Uber's CEO Reveals His Passenger Rating, and Tips on How to Increase Yours
Being rated with a number can be stressful. And one number that many travelers have associated with them is their Uber passenger rating.
While generally your rider rating doesn't matter all that much, Uber has said it will start removing riders from the ride-hailing platform if their rating falls low enough.
So, are there ways to boost your rating? There's likely no one better than Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to tell you how to get your score up, and he gave us a few tips on how to boost your passenger rating, even revealing his own grade on the platform, during a recent interview at the Uber Elevate conference in Washington, DC.
"I think it's human respect," said Khosrowshahi. "I think it's coming in the car, saying hi, asking the driver how they've been."
Many drivers on Uber do this professionally, so you should treat them as professionals, Khosrowshahi said.
"Whether part-time or full-time, it's a real profession for someone," he said. "And I think if you treat them with the kind of respect you want afforded to you, the rating will take care of itself." So, for example, don't slam the door.
But there were a few tips that stood out from the rest.
"I always ask permission if I'm going to make a phone call," said Khosrowshahi. Another tip the CEO offered was to always wear your seatbelt. While it may seem like a no-brainer to some, living in New York City it's quite common to see passengers take phone calls or hop into the back of the car and not buckle up during their rides.
And in past interviews, he's said his own rating started to rise once he put these practices into place.
So what is Khosrowshahi's rating? Surely it had to be hovering near a 5.0 as the leader of the world's largest ride-hailing company.
The CEO seemed a little embarrassed when he admitted it was a 4.77. "It's not as good as I like," he said. "I want to get up to a 4.8."
I asked him if it was true that tipping your driver really could increase your rating. He admitted that he had said that in jest because he wants drivers to get a lot of tips, and that it probably won't help your rating since drivers see their tip after they rate you.
Still, it's important to tip your drivers, especially considering the frequent driver protests and evidence of low driver pay. TPG's also covered better ways to be a better Uber and Lyft rider.
Uber's just had an IPO, but it loses tons of money . Questions abound as to how the company will turn a profit. Will Uber raise ride prices to get out of the red? Khosrowshahi tried to brush off those concerns when pressed.
"We're going to be darn careful as it relates to pricing," he said. "So the path to profitability is not dependent on increasing prices. As a company we're going to be much more focused on scaling the business and really focused on containing costs on our front using technology to increase utilization and matching to build efficiency, rather than raising prices," he said. "I think raising prices is more of a last resort than a first resort."