It's A Competition

 Here's something that people may know, but do not really understand about rideshare... drivers do not work for the platforms. They work for the passenger. Who they are likely never going to see again. So in my case, I am mostly working for myself, and that guy... is not easy to work for.

Drivers perform to the expectations directed to remain in the platform, but assuming that you don't get too far out of bounds... that's about it. If you, as the passenger, have an experience that makes you not use the platform again, it doesn't really matter to the driver, unless you raise real beef about it, and maybe not even then, without proof. It's also invisible to them. I'm not saying the gig is Karen-proof, but personally, I do not run into too many Karens.

So if your driver cancels on you, you don't really have a recourse. The same goes for when a passenger cancels on a driver, and by the way, that happens a lot more to drivers then it does to passengers. From a platform standpoint, so long as my metrics are above a certain level, it really... does not matter if I'm better at the job, or worse. (Well, better does seem to inspire more tipping and makes me happier, so that's what you get from me. Maybe not others.)

We don't really work for the platform. We work to be good enough to keep making money, and to work efficiently. You aren't taking a ride from the platform; you are taking a ride from a driver the platform found for you. 

It's competition.

And it goes both ways.

If you make a driver wait, you are costing them money, because that's time they are spending without efficiency. Waiting is about 1/4th of the revenue of driving. Passengers that are more conscientious get us to our goals faster. If you are using the driver as an audience for your conversation or personal drama or complicated errands, you aren't a competitive passenger. And should tip to cover the shortfall, but in general... you won't.

For the short tem, this does not really matter. If either the driver or the passenger gives three stars or less, they are not paired again -- but there probably are not more than a handful of drivers or passengers who have ever turned down a ride due to a rating. I turn down rides because they are too far away, are going to a place I have reasons to avoid (if I take you to Pennsylvania on Uber, I'm just driving back empty due to laws that only seem to matter to Uber), or involve a ton of tolls, traffic and distance. I'm double masked and don't enjoy overly long rides. I also do not want to work very far away from my home, for a bunch of reasons. That's why my acceptance rate will sometimes approach the low threshold.

But if you treat drivers inefficiently long enough? It will keep you from getting me again, because I'll 3-star you in an effort to save my own sanity, and maybe give you a reason to treat the next driver better.  And in a time when I consistently hear about how they are not enough drivers and you had to wait a long time...

Well, are you being as competitive as your driver?