# Are the wait fees enough?



## MadTownUberD (Mar 11, 2017)

Spike72 said:


> You get the ping, you accept it. According to the ping, the pickup is 5 minutes away - "that's not bad" you think. "I can arrive, pick up my passenger, get them to their destination, and move on to the next ride!" you ponder with positivity. You do some calculations in your head: "as long as the destination is more than 5 minutes from the pickup, it should be a pretty good profit for me!" you are psyched.
> 
> You arrive at the pickup, looking for the tell-tale sign of your passenger: a lit-up cell phone screen and a craned neck. You see no one who matches that description, you start looking for anyone who could potentially be your passenger - nobody. You re-check the pin on the map - "yup, I'm practically right on top of it!" - your positivity is waning. You make sure the clock for wait fees is counting down, it is. You shift your vehicle into 'park'; now you wait.
> 
> ...


Let me guess...parked in the Fresh Market pickup spot waiting on a Lucky 777 resident?


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## Fozzie (Aug 11, 2018)

Uber doesn't care, and pax will continue to abuse wait times until we all hit the unemployment line and are replaced by Uber autonomous vehicles. Uber won't care until it impacts them directly. (Same with the whole rating fiasco)


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## New2This (Dec 27, 2015)

From 3:01-5:00 they have a VERY hard time finding me.


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## Surgeio (Aug 14, 2017)

Excellent post .

The answers to your questions are:
No
Yes
No
Yes


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## xgamrgeekx (Dec 1, 2018)

I think if it were me, I would leave the doors locked for that 15 seconds, roll the window down just enough for them to hear me say, "waiting sucks, doesn't it?" and let them watch as I hit cancel ride at the end of that 15 seconds.

My favorite, noticing the pick up is at a high school. Roll up with my denial speech prepared.
Kid: Hey, ride for (parent's name, more than likely)?
Me: Yeah, how old are you?
Kid: I'm with my older brother.
Me: Okay, how old is he? (eyeballing a scraggly bearded young man walking toward us)
Kid: 16
Me: Sorry, no unaccompanied minors means I need someone over 18. Bye.


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## freddieman (Oct 24, 2016)

The ones that piss me off I just drive off without cancelling and park it couple blocks. They see ur car on their app. Don’t answer any text or phone. Ur trying to get them to cancel. The longer u wait it out, they are outside as well and can’t call another uber. Ur basically teaching them what it feels like to wait. Wintertime cold even better.....standing out in pouring rain bestest.


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## Mista T (Aug 16, 2017)

I love this article. People wasting my time is one of my top pet peeves.

To add insult to injury: pax gets in and says "Sorry about the wait" which you know is BS. After the ride, I give a lower star rating for wasting my time.


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## xgamrgeekx (Dec 1, 2018)

OH! I just remembered one that reeeeeaaallly pissed me off. Driving North outta SLC to head home, still had the app on for rides along the way (I've learned to wait until out of SLC or I get sucked back in). Got a ping for a p/u at a gas station on my way out. I arrived within 2 minutes and parked as I didn't see the pax outside. Or his gps guy on the map near the pin, I realize. Great. Get the text. He'll be out soon, will you wait? Yup. (for 5 min) at 1 min: you arrived faster than I thought, can you wait 5 more minutes? I look at the clock: 7:55, kidding me? I arrived 10 minutes before the end of this guy's shift? I look at the destination, one stop on the way to drop off, both nearby. Wasn't worth it, cancelled.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Spike72 said:


> You get the ping, you accept it. According to the ping, the pickup is 5 minutes away - "that's not bad" you think. "I can arrive, pick up my passenger, get them to their destination, and move on to the next ride!" you ponder with positivity. You do some calculations in your head: "as long as the destination is more than 5 minutes from the pickup, it should be a pretty good profit for me!" you are psyched.
> 
> You arrive at the pickup, looking for the tell-tale sign of your passenger: a lit-up cell phone screen and a craned neck. You see no one who matches that description, you start looking for anyone who could potentially be your passenger - nobody. You re-check the pin on the map - "yup, I'm practically right on top of it!" - your positivity is waning. You make sure the clock for wait fees is counting down, it is. You shift your vehicle into 'park'; now you wait.
> 
> ...


Even worse when they decide to have a leisurely conversation RIGHT NEXT to your car.


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## Uber_Dubler (Apr 4, 2018)

I've done 5000 plus rides the past two years. Let's break that down to 2,500 per year. 2,500 rides with 2 minutes of uncompensated wait times = 5,000 minutes = 83.xxx hours of uncompensated time = 2 weeks of lost wages. 

Add that to the 2 weeks of paid vacation time for most jobs which Uber drivers don't get and now you start to understand the many, many ways Uber takes advantage of its drivers. 

And that's not even considering the uncompensated time driving two the pick-up point.


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## IR12 (Nov 11, 2017)

Spike72 said:


> You get the ping, you accept it. According to the ping, the pickup is 5 minutes away - "that's not bad" you think. "I can arrive, pick up my passenger, get them to their destination, and move on to the next ride!" you ponder with positivity. You do some calculations in your head: "as long as the destination is more than 5 minutes from the pickup, it should be a pretty good profit for me!" you are psyched.
> 
> You arrive at the pickup, looking for the tell-tale sign of your passenger: a lit-up cell phone screen and a craned neck. You see no one who matches that description, you start looking for anyone who could potentially be your passenger - nobody. You re-check the pin on the map - "yup, I'm practically right on top of it!" - your positivity is waning. You make sure the clock for wait fees is counting down, it is. You shift your vehicle into 'park'; now you wait.
> 
> ...


