Increase in driver cancellations on Uber/Lyft
 

This is somewhat related to the "driver initiated cancellation fees," but a somewhat separate issue.

On both Lyft and Uber over the past several weeks, I've gotten more driver cancellations then ever. On Uber, drivers will accept the ride, then cancel a few minutes later; I am then assigned another driver by Uber. Sometimes, the Uber driver will attempt to contact me to see where I am going, and then will cancel after. On Lyft, I've had this happen a few times as well, with some Lyft drivers simply driving away until the Lyft app says "Sorry, we are finding you a better drivber."

These issues waste anywhere from 10-30 minutes. My ratings on both Uber and Lyft have been stable during this time period. What gives?

They are shopping rides

Bad enough they are doing this, but if they cancel you as no show you get charged $5

They need to fix this

I experienced a no-show attempt recently. I was at exactly the right spot, and looking out vigilantly for the correct license plate which never appeared. I told lift that I strongly objected, and they removed the transaction from my account.

I had this in August where a route shopping driver tried to get me to reveal where I was going. I didn't and he canceled.

Contacted Uber and their foreign customer help kept saying they couldn't find any evidence of me requesting a ride. I provided the license plate/date/time and a screenshot of the ride request and texts. Then the Uber reps kept sending me form messages solving various problems that had nothing to do with my issue.

Can't say I've completely stopped using Uber, but I have drastically cut my use after this incident.

I am a very casual Uber driver (in Australia) so I will give you my perspective. The last two months I have only give 10 rides, so I rarely drive nowadays :D And the seven months in I have been registered driver, a total of 234 rides (so that's about 33 rides per month). Driving was enjoyable for the first few months when things were new and was nice chatting to people especially those who loved travelling (like I do), then it got repetitive, riders were inputting wrong locations, riders made me wait, some were a bit too rowdy so I have slowed down driving.. Driving was really for kicks during my spare time. Anyway I have a 4.90* driver rating so I guess I am doing the right thing :p

With my situation, I never route shopped but have heard several riders tell me that they have had that happen to them and the common reason was their ride was too out of the way or in the wrong direction. Personally I prefer the long trips even if I know I won't get a ride back. The reason for this is I dislike finding locations / passengers which goes back to my first paragraph (riders were inputting wrong locations, made me wait etc). Picking up four or five rides in an hour and spending a good amount of that "finding" people, needing to slow down a lot or park/wait in areas which you could get fined, that would drive me nuts. No wonder why I do a few trips and go home now.

In my situation, I have accepted rides and cancelled them not too long after (probably around four or so times) because despite being the 'closest' driver, the map does not take into consideration my direction of travel. So if I am a block away from the rider but driving down a one way street, going the other way, and will find it difficult getting to the rider, I will cancel BUT always select the option "Cancel Ride, Do Not Charge Rider". We have that option as a driver.

As a driver, when we reach the pin the rider has set, there is a five minute timer that automatically counts down. This means, the rider has five minutes to get to the car as well. If we are waiting at the pin spot for anymore than five minutes, the app gives us the option cancel the ride, call it a no-show and charge the rider. This is a great feature that they introduced probably around three-four months ago because before that it was up to the driver's discretion (was it two minutes? or ten? or whatever before it's called a no-show).

Unfortunately there will always be some bad lemons out there.

As I understand it, for Lyft Line rides, it's ONE minute!

Which as a Lyft Line user, I like. It's so annoying when the other person isn't out of their apartment and we're sitting there waiting. It also puts the driver in an awkward position - do I leave, providing proper customer service to the passenger already in the car, but annoying Customer #2 (even though that customer is at fault), or do I wait a little longer, annoying customer #1 .

I'm not a big Uber user but I've noticed this more recently in the U.S., and it's very common in Latin America, where, due to nasty taxi vs. Uber fights, there are de facto no-pickup zones. As a fairly new Uber user last year, I had about five drivers cancel on me in Cartagena before I figured out the taxi mafia had made some of the more popular tourist spots very unpopular for Uber drivers to the point they just cancel when they see certain spots.

As a driver, I make it a point to notify via text that I've arrived. However, I've received my share of wait time, in particular commuters that text me their train is arriving in 15 minutes or so, on a POOL request. Why bother asking for UBER when you are still away? There are also several issues with pin location, as it doesn't always specify which side you are at upon pick up. I've had my share of pick up request on areas that are right on the side of a highway, no particular home or location, I text rider, then I call and they do not answer. I do not want to cancel, but time is money, if you do not provide me right location, nor are there when I arrive or answer my text/call, I move on.

I recently had a driver cancel on me after 20 minutes waiting. I did not order car until I was at the pickup location. I texted the driver that I was at the location. I noted the car did not appear to be moving. I tried to call the driver 2 times, but they did not answer. The car then started moving but stopped short of the location. I texted again my exact location (airport designated location so no confusion). The driver did not respond and finally cancelled. I got charged 10 pounds. After complaining, uber removed it. I cant help but think that the drivers end game was to get me to cancel and collect a fee.

Lyft requires that drivers maintain a 90% acceptance rate in order to achieve promotional bonuses. One way they can circumvent this is to accept a ride, then not move or drive in the opposite direction, to maintain their acceptance rating while not having to pick up that passenger.

There are a number of reasons why a driver would not want a ride. It could be that you were too far away, in the wrong direction for traffic, had a low rating etc. Or, the driver could simply have forgotten that they left that app on.

Does this happen with Uber, too? I've had drivers accept but drive the wrong way three times. I cancel eventually.

Seems like the longer we do ride share, the more it becomes like taxi service (not really, still WAY better than taxi)

Sure, but if something goes wrong, and you complain to a taxi company, they'll simply laugh at you.

If you complain to Uber, they'll send you form letters until either you give up or you find someone competent in the customer service roulette game.

If you complain to Lyft, you might get someone competent, although there are some that really don't want to help.

By that time, you will have hit the Powerball jackpot, and won't really care.