# Furthest you'll go to pick up a passenger



## Hobb (Mar 28, 2015)

Been driving on Lyft for a little while now, just started Uber. What's the furthest you'd go to pick someone up? I've read it's not worth it to go more then ten to fifteen minutes to pick someone up. But then this brings up two questions:

1) Isn't it better to do that than to sit there doing nothing? Sure you could get a pax five minutes away shortly thereafter but you could also sit there for an hour doing nothing. It's a gamble. I would think getting that pax is better than nothing. They could be a $5 ride, but it could be a $40 ride for all you know.

2) How can you constantly turn down people without letting it affect your acceptance rate? I believe you need to stay above 80%.

Up till now I have accepted every ride but one. One time I had a 25 minute ride northeast, I arrived, hit the button to alert the pax and she promptly cancelled the call. Though I got the $5 cancellation fee it was a total waste of time and effort. 50 minute round-trip for $5, ugh.

Many thanks.


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## Showa50 (Nov 30, 2014)

Usually no more than 5min, up to 10min if the surge is high. 

You can accept a ride and cancel immediately, use other, without it affecting your acceptance rate. I've been doing this to none surge requests the past month and my acceptance rating has been 98%. I cancel approx 30 rides per shift.


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## Hobb (Mar 28, 2015)

Showa50 said:


> Usually no more than 5min, up to 10min if the surge is high.
> 
> You can accept a ride and cancel immediately, use other, without it affecting your acceptance rate. I've been doing this to none surge requests the past month and my acceptance rating has been 98%. I cancel approx 30 rides per shift.


Interesting - didn't know doing that won't affect your acceptance rating. Very good information to know!

However, if you do this and the passenger requests another ride right away won't it go right back to you?

So you only do surge requests then? And it's worth it to pass on non-surges and only take surges even if it means risking doing no rides for a while?


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## Showa50 (Nov 30, 2014)

Hobb said:


> Interesting - didn't know doing that won't affect your acceptance rating. Very good information to know!
> 
> However, if you do this and the passenger requests another ride right away won't it go right back to you?
> 
> So you only do surge requests then? And it's worth it to pass on non-surges and only take surges even if it means risking doing no rides for a while?


The rider app only confirms you've accept after around 15secs. So if the driver accepts and cancels immediately the order gets pushed to another driver. The rider has no idea this happens. Usually if you recieve another order from the same pax then most likely your the only driver near or others think the request is to far. And most times it'll start surging soon.

I think it's worth it. In my market, Los Angeles, there is a lot of demand and beneficial to me to only do surge rides. I'm starting to belive Uber has finally given drivers the opportunity to set thier own price and make more money.

There's only so many rides a driver can do in 1 hour. For me it's about 2-3, I'd rather have those be surge rides than base fare rides.


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## Hobb (Mar 28, 2015)

Showa50 said:


> The rider app only confirms you've accept after around 15secs. So if the driver accepts and cancels immediately the order gets pushed to another driver. The rider has no idea this happens. Usually if you recieve another order from the same pax then most likely your the only driver near or others think the request is to far. And most times it'll start surging soon.
> 
> I think it's worth it. In my market, Los Angeles, there is a lot of demand and beneficial to me to only do surge rides. I'm starting to belive Uber has finally given drivers the opportunity to set thier own price and make more money.
> 
> There's only so many rides a driver can do in 1 hour. For me it's about 2-3, I'd rather have those be surge rides than base fare rides.


Ahhhhh the wonderful information you can discover if only you ask  Thanks so much! Will remember this the next time I get a request from 25 minutes away.

Ah, we have very different markets then. I'm in Florida and it's rare to see surges in my area in the times I've checked, which has been anywhere from 3:00pm to about 9:00pm. I see them about 60 miles away but in my area it comes and goes in a matter of minutes.

Be grateful you're in L.A.! Thanks again for the help.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

Hobb said:


> Been driving on Lyft for a little while now, just started Uber. What's the furthest you'd go to pick someone up? I've read it's not worth it to go more then ten to fifteen minutes to pick someone up. But then this brings up two questions:
> 
> 1) Isn't it better to do that than to sit there doing nothing? Sure you could get a pax five minutes away shortly thereafter but you could also sit there for an hour doing nothing. It's a gamble. I would think getting that pax is better than nothing. They could be a $5 ride, but it could be a $40 ride for all you know.
> 
> ...


Statistically speaking, no, it does not make sense in terms of profitability to drive more than 8 to 10 minutes to pick up a pax. 
Here are my rules...