Neither pax or uber cares if you're waiting, blocking traffic, while your engine's running. Seems the worse the pickup location the more inconsiderate pax is.


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## Crosbyandstarsky (Feb 4, 2018)

Spike72 said:


> You get the ping, you accept it. According to the ping, the pickup is 5 minutes away - "that's not bad" you think. "I can arrive, pick up my passenger, get them to their destination, and move on to the next ride!" you ponder with positivity. You do some calculations in your head: "as long as the destination is more than 5 minutes from the pickup, it should be a pretty good profit for me!" you are psyched.
> 
> You arrive at the pickup, looking for the tell-tale sign of your passenger: a lit-up cell phone screen and a craned neck. You see no one who matches that description, you start looking for anyone who could potentially be your passenger - nobody. You re-check the pin on the map - "yup, I'm practically right on top of it!" - your positivity is waning. You make sure the clock for wait fees is counting down, it is. You shift your vehicle into 'park'; now you wait.
> 
> ...


So you're made for this job. The wait time for a person is very low. There is no reason to complain. 5 minutes and they have to be there or you get paid. It's extremely reasonable. Cab drivers get paid nothing and wait longer. Chill out


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

Anything having to do with time is poorly compensated in Uberland, the trick in this scenario is to figure out how to get the cancellation fee and on to the next one.


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## cavenoize (Jul 13, 2018)

3:45 Go online on Lyft
4:30 Car in Drive
4:45 Start Driving
5:01 Cancel


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## Mista T (Aug 16, 2017)

Crosbyandstarsky said:


> So you're made for this job. The wait time for a person is very low. There is no reason to complain. 5 minutes and they have to be there or you get paid. It's extremely reasonable.


5 minutes is UNreasonable. Sounds like YOU are the only one who is okay with it. The rest of us... not so much.


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## BuckleUp (Jan 18, 2018)

Spike72 said:


> You get the ping, you accept it. According to the ping, the pickup is 5 minutes away - "that's not bad" you think. "I can arrive, pick up my passenger, get them to their destination, and move on to the next ride!" you ponder with positivity. You do some calculations in your head: "as long as the destination is more than 5 minutes from the pickup, it should be a pretty good profit for me!" you are psyched.
> 
> You arrive at the pickup, looking for the tell-tale sign of your passenger: a lit-up cell phone screen and a craned neck. You see no one who matches that description, you start looking for anyone who could potentially be your passenger - nobody. You re-check the pin on the map - "yup, I'm practically right on top of it!" - your positivity is waning. You make sure the clock for wait fees is counting down, it is. You shift your vehicle into 'park'; now you wait.
> 
> ...


That's a whole lot of thought that goes into an uber ride. 
Imagine what you could accomplish if you put all that mental energy into a worthwhile pursuit.
Now go rewatch those Shark Tank episodes, motivate yourself, hussle, stop working for da man, and make some green.

And btw your mistake at the T- 2 minute of the countdown is waiting for the paxhole. You should slide your vehicle round the nearest corner, or u-turn and move 50m up the street, in preparation for a slider. If the paxholes are not there by the 3 min mark of your arrival (2 min courtesy and 1 min wait time charge), they deserve a slider & cancel fee.

No one gives a hoot about you, but yourself. Look after yourself first, not uber, not paxholes. Maximize your $ on this BS gig until you hussle your way into a real income stream. Peace to you dude.


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## beantowncruiser (Jan 6, 2018)

Crosbyandstarsky said:


> So you're made for this job. The wait time for a person is very low. There is no reason to complain. 5 minutes and they have to be there or you get paid. It's extremely reasonable. Cab drivers get paid nothing and wait longer. Chill out


You're comparing us to cab drivers? They make three times what we make on a ride. If you think that waiting five minutes on every ride is "reasonable", then I wish you lots of wait time.


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## 1.5xorbust (Nov 22, 2017)

As long as Uber has ants willing to play along we all suffer. We have to play the game as best we can to keep our suffering to a minimum.


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## iheartuber (Oct 31, 2015)

Spike72 said:


> You get the ping, you accept it. According to the ping, the pickup is 5 minutes away - "that's not bad" you think. "I can arrive, pick up my passenger, get them to their destination, and move on to the next ride!" you ponder with positivity. You do some calculations in your head: "as long as the destination is more than 5 minutes from the pickup, it should be a pretty good profit for me!" you are psyched.
> 
> You arrive at the pickup, looking for the tell-tale sign of your passenger: a lit-up cell phone screen and a craned neck. You see no one who matches that description, you start looking for anyone who could potentially be your passenger - nobody. You re-check the pin on the map - "yup, I'm practically right on top of it!" - your positivity is waning. You make sure the clock for wait fees is counting down, it is. You shift your vehicle into 'park'; now you wait.
> 
> ...


Uber needs to eblast this to every pax


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## Driver_Down (Dec 11, 2018)

xgamrgeekx said:


> I think if it were me, I would leave the doors locked for that 15 seconds, roll the window down just enough for them to hear me say, "waiting sucks, doesn't it?" and let them watch as I hit cancel ride at the end of that 15 seconds.
> 
> My favorite, noticing the pick up is at a high school. Roll up with my denial speech prepared.
> Kid: Hey, ride for (parent's name, more than likely)?
> ...


