[painfreepc]

12 Year Driving Taxi in the IE 1999 to 2011, car was $500 per week and can have own clients, i was networking with a few other drivers to keep personal business going.

My current car is a 2017 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid Reserve
As of 10.26.14 I am now a Uber/Lyft driver. This is My Advice for New Uber/Lyft Drivers (take it or leave it)

The following rules and advice are not written in stone, relax as needed...

For your safety.

Do not walk women to door, boyfriends and husbands may think you are the other guy, If you are looking for a quick beat down, Do this on the wrong night and you will find what you are looking for, You are not a taxi driver, you are just some unknown man/woman in a car.

if your passenger becomes hostile, angry, or threatening in any way, do not get out of your car, your car is your safety zone if you have to get out of your car remember to take your keys and cell phone with you but do not approach the passenger,

Only allow passenger to seat behind you if all other seats are taken, as far as i'm concerned this is total disrespect,

Don't give a drunk man's woman too much attention, This is not a joke - You have been warned..

Do not deliver sealed packages, this is bad news for a lot of reasons, unless you are doing it as part of a Uber/Lyft delivery program

For your health and well-being

Occasionally get out of car when it's appropriate, assist passengers when it's obviously needed, get out and open your own trunk, not saying you have to load the luggage but at least supervise the loading of the luggages and packages Do this for your heath not just to assistant clients,

if you work long hours and feeling fatigued, take naps and breaks when needed

For Your Ratings

Keep windows clean at all times and Always offer the front seat (i don't always offer but i do keep it clear of personal items),


Greet the client by name if possible, say "Hello john, thank you for using uber/lyft, good morning/afternoon/evening,

do not ask how is your morning evening or night, unless they ask you first, Some people take this type of comment personally remember not everyone's brain working in the same, your passenger may be having a bad day, for whatever reason, so why ask someone how is their day morning noon or night unless they ask you first,

ask your passengers to let you know if the car is too hot or too cold and if they prefer windows up or down, blah blah blah I know it's your car your way your rules, just remember they are paying for a ride and if you're using Uber or Lyft money to pay your bills your passengers is where that money came from,

Confirm address with passenger, Ask if they wish to point the way or use GPS, and try to restrain from using voice navigation you should have your phone mounted high enough so you can clearly see the navigation it is very annoying, I only turn on voice navigation if for example in LA during the very confusing freeway transitions,

ask what freeway speed they wish you to drive, the limit or 5, 10, 15 MPH over, my cruise control is set at a limit of 69 mph just an occasional burst of speed or slow down to keep cars from cruising next to me (may limit is 5 MPH over without asking)

Ask if they have favorite music station or offer direct audio imput, i don't do this everytime,

do not force conversations with passengers this is one of the biggest mistakes that drivers make, instead start off with a leading comment like wow really has been hot the last couple of days, wow really has been cold the last couple of days, and if the passenger responds with more than a yep well then you know they don't want to talk,

if your passenger is engaging in a conversation with you try to keep it to neutral subjects, do not ask your passengers opinion on things in the news, political thing, religion, opinions about dating and marriage, because they may have an extreme opposite opinion of yours and now you opened yourself up to a whole can of worms,

And also do not insert yourself into passengers conversation unless it is appropriate to do so, for example passengers in the back seat maybe having a discussion about what movies they want to see and don't want to see and there's obviously a slight dispute between them, don't open your mouth and suggest a movie, you may be for example pissing off the account holder, and then you may Wonder later why you got a one star,

Offer personal assistant, especially to the elderly or people with disabilities, My mom uses a walker I have one stared a lot of drivers for not helping my mother,

Do not call clients unless really needed, it's annoying to passangers,

If client does any of the following, most of the time cancel:

3 or more for Uber pool or lyft-line = Cancel, (dont't every relax this rule)

5 or more for UberX , 7 or more for UberXL = Cancel, (dont't every relax this rule)

