A day after Lyft announced that its drivers had managed to generate almost $250 million through its in-app tipping service, Uber has decided to roll out its cannons too. The company, which has always avoided in-app tipping like the plague is now adding an option for the same within its main application.
Announcing the news, the company said:
Each month for the next 6 months, we’ll share major improvements that will make driving more flexible and less stressful, giving you earnings & support you can depend on.
Drivers will now be able to generate some extra income from this feature, thus providing them with an extra incentive to be nice to the passenger. And this could also keep some Uber drivers who were thinking of defecting to Lyft after yesterday’s news.
Uber is adding this feature as part of its 180 days of change program. The program contains a great many more changes. Here is a summary for you:
- Tipping is available in Seattle, Minneapolis and Houston as of today. We’re starting with only 3 cities so we can create the best tipping experience for you and your riders. We’ll be adding more cities over the next few weeks, and will make tips available to all U.S. drivers, by the end of July 2017.
- You’ll receive a cancellation fee if your rider cancels after more than 2 minutes (down from 5 minutes previously).
- You will earn a per-minute rate if you wait for a rider, starting 2 minutes after arrival.
- Every trip you take now counts toward reaching your Quest total.
- You can now immediately cash out your Quest earnings using Instant Pay.
- You can now set two trips a day going your way and earn with every mile.
- You have the option to help protect yourself, and your earnings, in the event of a covered accident
8. For teen account trips, $2 will be added to the base fare and you’ll earn more for those rides.
Phew, that is an impressive list and will probably be cause enough for drivers to celebrate.
It will now be interesting to see how the company attempts to appease and mollify its riders. After all, both drivers and riders form part of the company’s business and, while this list is great for the drivers it does mighty little for the riders. Quite the contrary what with the reduced cancellation time, and higher teen fares.