Have you done it tho? As badly as I've wanted to cancel on UBER in the last 15 seconds I can't bring myself to do it side technically within the 5 mins they were there. I know smh sometimes when the cancel fee is more than the ride and it's surging...I'm sure you could do it, but how many times till a pax complains to Uber


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## iheartuber (Oct 31, 2015)

Driver_Down said:


> Have you done it tho? As badly as I've wanted to cancel on UBER in the last 15 seconds I can't bring myself to do it side technically within the 5 mins they were there. I know smh sometimes when the cancel fee is more than the ride and it's surging...I'm sure you could do it, but how many times till a pax complains to Uber


Let's consider two options

#1 the pax arrives at 4:55, you do the ride, you drive less than 1 mile, you get paid about $4

#2 the pax is over 5 min, you cancel, you get the cancel fee you make about $4

You basically make the same money each time and the only difference is if you do the ride you spend 5 extra minutes and about 1 mile of wear and tear on your car.

The difference in your pay is pennies.

Even though it "feels" bad to have to drive a late, entitled pax 3 blocks, the bottom line is you basically get paid the same either way so just suck it up buttercup


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## Spike72 (Jan 18, 2017)

Crosbyandstarsky said:


> So you're made for this job. The wait time for a person is very low. There is no reason to complain. 5 minutes and they have to be there or you get paid. It's extremely reasonable. Cab drivers get paid nothing and wait longer. Chill out


I will (somewhat) respectfully disagree. The rider initiated the ride, I didn't. They have the benefit of seeing exactly where I am in relation to them, an approximate time of arrival, the direction I am coming from, the make, model and color of the vehicle I am driving. There is no reason for them to not be toes-on-the-curb when I arrive other than to be entitled.

But, since you compared this to taxis, let me draw a scenario for you. Imagine yourself in a major metropolitan area (Chicago, L.A., New York) and instead of calling or using an app, you just put up an arm to hail a cab. Because that's what rideshare apps are - the hail. Now imagine as the cab pulls up, you stand there. Imagine standing there for 5 whole minutes as the cab driver wonders why you're not getting in his cab. There is no way any taxi driver would let you just stand there doing nothing for 5 minutes while you do..whatever.

And yes, I've seen people make cabs wait for inordinate amounts of time. The difference is cabs don't have a mechanism in place to penalize people for wasting their time. In my personal opinion, they should. Busses, planes, trains and ferries all have a similar mechanism: the vehicle leaves without you and you have a paid ticket for the ride you were supposed to be on time for. I see no reason why rideshare shouldn't carry a similar penalty.

Oh, and I'm not saying there shouldn't be some wiggle room. Two minutes is generous, five minutes is ridiculous, and anything more than that is unacceptable.

Oh, and to all those that suggest I "drive around the corner" or "lock my doors" or somehow stall for time to collect the cancellation fee? I'm sorry, that is also entitled behavior. Uber and Lyft's policies are pretty straight forward regarding our mandate. We wait five minutes. I am, however, saying that the policies stink and Uber and Lyft should consider different penalties for riders wasting our time. Up to and including suspending their accounts, or placing them at the bottom of the queue when matching riders with drivers or even tagging their pings with something like "habitually late for pickups" (maybe denoted with a symbol) so we can decline their pings.


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## Soldiering (Jan 21, 2019)

iheartuber said:


> Let's consider two options
> 
> #1 the pax arrives at 4:55, you do the ride, you drive less than 1 mile, you get paid about $4
> 
> ...


Im not sure where your driving but here in PHX a short ride is 2.62 an a lyft cancel is 5 an ubers is 3.75 so no its not pennies. Are you a driver?

I wish we got paid 4 for a mile ride. You must not be a drivet


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## JohnnyWick (Mar 24, 2018)

Spike72 said:


> You get the ping, you accept it. According to the ping, the pickup is 5 minutes away - "that's not bad" you think. "I can arrive, pick up my passenger, get them to their destination, and move on to the next ride!" you ponder with positivity. You do some calculations in your head: "as long as the destination is more than 5 minutes from the pickup, it should be a pretty good profit for me!" you are psyched.
> 
> You arrive at the pickup, looking for the tell-tale sign of your passenger: a lit-up cell phone screen and a craned neck. You see no one who matches that description, you start looking for anyone who could potentially be your passenger - nobody. You re-check the pin on the map - "yup, I'm practically right on top of it!" - your positivity is waning. You make sure the clock for wait fees is counting down, it is. You shift your vehicle into 'park'; now you wait.
> 
> ...


Yes, compensation for the wait time is not enough.

If you were in the Uber Pro program, which is trial on select cities, and platinum level, you would see the trip duration and would save you time.


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## freddieman (Oct 24, 2016)

JohnnyWick said:


> Yes, compensation for the wait time is not enough.
> 
> If you were in the Uber Pro program, which is trial on select cities, and platinum level, you would see the trip duration and would save you time.


Doesn't matter if u see trip duration cuz once cancellation is over 4%, u don't get that feature anymore. It's just a tease.


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## iheartuber (Oct 31, 2015)

Soldiering said:


> Im not sure where your driving but here in PHX a short ride is 2.62 an a lyft cancel is 5 an ubers is 3.75 so no its not pennies. Are you a driver?
> 
> I wish we got paid 4 for a mile ride. You must not be a drivet


In LA Uber recently made the min ride $4 for the OG 20%ers and $3.75 for the 25%ers

Now a shorty is the same as the cancel fee


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## JohnnyWick (Mar 24, 2018)

freddieman said:


> Doesn't matter if u see trip duration cuz once cancellation is over 4%, u don't get that feature anymore. It's just a tease.


That 4% is HUGE!


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## Ssgcraig (Jul 8, 2015)

Mista T said:


> 5 minutes is UNreasonable. Sounds like YOU are the only one who is okay with it. The rest of us... not so much.


It's what Uber said is reasonable, therefore the pax think it's reasonable. Hiding for the last 1.5 minute is shady. Until uber lowers it to 2-3 min, that's the time frame. I think it's too much too, but I don't drive off and hide.


