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It seems to me that the option to refuse drives is the bigger change. But regarding pricing, Uber is no longer "mandating" the drivers accept a price, instead

It seems to me that the option to refuse drives is the bigger change. But regarding pricing, Uber is no longer "mandating" the drivers accept a price, instead Uber drives agree to the rates Uber sets. Maybe that has some bearing? I'm no expert.

sida 7y ago
Maybe eventually uber needs to allow drivers to set prices for themselves, with a large enough market it should proxy surge pricing?
- Litmus2336 7y ago
  Yeah, that'd theoretically work. But I wonder how it would go in practice with the limited information of each driver. Perhaps if they provided drivers with statistics (average offering price, bottom 10% offering price, ride volume over time, peak areas etc) then it would work. Interesting proposition.
  - AnthonyMouse 7y ago
    They could do it dutch auction style. Suppose there are five drivers and three rides. The drivers bid per-mile rates of $.75, $1, $1.25, $1.50 and $1.75. The rides go to the three lowest bidding drivers and they all get $1.25, i.e. the highest rate of the drivers who get rides. It gives everyone the incentive to bid their actual threshold past which they wouldn't want the ride, because if you bid too high you don't get any rides, but if you bid lower you may still get paid more than that unless bidding that low was actually necessary to get the ride. And at any given time all the riders pay the same rate as each other.
    - nemothekid 7y ago
      >They could do it dutch auction style. Suppose there are five drivers and three rides. The drivers bid per-mile rates of $.75, $1, $1.25, $1.50 and $1.75. The rides go to the three lowest bidding drivers and they all get $1.25, i.e. the highest rate of the drivers who get rides. The problem with all these variables is that the more "preferences" you introduce into marketplace to matching, the longer your pickup time will be. The 2nd most frustrating change is going to be the increase in pickup times because drivers will now optimize for rides that are exclusively in city limits.
      - AnthonyMouse 7y ago
        You can address things like that with predictive matching. You don't actually wait until there are three rides before matching anybody, you just look at the data for this timeslot and expect that statistically there will be three rides this hour, use that rate based on the drivers who are on, and assign the nearest of the three lowest bidding drivers as they come. If a fourth ride appears that hour then you immediately raise the rate to the fourth lowest bidding driver starting with that ride, and so on, and next time have more data and make a better prediction.
    - sida 7y ago
      This is actually really clever. Maybe Uber can set a base rate of $0.75 per mile and then the driver can elect to increase it at a 25c per mile interval so that the supply is grouped together
rchaud 7y ago
The option to refuse drives was always there, although I believe Uber penalizes the driver if they refuse to accept a request too often.
- josuepeq 7y ago
  I do rideshare in the Bay Area for extra cash and to maintain my customer service skillset - My driver score is 4.97 (in the last 500 rides.) They’ve removed the “acceptance rate” metric for drivers. There’s no longer a penalty for declining rides for drivers in California. https://www.uber.com/blog/california/keeping-you-in-the-drivers-seat-1/ https://www.uber.com/blog/california/keeping-you-in-the-driv... The advantage is that since drivers know where a passenger is going before accepting, riders can be assured that the driver wants to take them to the destination they have set. No more waiting for the driver to arrive to hear they are declining a super long distance trip; they won’t even know they’ve been declined even multiple times. If it takes one longer to get a rides’ information with Uber, take a look at their rating. Indeed, It is becoming more important. Try to keep an Uber rating sharp. I’m likely to accept a 4.86 score for $4-6 fare, decline a 4.63 for a $25-30 trip.
  - JshWright 7y ago
    What sorts of things can influence a riders rating? It doesn't seem like there are too many things a rider can screw up...
    - jedberg 7y ago
      Don't bring your kids. I had a perfect 5 until I brought my kids with me. They were well behaved and quiet, but it took me a minute to install the car seat and uninstall it, and the driver was clearly annoyed. Look man, the law says they have to be in the seat, and for their safety, they have to be in the seat. I'd pay more if I could, but I can't. Now I usually tell the driver to start the ride as soon as I get there so they get paid for waiting for me to install and uninstall the seat. I just wish Uber had a "I have a car seat" checkbox that would pay the driver a couple extra bucks (and charge me extra). Then everyone would win. The driver would get extra for taking someone with kids and they would know in advance and not get annoyed. Also I know I got dinged on my rating once because the driver couldn't find me. I can't help it if Seattle literally has streets on top of each other and there is no way to tell the driver I'm on the bottom road and not the top!

sida 7y ago

Maybe eventually uber needs to allow drivers to set prices for themselves, with a large enough market it should proxy surge pricing?

