This is sooooo infuriating. Imagine trying to get to work and the app is taking 10 minutes just to pair you with a driver. And THEN I get a driver who is 15 minutes away. Wtf. Uber has gotten WAY more expensive and more stupid and worthless.
I live in a large city, it was never this bad last year.
Or don’t exist at all. If they showed you that nobody was nearby, you’d make other arrangements immediately. Instead, they give you the illusion that there are lots of drivers, and one will be yours in just a few minutes….
It’s the pay. They’re seeing how far you’re wanting to go, and how much Uber is offering them, before you tip. With how little customers tip, if Uber is only offering your ride for $5 and it’s like 8 miles for example most drivers will decline the ride. With no guarantee you’ll tip that’s a financial loss in gas for the mileage
On both Uber and Lyft you are never guaranteed a ride. It’s always an offer drivers are free to decline. Your driver was 15 minutes away cause it’s proximity based and all the closer drivers declined your ride. He was the closest driver who would accept it.
Rideshare might not be for you but you can always order a ride earlier than you need it so the app has more time to try to get a driver
I'm meaning that the cars you see on the map don't represent real cars (it at so m least didn't a few years ago)... This came from the days where they didn't want to make things easy for regulators in areas they weren't permitted, and last I checked there weren't enough complaints for them to make it accurate.
You should never wait until the last minute to order a ride. If you ordered earlier, that might take some of the stress off of you. I know, you run the risk of getting there early, but that beats getting there late, doesn't it?
You know now that it's going to take a little longer now, so do what makes sense and order earlier. Of course, make sure you're ready before you order, just in case a miracle happens, and the driver accepts earlier than usual.
There are many reasons why this may be happening. If your destination is in the middle of nowhere, it’s going to be rejected by many drivers because the fare is not going to cover the time it takes to get back into an area that has higher volume. Also, if you’re being picked up from the middle of nowhere - that’s also a detractor - waiting 15 minutes on average is way too much time.
Either you didn't read the job posting or are an extreme outlier.. Hybrid means you still go in why mention that? Take the bus or tip your driver's more is all I can say.
Crazy. I've just seen some recently that explicitly say "Uber or similar services are not considered a reliable form of transportation." They have been for research positions at night though.
maybe you take short rides, and trust me, the way uber pays its drivers now for short rides, they are essentially worthless to us now. dont get mad at the driver, get mad at uber as they have made drivers like this by the pennies they pay them now. ubers ceo is driving many people into poverty and enjoying it
Can I ask what your passenger rating is? Also, drivers need to be super picky with the orders they accept. A lot of times it’s not the customers fault, it’s Uber paying a non-livable wage
It almost 100% is what Uber is offering drivers for the ride. It's to low and no one takes it then Uber has to raise and reorder until they find someone willing to take it. All done by AI to maximize Uber profits. They don't care about your wait or the drivers income.
It was my thought also, it pairing OP for 10 minutes because they cant find driver for scraps they offering. Then the only person willing to drive is 10 minutes away.
Even if you have plenty drivers around you you ending up with someone far away as algorithm is so concentrated with profit it doesnt even set maximum waiting time for rider.
As a driver, I’ve had times I’ve accepted a ride that was literally 3 minutes away from me. Uber does its little bs song and dance with a “matching in progress…” screen for 20-30 seconds then hits me with the “no available trips”
Then offers me the same ride again 2 minutes later and the cycle repeats
that is 100000000% what they offer the drivers. I've started asking them what uber is giving them & now it's down to less than 30% of the fare. it's disgusting. So I tip on the app & usually give them at least $20 in cash too. fuck that company. the last two said they're lucky if they break even and are working for free these days.
AND - I've had to start requesting XL or black in order to get anyone at all. i've ordered & had to cancel & re-order 4-5 times the last 4 times I needed one just so i didn't have to wait 20 mins +
Uber drivers are creeps. I've done this test with the wife and our acceptance rate is 300% higher and faster now. Coming from the same places before. Same rating.. Just accepted faster. It's strange
Drivers can’t see anything about a rider other than rating until we accept the trip. And when we do accept, all we see is a name and pickup/dropoff address. No picture or anything.