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## iheartuber (Oct 31, 2015)

Ssgcraig said:


> It's what Uber said is reasonable, therefore the pax think it's reasonable. Hiding for the last 1.5 minute is shady. Until uber lowers it to 2-3 min, that's the time frame. I think it's too much too, but I don't drive off and hide.


Again, if the difference is pennies then no need to stiff the pax even if they are paxholes

Apparently in my market the cancel fee is the same as a shorty. Maybe Uber did not roll that out to every market


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## Ssgcraig (Jul 8, 2015)

Wait time should be the time per min plus $.50, here it's $.28. Then I think pax would be ready, toes to curb. Also, that wait time should be included in the cancel fee too.


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## Sammi Kurr (May 10, 2017)

Spike72 said:


> You get the ping, you accept it. According to the ping, the pickup is 5 minutes away - "that's not bad" you think. "I can arrive, pick up my passenger, get them to their destination, and move on to the next ride!" you ponder with positivity. You do some calculations in your head: "as long as the destination is more than 5 minutes from the pickup, it should be a pretty good profit for me!" you are psyched.
> 
> You arrive at the pickup, looking for the tell-tale sign of your passenger: a lit-up cell phone screen and a craned neck. You see no one who matches that description, you start looking for anyone who could potentially be your passenger - nobody. You re-check the pin on the map - "yup, I'm practically right on top of it!" - your positivity is waning. You make sure the clock for wait fees is counting down, it is. You shift your vehicle into 'park'; now you wait.
> 
> ...


You are reinventing the same wheel of cheese that goes with the same whine the same way we eventually did or will or have done. Great point but the solution is that that your getting to attached with your passengers. What that rider did was in total disregard for you. She doesn't care and will more than likely give you 4 stars if you were silent during the ride. UNLESS, you wax on how enthusiastic it was for you to wait.. The only defense I can give her is that if she had only five minutes from her swipe to request to you actually getting there, that's a little tight. Nonetheless, I would have left at that 15 second warning and no showed it driving round the corner..It sounds like a token victory but it's little (and not so little) no nonsense policies that will thicken your skin against further pax abuse. Then when you see that a pax is actually trying to hurry and is sincere in her approach and maybe apologizes, you won't displace any upset on her.


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## RockyJ (Jan 30, 2019)

The wait time needs to be $.50 per minute over the alloted time set. and also the wait time at a two stop ride needs to be $.50 per minute then the rider has an incentive to get in or back. How do we get this done???

Wait time here is only $.1125/minute


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## Spike72 (Jan 18, 2017)

Sammi Kurr said:


> You are reinventing the same wheel of cheese that goes with the same whine the same way we eventually did or will or have done. Great point but the solution is that that your getting to attached with your passengers. What that rider did was in total disregard for you. She doesn't care and will more than likely give you 4 stars if you were silent during the ride. UNLESS, you wax on how enthusiastic it was for you to wait.. The only defense I can give her is that if she had only five minutes from her swipe to request to you actually getting there, that's a little tight. Nonetheless, I would have left at that 15 second warning and no showed it driving round the corner..It sounds like a token victory but it's little (and not so little) no nonsense policies that will thicken your skin against further pax abuse. Then when you see that a pax is actually trying to hurry and is sincere in her approach and maybe apologizes, you won't displace any upset on her.


You'll notice nowhere in the article did I say this situation happened to me. I used the pronoun 'you' throughout. This is a hypothetical incident based upon the thousands of rides I have given. As I personally see it, because rideshare costs are so low, to be profitable, it needs to be a volume business (i.e. finish one ride, get the next one, repeat). And the only thing slowing down that process is riders who both expect to wait for us to arrive *and* make us wait for them. It is wholly inefficient given the technology at play. This article is just meant to highlight that. I'm sorry that's not how you interpreted it.


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## somedriverguy (Sep 6, 2016)

Mista T said:


> 5 minutes is UNreasonable. Sounds like YOU are the only one who is okay with it. The rest of us... not so much.


Five minutes from the point that they ordered the ride, reasonable. Everything after that you should be paid out from the second you arrive.


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## Sammi Kurr (May 10, 2017)

Spike72 said:


> You'll notice nowhere in the article did I say this situation happened to me. I used the pronoun 'you' throughout. This is a hypothetical incident based upon the thousands of rides I have given. As I personally see it, because rideshare costs are so low, to be profitable, it needs to be a volume business (i.e. finish one ride, get the next one, repeat). And the only thing slowing down that process is riders who both expect to wait for us to arrive *and* make us wait for them. It is wholly inefficient given the technology at play. This article is just meant to highlight that. I'm sorry that's not how you interpreted it.


Got it, sorry I misread it... It is a frustrating point though. U or L won't ever do anything about it. They are making their platform fees regardless. I feel they are just playing the averages on that a rider will be new and thus have a "fresh" promise of big money and use their work ethic to make them money with no regard for their actual costs. This goes on until such a driver quits and then they get new drivers with the same old promises and the cycle repeats. Meanwhile, new drivers don't realize soon enough that U and L are simply converting the drivers vehicle's equity into cash and paying them that (reimbursement) as their pay (profit). It's called conversion of assets..


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## UberXking (Oct 14, 2014)

We shouldn't get paid for wait time. Trip should start when we accept the ping. Why do we deliver cars for free and charge for food delivery?


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## njn (Jan 23, 2016)

Ubured said:


> its on this thread. did you miss it?


NYC is at $0.74 per minute. $44.4/hr seems reasonable.


