On Uber, drivers don’t have much choice not to take a toxic passenger regardless of their rating, or they get dinged for excessive cancellation. Passengers don’

On Uber, drivers don’t have much choice not to take a toxic passenger regardless of their rating, or they get dinged for excessive cancellation. Passengers don’t have much choice not to take a badly rated driver or they get dinged for cancelling. So, realistically, star ratings are only useful for the platform to know which drivers or passengers are unwanted. Otherwise, star ratings really aren’t much use. This is very unlike other platforms, like eBay or Amazon, where users can choose who to buy goods/services from based on star ratings. Of course, this isn’t in support of this deactivation of riders at all - taxi companies are regulated in most places so they can’t refuse a fare without cause, and Uber really should be subject to similar regulation. Otherwise, losing access to Uber could seriously disenfranchise certain populations. I’d be happier if they would just ditch star ratings for passengers entirely, and just rely on driver complaints - but this is probably wishful thinking.