Uber riders with good luck, decent hygiene, and few interpersonal deficiencies can afford to forget that they're not just rating drivers: Their drivers are rating them, too. But with Uber's latest app update — these occur weekly — the ride-hailing company is reminding its customers of that fact.
"Ratings are a two-way street at Uber," explains a blog post announcing the changes. Namely, rider ratings are now more easily accessible to riders themselves from within the rider app, although they've always been prominently displayed to drivers. Take a look yourself if you haven't, you know, deleted the app yet. Your rating should be just beneath your name as you swipe to your profile.
Once upon a time, these Uber passenger ratings were difficult to locate. They weren't available in the app, until they were, but then they were buried fairly deep down. But why know your rating? As with a low driver score, a sub-par rider rating can jeopardize one's ability to use Uber at all. Who's going to pick up a 4.1 when there's a perfect 5 around the corner?
Look, nobody's perfect. Uber, for example, has secretly evaded regulators, created a reportedly toxic corporate environment, and allegedly stolen self-driving car technology from Google.
But as a rider, you've made mistakes, too, or so the update seems to imply. "Things like eating in the car, slamming the door, or trying to pile in more people than seatbelts can impact whether it’s a 5-star experience for drivers," a company representative writes. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Also at issue in the update is Uber's strained relationship with its drivers. To appease them, and also in the name of fairness, Uber Pool riders can now give more feedback on their trip in a way that doesn't harm their driver's rating.
"There are things outside a driver’s control that impact how riders rate the experience," the company explains. "For instance, was a rider unhappy with the match our algorithm made or was their co-rider too chatty?" The change: "Now, when riders rate a Pool trip less than 5 stars, they can select additional reasons why. And when the reason is something like the route or co-rider behavior, we won’t count the rating toward the driver’s average." But wait, does it affect the other rider's average? I'll never be chatty in an Uber Pool again, your honor, I promise.
Previously: What's Your Uber Passenger Rating? (Here Are Ours)