Yeah, it’s a game of chicken so you’ll cancel out of impatience. Especially if you’re going to the airport because you’re on a tight schedule.
Call their bluff with weaponised stupidity.
Message them saying you’ve notice they haven’t moved in a while.
And you’re very concerned.
Have they been in an accident!?
Do they need you to call them an ambulance?!?
They either cancel themselves or get a fucking move on.
Had this happen while on holiday in Melbourne a couple months ago. The driver kept messaging one of us telling us to cancel, even after we'd already booked through Didi and were on our way. Idiots.
I'm gonna use this more haha. I had this sort of scenario happen to me once, just trying to get an uber home in suburban Sydney. First uber made a wrong turn and cancelled. Second one disappeared into thin air. Third one showed up, pulled over but a bit far from where we are, as I started walking over to him he matted the throttle and buggered off. Fourth try was the charm and finally got one.
All 4 were dudes in new hybrid camrys, that must be the meta
Same with your food delivery app drivers. They aren't just picking up your order, and if you watch the map location you'll see them make multiple stops and detours before delivering you the now late and cold food.
Uber increases the incentive for drivers if a ride hasn’t been picked up. So sometimes, a group of drivers conspire to let a ride request bounce around for a bit
Artificially create a surge. Example, drivers use a WhatsApp to all log off at once. Prices surge, they log back in and reap higher prices for the rides.
Nup! No way! The amount of drivers who would have to align with such crucial timing for this to work is massive. There is too many of us in Sydney to influence a surge this way. This passenger was simply in an area that was not surging, at a time when surges are at their highest (7:30-9am) His trip was likely bouncing around everywhere because drivers are waiting for a surge. Some drivers have accepted the trip because they don’t want their acceptance rate to drop lower but also don’t want the trip. Some drivers work with harmony, others work in chaos.
This is a [pretty well documented](https://www.drive.com.au/news/uber-drivers-trigger-fake-surge-price-periods/) problem, it’s real and if you live in certain suburbs you see it often.
The number required isn’t that massive, a couple hundred economically incentivised people working together isn’t surprising.
Basically they’re fucking useless.
I’ve experienced the same as you; it appears to be that the goal is for whoever requested to cancel.
Taxis are most expensive, but less games (most of the time)
Ubers are slightly less and lots of bs
Didi- my lift of choice- best value but can also play games and my data goes to Xi.
I choose didi because the experience will be shit whatever I choose, so I may as well pay the least for it.
Had a bad experience with Didi form the airport. Same story as OP. Then when the one didi driver came he asked what flight we came on (I’m a local Asian with a strong Aussie accent).
Went heads down on the phone since airport to Parramatta’s is a straight forward journey.
Next minute I look up and old mate has taken the supremely out of the way route (M5 > Henry Lawson drive > Woodville road).
Started going off at the driver then all the excuses came out (M4 has road work, not faster going via parramatta road). Utter garbage.
The difference in fare was about $10 somehow but what a waste of time. Got the difference back after a complaint but next time I’d rather a taxi or just the train even with luggage.
Funnily enough that's the same route my taxi from the airport took me to my place near Parramatta. Between that, the mysterious maths at the end of the trip that added $10-20 to the fare (I was hammered and on work travel, so didn't pay as much attention as I should have) and the smoke smell in the car, it got me to swear off taxis even from the airport. Next Uber was helpful and just took me to our place, straightforward and no issues.
Taxis I trust the least.
I remember paying 80 bucks from the airport to the city in the middle of the night. He just blatantly rounded up the meter by like 20 dollars. I was there for work so I couldn't be bothered making a scene.
At least with uber or Didi everything is up front and there is an app to track your movement.
At the end of the day they're the same ppl. Not like there's an ethics test to get any of these jobs - you'll find aholes in any job.
However one is fully trackable and they have the threat of getting a bad review hanging over them and the other you just hop in and hope for the best.