Got to love the client phone calls and texts - Not

Call or text or gets in car complaining about anything = Cancel,

Call for any reason but sounds drank or stoned = Cancel, (dont't every relax this rule)

Call or text, to ask "Where are you?" = Cancel, (i usually relax this this rule, if they don't sound disrespectful)

Call or text, with something like "your ETA was 4 minutes, 5 minutes a go" = Cancel,

Call or text within a few seconds, to say you passed the location = Cancel,

Call or text about wrong pin location, but don't acknowledge their mistake = Cancel,

Call more than once to ask your ETA = Cancel,

Call to ask why your car stoped and it was only for a minute or less = Cancel,

Call to ask if you are coming = Cancel,

(i relax this rule, if more then a minute to get out of parking lot)

Call to ask if you know the area (yes, i've had this call a few times) = Cancel,

Call to ask if they can pay cash = Cancel,

Call to ask if you can pick-up someone under 18 yo (happen just last Friday) = Ride Cancel,

Call or text with address and/or directions to their location, that's clearly shown in app = Cancel,

All passenger(s) Coming look under 18 yo = Cancel (uber's tos, much be 18 yo or older to have uber account)

Asks you to delivery a sealed package = Cancel,

Asks you pick-up a sealed package from a 3rd party and deliver to a 4th party = Cancel,

Ask you to wait for friend(s) that's coming to car, a few minutes later they need to go look for friend(s) = Cancel,

Having to tell passenger, you can't do this or that = Cancel,

Passenger with rating (unless high surge) of 4.6 or under = Cancel

Not acknowledging any mistake(s) on their part = Cancel,

My fav,

Calling to Tell you, you could have been 1 or more minutes earlier if you had turned on that other street = Cancel,

Too many to list all, but you get the picture..


After all that, Just S.T.F.U. and Drive, unless passanger wishes to talk,
("s.t.f.u. and drive" is my transportation motto)

 

[painfreepc]

Where are you at and they give a different address cancel

if they immediately acknowledge the mistake, i will pick-up, if not = cancel

 

[painfreepc]

Does anyone know if the rider can rate you before you pick them up and start the trip? In other words if I call them and they have totally screwed up the address or something can I cancel on them without getting rated?

No one can do any rating until start of trip, driver or client,

just for your information, Did you know if a passenger give you a bad rating by mistake, they can if they wish contact Uber CSR to give you a new rating..

 

[painfreepc]

Have you ever considered that your attitude towards passengers makes them rate other drivers lower out of general disgust for Uber?

I get 2 or 3 of your points on the list. The rest are silly and anti-passenger.

I an a client as well as a Driver, my 7 day rating this week is 5.0

My rules work for me, you can relex any rule as needed.

 

[painfreepc]

At least there's someone out here who's willing to tell the passengers they stink unlike everyone else who keeps it to himself and complains about it on a message board

Yes i do tell then. Many times passenger is standing right at my window, my uber rating still shows as 4.9 in the client app,

if trip has not started you have the power, if you have started trip then passenger has the power, now you kiss ass,

A few if you need to grown some balls..

 

[painfreepc]

Is there any downside with Uber for canceling too much? Meaning.....do they know every time you cancel and use it against you if they deem it excessive?

Don't be excessive, only time i got a text about canceling was when trying to work surge, i canceled about 3 out of 5 pings, uber said "we not having that shit" ...lol

 

[painfreepc]

but if you cancel too many trips, you will get risk to be deactive..... right?

The rules I have here are not written in stone you can sometimes give a stupid ass passenger a break,

