Using My Privilege to Do Good for My Fellow Uber Driver.
By: Randy Clarke
Tags: Gig Economy, Ridesharing, Advocacy, Uber

For those who don’t know already, I drive with Uber. I’ve been with them for six years and have driven over 20.2k rides. I spent a year and a half driving in New Jersey and Four and a half driving in Arizona. I enjoy it.

I look more handsome today, Trust me.

In 2018, I was selected to attend a Driver Advisory Forum in San Francisco. At this forum, Uber employees had drivers discuss unique concepts and ideas in various workshops that enhanced our understanding of how the company operates behind the scenes. At this event, I was fortunate enough to pitch directly to Uber’s CEO Dara a concept that I had no idea would change the lives of myself and others; that concept is what is now known as the Uber-ASU scholarship program. Believe it or not, I technically had a company worth billions to help me pay for school, as I was the first driver to graduate from this program with the first cohort class last year. I’ll continue that wild story another time.

This tweet will forever be pinned to my twitter.

Since the forum, I’ve had business relationships with various amazing people over at Uber, Most notably an amazing Guy named Dan, who now works for another big company you’ve probably heard of and use daily.

Many other ideas I’ve pitched made it into the app, but it’s unknown if those were inspired by me or the other drivers privileged enough to know decision-makers at Uber personally.

Many other ideas I’ve pitched made it into the app, but it’s unknown if those were inspired by me or the other drivers privileged enough to know decision-makers at Uber personally. Ive also used my connects to help drivers in the Phoenix community with unique issues that were normally not solvable with the Hub and Phone Support.

I’ve recently experienced a Uber related setback that involves the Uber Crew Program. I will write about that as well once I have the mental capacity to do so (it’s also a wild story).

Anyways, instead of dwelling about the “should have, would have, could have,” I decided to send the people I have a relationship with at Uber corporate Ideas that I would have been pitched to Uber If I won the crew-member race. These ideas were my campaign promises, and even though I somehow lost that race (I’m still in shock), I’m following through.

Below is the email.

Hello [employee name redacted] , below are the concepts I would like to pitch to Uber. These ideas are based on feedback from peers here in phoenix as well as personal experiences I’ve had as a driver on the platform during my six years working with Uber. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to write this email.

To Whom It May Concern,

These are ideas conceived over time that I believe would enhance the experience of the Uber passenger and Uber driver. These notions, constructed with the company in mind, could also generate revenue for Uber.

Below are those ideas.

-A quick pickup feature would notify passengers on their phone that a vehicle is heading to their exact address (or super close). The app would also encourage the passenger to request a ride for a quick pickup within this notification. The feature could be turned on/off. As a result, Passengers would be able to have a more efficient paring; also, drivers would have the opportunity to reduce pickup times. Shortening time on pickups would conserve emissions that the driver would produce, positively reflecting on uber’s social responsibility plan to cut emissions. This feature can also be a tool that would assist drivers by accelerating their likelihood of completing quests or receiving streak bonuses.

-A problem drivers typically encounter when pulling into gated communities is that many of us wait for the passenger to give us their gate code. The lack of the gate code is primarily an issue because, at times, we are unable to reach the pinpoints of these trips, therefore putting us at risk of avoidable cancelations. Another challenge presented would be that the absence of this code is one of many cases of how a passenger’s unattentiveness can cost drivers revenue due to the wasted time spent driving. A solution would allow the passenger to enter the code in a prompt. The code typed into the prompt would only be shown to the driver for security reasons when they arrive at the location. In addition, this feature would permit the passenger to add pickup notes that will usher the driver to the correct spot resulting in an efficient pickup. The passenger could also save the prompts and use them for specific locations.

-The multi-stop feature is unsettling. Speaking for all drivers in Phoenix, we detest it. Passengers abuse this feature by requesting locations that would typically have us linger for more than five minutes per stop; this includes grocery stores, drive-thrus, and dispensaries, to name a few (btw cannabis is legal in Arizona). This commonly misused feature has prevented us from achieving streak bonuses and quests since the driver is not spending the waiting period generating earnings from other rides. The concept would be that the multi-stops would count as separate trips. As a result, drivers would be inclined to take multi-stop rides since the opportunity could bring the driver closer to their quests and streak bonuses. The cancelation and acceptance rates of drivers would also improve since completing the multi stops would automatically make every stop an accepted ride. The concept would be suitable for passengers since passengers wouldn’t have to deal with an angry driver whenever they request it through the app.

-Another multi-trip inspired concept would restrict passengers from adding a stop mid-trip. Not only that it’s impolite to add stops during a ride, but it’s also inconvenient when a driver accepts a ride mid-trip and loses that ride because the current passenger added a stop.

-To customize the experience for the passenger, a sophisticated concept would be for the app to prompt questions before a trip. These prompts would come up after pressing “request a ride.” The prompts would include “how many people in your party,” “do you want to add extra stops,” “what features would you like” (different vehicle classes XL, Comfort, Black, Green, etc.). After the passenger completed the questions, the app would match them with their ideal (or closest to ideal) vehicle. If the passenger wants to book a ride “the old-fashioned way,” they could skip the prompts.

-An excellent way to motivate drivers to cancel less and accept more would be to let them know how many rides they could cancel or skip before hitting 85 and 4 percent. Drivers cancel and refuse to accept rides because some of the trips offered to us are not profitable. I find it environmentally and strategically irresponsible for Uber drivers to take rides that are too far to pick up. Drivers with short-ride strategies shouldn’t have to take long rides when other drivers would gladly accept them.

-As a driver, my biggest issue is dealing with discourteous passengers. Countless times passengers cross into my personal space, touch the radio, litter (even with the trash bins in my car), consume alcohol (legal in AZ, but I don’t allow it), and eat inside my vehicle. A solution would be for the driver to have rules sent to their prospective passengers before the ride. With this concept, the passenger must acknowledge their limitations by checking boxes. The driver wouldn’t begin the trip until the passenger’s acknowledgment in the app; the driver can choose up to six pre-approved rules by Uber. Passengers can cancel if they disagree. The passenger will only be charged for the disagreement if they cancel after two minutes.

-Lastly, one problem I’ve noticed in my six years working with uber is that many of my prior passengers are not familiar with how much time they have until they cancel a trip. A solution for this would be for the passenger to have a countdown clock or indicator showing the time left before they get charged for canceling a trip. The concept would improve passengers’ trust in uber while saving the driver time from unnecessary pickups.

Thank you for the time spent reading this email. I genuinely hope that Uber will utilize these conceptions within our beloved passenger and driver apps. If applicable, I am looking forward to having the opportunity to hear Uber’s feedback on them.

Knowing Uber. I’m confident that these ideas are realistic; so confident that I’ll bet money that at at least one of these ideas would probably become a feature within the next year.

Do I sound too optimistic, yes. Frankly, I don’t even care, I’m just happy that I have the privilege and opportunity to do something not many people have. I am fortunate that my work with this company will be forever a part of my legacy.