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Every Uber or Lyft ride comes with a set of unwritten rules most passengers never think about. In this episode of Travel Unfiltered, experienced rideshare drivers reveal the industry secrets, unwritten rules, and travel hacks that can save you money, earn you better ratings, and make every trip smoother.

Discover the surprising rules drivers live by and why your trip might get declined before it even begins. Drivers also break down how surge pricing really works, explain the little-known ways passengers can accidentally damage their ratings, and share the etiquette they wish every rider knew. Along the way, they reveal what years behind the wheel have taught them about reading people, staying safe, and why every shift offers a window into the lives of complete strangers.
Transcript
00:00Uber drivers are like, how do I put this?
00:04They're like doctors.
00:05If it's not a 4.9 or above, you're not getting a ride.
00:08The biggest tip I ever got from one of my rides
00:11came from one of the worst rides I've ever had.
00:13As a passenger, you should realize you have all the power.
00:16I've been driving Uber for five years.
00:18I've been driving with Uber for about 11 years.
00:20For one year, exactly.
00:22For five years.
00:23No good rating, no ride.
00:24So if I see them with a low rating, like a 4.5,
00:28then I start to question it.
00:30And then I start to consider where I'm picking them up from.
00:33So let's say you have a 4.0 rating,
00:35and I'm picking you up from the club.
00:37I might reconsider that.
00:39I can see the person's rating.
00:40I can see their picture, if they have one, their name,
00:43how many rides they've been on.
00:45Obviously, their rating matters.
00:47If it's not a 4.9 or above, you're not getting a ride.
00:50My nature is not to decline any rides.
00:53I really, really care about my ratings,
00:55especially the acceptance rate.
00:57But if I'm in a rough neighborhood,
00:59and I see a rating below 4, like 370, 350,
01:03usually I try not to take it.
01:06I do know now, as a driver, I can refuse to pick somebody up
01:11who has below a certain amount of score.
01:13You can put that in.
01:14I haven't done it yet, but recently,
01:16I had a very low-rated passenger, and I found out why.
01:20And I'm going to do that.
01:22If someone gives me a rating, I usually don't know who gave me that rating,
01:26and they're all five stars, except for one.
01:28We don't need to worry about that person.
01:29It was definitely in the high threes.
01:31It was a low rating.
01:32She was screaming into the phone about her Uber driver.
01:38She started screaming about how slow I was driving.
01:41I thought it was going to be a situation.
01:42It was kind of scary.
01:43At the end of every ride, I'm asked, would I drive this rider again?
01:47Yes or no?
01:48And if I hit no, they automatically get three stars.
01:50And if you don't make it out in five minutes, I can cancel the ride, and I usually do.
01:53And then they get three stars for that, too.
01:58I had a passenger tell me that he looked at the ride.
02:01It was about $125.
02:03He said, I went in the store, got something to drink,
02:06and all of a sudden, it went up $75.
02:08And he actually thought I would get the $75, and I'm like, sir, I wish.
02:12He got hit with the surges.
02:14Usually in the morning, there's surges because there's a lot of drivers
02:17and a lot of people on the road, and the man is high.
02:20As Uber drivers, we don't get the full amount
02:23from the surge.
02:24We got an extra $5, maybe, if we're lucky.
02:26From my observation, Uber takes about somewhere from 20 to 30 percent.
02:32Lyft takes about 15 percent.
02:35So Lyft is giving away more than Uber.
02:38The worst people are the ones that tell you they're going to tip, and they don't tip.
02:43Like, why did you have to tell me that to have my hopes up waiting for it?
02:47This guy was very amazed with the way I drive.
02:49He's like, you're an incredible person.
02:50You're an inspiration to me.
02:53And when I brought him home, he gave me $100.
02:55Twice that's happened to me.
02:56There were three stewardesses that were stranded wintertime.
03:00Newark Airport, 2 a.m. in the morning.
03:03I was getting ready to go home, and I took the ride.
03:06And they said, we just want to let you know,
03:07we've already had three drivers cancel on us.
03:10Will you take us to Philadelphia?
03:13I said, sure.
03:14We had a nice conversation there.
03:16They tipped me $57.
03:19The biggest tip I ever got from one of my rides came from, arguably, one of the worst
03:24rides I've ever had.
03:25It was a really short ride, and I was actually taking her and her teenage daughter to the
03:29emergency room.
03:30We were just chatting.
03:31It was like an 11-minute ride, and she tipped me $50.
03:35That was definitely the biggest tip.
03:37The timing is the key.
03:39Morning rush hour is the best.
03:40You get to meet fresh-minded people.