But if you straight up disrespect me and/or my car you will get the boot,

Remember if enough time has past you can always cancel as a no show are you can try to force the passenger to cancel,

last week I was parked on one of the shoreline beach city streets I think it was Manhattan Beach or Hermosa Beach it doesn't really matter, I got the usual uber ping, but only for this ping I just happened to be parked where the passenger happens to be, so uber does its usual automatic arrival which means I could not see the address, I am on a one way street, so i pull away from the curb and then go to check the address. To my surprise as I said the passenger was already where I was, so I made a u-turn and then made another u-turn to go back to get the passenger,

as soon as passenger got into my car, I was told I was very rude, I said what are you talking about passenger says you left me you are a very rude driver, I said no I did not leave you, uber automatically told you I had arrived I did not know where you were so I made a u-turn, passenger says I don't want to hear that, you are rude, I politely pulled over to the curb as I only moved the car a few feet and had not started the trip, I tell the passenger get out of my car we are done, passenger says I am NOT leaving the car you are taking me to where I'm going you have already accepted the trip,

I said yes I accepted trip but I have not started trip and you are going to cancel the trip, passenger says no I am NOT going to cancel the trip, I said I am parked here I will sit here for the next 4 minutes and that will be the five minute mark and I will cancel passenger as a no show which will cost you $5 or you can cancel it right now and it will not cost you anything,

passenger said I still not leaving the car, I said after five minute mark I will cancel trip collect my $5 and I will call the police and have you put out of my private car, passenger immediately open the door and stepped out,

Yes passenger cancelled trip.

let's face facts most of you would have taken the **** to where she need to go and would apologize even after he called you rude, then you wonder why your uber ratings go straight to hell, have a nice day.

 

[painfreepc]

I picked up a PAX last night that was a little miffed that her boyfriend ordered an UBER POOL for her and a bunch of strangers got in the car during the trip.

We drivers need to stop accepting uber pool, its total bullshit and sometimes a problem.

 

[painfreepc]

it's 2:30am in covina CA, just canceled for breaking the following 4 rules:

Call more than once to ask your ETA = Cancel,

Call for any reason but sounds drank or stoned = Cancel,

Call to ask if you are coming = Cancel,

call or text with address and/or directions to their location, that's clearly shown in app = Cancel,

 

[painfreepc]

I cannot tell if this is satire or legitimate. If legit we might as well call you the UberNazi. No ride for you!

Said the new member..

If you're speaking of my rules, they are not satire, but that does not mean I enforce every rule every time a situation happens, my rules are not embedded in stone, but a few of them are,

You call me and say things like "your ETA was 6 minutes 7 minutes ago" you're getting cancelled, not going to allow you to give me one star because you think the ETA showing in the app is embedded in Stone,

You called me and ask me "what is your ETA i'm late for work" you're getting canceled, not going to allow you to give me one star because there was no Uber or Lyft close to you when you made your request or because you were too stupid to request a car early enough to be to work on time,

You try to turn my Ford Fusion into a clown car your entire group is getting cancelled, I'm not going to allow you to split your group with me and another car and then give me a 1-star because I didn't take your buddies,

 

[painfreepc]

1. If rider calls, text or gets in car complaining about anything, just cancel and uber on,

I have cancelled 1 ride since I started. I have no idea how you can cancel a ride when the guy is already in your car complaining ??

Also, on a lot of these cancels, you will surely be pinged out again as the closest driver. If you ignore pings too often, you could lose your job.

I am kind of new here and still learning

1. Wait a few seconds before starting trip,
2. Go offline for a minute,
3. You are new, would have never guessed, lol..

 

[painfreepc]

Do you even finish one ride with all those rules? I bet you was making more money when you was a taxi driver.

I did not make more money driving Taxi most of the taxi business in the Inland Empire is non-emergency medical transport, if you are not one of the taxi companies favorite driver you're not going to make any money doing that, only reason why I made money at all is because I did my own advertising and dispatchers do not like it when you can get a bunch of calls on your own.

 

[painfreepc]

Do you even finish one ride with all those rules? I bet you was making more money when you was a taxi driver.

The things that I have listed in my rules do not happen daily and as I stated you can relax the rules as needed,

obvious things that I am not going to relax:

disrespecting me on the phone or disrespecting me standing by my car or in my car will get you an instant boot,

Calling me to tell me that you're late for work = cancel

Making my automobile into a clown car will get the entire trip canceled I will not take any part of the group,

Calling me to question my route to pick you up and yes I've had this done about 5 or 6 times now = cancel,

Stepping out into the middle of a busy Street to get into my car when there's plenty of room curbside for me to pull over about 30% of the time will get you cancelled,

Call me on the phone and you sound stoned out of your mind = cancel,

Is 2:30 a.m. in the morning and I'm not going to sit here and list all the examples of things and I will absolutely cancel..