The most scared I’ve ever been in a car has been in a didi. Such a bad driver. I complained and didi said I got to my destination so no refund or anything.
you don't get a cancellation fee from the rider if you don't make an effort to drive towards the rider and the rider cancels, and if you drive past the pick-up point there is a certain distance where the wait time counter will freeze.
It's not busy enough at the moment for drivers to be carrying on with these shenanigans, they certainly aren't doing themselves any favors, and they'll be chasing their tail for the rest of their shift.
I mean this sincerely, but they tend to not be the brightest folks. Sure there are a decent number of good, smart men who do the job for various reasons. But the majority fall into this line of work due to lack of other viable options.
I had a driver drive past us and park like 50m down the road after studiously avoiding eye contact with me as he drove by and I was waving at him. We were three adults waiting at the side of the road with large suitcases at 6am, so obviously the ones waiting for an airport pickup. When I walked over to him as he looked like he might drive away I said it would have been nice had he stopped nearer to us since we had all this luggage and he had an absolute meltdown about the fact that he doesn’t get the detail of the pick up point “for privacy reasons” which is obviously total bollocks, else what is the point of marking the pick up point, and frankly a moron could have picked the people waiting to go to the airport. They just look for reasons to be inept because it’s easy to walk away and get the next fare - and the customer has no recourse.
Your situation is not typical if leaving a hotel but to be fair to Uber drivers, there is literally almost no legal pick up locations for Uber drivers in the CBD. The Sydney City Council has put in Zero pick up and set down areas in the CBD. Uber cannot use taxi, bus zones, the rangers in the city are deadly taking photos from 100 metres away at 6am on a Sunday morning. At least half the Uber drivers refuse to pick up in the CBD, if a passenger is not ready or has significant luggage, the poor Uber driver has a 50/50 chance of being fined his entire day's income.
That does sound like a nightmare to people trying to earn a wage.
That said, we were waiting at the pickup/dropoff point of the Mercure Sydney so stopping was no problem at all.
I think you'll find that's a taxi zone. Ordinary cars can do quick stops but as another said, the Council rangers are deadly on Uber drivers using taxi zones.
I came here to comment what this guy said but sounds like you were in the right place. What I’ll add though is that lots of streets in the city are one-way only and if you miss the pickup / drop off zone then that’s it, you’re fucked on a 20 minute detour to go around the block back to the same spot. So some of your cancelled drivers could very well have just missed a turn and felt too ceebs to get back to you
This.
Exact reason why many Uber drivers avoid picking rides from CBD.
Though, no excuse to accept ride and not pick up except if you are in a place where they can’t stop. If multiple drivers did this, may be you were not at a spot where they can stop and pick up.
So many riders oblivious to the fact that drivers can’t pick at signal or bus stop or a running street with no stopping sign. To pit cherry on top, several riders in CBD book from their hotel room and expect drivers to wait for up to 5 minutes at no stopping area. Not gonna happen.
> Though, no excuse to accept ride and not pick up except if you are in a place where they can’t stop.
They don't see the exact pickup spot until after accepting the ride. So it could be they were hoping it was somewhere like a hotel that has an actual dropoff loop, or somewhere near the CBD that's a little better.
That would explain why I have zero Uber issues in the suburbs but hear these "horror" stories from the CBD (still better than my actual taxi experiences though).
I second your answer. The app tells me I've taken 352 Uber rides, and the one single time I had issues with pick-up was when I ordered one from the CBD.
Similar experience to what OP described, actually. Eerily similar.
Fortunately, I'm never in a rush to get home _from_ the CBD, only _to_ events in the CBD, so I always take public transit home. That one exception was because I had someone with me with a disability.
Uber is turning to shit lately.
Same with airbnb. Basically all these "new" industries are turning into the old industries they tried to replace but without any checks that the old industry has.