Never pick up a pax with a rating lower than 4.8
Never pick up a pax that is more than 10 minutes away, (make it 8 minutes if no surge)
If traveling on a busy street or highway, NEVER accept a ping that is behind you
Hope this helps. These policies have been serving me well since last October. My acceptance rate is about 84%, but I'm in my 11th week of straight 5-star ratings.

My last conversation with Uber on this topic (December) went like this...
Uber CSR: Desert Driver, your acceptance rate last week was 82%. That needs improvement so the riders have a positive Uber experience.

Desert Driver: Thanks for watching my numbers there, zippy. And if you dig deeper you'll see that I provided 34 rides last week and that every rider rated me five stars. Anything else you wanna give me shit about?

Uber CSR: Uber on! You're a valued partner.


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## Hobb (Mar 28, 2015)

Desert Driver said:


> Statistically speak, no, it does not make sense in terms of profitability to drive more than 8 to 10 minutes to pick up a pax.
> Here are my rules...
> 
> Never pick up a pax with a rating lower than 4.8
> ...


LOL zippy, that made me laugh 

Your rules seem solid but I'm thinking it varies from region to region. You're clearly in an area where drivers are in demand and you don't wait too long for a pax, right? So not driving more than 8 or 10 minutes is fine, but where I am it doesn't seem to make much sense because I could sit there for hours without a call. There seems to be far too many drivers 'round these parts. That's why I was thinking if I got a call 15-20 minutes away it'd make sense to accept it.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

Hobb said:


> LOL zippy, that made me laugh
> 
> Your rules seem solid but I'm thinking it varies from region to region. You're clearly in an area where drivers are in demand and you don't wait too long for a pax, right? So not driving more than 8 or 10 minutes is fine, but where I am it doesn't seem to make much sense because I could sit there for hours without a call. There seems to be far too many drivers 'round these parts. That's why I was thinking if I got a call 15-20 minutes away it'd make sense to accept it.


Man, that just seems way too far to drive for a pickup. But you may be right about such rules being region-specific.


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## Hobb (Mar 28, 2015)

Desert Driver said:


> Man, that just seems way too far to drive for a pickup. But you may be right about such rules being region-specific.


It does seem too far, I agree, and that's the dilemma - do I pass on that ride and hope another one will come along soon (and risk sitting there doing nothing for a while) or do I accept it and hope it's not a $5 ride. I still haven't decided either way.

Damn Florida and its abundance of drivers!


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

Hobb said:


> It does seem too far, I agree, and that's the dilemma - do I pass on that ride and hope another one will come along soon (and risk sitting there doing nothing for a while) or do I accept it and hope it's not a $5 ride. I still haven't decided either way.
> 
> Damn Florida and its abundance of drivers!


You'll need to do what I did. Start keeping a log of how far your driving to pick up, then log the fares. After a decent sample of a couple dozen rides, figure out how far you're willing to go. The profitability numbers will tell you. It's better to sit still and do nothing than take a ping that will likely actually cost you more to take than to remain parked and playing Trivia Crack.


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## Hobb (Mar 28, 2015)

Desert Driver said:


> You'll need to do what I did. Start keeping a log of how far your driving to pick up, then log the fares. After a decent sample of a couple dozen rides, figure out how far you're willing to go. The profitability numbers will tell you. It's better to sit still and do nothing than take a ping that will likely actually cost you more to take than to remain parked and playing Trivia Crack.


That is actually not a bad idea. I know when I decline a ride though it'll always bug me because it could have been a $50 ride I turned down. But I will likely start doing this.

I LOVE Trivia Crack! I think I'm more addicted to it than I would be regular crack.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Hobb said:


> LOL zippy, that made me laugh
> 
> Your rules seem solid but I'm thinking it varies from region to region. You're clearly in an area where drivers are in demand and you don't wait too long for a pax, right? So not driving more than 8 or 10 minutes is fine, but where I am it doesn't seem to make much sense because I could sit there for hours without a call. There seems to be far too many drivers 'round these parts. That's why I was thinking if I got a call 15-20 minutes away it'd make sense to accept it.


If the only rides you can get are 20 mins away then maybe it's just not profitable where you are. I don't work in my town outside of houston for that reason. Most rides are too far away and it never surges.