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## Uber_Dubler (Apr 4, 2018)

Crosbyandstarsky said:


> So you're made for this job. The wait time for a person is very low. There is no reason to complain. 5 minutes and they have to be there or you get paid. It's extremely reasonable. Cab drivers get paid nothing and wait longer. Chill out


Wow, I didn't realize Uber employees posted on these boards. I guess you work for Uber CS, maybe?

No, its not 3.75 (Dalls area rate) for 5 minutes of waiting. Its 10 minutes of driving around waiting for a ping, 5 minutes to drive to the destination and THEN 5 minutes before being eligible for compensation. So $3.85 for 20 minutes of your time. Knock off a quarter or so for gas. So for my 20 minutes of time, I get $3.50 before taxes and Uber gets $1.25.


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## MemphisDave (May 5, 2016)

My greatest annoyance related to this topic is when (after working any given night numerous hours in a market oversaturated with drivers) you finally get that increasingly rare surge in your vicinity. 
You are refreshed with enthusiasm to then actually get a ping at (say, 2.5x or better) that's only a few mins away. Sweet! Your optimism soars as you arrive at the pickup location promptly.
No pax in sight, so you (or, at least I, call) right away. No answer. You text and call again because you don't want to lose this trip at that surge rate. Time ticks by, and before you know it, the pax is a no-show, you cancel and the surge is but a memory. After all that, all you're left with is the menial cancellation fee.
Admittedly, I've had times where the rate increased during that time span...but that's rare. Usually, the ants see a 1.2x and speed toward it like the surge police, so the surges end up being pretty short-lived and don't have time to build.
I've been doing this 3-1/2 years and the decrease in surge has REALLY been a killer!


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## UberMeansSuper (Aug 3, 2015)

Masterpiece!! Enjoyed reading while this scenario was going down. Made it to 4:56 right as my pax came aboard.


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## Clothahump (Mar 31, 2018)

Lyft pays wait time after one minute, not two. Uber needs to do this.

And we also need to be able to cancel after three minutes and collect a no-show fee, not five minutes.


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## Gone_in_60_seconds (Jan 21, 2018)

Crosbyandstarsky said:


> So you're made for this job. The wait time for a person is very low. There is no reason to complain. 5 minutes and they have to be there or you get paid. It's extremely reasonable. Cab drivers get paid nothing and wait longer. Chill out


Yes, Taxi get paid nothing for waiting. However, Taxi rates are 2 X Uber rates. If someone compensated me at those rates, I would gladly wait for a decent and lucrative fare.


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## Immortal (Apr 4, 2017)

Surgeio said:


> Excellent post .
> 
> The answers to your questions are:
> No
> ...


Lol


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## Hahajizzjizz (Feb 9, 2019)

Spike72 said:


> You get the ping, you accept it. According to the ping, the pickup is 5 minutes away - "that's not bad" you think. "I can arrive, pick up my passenger, get them to their destination, and move on to the next ride!" you ponder with positivity. You do some calculations in your head: "as long as the destination is more than 5 minutes from the pickup, it should be a pretty good profit for me!" you are psyched.
> 
> You arrive at the pickup, looking for the tell-tale sign of your passenger: a lit-up cell phone screen and a craned neck. You see no one who matches that description, you start looking for anyone who could potentially be your passenger - nobody. You re-check the pin on the map - "yup, I'm practically right on top of it!" - your positivity is waning. You make sure the clock for wait fees is counting down, it is. You shift your vehicle into 'park'; now you wait.
> 
> ...


Simple math says HELL NO


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## Hbadger (Feb 10, 2019)

I think they need to be more because many pax will wait until the 4:55 mark before they get into your car for that 1.2 mile ride to the grocery store.


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## I Aint Jo Mama (May 2, 2016)

Mista T said:


> I love this article. People wasting my time is one of my top pet peeves.
> 
> To add insult to injury: pax gets in and says "Sorry about the wait" which you know is BS. After the ride, I give a lower star rating for wasting my time.


 3 them


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## Freeflyingbutterfly (Feb 11, 2019)

Had a pax tonight that told me when I called at 2:00 saying she would be right out (taking pictures). Showed up at 4:45... Then informed me after the ride was going that her mom booked the ride and that she was unaccompanied minor. It is dark and not a safe area to leave an underage minor... What do you do?


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## EnjoyEnJan (May 18, 2016)

2 min is more than enough time. we should all only wait 2 min. this would help traffic, and pax and drivers.


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## Ssgcraig (Jul 8, 2015)

Sat night got a XL ping, 18 min away long trip. Was going to be at least 50 in my pocket. Get to destination, bar has been closed since 1 AM, it's 2 AM now. I get the call at 1 min to cancel and the female states they are not at the pick up, they are at another bar next street over. I make an attempt to find them while they are on the phone, no luck. PAX states go back to requested pick up and they will walk to me. 4 more minutes, I am now 11 min waiting, no one. I cancel, 14.50 fee. WTF? PAX had 18 minutes to get to the requested pick up, annyoning.


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## Tnasty (Mar 23, 2016)

Sometimes I don't care about the fee.I wait one minute and leave!


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## Gone_in_60_seconds (Jan 21, 2018)

EnjoyEnJan said:


> 2 min is more than enough time. we should all only wait 2 min. this would help traffic, and pax and drivers.


By cancelling and making the tardy pax pay the cancellation fee, it will help to keep in check this type of selfish behavior where the pax don't respect the driver's time.


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## Mr. Sensitive (Jan 7, 2018)

Wait time should be $1.00 per minute. We should also get paid mileage & time to pick up.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

Clothahump said:


> Lyft pays wait time after one minute, not two. Uber needs to do this.
> 
> And we also need to be able to cancel after three minutes and collect a no-show fee, not five minutes.


