Big Changes Taking Place In Features For Driver App

A paradigm shift towards acquiring more driver in the market by enrolling new features for driver app

Uber, even the most disrupted business could not be saved from getting embroiled in the number of scandals since the advent of 2017. Sour relationship with the drivers due to providing them limited features for driver app and limited opportunities, bitter relationships due to unacceptable surge pricing, and the final nail in the coffin by stepping down of Uber’s big shot CEO, Travis Kalanick.

The company allegedly lost users and market share to the on-demand fierce giant, Lyft, while it was facing the succession problem. And just like any intelligent business, Lyft rolled out new features for driver app in the said course of time.

It was indeed a tough time for Uber, but Uber being the disruptive business decided to fight back and gain the reign of what it once established even if that consisted of feeling pressure from the competitor, Lyft.

From the start itself, Uber had its attention on the customer acquisition and paid very little focus on the features for driver app. All this turned up to Uber altogether and it had to face the consequences.

To make a comeback in the taxi-hailing game, Uber is making some pretty big changes in an effort to woo drivers to its platform.

What is 180 Days of Change

Uber launched its 180 days of change program in June-2018 for the drivers of the US and Canada. For the next 180 days, it is actively making changes in order to enhance the driver’s experience around the world by introducing new features for driver app.

The embattled on-demand service startup made implementations and amendments to win back drivers with 180 days of change.

180 days of change is a feature roadmap that Uber intends to stretch beyond 6 months. The main focus of this initiative is to delight the drivers and to improve the working conditions for its drivers.

The program mainly introduced three categories:

– Rewarding your Efforts

– Make the most of your time

– Putting you in control

Long-awaited Features For Driver App

Tipping

When the ages-old taxi services ruled the cities, it sounded normal and in most of the cases, it is mandatory to tip the drivers. While Lyft, the ride-sharing fierce competitor of Uber inherited this tipping etiquette as a new features for driver app, Uber always remained an unflagging naysayer to tipping the driver.

Lyft’s tipping policy

—————

After a ride, Lyft encourages the riders to choose to tip the driver with cash or through the Lyft app as a friendly gesture. 100% of the tip goes to the drivers and Lyft claims no right over it.

While Lyft readily accepts both the cash and in-app tip, it does not let the riders pay the tip to the drivers by Lyft credit.

Lyft allows tipping the driver up for up to 72 hours after a ride is completed.

Uber’s tipping policy

—————

According to Uber, it publicly stated that they would never have tipping features in driver app and it propagated the belief that the connection between tipping and quality of service can be weak with the inclusion of tipping. Moreover, tipping could give drivers an incentive to spend more time where tips are likely to be the highest – implying to the posh areas.

Hence, the business will be more concentrated in those areas, creating surge-like situations in the other areas.

Now that it has changed its decision, it has made it an optional feature for the riders to use as a gesture to appreciate the service of the drivers who have provided an excellent service.

The tipping is made in-app, however the riders can even choose to tip the drivers via cash.

Uber allows the addition of tips up to 30 days after the trip is completed by looking through their trip history and trip receipt.

Cancellation Window

Cancellation window is the time period for which the riders would not be charged any amount of fees even if they cancel a ride.
The more the time period of the cancellation window, the more advantageous it is for the riders and vice versa.
Now, pertaining to the 180 days of change that is targeted to delight the drivers, even the cancellation window has been altered as compared to what it was previously.
A cancellation fee compensates a driver-partner for the time and effort spent heading towards a pickup location.

Lyft’s cancellation window policy

—————

Lyft charges a cancellation fee for cancelling a ride when the driver is on time to arrive within 5 minutes of the original estimated arrival time or when 5 minutes or more have passed since a driver has accepted the ride request.

In case of a scheduled ride, if the rider cancels a ride within 30 minutes of the pickup, Lyft charges them with a fixed cancellation fee of $10.

Uber’s cancellation window policy

—————

The cancellation fees differ for the cities. Previously, a ride request could be cancelled free of charge for up to 5 minutes after the initial request is made.

Now, with the 180 days of change, Uber has reduced this time to up to 2 minutes.

Wait Times

The wait time is the time period for which the driver has to wait for the rider during the pickup times.

Lyft’s Wait-time policy

—————

If the rider isn’t outside when the driver arrives, the driver waits for a minute or two and then gives the rider a call. The driver waits for 2–5 minutes and then marks the passenger as a no-show.

The driver gets an option to charge the rider or not to charge the riders after the timer goes off.

Uber’s Wait-time policy

—————

Uber introduces a per-minute rate if the driver has to wait for the rider for more than 2 minutes.