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## UBERxGc (Feb 8, 2015)

Where i am, it is not too busy as well. so on weekdays i get a lot of 15-20 min requests. Now i only do weekends since it's busier and there are more cars/pax.
I still get 20 min requests sometimes. I usually accept, call and tell them that i'm far and if they happy to wait. Then i say "oh by the way, what's your destination?" It is a actually the only reason i call but i make it sound like it is not.
If it is not a good fare, i apologise and tell them it must be a mistake that i got the request and there must be closer cars (rider app shows fake cars here). If they do not cancel within a min, i cancel.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

UBERxGc said:


> Where i am, it is not too busy as well. so on weekdays i get a lot of 15-20 min requests. Now i only do weekends since it's busier and there are more cars/pax.
> I still get 20 min requests sometimes. I usually accept, call and tell them that i'm far and if they happy to wait. Then i say "oh by the way, what's your destination?" It is a actually the only reason i call but i make it sound like it is not.
> If it is not a good fare, i apologise and tell them it must be a mistake that i got the request and there must be closer cars (rider app shows fake cars here). If they do not cancel within a min, i cancel.


It's rarely worth taking a trip without surge no matter how far it is. I do what you do with the call but only to see if they're going toward houston. Otherwise it's not worth it due to the dead miles at this rate. I work guarantees but only the higher ones. Luckily my schedule allows that.


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## UBERxGc (Feb 8, 2015)

And by the way, sitting around and doing nothing beats driving and losing money.


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## UBERxGc (Feb 8, 2015)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> It's rarely worth taking a trip without surge no matter how far it is. I do what you do with the call but only to see if they're going toward houston. Otherwise it's not worth it due to the dead miles at this rate. I work guarantees but only the higher ones. Luckily my schedule allows that.


I'm in australia.. Rates here are not as bad as america YET.


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## newsboy559 (Oct 14, 2014)

Hobb said:


> Been driving on Lyft for a little while now, just started Uber. What's the furthest you'd go to pick someone up? I've read it's not worth it to go more then ten to fifteen minutes to pick someone up. But then this brings up two questions:
> 
> 1) Isn't it better to do that than to sit there doing nothing? Sure you could get a pax five minutes away shortly thereafter but you could also sit there for an hour doing nothing. It's a gamble. I would think getting that pax is better than nothing. They could be a $5 ride, but it could be a $40 ride for all you know.
> 
> ...


I accept all calls. That gives me time to analyze all of the details, attempt to make contact with the pax, and make a decision as to whether or not I'm going to make the run or cancel. If it is more than 10 minutes and I can't make contact with the pax or the pax doesn't answer all of my questions, I cancel without ever moving my car.


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## newsboy559 (Oct 14, 2014)

I


Showa50 said:


> The rider app only confirms you've accept after around 15secs. So if the driver accepts and cancels immediately the order gets pushed to another driver. The rider has no idea this happens. Usually if you recieve another order from the same pax then most likely your the only driver near or others think the request is to far. And most times it'll start surging soon.
> 
> I think it's worth it. In my market, Los Angeles, there is a lot of demand and beneficial to me to only do surge rides. I'm starting to belive Uber has finally given drivers the opportunity to set thier own price and make more money.
> 
> There's only so many rides a driver can do in 1 hour. For me it's about 2-3, I'd rather have those be surge rides than base fare rides.


I have noticed this, too, during bar closing time while I'm the only driver around who is available. Even if it is not surging, I accept the call. But if it is far away, I cancel immediately. The area then goes on surge and the ping comes straight back to me. There's no way the call actually completed the cancel and the rider made the request again. There just isn't enough time passing by the time I get the request again.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

UBERxGc said:


> I'm in australia.. Rates here are not as bad as america YET.


Yeah rates and local conditions (city size, ratio of drivers to pax etc.) all make a difference as to what's worth accepting or even whether to uber at all.


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## Lidman (Nov 13, 2014)

I'll go as far as 3 1/2 miles.


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## newsboy559 (Oct 14, 2014)

Lidman said:


> I'll go as far as 3 1/2 miles.


Unfortunately, that's not realistic here in my market. Especially during the daytime, there is so little demand for Uber that you take what you can get. Within reason, of course. But we're so spread out. geographically. Add that to the fact that there will often be two hours that goes by without a request, and you have to accept calls that might require a little bit of driving to get to the pickup location.


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## flyingdingo (Feb 5, 2015)

Hobb said:


> Been driving on Lyft for a little while now, just started Uber. What's the furthest you'd go to pick someone up? I've read it's not worth it to go more then ten to fifteen minutes to pick someone up. But then this brings up two questions:
> 
> 1) Isn't it better to do that than to sit there doing nothing? Sure you could get a pax five minutes away shortly thereafter but you could also sit there for an hour doing nothing. It's a gamble. I would think getting that pax is better than nothing. They could be a $5 ride, but it could be a $40 ride for all you know.
> 
> ...


5 minutes when traffic is heavy. 10 minutes when it's light.


