Next time you take an Uber, you might want to be on your best behavior. As part of a series of changes meant to appease drivers, Uber now displays your passenger score in plain view.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Uber riders are rated on a five-star scale, just like drivers. But unlike drivers, users would have to dig deep into the app to find out their passenger score (and it used to be a lot more convoluted than that).
Given Uber went to such lengths to avoid you seeing your score, they’ve always been more more of an easter egg for curious users to find out than anything particularly useful. But now Uber has had a change of heart, and is showing your passenger rating right in the sidebar menu. Just tap on the hamburger button on the top left (or swipe right from the left side of the screen), and you’ll see your score displayed directly under your name.
A blog post by the company explains that the goal is to encourage better rider behavior:
Drivers do their best to make Uber enjoyable and safe for their riders, and we expect that riders do the same for drivers. But many riders forget that their driver is also rating them, too, and things like eating in the car, slamming the door, or trying to pile in more people than seatbelts can impact whether it’s a 5-star experience for drivers.
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It’s a change for the better, it adds accountability to both sides of the equation, which should hopefully lead to more pleasant rides for everyone involved.
In a related update, Uber is also changing the way UberPool ratings are counted.
It seems riders would often negatively score drivers for things that weren’t really their fault, like having a lousy co-rider. Now if you rate your driver less than five stars, you’ll be given a few options to explain the low rating. If you blame it on something outside of the driver’s control, like co-rider behavior or your trip route, the score won’t affect drivers.
Given Uber regularly purges drivers with ratings as ‘low’ as 4.6 stars (have you ever ridden with a driver with like a 4.2 or something?), that change will likely save some drivers their jobs.
Both updates are rolling out globally, starting today. Just don’t be a jerk to your driver, and you’ll be okay.
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