Litmus2336 7y ago
Yeah, that'd theoretically work. But I wonder how it would go in practice with the limited information of each driver. Perhaps if they provided drivers with statistics (average offering price, bottom 10% offering price, ride volume over time, peak areas etc) then it would work. Interesting proposition.
- AnthonyMouse 7y ago
  They could do it dutch auction style. Suppose there are five drivers and three rides. The drivers bid per-mile rates of $.75, $1, $1.25, $1.50 and $1.75. The rides go to the three lowest bidding drivers and they all get $1.25, i.e. the highest rate of the drivers who get rides. It gives everyone the incentive to bid their actual threshold past which they wouldn't want the ride, because if you bid too high you don't get any rides, but if you bid lower you may still get paid more than that unless bidding that low was actually necessary to get the ride. And at any given time all the riders pay the same rate as each other.
  - nemothekid 7y ago
    >They could do it dutch auction style. Suppose there are five drivers and three rides. The drivers bid per-mile rates of $.75, $1, $1.25, $1.50 and $1.75. The rides go to the three lowest bidding drivers and they all get $1.25, i.e. the highest rate of the drivers who get rides. The problem with all these variables is that the more "preferences" you introduce into marketplace to matching, the longer your pickup time will be. The 2nd most frustrating change is going to be the increase in pickup times because drivers will now optimize for rides that are exclusively in city limits.
    - AnthonyMouse 7y ago
      You can address things like that with predictive matching. You don't actually wait until there are three rides before matching anybody, you just look at the data for this timeslot and expect that statistically there will be three rides this hour, use that rate based on the drivers who are on, and assign the nearest of the three lowest bidding drivers as they come. If a fourth ride appears that hour then you immediately raise the rate to the fourth lowest bidding driver starting with that ride, and so on, and next time have more data and make a better prediction.
  - sida 7y ago
    This is actually really clever. Maybe Uber can set a base rate of $0.75 per mile and then the driver can elect to increase it at a 25c per mile interval so that the supply is grouped together

rchaud 7y ago

The option to refuse drives was always there, although I believe Uber penalizes the driver if they refuse to accept a request too often.

josuepeq 7y ago
I do rideshare in the Bay Area for extra cash and to maintain my customer service skillset - My driver score is 4.97 (in the last 500 rides.) They’ve removed the “acceptance rate” metric for drivers. There’s no longer a penalty for declining rides for drivers in California. https://www.uber.com/blog/california/keeping-you-in-the-drivers-seat-1/ https://www.uber.com/blog/california/keeping-you-in-the-driv... The advantage is that since drivers know where a passenger is going before accepting, riders can be assured that the driver wants to take them to the destination they have set. No more waiting for the driver to arrive to hear they are declining a super long distance trip; they won’t even know they’ve been declined even multiple times. If it takes one longer to get a rides’ information with Uber, take a look at their rating. Indeed, It is becoming more important. Try to keep an Uber rating sharp. I’m likely to accept a 4.86 score for $4-6 fare, decline a 4.63 for a $25-30 trip.
- JshWright 7y ago
  What sorts of things can influence a riders rating? It doesn't seem like there are too many things a rider can screw up...
  - jedberg 7y ago
    Don't bring your kids. I had a perfect 5 until I brought my kids with me. They were well behaved and quiet, but it took me a minute to install the car seat and uninstall it, and the driver was clearly annoyed. Look man, the law says they have to be in the seat, and for their safety, they have to be in the seat. I'd pay more if I could, but I can't. Now I usually tell the driver to start the ride as soon as I get there so they get paid for waiting for me to install and uninstall the seat. I just wish Uber had a "I have a car seat" checkbox that would pay the driver a couple extra bucks (and charge me extra). Then everyone would win. The driver would get extra for taking someone with kids and they would know in advance and not get annoyed. Also I know I got dinged on my rating once because the driver couldn't find me. I can't help it if Seattle literally has streets on top of each other and there is no way to tell the driver I'm on the bottom road and not the top!