Quest Earning

Quest is the target set for the drivers in a said time period to accept certain trips. On successful completion of the trips, the drivers are eligible to earn a bonus.
The driver’s destination is the number of times the driver chooses to get a trip request for his favorite route.

Lyft’s Power Driver Bonus

—————

Under the Lyft’s power driver bonus program, the drivers are rewarded certain amount of bonus for the number of rides taken by them in a week.

This way, the promotional program helps the drivers to earn back some parts of their commissions on the basis of the basic program, which needs to met certain requirements to be met in terms of the car model, rides taken, acceptance rate, etc., peak rides, which requires the drivers to complete certain number of peak time rides in order to avail the bonus, and the tiers, which requires that certain benchmarks of the rides have to be met by the drivers.

The advantage in Lyft is the rides taken in the driver destination mode do count as the rides and power bonuses can be availed for these as well.

Uber’s Quest Driver Earning

—————

Uber Quest promotions lets the driver earn extra money for reaching certain trip goals in a pre-determined amount of time.

Quest Driver Earning is introducing as new features for driver app to track quest earning progress in the app at any instant of time.

This consisted of a little ambiguity though. The rides that the drivers take by choosing the driver destination feature were not counted under the trip.

But now, as per the new 180 days of change, every trip that the driver takes now counts toward reaching their Quest total. This also includes the rides taken using the driver destination feature.

The drivers can easily cash out the driver’s earning using the instant pay.

Driver Destinations

There are certain rides that the drivers would like to take up on their way back home or on the location they would want to go to.
These rides are known as the driver destination rides as the driver gets to choose the ride they want to take up.

Lyft’s Driver Destination

—————

For the drivers of Lyft, they can activate the driver destination mode to receive requests from the passengers along their route while going in their direction.

Lyft provides the option to use the driver destination feature six times a day.

Uber’s Driver Destination

—————

For the drivers of Uber, they can set their driver’s destination for their ride back to the location they want to take.

The drivers get the request only for the filtered rides that fall into their way back to their destinations.

Previously, the Uber drivers could take only two of their rides within the span of 24 hours.

Now, with the exclusive launch of 180 days of change, Uber has brought many new implementations in the features of driver app.

Uber now matches up to Lyft and provides them with 6 rides a day to their personalized destination.

Injury Protection

This plan is to ensure cover for the safety of the drivers when they are working with the company.

Lyft’s Driver Injury Protection Plan

—————

In Lyft, there are four coverage included in the insurance policies which consists of the contingent liability, primary automotive liability, contingent comprehensive and collision, and uninsured or underinsured motorists.

Uber’s Driver Injury Protection Plan

—————

In Uber, the drivers need to maintain the basic requirement of the automotive liability insurance on all vehicles they operate while driving for Uber with insurance limits equal to or greater than the minimum requirements for the state where you drive.

Under this coverage, Uber maintains automotive liability coverage to the drivers.

Now, the drivers have the option to help protect themselves, and their earnings, in the event of a covered accident. To help you take advantage of this option, you will earn a bit more per-mile.

To Get Free Consultation For Your Digital Venture Answer This Question

Teen Fare

It is one of the new features for driver app of on-demand cab service and is not even seen in Lyft yet.

Since teens are the people who are tough to handle for the drivers, the company laid out a rule to charge $2 extra per trip base fare for the teenagers, so that the drivers earn more for these rides.

Long-trip Notifications

Requesting a longer ride? Your driver will now be notified so you’ll both be in it for the long haul together.https://t.co/JT5fLiexXM pic.twitter.com/Klpz2BLTEC

Before accepting the ride, the driver had no means to gauge how long would the ride consume time ahead of the pickup location. It was only after the trip began that the drivers were able to see the destination.

Now that Uber has added a long-trip notification in the application, the drivers get a notification about the trips that could possibly exceed 45 minutes or longer ahead of the pickup.

As a result of new features for driver app, the drivers even have the option to ignore such requests and this would not affect their ratings

Support 24/7

If you go through the Uber website or platform, you would not find any online support and in case of any issue, Uber prompted to drop a mail at the support centre of Uber. Now, Uber provides a 24/7 support centre and in cases of any disputes, the solutions can be obtained quickly.

Key Takeaways

These were some of the modifications of the core ways earning work that Uber implemented for its drivers.

The changes to earnings continue to the theme of adding features that Uber hopes will increase driver satisfaction and retention, both of which it has had faced challenges in the past.

This time Uber targeted to increase the time and earnings of the drivers and that is where it has made all the difference.

Both of these are viewed to have a positive impact on the satisfaction level of the drivers for obvious reasons, and all of these changes focus on delivering higher earning capacity for drivers across most types of rides.

But still there is a whopping chance to sweep away the on-demand cab service business since Uber has just started to make elevations.