frustrated lately that my rating as a
passenger in Uber is at 4.78 and falling
Mother of God, passenger ratings? I'm glad I've never used Uber, and now I am certain I never will.
I mean, of all things, I don't even like the HN karma system. Arbitrary frowny faces for The Wrong Kind of Joke only now, scale that up first, just to taxi drivers, and then apply it to Society At Large, All Day Every Day.
Uber/Taxi drivers are people too, and their vehicles are an important part of their livelihood. They deserve the right to avoid the types of people who end up with 1 star reviews on Uber. Hint: you have the vomit in, steal from, or otherwise wreak havoc MORE THAN ONCE for it to get that bad.
Suppose I go through a tough patch in my life - perhaps a stressful period combined with a serious medical problem - and during this time I vomit in several Ubers, driving my customer rating to < 3.
Is it possible to fix this? Am I going to have to change my name, email, and phone number before I can use Uber again? And how is this AT ALL better than the old taxi system, where the taxi company owned the car and was able to insure itself against this kind of damage caused by passengers? Not to mention that if Uber is successful, it's likely to become the only game in town - whereas taxi services are quite diverse by comparison.
Also, why do you assume that I have to be a "bad person" to get a bad rating? What if I'm a minority living in an area where my background is looked upon with suspicion or hatred?
I drove for Lyft one summer and someone who had just gotten into a serious motorcycle accident called me to take them to the ER. They bled all over my back seat, not to mention terrifying me because I have absolutely no training as a first responder. If you need to urgently go to the hospital, call a fucking ambulance, not an Uber!
Does that change the fact that the driver has to clean your virulent vomit? You might come away with a 5 star rating if you apologize and paid for the cleaning, or if the driver felt sorry for you.
It is just that there is a difference between deliberate or avoidable bad behavior and situations where one cannot help themselves and need the transport system for emergency rescue.
It is crazy the latter could land you on a blacklist. A rating system is not necessary. A reporting system for the rotten apples would suffice, and the rest of the customers would be unrated.
The guy brought to hospital may end up in coma. Not able to clean up.
With reporting you cannot have a pissed-off driver land a pregnant women on a blacklist because she delivered her child in the car, and there is now blood on the seats.
There is some occupational hazard for taxi drivers and others in public transport. The provider company or insurance should cover cleanup costs.
I mean, of all things, I don't even like the HN karma system. Arbitrary frowny faces for The Wrong Kind of Joke only now, scale that up first, just to taxi drivers, and then apply it to Society At Large, All Day Every Day.