Want to use the bathroom before Uber arrives? Think again
Uber wants customers to show up promptly for their rides. To that end, it's testing a two-minute window for passengers to get to their car before the meter starts ticking.
The company is testing the program in Dallas, New Jersey, New York, and Phoenix, and it says that it will roll it out to other locations if it proves successful. The plan undoubtedly would make business more efficient for Uber and its drivers, since, as it puts it, "Uber works better when drivers are driving more and waiting less."
Currently, Uber has a five-minute grace period for passengers to get to their waiting Uber car. While the pilot program is probably geared toward cutting down on people who dilly-dally before heading to meet their Uber drivers, the two-minute waiting period could prove troublesome to some passengers, especially those with physical disabilities, the elderly, or people with small children. On the other hand, Uber says it's merely looking out for the financial health of its drivers.
"While we encourage riders to only request a ride when they're ready, we understand that sometimes they are running a little behind. In these cases drivers will be compensated for the extra minutes they need," the company said in a blog post about the pilot program.
The pilot is also testing a two-minute cancellation policy, compared with the company's current 5-minute limit. In the pilot programs, customers will have to cancel their rides within a two-minute grace period before potentially incurring what Uber calls "a small fee."
The cancellation fee may be more reasonable than requiring customers to get out to their car within two minutes, especially for those people dealing with physical impairments or other issues. Disabled passengers, for instance, may end up paying more for a ride simply because they can't move as fast as an able-bodied passenger. Uber declined to comment.
Uber's cars sometimes show up on the app as having arrived even when they haven't reached a customer's doorstep, according to TechCrunch. That also raises questions about whether customers will actually have two minutes, or if they might end up with just a minute to get to their car before the charges begin accumulating.
"I still encounter issues with Uber related to drivers not being able to find the location, even when you enter it correctly," one passenger wrote on TechCrunch. "So this could result in fees to the user that were actually the fault of the driver."