If you keep your Uber driver waiting, you’ll now have to cough up for the privilege. Uber South Africa said on Monday that it is introducing a feature called “paid wait time”, meant to maximise productivity for the company’s “driver-partners”.
In terms of the new policy, drivers will get paid per minute if a rider keeps them waiting for more than five minutes after the driver arrives at their pick-up location.
“With arrival times now just a few minutes, riders need only request a ride when it’s time to leave,” Uber said in a statement.
The new feature will make a big difference to drivers’ efficiency and create help create a “stress-free experience”, said Uber sub-Saharan Africa GM Alon Lits.
The “paid wait time” feature comes a week after Uber said it had launched a series of other features for driver-partners that allow them to choose when, where and how they drive.
Uber, which has 12 000 drivers making use of its app each week in South Africa, said the changes were meant to offer more flexibility for drivers when it comes to when they want to use Uber while also improving their safety.
The new features announced last week include:
Arrival destination and time: Drivers will now be able to set the time that they want to arrive at their final destination at any time of the day with the “arrival time” feature. As drivers go about their day with the destination and arrival time set, the app will notify them when it’s time to start heading toward their destination. At that time, they’ll be connected with a trip along the same path. This allows for more flexibility and allows them to make extra money on the way, Uber said.
Long trip notification: Information will be sent to drivers to fit driving around their lifestyle, which means they will now get a heads-up when a trip is estimated to be 45 minutes or longer, so they can plan accordingly.
“No thanks” button: This allows drivers to turn down trips without worrying how it will affect their earnings. Currently, drivers can either confirm and take a trip request or wait for the request to time out. However, with this new feature, drivers can decline the trip right away. This should also mean shorter waiting times for riders.
Rating protection: Sometimes riders might give their trip a low rating for reasons beyond a driver-partner’s control, such as an issue with the Uber app. With the new ratings policy, these types of ratings won’t count towards a driver-partner’s score. Uber will still get the feedback to help them improve but it won’t impact the driver’s overall rating. — (c) 2017 NewsCentral Media