4 ms·

This is a frustrating situation for each party. Clearly, the move for Uber (PR and goodwill) is to eat the cost and still pay the driver. I'm curious, would an

by 58x14 5y ago

This is a frustrating situation for each party. Clearly, the move for Uber (PR and goodwill) is to eat the cost and still pay the driver. I'm curious, would any type of travel insurance cover such an expense?

paxys 5y ago
More than PR and goodwill, I'd say the actual bill is Uber's responsibility as well. The driver and transportation company should be on top of weather and highway safety and be responsible for making the right judgement calls. As a rider who just landed at the airport in an unknown city I shouldn't have to tell Uber whether they should be offering rides under the current conditions or not. They quoted me a ride for $X, and that is what I expect to pay.
- bdcravens 5y ago
  My first Uber ever was when I went to San Diego for a tech conference, and the driver revealed he had been in town two days and asked me how to get to my hotel. (Presumably he was driving on someone else's account) He also started asking me about some sketchy ads on Craigslist for things that were illegal in his country (back when CL still allowed those kind of ads) Needless to say, I've had better luck since then, though I've had more than a few rides where they tried to avoid the toll roads (even though my quoted fare allows for tolls) and it ate up my time.
  - simplestats 5y ago
    It used to travel a lot and have had the full range of issues with taxis. In NYC it seemed pretty common for them to try to get you to give them cash for tolls (like at the toll booth, asking you to pay it) which were already added to your fare automatically. I once had a harrowing experience in a foreign country where I didn't speak the language and my roaming didn't work, where I needed to direct the taxi driver using the gps from my phone's dying battery, since he want off in the completely wrong direction and had no idea about the area I was headed to (and I only was barely aware enough to interpret the minimally-labeled map the gps provides when you don't have data access).
  - dasil003 5y ago
    I sort of expect this from Uber, but I actually had this scenario a few years ago in London in a black cab that was clearly borrowed. As you may know, black cab licensing requires passing an infamously grueling test of the entire point to point graph of central London dubbed "The Knowledge" where the examiners call out random trips (by intersection and/or landmark) and the candidate has to recite turn by turn directions between them. I stepped into a black cab at Hammersmith tube station going to Kew Gardens (look it up, it's about as easy a route as you can get in London) and this 75 year old man slowly reaches over and pulls out a paper map like we used to use in 1985, I shit you not.
- ramphastidae 5y ago
  > The driver and transportation company should be on top of weather and highway safety and be responsible for making the right judgement calls. This is absurd and unenforceable. Good luck holding Uber accountable for the weather or whether the highway has potholes.
  - rsfern 5y ago
    maybe in general, but for this case specifically there was a national weather service advisory that travel could be dangerous that night (I live in the DMV; there’s currently another advisory for tomorrow night). I’ve never tried to take an Uber through a storm, does anyone know if they give drivers and prospective riders a warning like “hey did you know your route takes you through a snow storm on the highway”? I think that would be a reasonable expectation, and probably reasonable to expect prospective riders not to book rides through snowstorms…
winternett 5y ago
Many people in DC prior to the pandemic were very hostile online to others who owned cars ritually online. There is particularly one reddit sub-forum for DC that deals with alternate opinions to this ideal rather harshly. Only now are people beginning to realize that the overconfidence they had in technology and in monopolistically advantageous companies for things (like rideshare services) was misplaced, and soon enough it will be too late to be able to protest this type of case. We need to protect our rights to own and hold authority over control of our personal property from commercialization now more than ever, because the consequence is falling victim to corporate rules like this, which never work towards a consumer's advantage.

by 58x14 5y ago

paxys 5y ago

More than PR and goodwill, I'd say the actual bill is Uber's responsibility as well. The driver and transportation company should be on top of weather and highway safety and be responsible for making the right judgement calls. As a rider who just landed at the airport in an unknown city I shouldn't have to tell Uber whether they should be offering rides under the current conditions or not. They quoted me a ride for $X, and that is what I expect to pay.

bdcravens 5y ago
My first Uber ever was when I went to San Diego for a tech conference, and the driver revealed he had been in town two days and asked me how to get to my hotel. (Presumably he was driving on someone else's account) He also started asking me about some sketchy ads on Craigslist for things that were illegal in his country (back when CL still allowed those kind of ads) Needless to say, I've had better luck since then, though I've had more than a few rides where they tried to avoid the toll roads (even though my quoted fare allows for tolls) and it ate up my time.
- simplestats 5y ago
  It used to travel a lot and have had the full range of issues with taxis. In NYC it seemed pretty common for them to try to get you to give them cash for tolls (like at the toll booth, asking you to pay it) which were already added to your fare automatically. I once had a harrowing experience in a foreign country where I didn't speak the language and my roaming didn't work, where I needed to direct the taxi driver using the gps from my phone's dying battery, since he want off in the completely wrong direction and had no idea about the area I was headed to (and I only was barely aware enough to interpret the minimally-labeled map the gps provides when you don't have data access).
- dasil003 5y ago
  I sort of expect this from Uber, but I actually had this scenario a few years ago in London in a black cab that was clearly borrowed. As you may know, black cab licensing requires passing an infamously grueling test of the entire point to point graph of central London dubbed "The Knowledge" where the examiners call out random trips (by intersection and/or landmark) and the candidate has to recite turn by turn directions between them. I stepped into a black cab at Hammersmith tube station going to Kew Gardens (look it up, it's about as easy a route as you can get in London) and this 75 year old man slowly reaches over and pulls out a paper map like we used to use in 1985, I shit you not.
ramphastidae 5y ago
> The driver and transportation company should be on top of weather and highway safety and be responsible for making the right judgement calls. This is absurd and unenforceable. Good luck holding Uber accountable for the weather or whether the highway has potholes.
- rsfern 5y ago
  maybe in general, but for this case specifically there was a national weather service advisory that travel could be dangerous that night (I live in the DMV; there’s currently another advisory for tomorrow night). I’ve never tried to take an Uber through a storm, does anyone know if they give drivers and prospective riders a warning like “hey did you know your route takes you through a snow storm on the highway”? I think that would be a reasonable expectation, and probably reasonable to expect prospective riders not to book rides through snowstorms…

winternett 5y ago

Many people in DC prior to the pandemic were very hostile online to others who owned cars ritually online. There is particularly one reddit sub-forum for DC that deals with alternate opinions to this ideal rather harshly. Only now are people beginning to realize that the overconfidence they had in technology and in monopolistically advantageous companies for things (like rideshare services) was misplaced, and soon enough it will be too late to be able to protest this type of case. We need to protect our rights to own and hold authority over control of our personal property from commercialization now more than ever, because the consequence is falling victim to corporate rules like this, which never work towards a consumer's advantage.