 

[painfreepc]

Cancel - my new best friend

Seriously.

Additional : "call with driving-to-pickup advice from India" ---- try for cancel-no-show, do NOT under any circumstances allow in car...but REALLY TRY or a no show charge, these overwhelmingly bossy and pushy pax deserve to pay through the nose for messing with their drivers on minfares

God bless you,
I wish more drivers would do this, maybe some of these entitled passengers will get the message..

I think many of you here have an idea that I cancel and drive away from people on a daily basis, I do not, I can go several weeks and not have one single..

 

[painfreepc]

I'm in the city of Los Alamitos California I guess now I have the dreaded phone call how your ETA was 5 minutes 7 minutes ago, and complaining about the route I'm taking to their pickup,

I replied your ETA for pickup is about to get a lot longer, he said why, I hung up and cancel do not take any disrespect from passengers anyone who disrespects you on the phone is not going to respect you in your car or when they hit the rating screen.

 

[painfreepc]

I had a pain of a rider. The account holder texted me, asking me to pick up his client. Gave me clients number. It was at Walmart. I waited a couple minutes than called him. He was looking for his "girl" He came out and asked me to start the ride. I did. They finally came out. I figured I was getting paid for waiting. He was a bit of an arrogant jerk, but it ended up being a $34 ride, and he tipped me $9. Go figure...

I'm glad it worked out for you, but it is not a good idea to start a ride until all passengers are in your car,

remember you the driver have all the power until you start to trip.

 

[painfreepc]

If you order an Uber, a real person in a real car (burning real gasoline) is devoting his/her full attention to promptly reach your pickup location. If you enter the wrong location and/or are not ready within a reasonable time frame, you will get no ride and will pay a cancellation fee to help offset the driver's effort.

You cannot be 100% sure that the address entered is wrong.

I'm a passenger as well as a driver and you have no ideas the things that can go wrong to make the address appear incorrect,

Do you know for example that even when I put in the right address as a passenger, sometimes the Uber app will give you an address range and not the address I actually put in, why it does that I have absolutely no idea,

I have requested an Uber from one of the big government building downtown San Bernardino for example,
don't know the address so I used a pin position but the Uber app doesn't give the driver where I actually am,

It gives another building way across the parking lot is that supposed to be my fault..

 

[painfreepc]

Seems to me youre doing more cancelling than driving. So if someone gets in your car and says their having a bad day you cancel and ask them to exit the vehcile? Seems extreme. Asking someone to get out for some stupid reason you invented will cause more problems for you.

I don't cancel that many people to be honest, and I haven't put somebody out of my car in about 3 years, these things don't come up very often and the ones that will cause me to put somebody out of my car rarely come up, been doing this 8 years taxi for 12 years even in taxi of my 12 years of doing it I think I put somebody out of my car maybe three times, those are my rules for driving and as I said they're not engraved in stone do I give people break sometimes do I ignore them yes I do, my rules as they help maintain my ratings and my safety, if you don't care about your ratings and your safety that's up to you, you do you and I do me, my rating score is 100% on lyft, and currently 4.98 on Uber.

 

[painfreepc]

@LagunabobB
Someone calls you and texts you, and says hey why the hell are you driving down Magnolia Avenue instead of the 91 freeway I'm late for work, you're still going to pick them up right, six people try to get in your car you're going to sit there and negotiate and take four of them right, if your answer is actually yes you have no idea what you're doing, someone is a problem to you and you haven't even actually given them service yet try doing that in a brick and mortar store and see what happens, try calling any other service industry on the phone and be a problem and difficult and they haven't even accepted your money yet, good luck with that.