Uber To Start Banning Riders With Low Ratings

“Respect is a two-way street, and so is accountability,” Uber said.
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If you’d never ride with a one-star driver, don’t expect to ride as a one-star passenger.

Uber says it will start deactivating riders with a history of low ratings, just as it does for drivers. The change will affect passengers in the U.S. and Canada, where riders will also have to opt in to the ride-hailing app’s community guidelines or lose access to the service.

“Respect is a two-way street, and so is accountability,” Uber executive Kate Parker said in a blog announcing the change. “Drivers have long been expected to meet a minimum rating threshold which can vary city to city. While we expect only a small number of riders to ultimately be impacted by ratings-based deactivations, it’s the right thing to do.”

While drivers rated 4.6 or lower are at risk for deactivation, according to 2014 documents leaked to Business Insider, Uber declined to share what a rider’s absolute minimum rating could be before they’re given the boot.

A spokesman told HuffPost the North American threshold will vary from city to city, based on that city’s average ratings.

And it won’t be an abrupt process, either. Riders at risk of deactivation will receive warnings first, along with common-sense tips to clean up their acts. Those tips include: Don’t leave trash in your driver’s car, be more polite, and stop asking your driver to break the speed limit.

Uber implemented a similar quality control process in Brazil in 2018, followed by Australia and New Zealand. Riders in those countries were banned from the app for six months if they had a rating of 4 or lower.

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