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## [email protected] (Aug 1, 2014)

I take a max of 15-20 minutes away


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

[email protected] said:


> I take a max of 15-20 minutes away


That seems like a lot, but I'm finding this metric is a market-by-market thing. I won't go beyond 10 minutes. If it's a surge, I'll drop that to 8 minutes.


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## Luis_NJ1214 (Apr 1, 2015)

Hobb said:


> Been driving on Lyft for a little while now, just started Uber. What's the furthest you'd go to pick someone up? I've read it's not worth it to go more then ten to fifteen minutes to pick someone up. But then this brings up two questions:
> 
> 1) Isn't it better to do that than to sit there doing nothing? Sure you could get a pax five minutes away shortly thereafter but you could also sit there for an hour doing nothing. It's a gamble. I would think getting that pax is better than nothing. They could be a $5 ride, but it could be a $40 ride for all you know.
> 
> ...


Why didn't you just park somewhere and wait for a ping? Instead of heading right back. At least that's what I would do. I don't like wasting gas.


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## Luis_NJ1214 (Apr 1, 2015)

Desert Driver said:


> That seems like a lot, but I'm finding this metric is a market-by-market thing. I won't go beyond 10 minutes. If it's a surge, I'll drop that to 8 minutes.


Me too, I don't take rides more than 8 or 9 minutes away.


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## Luis_NJ1214 (Apr 1, 2015)

Desert Driver said:


> You'll need to do what I did. Start keeping a log of how far your driving to pick up, then log the fares. After a decent sample of a couple dozen rides, figure out how far you're willing to go. The profitability numbers will tell you. It's better to sit still and do nothing than take a ping that will likely actually cost you more to take than to remain parked and playing Trivia Crack.


Yep your right. I rather sit somewhere and wait for a ping. Granted I don't park for half n hour but 10-15 Minutes max. If by then still nothing I'll drive around a little and I usually get another call.


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## UberBro (Mar 5, 2015)

Nowadays, with how the rates are going, I find it hard for myself to even take the first ping _from my own home_. I _personally_ have not driven for four days now, and before that, I didn't drive for almost two weeks. Here are _my_ _personal rules and guidelines_ as to whether or not I'm going to pick up the passenger and I know some of you, if not a lot of you, might not agree with me, but I have to maintain a _strict_ _financially viable _conduct to Uber driving. Here it is:

At this point honestly, I have to call the passenger beforehand to _cherry-pick rides._ I know this is frowned-upon by a lot of you, but this is what I am resorted to with wages _reminiscent of the Progressive Era and the immigrant working class of its time. _I need to see if the trip bears economical sense, _SUE ME. _

I will only pick up a _1.4X surge and under_ _ONLY _if they're literally 1-2 mins away (Considering traffic conditions) _AND _if I like where they're going/surge-prone area.

As for _1.5x and up _surge priced fares, I _NEVER _pick someone up who is more than 5 mins away and/or more than three miles away (Again, considering traffic conditions) _AND _will only give an extra 1-2 mins leeway if the surge is 3.0x or more. Also, the ride has to take me to a distinguishable new area at least _several miles away. 
_
For Uber POOL requests, I will pick up the second party _ONLY _if at least one of the parties has 2.0x and up surge pricing implemented in their trip.

Unlike most of you, I _ABSOLUTELY _will not pick any one up 8+ minutes away due to several reasons. I'll hit that _WRONG ADDRESS_ option with the quickness.

When I'm ready to call it a day, I make sure the last trip is heading in a direction towards my home or is close by it (Less than 15 miles away) to _minimize dead miles_.

_I'll play ball with Uber ONLY under my terms. I said it once and I'll say it again, use Uber, don't let it use you. _


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

UberBro said:


> Nowadays, with how the rates are going, I find it hard for myself to even take the first ping _from my own home_. I _personally_ have not driven for four days now, and before that, I didn't drive for almost two weeks. Here are _my_ _personal rules and guidelines_ as to whether or not I'm going to pick up the passenger and I know some of you, if not a lot of you, might not agree with me, but I have to maintain a _strict_ _financially viable _conduct to Uber driving. Here it is:
> 
> At this point honestly, I have to call the passenger beforehand to _cherry-pick rides._ I know this is frowned-upon by a lot of you, but this is what I am resorted to with wages _reminiscent of the Progressive Era and the immigrant working class of its time. _I need to see if the trip bears economical sense, _SUE ME. _
> 
> ...


UberBro, I don't like your rules one bit. _I LOVE THEM!!! _You and I have nearly identical SOPs. I am delighted to see that another contributor here has arrived at logical conclusions regarding wasted time, wasted money, and overall profitability.

I really like your edict of "Use Uber, don't let Uber use you." Never has more sage advice been dispensed.

I like the way you work...and think.


