Whenever you show up late at your Uber Ride, the app will charge an extra amount. And this extra time is included in your final bill under the name ”Wait Time”.
The concept of Wait time was introduced to benefit drivers and pay them for time spent in waiting. And the concept stands out, the delay due to a rider is preventing driver to complete more rides. The more time spent in waiting, the less the driver might make.
What are maximum time limit to wait without any cost?
The application’s efficient algorithm gives the riders a time limit of two minutes to start the journey as soon as the driver has arrived at the desired destination.
Is surplus fare add?
The surplus fare will be added in the estimated cost of your journey. This really creates a baffling condition, when you are not able to locate the driver. Or even the case when the driver starts the journey irrespective of your presence at the desired location.
Before including this biased system in their application, the company made an announcement that said
A per-minute Wait Time fee will begin 2 minutes after your driver arrives at your location. We’ll notify you that the charge has started, and it will continue until you enter your vehicle and the driver begins the trip.
How It Works?
The needles of the clock will start drifting in favour of driver’s goodwill as soon as the rider fails to show up in the threshold time of two minutes.
A rider is never charged against Wait time right from the moment the driver arrives at your location. Riders are given enough time of two minutes to show at the cab in the meantime.
Failing to show at your cab within two minutes, makes a rider liable to be charged against Wait time. The penalty will be estimated until the driver “Starts the trip”.
How App Calculates Wait Time?
Let us assume a driver arrives at your location. For some reasons, you fail to show at your cab. Now it is approximately 4 minutes and 30 seconds until you arrive and the driver starts the ride.
The wait time will start after two minutes. The driver will be paid for two minutes and thirty seconds ( 2 minute and 30 seconds ). Earlier driver partners were to get 2.5 x $ 0.55 which is simply $1.375 which is approximately dollar and forty cents.
With recent updates in company policies, the same scenario will pay driver partner approximately dollar and a half. Now company price policies will follow the math as 2.5 x $ 0.60 which is equivalent to $1.50.
What are guidelines for Uber Wait times?
As per the company’s guidelines. The fare of your ride solely depends upon riders density, driver number on the road, peak hours and surge pricing and many more. The uber wait time is no exception in this case too.
The company follows a standard wait time and a threshold time to be followed. But this wait time is greatly influenced by the part of the city, the peak hours, the driver density, and in some cases your ratings.
Hence it’s quite not obvious to believe that you will pay sixty cents per minute for the wait time.
What are the factors involve in wait times calculation?
Wait time fares depend upon your city and the category of the cab you’re going to travel by. Usually, the places where a rider can never avoid getting late are kept out from the concept of wait time.
The places that don’t wall in the perimeter of wait time are airports. Pretty obvious one can never predict the time of their exit. So wait time concept is not applicable to the places like the airport or certain other venues.
Calculation Of Wait Time Beforehand
You can check the pricing of your wait time from various sources which are as follows.:
- From the company’s official website, where they’ve
real time calculations. - From the application, the moment you book your ride:
- Select your pick up and drop location from the application.
- Select the cab you prefer for the ride.
- Click the “?” [ question mark symbol] next to your cab option.
- If your ride is applicable for wait time you’ll get to know.
You can carry above steps before you actually confirm (or book) your ride.
What Will Happen If You Cancel Ride?
As per Uber’s policies, a rider will only be charged for cancellation fare. Your cancellation penalty ( or charges ) are never inclusive of wait time. And it’s quite obvious you should never pay for a ride that you never took. The cancellation charges are never inclusive of wait time.
And another thing you must be aware of. There’s no such concept of wait time when it comes to Uber Pool. That is whenever you’re travelling by Uber Pool you won’t be charged against wait time. But that doesn’t imply you intentionally show up late for the ride. Try to be on time and at the exact location where you must wait for the ride, Be it Uber Pool or your conventional ride.
How to Avoid Wait Time?
How can you save driver’s time and your wallet from uber wait time?
- The only solution is to show up on-time at your ride, without any delay.
- Make sure the driver must not “Start Journey” prior to your arrival.
- You’re present at desired location i.e., at your booking place.
In case if you think you’ve been charged unnecessarily for wait time you can upload your ride summary at customer care.
Leave a Reply