Uber can now cut off riders with 'very low ratings' in Canada
Uber has officially started warning Canadian riders with low ratings they must “improve their behaviour” or they could lose access to the ride-sharing app.
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Coinciding with Uber updating its Community Guidelines, a spokesperson for the company told Daily Hive it wants to make it clear the behaviour expected by everyone using the app.
“We have now started notifying a small number of riders in Canada and the United States who have consistently been rated poorly by drivers, and as a result have a very low rating, that they must improve their behaviour or they could lose access to the Uber app,” said the spokesperson.
The company already does this with drivers.
The spokesperson added that any rider that’s at risk of deactivation will receive “several notifications and opportunities” to improve his or her rating.
At this time, no rider has been deactivated in Canada or the United States.
“Ultimately, we expect this to impact only a very small number of riders who have been consistently rated poorly by drivers and, as a result, have a low rating,” said the spokesperson.
Moving forward, as a rider, if you lose access to your Uber account, you will not be able to access either the Uber rider app, the Uber Eats app or the JUMP app, which is Uber’s on-demand electric bike and scooter service.
Just like you can rate your driver, drivers can also rate passengers on a scale of one to five stars after each trip. Your rating is an average of the ratings you’ve received from drivers and is measured out of five stars.
Passengers can already be banned from the app for damaging the drivers’ or other passengers’ property, making physical contact with the driver or fellow riders, using inappropriate and abusive language or gestures, making unwanted contact with the drivers of other passengers once the trip is over, or breaking the local law while using Uber.
Uber has yet to say how low your score will have to be in order to receive a ban from the app.
The initiative is part of a number of changes Uber hopes will improve safety.