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I used to work at Uber and we would see similar behavior from drivers at airports. There would be a geofence around the parking lots where drivers had to wait b
by jameshawkins 6y ago
I used to work at Uber and we would see similar behavior from drivers at airports. There would be a geofence around the parking lots where drivers had to wait before they could be sent a ride. However, the app would still send a ride to the closest available driver, so they would all lean their phones against the gate to get as close to the edge of the geofence as possible.
Ultimately, Uber implemented a FIFO queue at these lots, meaning a driver was added to a waiting list as soon as they entered the lot, thus removing the need for this behavior anymore.
- lifeisstillgood 6y agoMost every taxi firm in the uk has a piece of plastic water pipe and a bunch of ping-pong balls. As each driver comes back they take their number from the basket and drop it into the far end of the tube. The next call that comes in, and the despatcher takes the ball out the "near" end. It is an almost foolproof FIFO pipe (literally), simplemfor everyone to understand and very cheap to run.
- smnscu 6y agoThis is it, chief. I work in a place where work used to be pick-up-able instantly and all the pain of that went away when pools were introduced.
- qwerty456127 6y agoI believe FIFO is evil. It encourages people to form queues. I'd rather make it a random pick from the set of those within a reasonable range.
- germinalphrase 6y agoWhy evil?
- qwerty456127 6y agoIf I know it's FIFO - I come as early as I can. This way I both struggle myself (as I never want to go there that early) and harm the others' comfort and convenience by occupying the place, making the queue longer. People also tend to conflict, fighting for their place in the queue (I had to witness and to participate in too many queues in my life, people become nasty there). If I know it's random I come whenever I'm comfortable.
- Consultant32452 6y agoI would like the option to have my call sent to the highest rated driver.
- nyx_ 6y agoInteresting... maybe I haven't taken enough Ubers to notice, but I generally can't tell the difference between a 4.9 driver and a 4.7 driver. Would you pay more to guarantee getting the highest rated driver near you?
- Consultant32452 6y agoNow we're talking. I could get a list of prices vs ratings. I haven't had a "bad" experience, but I've had some better than others.
- basementcat 6y agoMaybe one can charge a "thrill premium" for the "opportunity" to ride with a "sub 4.0" driver?
- KMag 6y agoIt worked for marketing yellow "champagne" diamonds. I joke that the next trend is "chocolate" and "dark chocolate" for selling brown and black-ish industrial diamonds on the retail market.
- other_herbert 6y agoThen have I got the queue for you!... LiLo... :D
- Mizza 6y agoI'll take the bait, and say the exact opposite: I firmly believe that queuing is the very basis for, and perhaps definition of, civilization itself. (British, can't you tell?)
- alasdair_ 6y agoI had a driver tell me he’d get his friends to call in fake rides if things were slow, which meant that he got to the front faster. He was convinced everyone else was doing it too. I did not leave a tip.
- dependenttypes 6y agoIs it common to give tips to taxi drivers?
- closeparen 6y agoAs with a waiter, failing to tip a cabbie is expressing extreme displeasure. The stressful and annoying payment dance at the end of a cab ride was a not-insignificant factor in the rise of ridesharing.
- dependenttypes 6y agoInteresting, being a clueless european I thought that this was common only for waiters and deliverymen in the USA.
- dr_dshiv 6y agoYou tip everyone in the USA. Hairdressers, handymen, babysitters, car mechanics, coffee baristas, bartenders, cab drivers. Why should employers pay employees when their customers can do it for them?
- h4kor 6y agoAt German train station the taxis form a line. You are expected to take the first car in the line. If you try to take another one most drivers will tell you to go to the first car.
- corobo 6y agoSame here (UK) the only exception to jumping their taxi queue is if you need a specific vehicle further back in line (large, wheelchair friendly, etc)
- gutnor 6y agoOr if they don't want to carry you because you need to "cross the river" or get out of Zone 1. Does not happen nearly as often since Uber is squeezing them though.
- hhjinks 6y agoThis happens in Norway as well. Unfortunately different companies charge different rates, so I refuse if the first in line is one that charges more than others.
- Shengbo 6y agoThat's the way it works pretty much everywhere in Europe in my experience.
- jacobr1 6y agoAnd it is how taxi lines work or worked in the US. App-based hailing changed this, since there is no longer a designated physical place where the line would exist. Building a virtual-line, makes plenty of sense, and in hind-sight was something overlooked.
- jjeaff 6y agoI love solutions like this. Had I been called on to solve their problems, I probably would have built a "simple" app. I try to remember solutions like this when I am tempted to over complicate a problem. Though I'm already thinking about how maybe the balls need some sensors or we codes so we can have data and a dashboard.
- smnscu 6y agoLOL here in Manchester they had ways to spoof their location/cheese the system for ages, it's one of the first things I've learned after moving here last year (had to use Uber a lot).
- qppo 6y agoAm I crazy or is the solution the thing you'd design in the first place if trying to make the simplest system possible
- throwaway_1512 6y agoI worked on this feature at Uber, it’s not as easy you think. Airports are notoriously hard and diverse across the world.