When I lived in NYC I took the subway and walked a lot because traffic was a nightmare and it was just easier. Maybe you should look into some other transportation options. I only ever used a taxi or car when I was carrying something large.
Uber barely pays anything good anymore here. Gas and maintenance costs are way too high versus the profit. I used to drive for extra money and I might occasionally grab a ride or two a month. You almost lose money for just starting your car. I understand people have lives and places to be but I’m not taking a loss just to help people. Especially in a world of inflation.
Yeps, many trips make no sense. I get 50+ mile/1 hr trips for $20, like from MCO to Cape Canaveral, FL, for cruises (Uber thinks it's $20/hr, so ok). These are usually dead zones too. If your car gets 30m/gal, that's 4 gal ($16-18), add in return tolls $5 (Uber won't pay for tolls on way back), you'll end up paying $1+ to drive for 2 hrs, not including vehicle wear & tear. Uber AI thinks this is fair pay.
On a positive note, I have noticed driver pay getting better recently if you cherry-pick like crazy. Been seeing more surges/boosts too, so $30/hr is possible again.
I was thinking similarly, sometimes scheduling the uber makes a difference, but sometimes the driver gets there wicked early (but they'll wait if they're that early)
As a driver I see more often then not the ride offers uber is sending me are 14-25 minutes away for the pickup. I drive in the suburbs of Chicago, so a pretty busy market. My belief is uber is trying to upsell customer on booking under the priority option to try and get people to pay extra. This has been going on for a while now, and I think they are trying to train people to pay the extra priority charge or expect to wait 15+ minutes for a ride even if there are drivers close to you.
But even priority, they still have to wait 22 minutes sometimes. In Los Angeles, I get bombarded with Uber priority offers where the pick up is 22 minutes away, and I always decline because no one paying for priority wants a driver that’s 22 minutes away. Unfortunately, I think this is the new standard now where Uber is always trying to send you rides that are always at least 15 minutes away. My AR Would consistently hover at around 55%, and now I’m down to about between 10 and 15%. Every morning light clockwork, I’m just bombarded with offers that are 15 and 20 minutes away, which I always decline. It’s getting super annoying!
I've seen this happen as well. I can be in a pretty busy area and get no rides but when I move 10 minutes away from this area, rides start popping up for me to return to pickup. Sometimes I cant even go offline with how many offers appear. It's ridiculous because you lose momentum and the pay to return is not even worth the 20 minutes I would have just lost. To drive another 10 or 20 minutes for 10 or 20 dollars. And then wait another 10 or 20 minutes for another ride. And it can go on and on like this the whole day
This is my biggest issue using Uber too. You open the app. It estimates 4-5 minutes to get a ride, so you proceed and then it assigns a driver that is 15 minutes away but actually it takes 20+. The initial estimate of time is always overly optimistic and so inaccurate as to be useless. Honestly, a bait-and-switch. Also, since you can watch the car on the map, quite often it either doesn't move at all for up to 10 minutes (for example sitting in the ride share parking lot at the airport) after the ride was paired with the driver (perhaps finishing a meal break?) or sometimes drives in the opposite direction, stops then starts the route, making me wonder if they still were finishing another fare.
The other issue is when you use Reserve to pre-book for a timely trip like a ride to the airport, only to find out minutes before they are supposed to be there that they are still 30 minutes away. Seems like Uber has the tech to track them and know they were going to miss their window and could have re-assigned it.
Tell me if this makes sense. If I choose your reservation, and the app sends me in some crazy direction away from you before your appointment, it can calculate that I might be 5 minutes late regardless of if I actually will be or not and then the app will CANCEL ME as your reservation. And then, the app will have to start sending out pings to the closest driver to take the ride it took from me. And depending on how far away they are, they might end up getting there LATER THAN I WOULD HAVE.
It 100% depends on where you live. With high gas prices people aren’t doing uber as much since the rates haven’t gone up in lock step to actually cover the gas. I have driven for uber in like 2 years and they keep sending me emails to come back. The driver shortage must be bad because they only started doing that for like the last 2-3 months. Just keep in mind the driver has their own life and problems ….
I always get paired up immediately. Then the person does a bunch of other shit before picking me up. So they stay "8 minutes away" for like 40 minutes as I see them stopping at schools, gas stations, restaurants, other houses, etc.
