[That American]

Offer H2O and phone/USB power. These are huge and pax love them.

H2O: I keep a small soft pack with flip up top cooler handy with sealed ice pack (no loose ice = no water in car!) ; Cases of water are cheap between $1.99 - $2.99 for 24 bottles. keep in trunk and replenish as needed.
As for power, I have 1 outlet in front seat; 2 outlets for rears seats . Each has a DC USB charger and I carry 2 iPhone and 1 micro USB cords (Android/Blackberry) with me at all times. Tip : get the retractable cords so they stash easy and don't get all tangled. Can be picked up at $1 stores, Big Lots, TJ MAXX, etc.

For the record, the USB Power wins pax over more than H20. Except late evenings when both are in high demand!

Uber on.....

For a 6 Dollar trip. yeah not doing that. As for a Phone charger it is always Iphone. Always. Apple is so effed up their own charger doesn't work on some of their phones. It's a 10-20 minute trip 95% of the time. People need to get some perspective. You aren't buying a house.

 

[LagunabobB]

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.

As of 10.26.14 I am now a uberX driver.
This is My Advice for new Uber/Lyft Drivers (take it or leave it)

The following rules are not written in stone, relax as needed...
My Rules, To Increase, Protect your Rating and a few for your personal safety:

Just added: 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)

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.

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),

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

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 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

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,

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 deliver packages, this is bad news for a lot of reasons,

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

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

My Rules, To Protect My Rating, Not All Money is Good Money,
Some Times You Cut Your Loses and Uber On:

The following rules are not written in stone, relax as needed...
If client does any of the following, 90% 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)

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.

 

[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.

 

[UberNeophyte]

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.

As of 10.26.14 I am now a uberX driver.
This is My Advice for new Uber/Lyft Drivers (take it or leave it)

The following rules are not written in stone, relax as needed...
My Rules, To Increase, Protect your Rating and a few for your personal safety:

Just added: 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)

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.

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),

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

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 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

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,

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 deliver packages, this is bad news for a lot of reasons,

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

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

My Rules, To Protect My Rating, Not All Money is Good Money,
Some Times You Cut Your Loses and Uber On:

The following rules are not written in stone, relax as needed...
If client does any of the following, 90% 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)

Crumbs to read later