far worse. Ordering a minibus will save you a world of hurt.

Thanks for your response. One clarification - why would it be far worse at 11pm than during the day? Is 11pm really busier than during the day?

 

[burmans]

Thanks for your response. One clarification - why would it be far worse at 11pm than during the day? Is 11pm really busier than during the day?

Yeah, I have to say that wasn’t my experience though that may be the issue, ie slow time so most drivers in bed. Regardless I agree that pickups are cheap and probably a safer option.

 

[kookaburra75]

Yeah, I have to say that wasn’t my experience though that may be the issue, ie slow time so most drivers in bed. Regardless I agree that pickups are cheap and probably a safer option.

I think as @burmans said, it's the same level of hectic-ness, but late at night and fewer drivers around, just adds to the hassles.

 

[lovestotravel]

As an Uber driver and being tired of all the To55ers that let passengers down time and again, I advise that when you get a call asking where you are going, they are fishing for a longer trip, so, you tell them it is a long trip, a destination you are familiar with and then when you get in the car, apologise by saying something has just cropped up and you have had to change the destination. That will teach the driver a lesson. Moreover, NEVER cancel when a driver asks you to, you WILL get charged. Just hang up because he then has to cancel to be able to switch off or accept any other trips. And yes, we only learn the actual destination when you get in the car and the trip is activated.

A great way for a passenger to get a 1 star and then make future pickups harder by annoying the driver.

Also, a passenger will NOT get charged if they cancel in the first 5 minutes and even if it's longer if the ride is taking too long and/or driver calls, you will get a refund from Uber

Driver's WILL see the destination if they are a diamond status driver

 

[leadman]

Just finished another trip, Canada & USA and had to use Uber 22 times. Always love to get into discussions with the driver, if they are OK with it. Some great conversations, especially with three drivers from Cuba, Argentina, and Turkmenistan. But all the other were good too. So I thought I would log their country of origin as I travelled;

3 Venezuelan
1 Argentine
4 Indian
1 Turkmenistan
2 Colombian
2 Poland
1 Bulgarian
2 Haitian
1 Dominican Republic
1 Mauritanian
3 Cuban
&
1 American

You can probably guess their political leaning, except one!

 

[VPS]

I had a weird DiDi trip this week. I always take a screen shot of the price and the driver info.

When I went to go home DiDi were asking for another 28c - nothing really but couldn't work out way. Uber was cheaper anyway so came home with Uber.

Did a chat with Didi and it was being translated in the chat (so not great) and they said the original trip was more expensive but the price difference didn't match. In the end I gave up and paid the 28c because my life is more valuable than that. I did tell the driver to go a quicker way than what he had planned and I wondered whether that was an issue but he said my way was a minute quicker

 

[Aeryn]

So this week the wait time for uber x have been extortionate > 15 mins, yet wait time for Uber comfort ~3mins (usually for $3-5 more and earning QF points).

Dont know if its a ploy to get you to book more expensive fares but weirdly i almost always end up with a nice vehicle (often Tesla) when i book base x fare yet the comforts have all been older camrys.

 

[RooFlyer]

I know this won’t be news to anyone who uses SYD domestic regularly but the Uber at domestic is an absolute cough show.

I mean you have a single file of Uber going into a cramped pick-up space and then you have cars there backing out into the traffic flow, and a single exit gate (so a problem on exit or a hold-up backs up 20 or so cars behind them, like tonight ) and people who need to walk across the flow of traffic with their luggage to get to their Uber.

And why the hell don’t they have a sign for rideshare in the terminal (T3)?

I ordered one from terminal 3 for T3 noting the pick up place immediately outside terminal 3 and when I looked down for the response, it was pick up in the so-called priority zone. What? 200 m or more away?

What’s ’priority’ about that place?

The people who were next to me on the flight were next to me at this time as well and they had exactly the same thing happened to them.

Car enters and two cars in front want to back out.



Three cars backing out to have to wait for the third to finish and then the second to turn and then the first is able to turn; meanwhile the entire stream of waiting cars to enter keep waiting.



People on one side, cars on the other and cars leaving driving between them.



These old, legacy airports really need a bulldozer going through them and start again.

 

[Franky]

I know this won’t be news to anyone who uses SYD domestic regularly but the Uber at domestic is an absolute cough show.

I mean you have a single file of Uber going into a cramped pick-up space and then you have cars there backing out into the traffic flow, and a single exit gate (so a problem on exit or a hold-up backs up 20 or so cars behind them, like tonight ) and people who need to walk across the flow of traffic with their luggage to get to their Uber.

And why the hell don’t they have a sign for rideshare in the terminal (T3)?

I ordered one from terminal 3 for T3 noting the pick up place immediately outside terminal 3 and when I looked down for the response, it was pick up in the so-called priority zone. What? 200 m or more away?

What’s ’priority’ about that place?

The people who were next to me on the flight were next to me at this time as well and they had exactly the same thing happened to them.

Car enters and two cars in front want to back out.

View attachment 508653

Three cars backing out to have to wait for the third to finish and then the second to turn and then the first is able to turn; meanwhile the entire stream of waiting cars to enter keep waiting.

View attachment 508652

People on one side, cars on the other and cars leaving driving between them.

View attachment 508654

These old, legacy airports really need a bulldozer going through them and start again.

It really is a bunfight of the highest order, and so frustrating, and a family member to enter the facility if they are kind enough to come and pick you up are also hit for an entry fee.