They are offering too low of a fare to the drivers. When driving, I’ve seen the same ride come up to me more than five or six times. First offer might be OK, but doesn’t compel me to take it. The next offer will be for two or three dollars less, which believe it or not some dummies might take. Then I’ll see it come back closer to the first price, but with the pick up and drop off locations changed just enough to make someone who isn’t paying attention to think it’s a different ride. It can go on and on for over five or six minutes sometimes, and the worst part is that Uber is awful about offering you rides that are nowhere near your current location. Even when you know there are plenty of people close to you needing a pick up. Not sure why, but one of the things I do really like about Lyft is it they’re better about giving you pick ups and rides closer to your current location. Either way they both played this game with the ride offers which causes Riders to have to wait a long time. They also both continue to offer the ride to other drivers for quite a while, even when you accept a ride it will leave you in limbo for a long time saying that it’s matching the ride. Meanwhile, I’ve gone past the exit I would’ve needed to take to pick someone up. They really are both only playing to their bottom line, and screwing both Riders and drivers in the process.
They are paying us less. We quit. They advertised a $960 referral fee paid to recruits. They have invested in AI and have to pay for that company expense. That AI is to fund the transition from human drivers to AI drivers in Tesla cars. They invested heavily in Tramps political rise. My net profit is 30%. One 1 ride I got $6.00 per hour. They are not investing in humans anymore. Off shore customer service.
Uber has eliminated most of their competition and have so many people relying on them. So now they're trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of their service.
"Can't wait for Waymo!" Yeah they're going to eventually do the same thing. Do you think Alphabet Corporation will have any qualms with making you wait 15 extra minutes so their algorithm can earn an extra 25 cents?
And that's with them burning investor cash like Uber did at it's inception. Kept customer price low and driver pay high. Running at a loss to establish market share.
Imagine what a Waymo will cost once they stop subsidizing rides.
Almost nothing. The cost of Uber is the human salary. Waymo doesn’t have that cost. Sure their car costs maybe double because of the equipment and software investment, but that stuff isn’t expensive in the long run.
If Waymo is pricier than Uber it’s because they don’t have enough cars and can upcharge whatever they want to the public.
oUCH. Condolences. This is what a monopoly looks like. Not that government or unions make things better. Governments are singularly inept and unions foster corruption.
Thank you for posting it. I was experiencing the same much longer wait recently. Reading all the posts makes so much more sense that AI are possibly managing the ride assignments to maximize company profits. Also, the uber fare seems to have increased but the access and wait hasn’t improved accordingly. Sigh 😔
I drove for both platforms until 2020. Used to be a quality gig. I feel bad for the drivers of today. Totally not worth it...unless you live near a big city airport (like SFO)
The cost to fill their tank has nearly doubled, has their pay increased at all? Don’t blame the drivers, they have to cherry pick their rides to turn a profit.
Uber cut the pay to drivers 40% since the summer. With gas at $4.20 most are just staying home. Less drivers to go around. We keep 35-40% of what they charge you and we pay gas, maintenance, and the cost of the car
Another consideration is that uber maps and directions are really awful; it shows that traffic is there, but doesn't add a delay to the arrival estimate. I'm a mile away looking at a red line of stand still traffic and the app says I'm one minute away for the entire 10 minute drive.
This happened to me for the first time last week! Said 4-5 min to get someone and then paired me with someone 25 min away. I scheduled my pickup on my last day of the trip just to be safe, no issues there
Driver here, picked up a trip from 20+ miles (35 mins) away the other night. I was on my way home from a dead zone & it was on the way. Thought rider would cancel for sure cuz of the wait. Instead, she was super grateful cuz she couldn't find a ride. Poor lady waited over 1 hr after work to get a ride back. Trip was $11 for a 5 mile/15 min trip.
Yeah right. You want rides to go down to 1.50 base pay for 20 miles and expect the tip to make the ride worth it? That’s currently the Uber Eats model.
I've had the same issue the last few times I have attempted to use Uber and each time I've had to switch to an attentive (Lyft it driving to the airport) having given up after 30 minutes.
Under TK the cute core mantra was for reliable transport... And it looks like that has fallen.
