# Passenger Rating System - very much simplified



## scooterabc (Feb 19, 2016)

Earlier I had advocated for 5 star ratings only for passengers who tip or experience a very high surge. And 4 stars or less for others. Now that Surge is pretty much gone (or greatly reduced), tipping becomes more of an issue.

I realize that a 4 star rating on a passenger has extremely little impact. Even a 1 star rating on one trip has very little impact.

So my new rating system which applies to 90% of my passengers is:
*5 stars for passengers who tip
1 star for passengers who do not tip*

The exceptions to that fall into the 10% who I don't rate according to those terms for whatever reason.

If you want to make a visible impact on passenger ratings, use ONES and FIVES and forget about anything in between.

Unfortunately, not enough drivers read the forums. Whenever I have a passenger who is a driver I encourage them to read and share with the community, but it's disappointing to learn just how many drivers have no idea that discussion forums exist. Power in numbers.


----------



## Ben105 (Feb 27, 2016)

Many will take this out on the driver. If they see their pax rating all of a sudden drop they'll know who gave it to them, unless they take lots of rides. They have until their next ride to rate and that can be days. We have to rate immediately.


----------



## scooterabc (Feb 19, 2016)

Scott Benedict said:


> Many will take this out on the driver. If they see their pax rating all of a sudden drop they'll know who gave it to them, unless they take lots of rides. They have until their next ride to rate and that can be days. We have to rate immediately.


I don't think so.
I don't think passengers are particularly aware of their rating, and seldom look at it.
It will also be a very gradual decline (unless they have very few rides taken). 
I can take the 1-star hit on someone who wants to ding me, but most of them will never know it.


----------



## BobDriver (May 2, 2016)

I thought I would try giving less then 5 star ratings to riders. I took a big hit in my ratings.
What effect do ratings really have on riders outside of showing how much we appreciate them.


----------



## scooterabc (Feb 19, 2016)

BobDriver said:


> I thought I would try giving less then 5 star ratings to riders. I took a big hit in my ratings.
> What effect do ratings really have on riders outside of showing how much we appreciate them.


That's not what is happening with my ratings. The past three weeks have been almost exclusively 5 star or 1 star ratings, and my "last week" ratings is 4.95 and my cumulative rating went from 4.87 to 4.88.

Ratings on riders have no effect that riders see. It's only something that drivers see, and the only metric we have for deciding whether or not to accept the ping (other than distance away and surge). I'm still on-board with the 1 / 5 rating system, but it won't do a lot of good unless more drivers rate passengers with other than 5...


----------



## UberIowa15 (Sep 30, 2015)

From talking to other drivers, I get the sense that many just automatically rate virtually everyone 5 stars, sometimes in front of them at the end of a ride to subtly push for reciprocation. (It's terrible that the star rating prompt pops up right after the trip ends in view of the pax because of this pressure on drivers).

Hopefully, more drivers will accurately rate passengers so the rest of us don't have to deal with lame pax.

My guidelines:

*5** - (a) no issues during the trip, (b) pax is waiting outside or comes out within 1 min., _and _(c) pax tips _or _there's a 1.5x surge or higher
*4** - (a) no issues during the trip _and _(b) pax is waiting outside or comes out within 1 min.
*3** - (a) minor issue during the trip (pax is rude/a jerk), _or _(b) pax makes me wait for 4-5+ min. at the pick up, especially during a surge, (c) or pax makes more than one 4-5 min.+ stop during the route
*2** - (a) pax vomits or otherwise significantly dirties the vehicle, _or _(b) pax is exceedingly rude, menacing, arguing with other passengers, etc.
*1** - (a) pax causes a major incident like assaulting another passenger, f---ing with the driver during the ride, etc. _or _(b) pax damages the vehicle_ or _(c) a pax drinks alcohol or consumes drugs in the car

Some might find an automatic non-5 star for no tip unfair, but any pax with a basic familiarity with Uber realizes that drivers aren't making money if it's not surging, especially if you have to drive 7-10 min.+ to get to a pick up for a $3-4 ride.


----------



## scooterabc (Feb 19, 2016)

Virtually the only time a passenger seems me rate another passenger is when part of a pool ride ends, and I still rate the passenger a 1. No one seems to notice. The problem with rating a passenger 4* for no tip is that it will have so little impact on the passenger's over-all rating. Given that most drivers aren't going to be on-board with rating under 5* (and most drivers don't read this), I feel like I have to make the biggest impact possible with my passenger ratings. Oh, and $3-$4 ride? How about a $2.25 ride... I have lots of those.


----------



## injera (Apr 29, 2016)

So how should us passengers rate the drivers? 5* for a driver who offers water, candy, phone charger, etc.... and 1* for those who don't?

In probably 500 rides i've given maybe 10 non 5* ratings. Most are because the driver was being loud on the phone, the car was messy or he wouldnt turn the music down/off. These drivers get 3-4*

I've given 5 1* ratings that i can recall
1 - The driver who was obviously drunk (NYC)
2 - The driver who spent the entire ride trying to sell me a timeshare (Myrtle Beach, SC)
3 - The driver who ranted about how much he disliked blacks and jews (Tampa, FL)
4 - The driver who was ranting about how much he hates Obama and refused to stop when i told him I preferred not to talk about politics (Scottsdale, AZ)
5 - The driver who called me a cheap a**hole when I tipped him $2 (because that was all the cash I had on me)

Things like traffic, weather, the other uber pool passenger, road closures, my inability to allow enough time to make a flight are not the fault of the driver and should not impact a rating.


----------



## ubersan (Apr 29, 2016)

BobDriver said:


> I thought I would try giving less then 5 star ratings to riders. I took a big hit in my ratings.
> What effect do ratings really have on riders outside of showing how much we appreciate them.


I agree. I provided what I deemed accurate ratings to riders, and saw a .15 drop in my ratings. I now give everyone a 5 (with a few exceptions), annotate the ride on my log sheet, and then change the rider rating a few days later.


----------



## ubersan (Apr 29, 2016)

I now give 4 stars to any Pool trips under 1 mile and less than 2x surge. 3 stars to any Pool riders under 1/2 mile regardless of surge. 2 stars to any Pool riders under 1/4 mile regardless of surge. These riders deliberately choose Pool on very short trips, playing the high probability there won't be any additional pool riders in that short of distance. Besides, under 1/2 mile and you can't walk is really stupid, even in the rain when you have an umbrella. Now I'll make exceptions if the person has like a bunch of stuff they are lugging around. Of course, I wait a few days, since they are obviously keen Uber riders and probably take Uber frequently, so my rating will get mixed in with the rest of their cheap arse rides.


----------