Except that Lyft counts the wait time towards the minimum. So if it's a short trip, I only get min fare even if they kept me waiting a few.


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## Halfmybrain (Mar 3, 2018)

New2This said:


> From 3:01-5:00 they have a VERY hard time finding me.


Fraud.



freddieman said:


> The ones that piss me off I just drive off without cancelling and park it couple blocks. They see ur car on their app. Don't answer any text or phone. Ur trying to get them to cancel. The longer u wait it out, they are outside as well and can't call another uber. Ur basically teaching them what it feels like to wait. Wintertime cold even better.....standing out in pouring rain bestest.


Fraud.



BuckleUp said:


> That's a whole lot of thought that goes into an uber ride.
> Imagine what you could accomplish if you put all that mental energy into a worthwhile pursuit.
> Now go rewatch those Shark Tank episodes, motivate yourself, hussle, stop working for da man, and make some green.
> 
> ...


Fraud.


Spike72 said:


> <snip>
> Oh, and I'm not saying there shouldn't be some wiggle room. Two minutes is generous, five minutes is ridiculous, and anything more than that is unacceptable.
> 
> Oh, and to all those that suggest I "drive around the corner" or "lock my doors" or somehow stall for time to collect the cancellation fee?
> I'm sorry, that is also entitled behavior.


That is also fraud.



Spike72 said:


> Uber and Lyft's policies are pretty straight forward regarding our mandate. We wait five minutes.


OR cancel short of the 5 and move on. I've done it now and then.



Spike72 said:


> I am, however, saying that the policies stink and Uber and Lyft should consider different penalties for riders wasting our time. Up to and including suspending their accounts, or placing them at the bottom of the queue when matching riders with drivers or even tagging their pings with something like "habitually late for pickups" (maybe denoted with a symbol) so we can decline their pings.


Now you're really talking--except in Chicago we can't see rider ratings.


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## MasterDriver (Feb 13, 2018)

In my book, by the time I arrive at their pickup location, passengers should, at worst, be just inside their building's front door or lobby, ready to enter my car within a few seconds' walk from said building, unless there is a highly acceptable reason. Tip: acceptable reasons do *not* include "I'm in the elevator," "My friends took a long time to say goodbye," "My cat was misbehaving" or "I'm still paying for my shopping."

Otherwise, I always give a low rating (one or two star deduction) to passengers for whom the wait time is too long. By "too long" I mean over a couple minutes-less if the drive to the pickup location from the time I originally received the request was on the longer side (e.g., five minutes). And, with Lyft I usually call when about two minutes have passed, not after the full five minutes.

I find riders who use these services often, like the so-called "UberX VIPs," to be the worst. Some people have had me wait just so they can finish their extended conversations, even though we're in plain sight of each other. Really, the wait time at the pickup location should be no more than two minutes, regardless of the type of ride. And drivers should be fully paid for the drive to the pickup location after they accept the request.

And, with Lyft, I have started consistently confirming that I have arrived at the rider's pickup location about one or two blocks before I am really in front of their door. That way, the time I actually spend waiting for them is a little less.


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## BigRedDriver (Nov 28, 2018)

They come out at 4:50, get in the car, “sorry for making you wait”, you start ride “ dang, I forgot something”, hop out and go into the house!

Makes me want to take off while they desperately hang onto the half open door!


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## BuckleUp (Jan 18, 2018)

Halfmybrain said:


> Fraud.
> 
> Fraud.
> 
> ...


Half-brained. Get a real job.


MasterDriver said:


> In my book, by the time I arrive at their pickup location, passengers should, at worst, be just inside their building's front door or lobby, ready to enter my car within a few seconds' walk from said building, unless there is a highly acceptable reason. Tip: acceptable reasons do *not* include "I'm in the elevator," "My friends took a long time to say goodbye," "My cat was misbehaving" or "I'm still paying for my shopping."
> 
> Otherwise, I always give a low rating (one or two star deduction) to passengers for whom the wait time is too long. By "too long" I mean over a couple minutes-less if the drive to the pickup location from the time I originally received the request was on the longer side (e.g., five minutes). And, with Lyft I usually call when about two minutes have passed, not after the full five minutes.
> 
> ...


I once did a drive off slider as paxhole's hand was a few inches from the door handle. The paxhol took forever to say goodbye, kept talking like my time is not worth sh*t and I''m there for their service. Soon as that little red cancel icon popped up, I hit the gas and sped off as she was on the sidewalk reaching for the handle. Then cancel. One of the most satisfying $7 even earned.


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## Ishurue (Oct 20, 2018)

Base fare is what your paid to pick up PAX .

idk what it is in your City etc. just take that into account plus 2 minutes on pick up distance. 

in Boston Base is 1.58 .

at Mass min wage of $12 an hour, .2 per minute . on Pure time no mileage thats 7 minutes 54 seconds.

mileage wise, for simplicity will use IRS of .58 per mile .

5 minutes total max distance 1 mile you break even . 


Pick ups i usually if city driving under .25 miles , highway driving no lights no traffic up to 5 miles ( highway miles cost less wear n tear on car. ) 

Thats how you take into account Base fare .

in Boston, waiting time is .3 per minute or $18 per hr .


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## MiamiKid (May 24, 2016)

tohunt4me said:


> Even worse when they decide to have a leisurely conversation RIGHT NEXT to your car.


That's the worst.



Crosbyandstarsky said:


> So you're made for this job. The wait time for a person is very low. There is no reason to complain. 5 minutes and they have to be there or you get paid. It's extremely reasonable. Cab drivers get paid nothing and wait longer. Chill out


Cab drivers can also leave whenever they wish, without consequences such as cancellation rates, annoying messages, etc.