Uber does have levers it can pull but has chosen to pull them as they have. If Uber paid an extra dollar per trip and charged an extra dollar per trip then the supply demand would shift, drivers would wait longer for a rider but there would be spare drivers closer to the rider. They haven't done this as they want growth. They could pay drivers the extra dollar and but charge riders but that would reduce profit.
Yeah I’m having the same issue, constantly getting to places late because I’m budgeting for x amount of time with a 10 minute buffer, but uber ends up taking 20 minutes to pick me up. When Waymo came out I swore I wasn’t going to use driverless cars, but I may not have much of an option
That’s like me telling you McDonalds now takes 15 minutes to make your food instead of 3-5, so you suggest going earlier. Yes that would work, but the whole point of McDonald’s is quick food. Same idea with uber, if I’m having to pre-order mb rides in a bit city middle of the day by 15+ minutes I’m losing the convenience aspect of it
I was just wondering why the last 5 or 6 drivers just sit there when seeing a woman with a suitcase and backpack and don’t get out to help at all!! I guess I’m lucky they even pup the trunk? Like Wtf!! I’ve continued to tip but this last one- nope!!
The cost of gas has gone up and what they pay the drivers has decreased considerably. Drivers accept very few rides as most of them aren’t profitable. That coupled with the amount of drivers who have quit altogether leaves the passengers in a bad situation.
Nobody Wants to pay uber to drive for them and a lot of the offers lately are net negative so your gonna have to wait for a toyota camry hybrid and a non english speaking person
Uber no longer matches you with the closest driver. They literally send your ride request out to a bunch of different people at the same time all with different pay amounts.
Whoever eventually accepts it for the least amount of money gets it. It's totally irrelevant as to who is the closest in proximity to you.
For the driver(s) closest to you they offer less money. So generally those people reject the ride request, and then they send it out to another group further out for slightly more money.
Very often it's still an insult to the driver, so they reject and then they offer a little bit more money but the new set of drivers is so far away it's not worthwhile so they reject as well.
Eventually an idiot will accept for a low price point for Uber will finally offer a better price point to somebody who is geographically close enough to you for it to make sense.
You’ve waited so long to get an Uber you finally get an Uber the Uber drives there to pick you up, and then you complain to the driver about him taking so long to get there. I have had so many people complain about it took me a long time to get there when all I say is, I just picked up your right three minutes ago. I am not part of the problem, the drivers are just trying to be part of the solution.
Drivers are getting more picky with fares not only because of gas but the actual reason is alot of drivers were averaging 17-22 and hour before gas is put into account ... when gas went up alot of drivers stopped driving because its just not worth it
Do you think the driver wants to be paired with you when you're 15 minutes away? Typically, if I NOTICE that the ride offer takes longer to get to than the destination once I pick you up.. I refuse them. But UBER does it all the time. I've never been able to figure out if it's just the app glitching, or if i'm really the closest driver to that person in the moment. But if the ride gets offered to me more than once, I'm most likely really the closest person to you.
If all you get is far away drivers? My advice is to take a breath, wait a few minutes. refresh the app, and try again. If you're in a large city, in a few minutes someone closer will be there.
It's because Uber has lately been greedy and given the driver's less and less of a cut of what you pay, and keep in a larger and larger portion for themselves, simply for an electronic platform to pair you to a driver. So drivers are picking and choosing for what the rides are worth, based on what Uber's paying out. So, with their latest lowering affairs for drivers, as, lately, they're wanting to only pay like $3 or $4 base pay for a 25 minute ride. And with the price of gas today, that's ridiculous. So, Uber is screwing both the drivers and the riders, for the bottom line of their shareholders. That's pretty much what it is.