03:43They are not intoxicated.
03:45They are not crazy.
03:46They are going to the airport.
03:47They are going to the office.
03:48You can make more money driving early in the morning.
03:50One strategy that I do personally to kind of get into good trips,
03:55when I go into areas where I see that there's a lot of people moving around,
04:00I'm seeing a lot of calls coming through the app,
04:03I just hit the X until I see the little tab pop up that says 45 plus.
04:08That usually means your ride is longer than 45 minutes.
04:12Lyft has this option.
04:14It's called filtering.
04:16I can put the destination like somewhere in Manhattan.
04:19As I'm heading to the school, if somebody's coming that way,
04:22Lyft will give me the ride.
04:23My last ride could be in Brooklyn and could be in Long Island,
04:26and I live in the Bronx.
04:27I do not want to drive 25 miles and paying my own toll to get home.
04:33I don't think it's fair.
04:34In this scenario, I think Lyft ahead of the game.
04:36More traffic means more money.
04:38But me personally, I don't like to sit in traffic.
04:41My strategy is get one ride done straight into the other.
04:47As a passenger, you should realize you have all the power.
04:50You know what our car looks like.
04:52You know the driver's name.
04:54You know the license plate number.
04:56You know where the ride is.
04:58If you pay attention on the app, you can see the car coming.
05:01We don't know anything about you.
05:02We have your name.
05:03That's all we have.
05:04People think that we know where they're going.
05:06A lot of times they get mad at us because they expect us to know exactly where to pick them
05:11up
05:12and exactly where to take them.
05:13I went to a turkey hunters convention.
05:16It was the largest turkey hunters convention in America.
05:19So I was pulling up.
05:20There were 300 people standing outside.
05:22And every single one of those people was wearing camouflage.
05:27Every single person was wearing camouflage.
05:30So even if I had a picture, it wouldn't have helped.
05:32So I sat there and waited and waited and waited.
05:36And then finally, I got a message.
05:38Where are you?
05:39I was like, dude, you know what my car looks like.
05:41I'm literally at the pickup spot.
05:43I was like, are you wearing camouflage?
05:45Because I got nothing.
05:47And then for the rest of the weekend, I just drove turkey hunters in camouflage.
05:51A good passenger is someone who is ready for pickup or at least understands to communicate
05:59when they are not.
06:01I mean, chop, chop.
06:02Time is money.
06:03Take care of the people's cars that you ride in because, you know, they're paying for these cars.
06:07When they leave their garbage or gum wrappers, you don't even know it's back there until you're
06:11done with your shift.
06:12So that's when you get back scores saying, you know, dirty car, you know, and that impacts your score.
06:17My spidey senses are active when a passenger is already texting, where are you?
06:24What time are you going to get here?
06:26So someone who's overaggressive, someone who's disrespectful, someone who crosses boundaries,
06:32that is someone that gives me a red flag.
06:35I hate when somebody puts out a cigarette right before getting in my car and gets in the car with
06:39all
06:39the smoke.
06:40It's like they don't realize all that smoke is like chasing them and gets right in the car with them.
06:45Don't put it out and then come in my car.
06:47Your best friend has got to be some kind of car scent.
06:49Make sure you carry at least a Febreze.
06:52For the summer, we get to people pick up from the beach and they come in the car with the
06:59scents on their feet, on their body.
07:02Please clean yourself before you get into the car because this is not going to be a last ride for
07:07the driver.
07:08The driver still continues the shift, so the car, it needs to be cleaned for the next passenger.
07:13I had a passenger that I picked him up in Hoboken.
07:16They were drunk and I told him, please put on your seatbelt.
07:18There was an accident in front of me and I had to brake and the guy didn't have his seatbelt
07:21on.
07:22And when I braked, he hit against my wheelchair.
07:25Please wear your seatbelts when you get into any car.
07:28You're going to go flying.
07:29I love driving rideshare because I meet super interesting people and they're from all over the world.
07:37I love, it gets me out of the house.
07:39It's my social life.
07:39I always know what's going on around town.
07:41I know where the best restaurants are.
07:43I feel like I'm keyed into the city.
07:45Everybody's going through something and for you to be a listening ear while also driving them to
07:49their location is a good feeling for me.
07:51I love it.
07:52You know, you get to, you get a show, you know, you can hear stories.
07:55For me, that's an awesome experience.
07:57That's why we do this.
07:59That's why I do this.
08:00Uber drivers are like, how do I put this?
08:04They're like doctors or someone in healthcare.
08:09We are here to help you.
08:11We're not here to hurt.
08:13We're here to help you.
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