How To Save Money As A Rideshare Passenger

 

AKA, the thing that most passengers seem to want to know about.

10) Don't take the ride right away all the time.

The apps are monitoring how you use them. If you accept rides immediately, they classify you as always being in a hurry and not checking the competition -- i.e., able to take higher prices.

9) Don't wait until your phone is about to die.

Uber especially is prone to leveraging desperate passengers. It's not nice, but it's how the game is played. Play or be played.

8) Consider reserving the ride. 

If your ride is consistently timed and dated and keeps running into high fluctuation, reserve it in advance. You'll pay more than you might, but probably less than you will.

7) Mind the clock.

Sometimes, driver bonuses occur during set hours. So if your price seems high on a request at 59 minutes past the hour, try it again at 01.

6) Make them fight for your business. Check both platforms and make them "win you back."

Most folks seems to know to do this, but the reality is that the platforms offer incentives to drivers that are invisible to passengers. You may be able to take advantage. (Side note; 7 in 10 rideshare drivers are on both platforms, and both platforms do background checks now, so you are pretty much getting the same driver.) If we're more on one platform than the other, the chance of a surge price and longer wait times are going to go down, and vice versa. Also, if you use a platform and then stop for a while, this puts you in the bucket of customers they need to "win back" with coupons and discount codes.

5) Monitor your costs.

Especially if you have a consistent commute. If you know your floor, you will know when you are paying for a higher ceiling, and can maybe feel more confident about rejecting that rate and trying again.

4) Have patience with surge pricing -- but this is risky.

Eventually, all surge pricing fades -- but some drivers do not work unless it is in surge pricing, especially if the time of the request is late in the evening, or near closing times at bars. Candidly, I drive to make my nut; when it's made, I'm usually shutting down, even if there is a little more surge happening at that time. It might not be the most efficient way to get there, but drivers are humans, not machines. (So far.)

3) Maybe walk a little.

If you are in a peak zone and pick up location (game, concert, event, etc.), getting away from that place could cut your surge price. It's also possible that your driver will spend less time in traffic and get you moving faster. This is especially true near stadiums and train stations -- but make sure the app (and your driver) can track your location. We have to go to the place where we are supposed to pick you up to start the clock.

2) Be ready when the driver gets there.

You'll save the wait time cost. You'll also likely get a better rating from the driver. Frankly, if I have to wait for you, the chance of you getting a curt driver are also on the rise. Like follows like.

1) Add stops rather than request multiple rides.

Just be sure that your time spent during the stops is minimized. (Especially if you want to keep your rating high.)

Bonus: It may seem counter-productive... but tip. (Either cash or in-app.)

If passengers don't tip, drivers get conditioned to rarely take rides outside of surge zones, especially when we're bouncing back and forth between both apps. If you want to keep the possibility of drivers taking regular price rides up, you can't just assume that someone else will always cover for you. Even a buck or two matters, especially when a full-day shift can involves 20 to 30 fares.

Final point on this: if you say you are going to tip in the app and do not, you spend eternity in a special ironic level of Hell. Do not spend eternity in a special ironic level of Hell.