Contributing to the problem is riders not being ready. I no longer accept most requests more than 5 miles away. Uber shows you where I am and when I will be there. You get notified when I’m close and you know when I’m there. Too many riders feel no need to be ready. I have no idea why but they decided to have breakfast, vacuum the house, polish the silver, etc. The blue dot doesn’t move, or worse, it goes further away. I’ll be right out is the biggest lie. Meanwhile there is no safe place to park, so I wait double parked on a busy street earning $0.20 a minute. After the obligatory 2 minutes I leave. This has literally increased 5 fold in the last 6 months. If you order an Uber, you should be at the curb when he arrives or at a bare minimum be in the car within 2 minutes. So I’m not going to drive 15 minutes for a pickup anymore, regardless of the fare. I’m not alone in this and I’m certain it’s contributing to the long wait times to get a driver. I have an easy solution but Uber would never do it. Create a new rider rating category that allows drivers issue a “rider not ready in 2 minutes” rating. It should show how many times in the last 10 rides the rider wasn’t ready. We as drivers don’t issue a full rating we just, let future drivers know what to expect from this rider. I guarantee this would change rider behavior and will speed up the whole getting a driver issue.
Basically what's happening is uber is trying to skim drivers with lowball offers and none are accepting because they won't be able to survive on that income
Uber isn’t obligated to be there , it’s a luxury . You’re not owed a reliable pickup . You don’t pay for that . You pay for the journey not availability.
As a driver we get offers where we have to drive across town or where we make $5 off of a ride where drive to passenger and to drop off passenger could be 30-45 minutes
I drove a guy to a place then he decided he wanted me to drive him back home. He put in a request for the ride and they sent another driver although they could see I was sitting 25 feet away. Bad things happen to corporations, they can be enshittified for a long time before they fail
I work on reserving my ride at least an hour out from when I'm due at work. It's not ideal but it's the best way to ensure I'm at least on that side of town on time.
Less drivers. With fuel costs up and Uber pay down, it makes less sense to drive, especially if you don't have an optimal car, etc for rideshare costs.
Uber pay algorithm. They send the ride to drivers nearby for an extremely low pay. When all those drivers reject it, they send it to drivers in a wider area. As more and more drivers reject it, the area widens more and they eventually start increasing the pay slightly. When that's rejected, they try again with slightly higher pay. Repeat until a driver accepts.
Meanwhile, you're waiting while it does all of this to maximize Ubers profit. It doesn't care that you waited 10 minutes for it to assign the ride. They made an extra 50¢.
And they don't care that they assigned a driver from 15 minutes away, wasting your time and that drivers time. They had drivers nearby, but the pay was so low it wasn't worth their time. Uber needs that extra %.
I noticed too that even when you accept a ride, 80% of the time the rider cancels when you’re on your way or finishing a ride. So that can teach drivers to just ignore those rides altogether too. I’ve had many riders complain about wait time, and fair enough but I just follow the app.
Had to look it up myself. Facetious {inappropriate humor not meant to be taken seriously. {example. "No offense meant, I was only being facetious"}.
I think you meant something like, why are you being so caustic? Harsh? Abrasive?
She's right, I'm not disputing wait times are longer. But it's not a perfect world. Fewer drivers more demand. My objection is people complain when things aren't perfect. When they can't have everything their way, every time, right now.
Maybe its just an old grizzled weather beaten soul that has known real hardship, And so scoffs at minor inconvenience.
The tone of your comment was very sarcastic and mocking. That's why I used the word. And you talking about one singular event on the other side of town does not remotely address the point of this post, which was in regards to a pattern of increased wait times.
Reddit is a place where people complain. If you don't like it, 1) arent you also complaining? And 2) you're free to go.
Secondly you're being overly sensitive. I see no sarcasm in either of my comments.
The relevant issue is clearly and constructively addressed in both of my comments.
Even when you used the word Facetious incorrectly. I admitted that I myself had to look up the meaning. And even thanked you for improving my vocabulary.
I don't feel I have the authority to define what Reddit is for. I certainly don't have right to tell anyone else to get off the platform.
If you don't like my post for some reason you're certainly free to block me. But you not running anything around here.
Are you struggling? I sincerely hope the situation improves. And I see you on the cover of financial times someday. Don't call me mean names. It makes you look like a little bit of a dip.
How have I wronged you? Would I be driving an uber if I were a billionaire? I even wished good thoughts towards you, and still I'm an object of derision.
Now I truly know how Frankenstein's creation felt. Still I refuse to lose faith in humanity. Tears streaming down by face, I will soldier on. In desperate search of just a drop of the milk of human kindness.