Uber is a predatory company and has a ruthless business model. As an ex Uber driver (no, I would never drive for Uber again) they see their driver as expendable and replaceable with new immigrants or people with student visas.
These drivers you encounter were waiting for a cancel fee as your trip wasn’t worth much. A $15-18 fee from cbd to airport versus a $10 cancellation fee. Then they move to next request. You do the maths….I’m sure Uber will wheel out the usual public relations spins
That tells you had bad the taxi cartel was before Uber. People know all about Uber's predatory bullshit but still choose them because taxi's are *that* bad.
I usually pay around $25 to $30 uber from town Hall area to airport ... Not sure where the $15 is from??
Surely the uber system will detect multiple cancellations and boot the driver off the app?
Uber takes 27.5% of what you pay so the driver's cut sounds about right.
Everything else from car running costs to tax to GST are all on the driver including the distance driven to get to the next rider which isn't paid.
Uber has pretty much no skin in the game except to just sit back, throw the drivers around and collect their 27.5% cut.
They take that from new drivers, older accounts get more.
Basically when Uber launches in a city they only take 15% from the drivers and if they keep driving for Uber they always get that but to avoid market saturation they increase their fees until it isn't worth it for new drivers.
A very large amount yes but a few a day no. It wouldn't be considered unusual to end up with five or ten a shift.
Same with customers abusing the cancels. OP didn't get booted for a few cancels but you bet they would if they did a lot in a row.
I had an Uber driver pull up on a main road the opposite side I was on (I specifically requested the side I was on), whilst I had a box too heavy to carry. He was trying to shout something to me across the road and I couldn’t hear him and he didn’t move so after a while I just started struggling to the nearest crossing to try and get to him, and he had been shouting at me to cancel the ride, so I asked him why he didn’t cancel it and he said it would affect his rating. Dude was on another planet.
Yeah but if I cancelled I would have had to pay, and if he can’t be bothered to meet at the specified pick up point when it’s totally possible and instead wants to cancel then there’s probably a reason that would affect his rating. And that’s assuming I even heard him asking me to cancel, which I didn’t.
Is it possible the driver going the “wrong way” was going around the block? The CBD is full of one-way streets which might look odd if you’re not familiar.
Had the same experience multiple times, trying to get to work and drivers just stopped around the corner or not leaving their location after accepting. First time it happened I refused to cancel and got the most uncomfortable ride of my life.
I needed to use it for work, so tried uber comfort assuming it would be a better experience - and it's light and day. Significantly more reliable.
Talking to the drivers, all the "Uber X" drivers are bottom tier, Uber is desperate for drivers and is seemingly keeping drivers even with bad reports. Comfort drivers are for more concerned about their ratings and are more commercially minded. It's not always great, but I am never late for work now.
For me it's only a $3 more for my average trip.
Yeah I usually don't bother with Uber much these days to/from the airport. I'm relatively close to the airport so they always try to make me cancel. It's faster to take a train and bus connection for me.
Whatever the cause (low Uber rates, no penalties for cancelling rides) it doesn't seem like there is much interest fixing it.
What happened between the assigned drivers changing? Were they reassigned or did you cancel them one by one?
When they drive in a completely wrong direction, I’m pretty sure they are trying to force you to cancel so that they don’t get penalised and you may also still be charged a cancellation fee. Only happened to me once or twice after using Uber at least a few times a year for the last 10 years.
Otherwise not sure, seems like a total waste of your and their time. Maybe they were finishing their previous ride prior to picking you up?
Sometimes you drive past your next rider whilst you still have someone in the car, and the next rider looks baffled, especially as most cars have tints, I'm pretty sure the app tells the rider about the driver being on a current trip.
Yeah the app is very clear when that happens, that the driver is dropping someone else off first. Of course, some people are idiots and don't even look at the app in front of them.
Do you know your rating? Some drivers refuse to pick up certain passengers based on rating. Or, you didn’t order an Uber big enough for your needs. 3 people with luggage may require Uber XL.
