first off, nice, most of us only get large quantities of 1s from the strip club and bill breaker at the casino

my gut reaction would be the following:
-uber driver is a freelance driver, that's herhis job. a driver drives you and nadda else. taking a bag from a trunk is not worth that to me unless i have lots of bags/complex stacking job needed/heavy/etc
-shuttle driver is an hourly driver whose job is to drive and drop. not take your bag out and curb it. same logic but i'm a bit more sympathetic because they're hourly.

i only travel with carry on so...yeah

but you have a logic to it and honestly i cannot say that i'm right and that you're wrong. so maybe i need to re evaluate my tipping system

to say you were "wrong" to tip is silly, it's more of "are these the same situations". and frankly they are, although i do not perceive them to be due to these small differences. further you have expensing but that's another moral issue (treating co's money as if it's your own).

Tipping is not the main issue...
 

When Uber was $1.50 per mile (national average) tipping was not as important - it has fallen to $1.00 a mile now.

I only drive a couple of nights a week, so it is truly extra cash with a flexible schedule. But, for many Uber drivers they quit jobs and/or purchased cars to drive for Uber when it was $1.50 a mile.

I live in Los Angeles, possibly one of the most difficult cities to navigate without a car, and maybe one of the worst for Taxi costs/service. I love what Rideshare is doing for my city. I truly hope Uber & Lyft will flourish and passengers will have great experiences here and around the globe with Uber/Lyft.

That said, something has to give, driving for minimum wage will, over time, diminish the workforce and types of cars that passengers are picked up by.

I hate carrying cash and completely get that is one of the major conveniences of taking Uber/Lyft because it is cashless. And, I do not think drivers and passengers having to do the Square thing is any better. And I abhor the idea of Tip Signs in Ubers.

In short, I believe that Lyft having a Tip Function in their App will increasingly pull the better drivers to them. And, unless Uber raises their prices back to a profitable point, or puts a Tip Function in their App, their service will continue to diminish in quality.

I find a lot to agree with here. In an effort to win market share and defeat all competitors (competing rideshare companies, taxi companies, etc), Uber has repeatedly lowered fares. It has raised a lot of private capital that allows it to sustain losses for a long period of time. This has squeezed drivers. I remember that all drivers (including uber x) used to offer water, gum, etc. Now, basically none of them do. The solution is for Uber to reduce the commission it charges on a fare (and make up that revenue by cutting some of its own internal costs), slightly increase prices, or add a tip feature in the app in a way that allows for users to tip anonymously.

How easy is it for you, as a driver, to react to surge pricing? Say your own personal threshold is $1.50/mile: is it easy for you to be "off" at regular times but "on" at 1.5x or above? Or do you kind of have to know in advance when the surge times/neighborhoods are likely to be? Do you get a push notification when you're "off" telling you what the surge rate is, enticing you to go "on"?

I'll admit, as a rider I think of it in very simplistic terms - the presence of dynamic pricing effectively renders Uber's base rate almost moot. They could theoretically make it $0.01/mile and make it *extremely* dynamic, although I suppose there's some degree of marketing value in the fact that, at most times, the multiplier is 1.0.

But again, I'm simplistically assuming that the analytics, notifications, and targeting of the surge algorithms work really damn well...

Welcome to FT. Great first post. I particularly agree with the bolded part ^

I agree with your reply in it's entirety. Thanks

Actually, you are spot on about your assumptions. Many of us in L.A. have started driving only Surge trips. The App is quite effective at letting us know where and when it is surging...it can be hit and miss, but one learns it over time and it becomes a bit more profitable. Uber has publicly stated that 'Surge is broken' and they desire to end it. Simply because many riders do not like it.

In my opinion, if Uber/Lyft would just charge 75% of that areas Taxi rate (no surge except late-late hours) I think the majority of drivers and passengers would be happier.

@ffsim

Thanks

I actually don't mind surge pricing...I'd rather have the choice to pay it than for the option to not exist and not be able to get a ride. I'll often pay a bit over the taxi meter rate because Uber/Lyft is more convenient. (Full disclosure: my exposure to surge pricing tends to be short rush-hour rides in the 2x range. I've never needed to Uber home from Times Square on New Year's Eve. ;))

Uber thinks they can get rid of surge with predictive analytics. That's great if they can find ways to nudge drivers to the right places at the right times, but when/if that fails, I hope they keep surge as a final backstop to ensure people who most urgently need rides can get them.

Which would you hate worse? A surge factor or a "no cars available" message?

Not that this question is for me...riders are impacted by "no cars available" - but my two cents-

Driverless Cars are the future for Uber/Lyft and eventually Google & Apple to name a few. The analytics that Uber (for instance) collects via their Driver cars is crucial to understanding how to always have a Driverless Car available.

We are really in a transitional or beta stage towards that end...so, most passengers desire neither in the big picture of things...imho.

Understood... For all of this discussion about tips, surges, and rates in general...I do sincerely hope that the model works well enough that you keep logging in and making rides available! The world with rideshare options is far better than the world was with only the taxi mafia.

If you wish to exploit the drivers as does the company [Uber] does be a miser.
Tip was never included although Uber makes it appear so.
Rates in my market are 37% less than a year ago and Pool is terrible, for drivers and pax.

Then start driving for the competition and let Uber fail.

If someone had asked me a month ago what mix or car companies I planned to use, I would said Uber most of the time and car services when I didn't want to take a chance on availability or surge pricing. Going forward, I will utilize a car service for trips to local airports, Lyft when available and Uber internationally and when other services aren't convenient in the US.

A few years ago many cabs had minimal competition and didn't need to care about the quality of their service. Once Uber started and cab companies realized that the threat was going to remain, the quality of service improved considerably. I still prefer Uber, but the difference in quality isn't as dramatic because taxi service has improved and experienced Uber drivers prefer to work the surge and not base rates. I have noticed a tendency for Uber driver's justifiable unhappiness to be reflected in their attitudes towards passengers. Although a tip at the end of the ride will make a driver happy as one exits the car, the driver may not have been in a good mood until then.

In some cities, it is difficult to justify driving for Uber without tips and I understand the driver's frustration. On the other hand, in NYC prices are just as high as those of cabs that need a special vehicle with handicap access and a medallion currently valued at roughtly $700,000 but that apparently hasn't stopped stop some NYC drivers from complaining.

I prefer the original Uber model where the price was supposed to inclusive. Although I wouldn't mind if prices were adjusted to incorporate a tip, I don't want to pay tips in cash. When I travel internationally, I don't always exchange money at the airport and when on a business trip I don't want to track additional tips in a foreign currency. Although Uber is more expensive than a taxi when going from the airport in Bangkok to city hotels, I prefer the cashless model of Uber.

If tipping is going to be part of Uber, I hope the company will allow riders to use preset tip amounts for all of their services in the future. Although I like Uber, I will utilize Lyft instead of Uber whenever possible because tips can be handled in the app after I know how the amount of my fare.

The NYT Travel section weighs in:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/05/22...-tipping.html?