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## Immoralized (Nov 7, 2017)

I don't mind waiting 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes even 1 hour. Can squeeze in a power nap and get paid for it.
It no big deal. Park up safely, lock the doors, recline seat, turn the engine off and just chill out and enjoy the 15-40 dollar per hour wait fee for sleeping depending on country/state. I've always insist they take as much time as they like especially if it on a 2x surge. Wait fee effectively doubles for not driving or doing anything.

Stream up a couple of videos or even a whole Tv show up on the phone or tablet get that paid break on the rider dime.


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## Bosshogg617 (Feb 6, 2019)

Mista T said:


> I love this article. People wasting my time is one of my top pet peeves.
> 
> To add insult to injury: pax gets in and says "Sorry about the wait" which you know is BS. After the ride, I give a lower star rating for wasting my time.


Or even better, they come in late, and then HAVE THE NERVE TO SAY THEY'RE RUNNING LATE Amd ask me the ETA is an unpleasant tone!

Mannnn, if you were running late, your @$$ shoulda been there as I pulled up!


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## Let's be a Lady Tonight (Mar 1, 2019)

xgamrgeekx said:


> I think if it were me, I would leave the doors locked for that 15 seconds, roll the window down just enough for them to hear me say, "waiting sucks, doesn't it?" and let them watch as I hit cancel ride at the end of that 15 seconds.
> 
> My favorite, noticing the pick up is at a high school. Roll up with my denial speech prepared.
> Kid: Hey, ride for (parent's name, more than likely)?
> ...


Thanks I needed that. I'll think about that the next time it happens and remember how you made me laugh.


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## JLaw1719 (Apr 11, 2017)

Most I’ve picked up haven’t been too bad overall. They’re either toes at the curb or in the vehicle within 30 seconds. Which has made those longer than that very noticeable to me. 

My patience has waned but I can last up to 2 minutes. Once it’s past that and it’s not going to be the airport, I’m already not wanting to give the ride anymore and thinking about how to get out of it. 3 minutes in and I’m already hiding.


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## MiamiKid (May 24, 2016)

Let's be a Lady Tonight said:


> Thanks I needed that. I'll think about that the next time it happens and remember how you made me laugh.


Love it. And hope you're grabbing the cancel fee as well!


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## xgamrgeekx (Dec 1, 2018)

Let's be a Lady Tonight said:


> Thanks I needed that. I'll think about that the next time it happens and remember how you made me laugh.


I've done it twice since this post, just without the smarmy 'waiting sucks' bit. First one, dude came out waving his phone at me as I drive off tapping the cancel and pax no show buttons. He shouldn't have waited out the 5 minute timer, especially since he had 5 or more minutes to be ready before I got there.

The other one put in the wrong address. I showed up on the right street but 1674 didn't exist, so I stopped in front of 1671. About 30 seconds before the five minutes were up I see someone come out of 1666, stand in the driveway, look around, look at his phone, looks up at me, we made eye contact, but he still just stood there like an idiot. 5:01 hit the cancel button and drive away.


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## MiamiKid (May 24, 2016)

xgamrgeekx said:


> I've done it twice since this post, just without the smarmy 'waiting sucks' bit. First one, dude came out waving his phone at me as I drive off tapping the cancel and pax no show buttons. He shouldn't have waited out the 5 minute timer, especially since he had 5 or more minutes to be ready before I got there.
> 
> The other one put in the wrong address. I showed up on the right street but 1674 didn't exist, so I stopped in front of 1671. About 30 seconds before the five minutes were up I see someone come out of 1666, stand in the driveway, look around, look at his phone, looks up at me, we made eye contact, but he still just stood there like an idiot. 5:01 hit the cancel button and drive away.


Love it!


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## Rosalita (May 13, 2018)

Spike72 said:


> You get the ping, you accept it. According to the ping, the pickup is 5 minutes away - "that's not bad" you think. "I can arrive, pick up my passenger, get them to their destination, and move on to the next ride!" you ponder with positivity. You do some calculations in your head: "as long as the destination is more than 5 minutes from the pickup, it should be a pretty good profit for me!" you are psyched.
> 
> You arrive at the pickup, looking for the tell-tale sign of your passenger: a lit-up cell phone screen and a craned neck. You see no one who matches that description, you start looking for anyone who could potentially be your passenger - nobody. You re-check the pin on the map - "yup, I'm practically right on top of it!" - your positivity is waning. You make sure the clock for wait fees is counting down, it is. You shift your vehicle into 'park'; now you wait.
> 
> ...


Not only are the wait times not adequately compensated, but the pick up time intervals are all wrong, at least for Lyft. I had one that had a one hour "pick up" interval. 15 minutes is too long to wait when you arrive on time. 10 minutes is actually too long to wait when you arrive on time. 5 minutes is sufficient and then we should be collecting the "show show" fare and moving on.

A few weeks ago I had a scheduled ride with a pick up interval of one hour! I kid you not. Of course, Lyft had no reply for how a pax can schedule a ride with a one hour pick up interval. Am I supposed to sit there for another 55 minutes waiting on the pax? Not me.

I think the 15 minute scheduled ride interval is too long. Actually, 10 minutes of waiting for a scheduled ride is too long. Too many doctor's appointments still sitting in the lab waiting on their blood tests to be done. Yep, that actually happens. If they are not there within the 5 minutes, make one call, tap "no show" and drive off!

We've all had the "wrong address" punched in thing. So if the pax isn't out the door within a minute or two I'm calling. No answer, I'm waiting and looking around to see if they are approaching from another house, in the drive way next door, looking across the street, etc. If minutes pass and there's no movement from anywhere, I'm also on guard for the possibility that someone is looking to rob me, hijack my vehicle, etc.