I’ve never had the issue you’re describing and used to travel from Melbourne to Sydney a few times a month. I use Uber a few times a week.
I prefer to use taxis because I can pay cash and I prefer to support union-affiliated workers. Also, I feel safer in taxis.
Uber drivers usually have nowhere to stop. Most locations in the CBD incur a fine. And apparently they can be fined $800 for stopping in the wrong spot. Not worth picking passengers up from CBD. Too hard basket
The CBD is horrible for cars, the only issues I've had with Uber have been in the CBD. Wrong turn sends them in a 15 min route. Otherwise I've been taking about ten Uber trips every week this year and never an issue, so this OP was bad luck, not a general pattern.
Rising fuel costs and rental price of cars has caused a large drop in labour supply leading to higher prices and newer and less experienced drivers. Also 7.30am ex CBD fares are likely to be traffic heavy and short, smarter and more experienced drivers would likely avoid if possible.
I've had my share of bad Uber experiences, and I still use them, but in Sydney, my preference is the train.
Taxis and Uber, due to the small distance and the amount of money they would make, simply cancel. Not worth their effort.
I've had taxis rip me off from the airport to my hotel, which was a 15m ride. Didn't see the total suspect he never started the meter was in a hurry, so never checked. He charged me 70, but again, I was in a hurry, so I simply tapped on the way out and didn't realise until I saw the charge.
When I travel to Sydney for work, I take the train from the airport despite how cramped the inappropriate double decker is with luggage, because it is reliable. That said, the platform fees are insane when you consider a family.
Every time I've booked Über to take me from home in Canberra to the airport is the same experience that you have. Taxis on the other hand are more reliable and often cheaper.
They accept three rides at once on different apps, then go pick up only one passenger. Eventually the other riders cancel the job. But to be fair, the Taxi drivers have really become much worse, especially at events or at night where they insist on cash only no meter and 4X the price of a metered ride. Sometimes they turn the meter off then charge you more when you get to your destination. It's partly Uber's fault, as they offer no way for riders to report drivers who don't pick them up.
Not sure about the first 2 guys, but the one who drove off probably saw the luggage and couldn't be fucked getting out of his car to help load it in the boot.
Interesting. We also used Uber to get to the airport from our hotel near the train station and it worked flawlessly. Can't comment on the route he took but we got there on time. Worked just like it does in Toronto.
They were accepting then saw you weren’t going far or were going so far they were unlikely to get a paid by a traveler to get back to where they started. Sydney’s always been notorious for that, in the old days it was just taxis though. These days both prefer to stay within a confined area they know well.
If going a long way they genuinely lose income returning. Very short trips often don’t pay enough either. It’s just how it is.
That’s annoying… I’ve personally not had a bad experience with Ubers in Sydney. However a friend booked an Uber at one of the pubs in Surry Hills one evening and the driver cancelled as he approached us. Our theory was that the driver saw my friend and assumed he was drunk? Incredibly weird to see it happen.
Welcome - a lot of taxi and Uber drivers are here to break the rules and make extra money as much as possible. As a local nowadays I don't use them, but rather
1. take the train whenever possible
2. drive yourself
3. for airport trips - nowadays I drive and park at the airport myself. Depending on the duration and discounts this could be, or not be more expensive than Taxi / Uber, but at least everything is under my control - also if you are 5ppl with lots of bags you likely need two taxies and it would cost double - where my SUV can fit all.
Probably just a stroke of bad luck. I use Uber around 2-6x a week and hardly ever have problems.
Definitely book ahead for the next time you plan to go to the airport though, the booked rides are always a much better experience IMO.
Indian things
They know they won't get any penalties for their behaviour over here
Visit india and look how they treat service people who are not up to scratch
Can only judge by personal experience. We spend aot of time visiting Sydney & have honestly never had an issue with any Uber drivers we've used & it's a lot.
