Sooo... why drive for Uber then? It sounds more like a rant about your own decisions.

Your choice to wait for 20 minutes. You could have started the ride or canceled it.

Sad sad sad? First off, a tip is beyond... What you get paid. You contradict yourself which proves your ignorance.
5 stars says, you were delivered to your requested destination. You driver was nice and the car was clean. Nothing more. A tip says you did a great job!
Because of uber marketing and rider ignorance...

Example- I gave a ride in my luxury car, not a Prius or a Honda or a ford, I opened his door, load his bags in the trunk, delivered to airport, opened again, unload bags... No tip? He got 5 stars an that's the last time I do that! He got there in black car style but better and at less than 1/3 the cost. Executive car airport service, he would have tipped I bet. Why, perhaps because it's In a 10 year old outdated Towncar!

Not waiting for him, you misunderstood. Waiting for a ping. Market is over saturateded?

My rant is about ignorance I see here and everywhere. I don't need Uber. I make a six figure income. I thought I would try Uber and Lyft for fun and something to do in my down time, perhaps in retirement
Trust me, I am championing the guy/gal just trying to make it but using my experience as an example.

Ah, gotcha. Then it goes to my original question of why do it if it doesn't fit with what would make a driver happy? Plenty other sources of income to be had that doesn't involve rideshare.

Simple personal economics... if I do something where the return on value isn't worth it, then I stop doing it and find something else.

If you had a six-figure income, then I'm completely befuddled why anyone would willingly subject themselves to driving rideshare. Lots of other things to check out or do for fun.

Back to tipping, I do think the best thing to do is to offer a tip button in the app, but with a clear message that it's 100% optional and not mandatory.

One of the major benefits of Uber, Lyft, Gett, Via, etc. is that they are cashless. Lyft and Gett have options to tip in their apps. Uber specifically doesn't have an option to tip because you're not supposed to tip. The fares are supposed to be all-inclusive.

One time my kid left something in an Uber and the driver drove to my office to return it to me and refused a tip even for that (even though he didn't get paid for the time he spent driving it to me) because Uber drivers aren't supposed to accept tips.

If Uber is a bad deal for drivers, they should find other ways to make money. There is nobody holding a gun to anyone's head and forcing them to drive for Uber.

In that case, tell Uber to explain to their customers that tipping is customary. Also, encourage Uber to add a tipping function to their app.

I went to San Francisco on a business trip recently, where I took Uber and UberX. A few of the drivers remarked that in San Francisco, no one tips, and users are rated fairly. However, one of the drivers remarked that customers from New York always had lower ratings. We both hypothesized that this was because New York Uber drivers expect tips and give riders lower ratings if they do not. Coincidentally, my Uber rating went from 4.7 to 4.8 after using Uber heavily in SF (I only tipped once in SF on a very low fare).

It seems clear to me that Uber drivers are starting to rate customers based on tips in many markets - especially UberX drivers.

The issue with this is drivers have the ability to influence the service you receive on the app by down rating you if you do not tip.

Good thing the subway system is so good in NYC. Wish there was a way to flush out the "bad" drivers, but the NYC would be left with no drivers!

I could see your doubt. I just enjoy trying new things. I rodeo' when I was younger, raised cattle, fought fires, am a pilot both fixed wing and rotor, own two businesses and am by all standards quite successful. I thought the, ride share term is wrong. It is a car for hire. Two people sharing a cab or commuting is ride share. You paying for me to drive you is not really ride share.

I really think that is all the Uber folks want, is for the public to understand its Ok. To tip. They want uber to install tipping capability in the app as does Lyft and to stop lowering fares while raising their commission. Now uber wants 25%. It started at 10% drivers made $1.5 a mile and passengers got nice clean modern cars with no long hauling. Now drivers get around .97 a mile.and uber has saturated the market.
Remember, uber has been sucking these people in with promises they don't keep! In addition they don't educate the public, mainly their rating system. It like the Dish Installer or serviceman rating you get on the phone or in email. The employee tells you if you liked my service please check "5" all else is a fail.
Uber looks at 1, 2, 3, & 4 *s as fails!

I don't think it's true that NY drivers expect tips. In many, many Uber rides in NY I've never once been asked for a tip and that guy who returned my kid's baseball cap to me was a NY driver. I agree that NY drivers tend to rate passengers lower than elsewhere, however, and I have no idea why.

Well, it sounds like the issue is that there isn't Uber Black in your market, and you've chosen to offer Uber Black service and vehicles at UberX rates. That's of course your call, but you shouldn't blame your passengers for your decision.

The driver star rating system works more like this:

5 stars - Car was clean, driver was polite and got me to my destination safely.

4 stars - terminate this driver.

3 stars - terminate this driver soon.

2 stars - terminate this driver now

1 star - Arrest this driver.

Did you know that drivers need to maintain a 4.6 average rating or they are at risk of termination by Uber?

So anything less than 5 stars is a vote for terminating the driver. (This is Uber - not the drivers doing this).