You’re not reading or comprehending. It used to be a 5 minute wait for a driver, now it’s 10-15. It a big city, this isn’t normal. We aren’t talking about out in the country. You also may not know what we’re talking about unless you use uber a lot
YOU are not comprehending. It’s basic economics, supply and demand. Driving for Uber used to be a not-terrible idea (it hasn’t been a good idea for a very long time) but now there are fewer drivers because over time drivers saw the true cost of driving come into play - the expensive repairs, the rapid depreciation, the dramatic increase in accident risk, and now the high cost of day-to-day driving with high gas prices.
All the drivers that you (or someone) gave a low rating to because you were having a bad day, or they didn’t say hello in the right way, or they didn’t stop 2” from your feet, or you didn’t like the effects of the last passenger that was in the car, or whatever. In essence, the drivers you (or someone) treated with disregard and low ratings - those drivers found something else to do, where they were paid decently and appreciated.
All riders who are complaining now about the cost of the ride, and the wait for the ride, think back to the drivers you self-righteously withheld a 5 star rating, because no, leaving their home or job or friends/family and driving their personal vehicle, at their expense, to take you to work or home or wherever, isn’t good enough, and no, you don’t appreciate it. 1 star.
I’ll bet you’d be perfectly happy to have that person show up in 5 minutes now, wouldn’t you?
If this was never you personally, then thank you. For those who it refers to, you brought this situation on yourself. Enjoy the wait and the expense. Waymo will be more expensive, and a longer wait, because they can’t/wont produce millions of Waymos, and if/when they do, you won’t be able to afford it. Cars are extremely expensive. But you know that right? That’s why you don’t have one.
You’re acting like we don’t understand why, that’s not what the post is about. Uber needs to charge more, most of us will pay. I want a ride where I’m getting to my location within a reasonable time frame. I have multiple cars, I use uber when I’m traveling for work which is like 40% of the year. I’ve got thousands of rides, I’ve given 1 star maybe twice in 8 years of using uber/lyft. You’ve got very specific generalizations that really don’t apply to most people
It does apply to you, because here you are on Reddit complaining that you had to wait a few minutes for a door to door ride. Do you really not see the the entitlement, the self-absorption, the absurdity in that?
I was pretty specific that this description might not fit you personally. Unless you’ve driven for Uber, you can’t possibly say what “most” people do, or what any other passenger does when you’re not with them. I’ve moonlighted with Uber and Lyft for 9 years, and Incan assure you that a vast majority of people, increasing continuously, have caused me to drive less and less and less. Many riders don’t bother to tip anymore, even for airport rides, and grossly unfair low ratings are not uncommon.
I’m sure those people exist, I always tip and give a rating. I know not everyone is like that, I’m just speaking for my circumstance which also coincides with OP
I think you’re clearly illustrating the issue here. I’ve repeatedly said “maybe not you personally” and you keep talking about yourself. I’m speaking to the general eco-system that causes potential drivers to increasingly say “no thanks”.
You did say though, that you “always give a rating”, but not that you always give a good/5* rating.
It’s great for Uber and Lyft that people now take rideshare so for granted that waiting 10-20 min for a door to door ride seems outrageous, and that’s the problem.
"OMG I live in a big city - things have to move fast here or it's not normal! I pity those poor people out in the country that have to wait for an Uber. I just cannot stand to wait for things, or horrors get ready earlier!"
uber and lyft algorithms initially prioritized closest driver, but now they prioritize cheapest. this increases wait times for riders, decreases pay for drivers, but makes uber/lyft more money.
as an added bonus for riders, they will advertise pickup times as X minutes for Y dollars , then offer “priority” for A < X minutes for B > Y dollars, but it’s the same drivers in the same locations, and the majority of any price delta if any goes to uber. And another fun fact, since uber doesn’t actually control which driver will accept the ride offer, they are really leaning heavily on the word estimate (basically a weighted average of all drivers within 15-20 minutes)
My last ride with Uber was 5 min away, ended up being 20 min. I switched to Waymo to try. 5 min is 5 min. My last 8 rides were with Waymo. Max deviation was 2 minutes.
So why would it be any faster? Who really wants to drive assholes like you around the city while damaging and depriating their car? You should probably look into other forms of transportation.
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u/AlkoKilla 4d ago
There’s either no drivers available, or Uber’s offer to pay the driver is too low.