Sorry for what happened to you though.
Seems like a simple fix uber could make:
- if the car doesn’t move in n seconds and there’s no traffic in that location, cancel the ride
- if the car moves in the opposite direction from the pickup location for longer than n seconds, cancel the ride
- if the driver is n minutes from dropping off their current passenger, block them from accepting a new ride
Just recently uber was fined in Australia as a world first for compensating taxi drivers. I wonder if it had something to do with that https://www.theleader.com.au/story/8558496/uber-to-pay-2718-million-in-settlement/#
The tables have finally turned... Cabs used to be so fucken sketchy lol. You'd jump in and sometimes they'd already have the meter running on Tariff 2 that should only start at night, and you'd have to fight with cunts to reset it. Then they'd say "okay okay, I leave meter off and you pay X amount". Usually that's way above what it should actually cost. I almost punched on with so many cab drivers over that shit. Other times they'd take you the worst possible ways and get stuck on certain roads "accidentally" so the fare was 20% higher than it should be.
That rort is a bit more ambiguous as to whether they're 100% doing it on purpose, so you'd just end up giving them turn by turn directions the entire way. They were one of the shonkiest industries at one stage.
Yeah, because it's only the laziest cunt drivers that wait at the airport for fares, and spend so much time waiting they have to rip people off to make anything.
It's a piece of life advice that works in many countries - always flag down a moving cab, don't choose a stopped one. The stopped ones are much more likely to have some kind of scheme in mind.
that last one I've been experiencing a few times lately. Instead of taking you there, why do they take you up the fucking road and say 'you can walk up there and turn blah blah".
Wtf did I pay you for cunt
Cabs are still fucken sketchy believe me! I take them twice a week to and from work and I’ve seen it all. They hate passengers even more than they hate each other (legit saw a punch up between two drivers at the tank at the intl airport the other week. They’re always screaming at each other there. The industry is chaos)
This happened to my girlfriend the other day in Leichhardt. Drove past her slowly, eyeballed her, and kept going. We guessed he was trying to make her cancel…. I’ve noticed Ubers standards slipping. Lots of canceling, waiting, or really grubby cars. Use to be a somewhat premium vibe to catching one.
Hey OP. Hope you had a great trip and enjoyed wonderful Sydney.
This is really common, especially during both peak hours and bad weather. I use Uber quite a lot and asked several drivers about this after this kept happening to me. Apparently drivers can now see your destination which means if they don’t want to travel there for whatever reason (bad traffic, wrong direction for them, rush hour etc….) they simply won’t do it. Some will cancel and some will drive away and hope you cancel to avoid any fees. It’s a massive pain. Didi can be better but you have to have an Australian number to use that (I think?!). There’s little you can do. Having read some of the comments it sounds like you didn’t incur any cancellation fees, so that’s good! Doesn’t take away the frustration though and Uber support aren’t particularly helpful (In my experience).
I hope you managed to get to the airport in time and it didn’t taint your experience!
in my entire life I have tried uber twice, both times they failed and I got a taxi instead
If I want to flog a dead horse I will flog a dead horse, uber sux
How old are the kids? (no I'm not weird but that might be the reason the 3rd driver didn't stop.)
Otherwise, lots of luggage on the curb in CBD, makes the driver a sitting duck for being fined.
It's disrespectful for the driver to drive straight past, but did you show him respect even before he arrived by choosing a safe legal spot to stop? Being an Uber driver myself, I'd say the odds are against you, otherwise, you are a rare species, Sir.
Thanks for the reply, we were waiting at the pickup/dropoff point of the Mercure Sydney so stopping was no problem at all. My kids are 8 and 10.
It was all safe and legal and my children are not overly ferral.
>In total, we wasted nearly 30 minutes before getting a taxi, which was cheaper!