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## Luis_NJ1214 (Apr 1, 2015)

UberBro said:


> Nowadays, with how the rates are going, I find it hard for myself to even take the first ping _from my own home_. I _personally_ have not driven for four days now, and before that, I didn't drive for almost two weeks. Here are _my_ _personal rules and guidelines_ as to whether or not I'm going to pick up the passenger and I know some of you, if not a lot of you, might not agree with me, but I have to maintain a _strict_ _financially viable _conduct to Uber driving. Here it is:
> 
> At this point honestly, I have to call the passenger beforehand to _cherry-pick rides._ I know this is frowned-upon by a lot of you, but this is what I am resorted to with wages _reminiscent of the Progressive Era and the immigrant working class of its time. _I need to see if the trip bears economical sense, _SUE ME. _
> 
> ...


Who are you?


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## Hobb (Mar 28, 2015)

Luis_NJ1214 said:


> Why didn't you just park somewhere and wait for a ping? Instead of heading right back. At least that's what I would do. I don't like wasting gas.


Something I'd normally do, but since I start off near my home eventually I'm going to have to drive back anyway. The area to which that particular person requested me wasn't a super busy one for pax.


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## Hobb (Mar 28, 2015)

UberBro said:


> Nowadays, with how the rates are going, I find it hard for myself to even take the first ping _from my own home_. I _personally_ have not driven for four days now, and before that, I didn't drive for almost two weeks. Here are _my_ _personal rules and guidelines_ as to whether or not I'm going to pick up the passenger and I know some of you, if not a lot of you, might not agree with me, but I have to maintain a _strict_ _financially viable _conduct to Uber driving. Here it is:
> 
> At this point honestly, I have to call the passenger beforehand to _cherry-pick rides._ I know this is frowned-upon by a lot of you, but this is what I am resorted to with wages _reminiscent of the Progressive Era and the immigrant working class of its time. _I need to see if the trip bears economical sense, _SUE ME. _
> 
> ...


I'm also a big fan of your rules but as I said to Desert Driver, these rules work for you because of your location. Clearly there are a ton of passengers and not so many drivers where you live if you're able to be this picky. I think that's what some people forget when they read the rules of others or how they'll operate. It varies from area to area. From what I've read, L.A. and S.F. seem to be great places to be drivers, as opposed to Florida, where I am. I can see an absurd amount of drivers within a 60 mile radius of where I live. I can go hours (like today) without getting a single request. So while I'd love to be picky like you to maximize my earnings it's just not economically feasible for me.

If anyone wants to pay for me to move to California so I can do this there, I'm totally down for that.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

Luis_NJ1214 said:


> Who are you?


It's UberBro. Why do you ask?


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## Soullust (Jan 29, 2015)

I suggest calling the pax and see if the pax is going far


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## frndthDuvel (Aug 31, 2014)

Since guarantees are ending in SD at the end of the week? I would say about half the distance I have been these last 12 weeks. So 6-7 minutes. But at least they restored part of the Winter cut. Whoop! ?


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## BizyMom (Sep 1, 2015)

Desert Driver said:


> Statistically speaking, no, it does not make sense in terms of profitability to drive more than 8 to 10 minutes to pick up a pax.
> Here are my rules...
> 
> Never pick up a pax with a rating lower than 4.8
> ...


Do you mind helping a very newbee out with this? You said you cancel right away. So far, I've accepted and completed every trip - only 5!  Two others cancelled on me right after I accepted. But I accept and get started for their location immediately. I don't know where to even look for their name or their rating on the screen. :/ I was afraid that sitting there to take time to figure it out would count against me, because they can 'see' me and tell if I started heading toward them and such.

I would like to try your method when I next drive. Where on the screen does it tell me the pax rating?

Are you also the person who calls them to find out their destination before you go? That would be important information for me, too, but I haven't tried to do that yet as I'm afraid I'd get booted from the system. I would cheerfully take them/get them anywhere in my city limits during the hours I work. But I can't leave the city after a certain time due to time constraints.

I'm also creating a pax account in hubby's name this weekend so I can start watching the rider screen. I'm so newB I didn't know enough to do that.


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## SneakyPete (Sep 24, 2015)

Most riders don't want to wait too long and some will call Uberx, Lyft and a Taxi and will take whoever gets there first. And if rider is standing in street may even hail a Taxi just driving by ! This is why they cancel you immediately after taking 25 mins to get there.

Is the 20-25 min commute worth it in fuel, tyres, milage, depreciation and risk of dying from accident for min fare which after srf is about 50% ! 

My personal rule is no longer than 12 mins and hope like hell they're there when you get there.


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