Uber wait charge

I would speculate that the driver was not involved in this charge, and did not derive any wages from it. (After all, lots of automated payments/delivery have tried to keep the tips for the company ... ) They "know" when he got to your curb, and they know when he left. In the suburbs, it is certainly understood that "black cars" come up the driveway. But I'll bet Uber has this situation in their forty pages of Terms and Conditions that you clicked your approval of!

Just another reason not to use Five Guys Named Tyler, in Silicon Valley, for your shopping needs, alas. I avoid ride-sharing because it exploits "gig" workers. Somehow, they failed to completely destroy the yellow taxi industry while "moving fast and breaking things."

That does seem pretty extreme! Did you send a text through the app to customer service as a follow up?

Another place where "waiting" is common is at the pickup location at SeaTac airport. It is in the middle of a parking garage. The drivers wait in a large outdoor parking lot a short distance away until they get a job. Then they must drive through the parking garage to the loading area. During that time the GPS system sometimes loses them amidst the concrete. I will get to the car as soon as it pulls into a stall only to have the app tell me it was "waiting" for me from the time it entered the garage entrance.

The best timing I have ever had was a PAE (Paine Field- north of Seattle). I gathered my checked bags and called for a ride and walked the 50 feet to the pickup area. My ride pulled in as I got there, his previous customers exited, and I loaded right in. It was win-win for everyone!

Did not get charged a fee, but did get a message that there would be one if I took much longer to get to the car - that had just pulled up, even though I had messaged the driver that I was on my way down. So I don't think it is the driver. I think Uber must have some automated timer thing, but agree that it is 1) very very quick, and 2) ridiculous.

This is why I never tip until a few days later. I usually tip well but in your case I'd be irked enough to be skimpy.

I have never used Uber or Lyft but was curious so I Googled; How long has Uber charged for wait times. In the AI section at the top of the page a statement was, since at least 2016. The first hit in the Google list was from the Uber website earnings section. As mentioned, it's in their fine print. They promote it as an incentive to work for them. I have pasted it below. How often it may be followed I do not know.

How are Wait Time fees calculated?
Wait Time Fees Explained
Getting paid for waiting? Yes, it’s possible with Uber! When you reach a pickup location for your rider, you can earn extra for the time you wait.
How It Works:
Fee Starts: You start earning a Wait Time fee 2 minutes after you arrive.
Charging Method: We charge the rider a per-minute rate for your waiting time.
Surge Pricing: If there’s surge pricing, it boosts your Wait Time fee too.
Cancellation: If the rider cancels and incurs a fee, they aren’t charged for the wait.
Important Details:
Grace Period: The 2-minute grace period begins the moment you get to the pickup spot.
No-Show Policy: If a rider doesn’t show up, the fee also incorporates the waiting period after the grace period.
GPS Accuracy: Keep in mind that GPS may not always be spot-on.

Fee Starts: You start earning a Wait Time fee 2 minutes after you
arrive.

Grace Period: The 2-minute grace period begins the moment you
get to the pickup spot.

This explains an extra fee we once were charged. The driver actually arrived early, and while our bags were on the porch, we still had to make our last minute run - emptying and rinsing our our tea mugs, double (triple) checking the back door... the usual things we would have done when we saw the vehicle was a couple of miles away.

We didn't see the added charge at the time, and didn't protest it. We are more careful now, though, about tracking the driver's location!

The concept of charging a fee for "wait time" is ok. But two minutes? SMH! Someone called it ridiculous. I'd describe that kind of rip off in language one can't use during the family hours.

Ridiculous, but assume this is out of the driver's hands. Bet he not only has nothing to do with it, he doesn't see the waiting fee in his pocket. Also, props to all who are living with icy and treacherous. You are a stronger bunch than the rest of us.

A few weeks ago in Manchester, I took Uber from the airport to my hotel. It was pouring down buckets and traffic was awful. What should have taken 20 minutes took an hour.

I later received a 20% add on fee for the extra time it took to get me to my destination.

Since its a travel forum, just a heads up that Uber and Lyft and Bolt may work substantially different in different locations. For instance, here, they are all new yellow cars with taxi lights on top, name and phone and license number painted on door, a taxi meter inside and they charge the exact same fee as any other taxi in town.

Would be a hard sell for me to penalize the drivers tip for charging any amount of wait time. I would be inclined to tip them more for driving on the treacherous and icy roads that were described. A 15 minute ride to the airport and the driver waited 2 minutes, that's a 13% longer trip than the driver otherwise has. Those drivers have a super tough job, dealing with some savory characters, expenses and for not allot of wage. If they do an 8 hour shift with 32 15 minute rides and each of those is a 2 minute wait, then its an hour they aren't getting paid. I know its tempting to poo poo its just x number of minutes, but these drivers have expenses and margins are tight. Just saying.

Icy roads can be breeze to drive on but be treacherous for walking, esp loading luggage and climbing into a car.

It’s quicker for everyone (and more polite) for the driver to enter the driveway than wait for people to bring bags to the curb.

Toby, a quick Google search shows multiple comments about Google drivers not pulling into driveways for safety reasons.

Can't you add special instructions in the app?

Woa what! you should reach out to their CS department because that doesnt make any sense.

Just happened again at Mexico City Airport. Ubers were 3 deep looking for their riders and I thought I did a good job of spotting the driver and waving him over. We loaded and off we went, I was sure it was under 2 minutes but I guess not. Bah!

Returning from an international trip this month, had a prepaid Uber ride prebooked (and paid) from SFO International terminal.
Uber will monitor your flight arrival in that case.

There was a substantial delay in the bag claim and customs.
The Uber driver did not wait or contacted us, just canceled the pre-paid ride and we had to call another Uber car (and at that time it cost us more than the trip we had pre-booked).

For the pre-booked ride that the driver canceled on us, Uber charged us a $30 penalty fee.

So, moral of the story, if you plan to return from a plan trip and book Uber ahead of time to pick you up at the airport, know that they monitor the flight, and if you are not out of the terminal within a certain time, they might cancel on you and charge you a penalty. Next time I pre-book only from my house to the airport, but I will get the Uber only when I'm out of the terminal with my luggage.

Next time I pre-book only from my house to the airport, but I will get the Uber only when I'm out of the terminal with my luggage.

But even waiting at the curb a person can still get a wait charge. The app signals “driver is here” when he is X meters away, even if traffic is such that a person can’t access the car yet. I assume the 2 minute clock starts at X meters distance between car and passenger irrespective of traffic constraints and passenger ability to board.