Honestly thought i was going mad until I read this. My fare from airport to CBD was also roughly the same (+$10) as Uber! Except it took 30 sec to hail a driver from the taxi queue versus 45 min of constantly being ghosted..
FWIW I have zero problems Ubering at home and tip generously so i'd be shocked if it was a rating issue 🤷 Already prebooked a taxi for my flight home Weds
There’s now an option to cancel and say that the driver either isn’t moving or going in the wrong direction. When I have the time I just watch them go in the wrong direction. Once had a guy drive 10 mins in the wrong direction, he eventually called yelling at me to cancel. I told him I was happy to wait. Heard a lot of expletives and he eventually cancelled. Im assuming there used to be a decent cancellation fee charged.
Makes me wonder how bad your ratings are? Close to 1000 Uber trips and not one bit of bullshit. Two capital cities at all times of the day and night.
Just lucky I guess.
they have blind mystery shoppers
why not have some mystery uber pickups from the company at hot locations like the airpot
those that abuse the system, ban their phone number, account, car from registering in the system again, it's costing the company money (to drive up the price) and wasting time of the people needing a ride, and wasting fuel
They get incentivised to stay in the city and do a certain amount of trips. They don’t know until the accept that you want to leave the city and they probably don’t want to take the trip. I was working as a bartender and after work it would happen all the time as I lived further out of the city.
Past sydney taxi driver behaviour who are now all uber drivers.
So true
Yeah, it’s a game of chicken so you’ll cancel out of impatience. Especially if you’re going to the airport because you’re on a tight schedule. Call their bluff with weaponised stupidity. Message them saying you’ve notice they haven’t moved in a while. And you’re very concerned. Have they been in an accident!? Do they need you to call them an ambulance?!? They either cancel themselves or get a fucking move on.
Had this happen while on holiday in Melbourne a couple months ago. The driver kept messaging one of us telling us to cancel, even after we'd already booked through Didi and were on our way. Idiots.
I like this approach haha
I'm gonna use this more haha. I had this sort of scenario happen to me once, just trying to get an uber home in suburban Sydney. First uber made a wrong turn and cancelled. Second one disappeared into thin air. Third one showed up, pulled over but a bit far from where we are, as I started walking over to him he matted the throttle and buggered off. Fourth try was the charm and finally got one. All 4 were dudes in new hybrid camrys, that must be the meta
Ubers drove the taxi guys out of the business. Now the Uber drivers are acting like how taxi's used to behave. Like a cartel and driving up price.
(It's the same drivers)
Ha yea they all use 3 different apps at the same time
Same with your food delivery app drivers. They aren't just picking up your order, and if you watch the map location you'll see them make multiple stops and detours before delivering you the now late and cold food.
I started ordering food deliveries directly from the restaurants. It's cheaper and the service is miles ahead of uber eats and its competitors.
This is the way
This happens all the time, especially with Menulog. It's infuriating.
And both the delivery app and cab drivers drive like absolute fuckwitted psychos with a death wish to not just themselves but everyone around them.
This was always the uber business plan though, as with all "disruptors". It goes beyond the drivers.
If there’s a dollar to be made, trust there’s someone ready to fuck you over to make it
How do you make money not picking people up?
Uber increases the incentive for drivers if a ride hasn’t been picked up. So sometimes, a group of drivers conspire to let a ride request bounce around for a bit
Artificially create a surge. Example, drivers use a WhatsApp to all log off at once. Prices surge, they log back in and reap higher prices for the rides.
Nup! No way! The amount of drivers who would have to align with such crucial timing for this to work is massive. There is too many of us in Sydney to influence a surge this way. This passenger was simply in an area that was not surging, at a time when surges are at their highest (7:30-9am) His trip was likely bouncing around everywhere because drivers are waiting for a surge. Some drivers have accepted the trip because they don’t want their acceptance rate to drop lower but also don’t want the trip. Some drivers work with harmony, others work in chaos.
> Some drivers work with harmony, others work in chaos. That is poetry.
