Uber to get tough on customers more than 2 mins late, allows tips

UBER HAS introduced tipping via its app from yesterday, which it says will go to drivers. The ride-hailing company says the change affecting UK customers comes after a consultation with its drivers, but after Uber faced criticism that it was preventing drivers from improving their income.

A spokesperson for Uber said: “100 percent of the tip goes straight to drivers”.

Uber isn’t the first ride-hailing firm to introduce in-app tipping. Rival Lyft has offered a similar service in the US since 2012.

Stricter charges will also be introduced with a 20p-per-minute (R3.45) penalty if passengers keep drivers waiting. The change will roll out across the UK from August 22.

Uber also announced a cancellation fee, shortening the current five minute allowance passengers can use to cancel a driver. Two-minute cancellations will be the maximum time given to passengers wishing to cancel. Uber said the current five-minute cancellation period was too long as drivers “have already invested time and fuel”.

The changes suggest the company is putting more control in the hands of drivers, who will be free to decline customers through a “no thanks” option. But Uber’s proposed changes have been met with scepticism from some union bosses.

“Uber remains completely deaf to the most serious issue facing drivers – excessively long hours earning between £5 and £6 per hour,” said James Farrar, chairperson of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, United Private Hire Drivers. “If Uber was concerned about driver welfare it would abide by the tribunal’s decision and guarantee drivers a minimum wage and holiday pay,” he said. – The Independent