[Bob Reynolds]

Universal used to have a system that worked. You would pull up into a numbered space in the pickup and transportation center and wait for a ping. When the ping came, you would call the rider and tell them what space you were in. The rider(s) would walk over to the space, get in your vehicle and then you took them out of one of the two side exits (not the main exit). Traffic moved. Passengers were happy. Drivers were happy.

These days Universal has blocked off all of the numbered parking spaces and the pings can only come when you are outside of the transportation center. Meanwhile there is a 45 minute line of traffic (buses, taxis, ride-share and individual pick-ups) trying to get into the transportation center from two directions. Once you actually get into this bizarre mess then it takes another 30 minutes to find and pick up your rider (out of the hundreds of park visitors standing and looking for the proper vehicle) and rescue them from this incredible passenger disaster. It's not a good customer experience for all involved.

It's not just ride-share that is affected. The buses, taxis and individual pick ups have to deal with this same issue.

Universal is the only park that has this problem. Every other park has figured out how to be efficient with passenger pick drop off and pick up. Why can't Universal fix this problem? The Universal employees are often rude and stressed out as they have to deal with the mess.

And the smart drivers turn down the pings from the Universal Transportation Center which just makes the system back up more as passengers can't get out of that place.

 

[mithrass]

I am a newer driver and found this out really quick. What a mess!

 

[Shine'ola]

I am a newer driver and found this out really quick. What a mess!

have you figured out yet that driving UberX in Orlando is a waste of time?

 

[Bob Reynolds]

I've driven and tested all of these different sorts of vehicles. I have participated in the studies that have been run. I have to agree that at the present rates, you absolutely can not make money with UberX in Orlando in any shape, form or fashion. Hopefully in the future, this will be different. We used to make money with Uber.

 

[New Uber]

yep. the problem is more people are ubering to Universal more than ever. This drop off center was not designed for an army of Ubers. So throw in tons of buses and it's a disaster. Universal needs to separate the Ubers from the buses

 

[Stevie The magic Unicorn]

it worked really well when it was just taxis queued up, next group got the next taxi in line, no searching for anyone, taxis went in and queued just where they do now,

And you could actually make money doing it..

 

[HotUberMess]

They have multiple problems.. for starters they need a separate area for buses. But since they don’t, they really should consider doing something to fix the flow of traffic. Buses come in and immediately have difficulty navigating the sharp right turn, causing some Uber and Lyft drivers to try and scoop them on the right or left during standstill traffic, creating a complete jam. They can solve this by only having incoming traffic enter that way and all other traffic take the auxilliary exits. (Or even construct a dedicated aux exit!)

Second, they put those idiotic cones up and try to block anyone from exiting as soon as they pick up. If you’re smart enough to read this forum, then you’re smart enough to handle this red-hot tip: those cones are moveable. Get out of your car, grab a few, stack them up out of your way and exit the line as soon as you make your pickup. For this reason, ALWAYS choose the outside lane.

Third, it is chaos, so call your rider even before you arrive and explain the situation. I can't figure out why the other drivers sit there and don’t call. You can’t even get a good shuffle rhythm going there because it’s just standstill frustration. Call and do your pickup. I have my riders walk to the back of the line because they’re faster moving than the line.

 

[MasterC]

After the first fatality....they will be forced to change this transportation center.

 

[New Uber]

After the first fatality....they will be forced to change this transportation center.

I've seen people nearly run over. It will happen eventually

 

[Roadrunner 750]

When I first started in June, 2017, I had a pickup in there and almost got hit by taxis, Lyfts, and other Uber’s. I remember a remark I made about not going into a place where I feel I need a ballistic vest and a helmet to get in and out of. I know an Uber driver that shuts off his app when he has a dropoff near US...don’t blame him at all.

 

[New Uber]

Whenever I get a Universal request I get automatically sad. And take a deep breath. Like I said that drop-off center wasn't designed for an Uber army. with buses etc

 

[Stevie The magic Unicorn]

Whenever I get a Universal request I get automatically sad. And take a deep breath. Like I said that drop-off center wasn't designed for an Uber army. with buses etc

Yeah it was designed for the taxi queue, which is infinitly better, the taxis line up and as wiling victims customers come out they get into the next cab in line. No searching, no looking... just walk on down and introduce yourself to the driver.

 

[MasterC]

The Universal parking garage in Orlando opened in 1999 as one component of the expansion that transformed Universal Studios Florida into today's Universal Orlando Resort.
It was built over the former Universal Studios parking lot and entrance
Way before Uber, Lyft, guest drop off's etc.
I just warn my riders to go to Hard Rock hotel and call from there when ready. Easy boat trip or a shorter walk.

 

[New Uber]

The Universal parking garage in Orlando opened in 1999 as one component of the expansion that transformed Universal Studios Florida into today's Universal Orlando Resort.
It was built over the former Universal Studios parking lot and entrance
Way before Uber, Lyft, guest drop off's etc.
I just warn my riders to go to Hard Rock hotel and call from there when ready. Easy boat trip or a shorter walk.

That's a good idea.

 

[Bob Reynolds]

Well it took almost 5 months, but Universal has now made an effort to fix this problem and separate the rideshare pickup area from the taxi and bus pickup area. It should solve the bus loop problem.

 

[OrlUberOffDriver]

Well it took almost 5 months, but Universal has now made an effort to fix this problem and separate the rideshare pickup area from the taxi and bus pickup area. It should solve the bus loop problem.

So, Universal came on this forum, read your post got their worst brains together and now created a worst nightmare. Thank you, Bob.
Ps that is 5 YEARS in the making. #UniversalFAIL

 

[Demon]

So, Universal came on this forum, read your post got their worst brains together and now created a worst nightmare. Thank you, Bob.
Ps that is 5 YEARS in the making. #UniversalFAIL

This is an Uber and Lyft fail.

 

[Bob Reynolds]

So, Universal came on this forum, read your post got their worst brains together and now created a worst nightmare. Thank you, Bob.
Ps that is 5 YEARS in the making. #UniversalFAIL

I know for a fact that they read this thread on this forum and sent an e-mail in response to it. Maybe they would have done something anyway and maybe they would have just kept the traffic jam going. But there were several of us that did contact Universal and tried to make them aware of this issue.

This thread was also well indexed in Google.

What did you do to help out on this?

 

[Shine'ola]

ohh back in the day a summer storm would come up and I would slip into the loop undetected, wait 5 minutes for a big surge and swoop up a $60 ride to Disney, I even caught the same family two days in a row, one day I got these Disney employee girls on like a 4x XL ride to Reams rd. It didn't tell them how much it would cost back then, I think it cost her $160 and she was happy that she had a $20 promo, the other girls were telling her that they would all chip in....bless their hearts for using the new cool Uber

 

[Stevie The magic Unicorn]

I finally did a load from the new pickup area.

it actually wasn't that bad to be 100% honest.

and this was doing an Uber ping.

I finally did a load from the new pickup area.

it actually wasn't that bad to be 100% honest.

and this was doing an Uber ping.

and this was at 1:21 am on holloween horror nights.

Completely honest I think they have this much better than it was before.

Combined with how much better this is for us at the bus loop,

I think overall universal has made this better for everyone.