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## SoFloUber (Feb 19, 2019)

No, they aren't enough and my tolerance for waiting really depends on the situation. Downtown Miami on a busy night with traffic, you need to be ready to jump in. If it's been a slower day and I have a safe place to wait, i'll wait until I can cancel. 5 minutes is a long time to wait in a saturated market, it's not like they are going to be stranded.


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## Alan777 (Oct 16, 2018)

After I arrive, I text the pax telling them I have arrived. I wait a minute and a half. I then call the pax. If there is no answer, I wait 3 more minutes and cancel. If the pax answers or contacts me, I'll wait another minute then text them that I am canceling. I make sure I don't see the pax approaching the car, then cancel 30 seconds later. Max wait time, 6 minutes. If I have to drive closer because the pickup location was off, I don't include that in the wait time. I think this is more than reasonable.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Spike72 said:


> You get the ping, you accept it. According to the ping, the pickup is 5 minutes away - "that's not bad" you think. "I can arrive, pick up my passenger, get them to their destination, and move on to the next ride!" you ponder with positivity. You do some calculations in your head: "as long as the destination is more than 5 minutes from the pickup, it should be a pretty good profit for me!" you are psyched.
> 
> You arrive at the pickup, looking for the tell-tale sign of your passenger: a lit-up cell phone screen and a craned neck. You see no one who matches that description, you start looking for anyone who could potentially be your passenger - nobody. You re-check the pin on the map - "yup, I'm practically right on top of it!" - your positivity is waning. You make sure the clock for wait fees is counting down, it is. You shift your vehicle into 'park'; now you wait.
> 
> ...


Any wait longer than 4:00 usually means that pax is getting shuffled. Pax reaching for the door handle at 4:45? Absolutely no forking way.

Busy times when surge is high, the pax gets 60 seconds max. No shuffle fee for me but catching another surge ping is much more important. Doing two rides per hour, if both pax made me wait the maximum then I'd be losing 1/6 of my work time waiting curbside unable to work, in exchange for 4 bucks each. Nope. If cancellation fees also surged then it'd be a different story. But they don't so it's not.


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## FiveStarDesires (Sep 29, 2018)

IMAGINE the WORST CASE RIDE SCENARIO.

After a FOUR Minute and 30 Second WAIT TIME, The PAX rolls out of the Super Market with a Grocery Cart FULL of bagged items.

You spend 2 minutes loading the items and the smelly PAX into your vehicle.

The Trip is only a mile down the road,

And then you spend another 2 minutes unloading the smelly PAX and her groceries out of your vehicle,

(with of course, NO TIP.)

You just spent 15 minutes making $3.20. (BEFORE VEHICLE EXPENSES)

And on top of this, the New SURGE system is a JOKE as well.


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## Alan777 (Oct 16, 2018)

FiveStarDesires said:


> IMAGINE the WORST CASE RIDE SCENARIO.
> 
> After a FOUR Minute and 30 Second WAIT TIME, The PAX rolls out of the Super Market with a Grocery Cart FULL of bagged items.
> 
> ...


Been there, done that. I agree, this stinks (literally). Not much you can do about it.



Rosalita said:


> Not only are the wait times not adequately compensated, but the pick up time intervals are all wrong, at least for Lyft. I had one that had a one hour "pick up" interval. 15 minutes is too long to wait when you arrive on time. 10 minutes is actually too long to wait when you arrive on time. 5 minutes is sufficient and then we should be collecting the "show show" fare and moving on.
> 
> A few weeks ago I had a scheduled ride with a pick up interval of one hour! I kid you not. Of course, Lyft had no reply for how a pax can schedule a ride with a one hour pick up interval. Am I supposed to sit there for another 55 minutes waiting on the pax? Not me.
> 
> ...


You just talked me out of signing up for Lyft.


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## Asificarewhatyoudontthink (Jul 6, 2017)

Crosbyandstarsky said:


> So you're made for this job. The wait time for a person is very low. There is no reason to complain. 5 minutes and they have to be there or you get paid. It's extremely reasonable. Cab drivers get paid nothing and wait longer. Chill out


Cab drivers start that clock On Arrival.
In my market it is 0.65 per minute.
Bet your ass riders of cabs are;
Toes to curb,
Not going through Starbucks drive through,
Asking to stop anywhere short of a super fast run to buy a pack of cigarettes, 
Chatting with person X while standing outside the door,
Any other thing that runs that clock.


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## Alan777 (Oct 16, 2018)

Asificarewhatyoudontthink said:


> Cab drivers start that clock On Arrival.
> In my market it is 0.65 per minute.
> Bet your ass riders of cabs are;
> Toes to curb,
> ...


Good point. For the record, I think wait fees should be increased.


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## JaredJ (Aug 7, 2015)

man, there are some passive aggressive evil humans in this thread. now I understand why some of you are driving Uber.


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## LVFatMan (Mar 11, 2019)

Soldiering said:


> Im not sure where your driving but here in PHX a short ride is 2.62 an a lyft cancel is 5 an ubers is 3.75 so no its not pennies. Are you a driver?
> 
> I wish we got paid 4 for a mile ride. You must not be a drivet


Minimum ride in Las vegas Vegas 3.97 ... so yes, depending where you are, it's close to 4$


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## MiamiKid (May 24, 2016)

LVFatMan said:


> Minimum ride in Las vegas Vegas 3.97 ... so yes, depending where you are, it's close to 4$


In ATL. Minimum, including Pool, $4.00. Fare is grandfathered.


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