# Baltimore Drivers, how do you do on ratings?



## gprimr1 (Mar 7, 2015)

Hello

I'm wondering how other Baltimore drivers do. I've been driving about 4 weekends now and I'm running a 4.7. I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong. I've been studying the forum.

I great everyone with a "hello, can I have your name please" then they answer, is start the trip, and say "I see your going to x" then "how are you today?" after that I ask if they like the radio station and if it's to hot or to cold to let me know. 

I did 7 trips last night and got a 4.25. I made no wrong turns, picked up everyone where they put the pin, I don't get what I'm doing wrong.

Does anyone have trouble with people putting the pins not where they are?


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## gprimr1 (Mar 7, 2015)

Another night, went down to 4.65. I wish people would leave some feedback about why they are rating me so low.


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## williamjohnson (Feb 26, 2015)

i hate people


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## Nova828 (Oct 15, 2014)

That is a bit concerning, especially when you drop below that 4.7 mark and still dropping. Remember that all 95 percent of your riders care about (in terms of what rating they will give) are getting to where they are going as quickly and cheaply as possible. I would look over your trips and see where, in the eyes of the passenger, you went wrong. Some things you can't control, like surge pricing and traffic so maybe you had a lot of trips where those 2 things were factors in which case you're probably doing fine and things will pick up. But...are there a lot of trips where looking back you could have taken a faster route to the passenger and/or to the desination? 

What I would do is first learn where you went wrong and make sure you really know your city and go downtown during a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Ask every passenger if they would like to direct you or have you follow the GPS route. You'll get lots of tourists and lot's of $5 rides so you won't make much money, but most of them should rate you a 5. Don't offer water or mints, don't ask passengers about what they want on the radio or anything like that. Just keep it simple: Just "Hi, how are you today....can I confirm your name....great, I see you're going to 120 main street, do you want to direct me or I can follow the GPS?...

Also, avoid surge priced trips greater than 1.5x, and avoid long distance pickups. You'd think passengers would be greatful to you for driving a long time to pick them up, but often they are not. If you get long distance ping accept it, pull over, and tell them it's going to be twice the time you think it really will be. If they cancel great, if not at least you can maybe win back a good rating using the "under promise, over deliver" technique.


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## Holiday (Feb 20, 2015)

You r fine bruh once u give more trip ur rating will eventually go Wayy upp in my drake voice lol I'm at 3000 trips n 4.81-4.85 up n Down jus watch out for late nite weekends when the surge hit 3x n the pax ratin is at 4.1 n u pick him up n he's rude like shit n makin out with is partner but u got to love ur uber client tho lol


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## JWalkerBaltimore (Jan 20, 2015)

I drive Baltimore, only Friday and Saturday night, some Sunday mornings. UBER did state they track your ratings based on time of day and by rider in a recent email for Baltimore and they realize late night riders may give lower average ratings than day so I wouldn't worry too much, but I've been driving since NYE and have a 4.8. 

I keep the car clean on the inside, I offer to change music or climate, and if a longer trip ask if they want me to take the GPS route or use their directions. Almost every weekend drivers tell me they hate Baltimore Cabs because they're dirty, driver's are sketchy, and sometimes very rude; so keeping my car clean, having a decent appearance, and if they're talkative I don't mind chatting it up has seemed to work.

Day trips I may not ask about the music but I like to jam the radio at night and a lot of the college kids I've picked up usually want to do the same so that's a win win in my book.

I feel like ratings in TOWSON are lower than elsewhere and between Towson and Loyola the rides can suck unless you get them wanting to go downtown on surge. Also harder to find the riders around the bars in Towson because they always drop bad locations. I don't waste time searching, give them 5 minutes and cancel. Used to try to be more accomodating but not worth it in the long run.

If you start your night or hang around Nottingham/White Marsh during surge, a lot of times you'll get a decent ride downtown. It also seems like Dundalk is always in a higher surge even though it's closer distance wise to downtown where most are going.


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## gprimr1 (Mar 7, 2015)

I review my trips usually when I get home, and I will admit that I found a 3 trips over the last 2 weeks where I could have made better choices on directions. One GPS took me on a wild goose chase and one where a street was recently converted to one way and google hadn't updated. Generally though, my routes are right on the money. My car is clean and smells good, I usually wash/vaccume friday evenings. 

I do most of my driving in Towson, since I've lived here for a decade, I feel most comfortable, but I might start going up into lutherville and over to white marsh, and def doing the day trime trips. That's a good point about tourists. I'm getting killed in that 10-20 trips a week aren't rating me. 

I've turned away a few fares for trying to fit 6 people in my car, but I always report the rider to Uber. I am going to start using the line about surge pricing. It's a ducking shame that we, the drivers, are getting hit for that. 

I know about the downtown pickups. I hate doing downtown pickups, but last couple weeks I usually just have been ferrying from campus to Little Dickies. 

I had a $60 fare, Lutherville to almost the end of 795. Bet he rated me down.


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## harcosparky (Jul 18, 2015)

Let's check in here and have one central place for BALTIMORE ---> https://uberpeople.net/threads/baltimore-md.28425/


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