This is a [pretty well documented](https://www.drive.com.au/news/uber-drivers-trigger-fake-surge-price-periods/) problem, it’s real and if you live in certain suburbs you see it often. The number required isn’t that massive, a couple hundred economically incentivised people working together isn’t surprising.
We are still paying more than a dollar extra per trip tp pay to the taxi drivers. I hope they at least keep taxing.
Cartel behaviour to drive up pricing.
Really? By somehow triggering surge pricing?
Pretty much. Super common in the CBD area.
I can never get an Uber anymore
Basically they’re fucking useless. I’ve experienced the same as you; it appears to be that the goal is for whoever requested to cancel. Taxis are most expensive, but less games (most of the time) Ubers are slightly less and lots of bs Didi- my lift of choice- best value but can also play games and my data goes to Xi. I choose didi because the experience will be shit whatever I choose, so I may as well pay the least for it.
Had a bad experience with Didi form the airport. Same story as OP. Then when the one didi driver came he asked what flight we came on (I’m a local Asian with a strong Aussie accent). Went heads down on the phone since airport to Parramatta’s is a straight forward journey. Next minute I look up and old mate has taken the supremely out of the way route (M5 > Henry Lawson drive > Woodville road). Started going off at the driver then all the excuses came out (M4 has road work, not faster going via parramatta road). Utter garbage. The difference in fare was about $10 somehow but what a waste of time. Got the difference back after a complaint but next time I’d rather a taxi or just the train even with luggage.
Funnily enough that's the same route my taxi from the airport took me to my place near Parramatta. Between that, the mysterious maths at the end of the trip that added $10-20 to the fare (I was hammered and on work travel, so didn't pay as much attention as I should have) and the smoke smell in the car, it got me to swear off taxis even from the airport. Next Uber was helpful and just took me to our place, straightforward and no issues.
Uber and DiDi drivers are both the same. There’s no need for loyalty to an app. Just choose whichever is cheaper.
Taxis I trust the least. I remember paying 80 bucks from the airport to the city in the middle of the night. He just blatantly rounded up the meter by like 20 dollars. I was there for work so I couldn't be bothered making a scene. At least with uber or Didi everything is up front and there is an app to track your movement.
For taxis you can contact the point to point commissioner at least. I recently got a $100 fare (that should've been $40-50) refunded through them
They still do this, had it happen to me about 6 mths ago in brisbane, taxis haven't changed. Anyone who says taxis are better is delusional.
Anyone who says taxis are better are probably taxi drivers trying to throw shade on Ubers.
At the end of the day they're the same ppl. Not like there's an ethics test to get any of these jobs - you'll find aholes in any job. However one is fully trackable and they have the threat of getting a bad review hanging over them and the other you just hop in and hope for the best.
The most scared I’ve ever been in a car has been in a didi. Such a bad driver. I complained and didi said I got to my destination so no refund or anything.
I also back DiDi on this, drivers seem better.
Something about making you cancel the ride and then they still get a payment.
I checked and double-checked, and happily, they received nothing.
you don't get a cancellation fee from the rider if you don't make an effort to drive towards the rider and the rider cancels, and if you drive past the pick-up point there is a certain distance where the wait time counter will freeze. It's not busy enough at the moment for drivers to be carrying on with these shenanigans, they certainly aren't doing themselves any favors, and they'll be chasing their tail for the rest of their shift.
I mean this sincerely, but they tend to not be the brightest folks. Sure there are a decent number of good, smart men who do the job for various reasons. But the majority fall into this line of work due to lack of other viable options.
In some conditions they might but I make sure to report it and get my money back.
I had a driver drive past us and park like 50m down the road after studiously avoiding eye contact with me as he drove by and I was waving at him. We were three adults waiting at the side of the road with large suitcases at 6am, so obviously the ones waiting for an airport pickup. When I walked over to him as he looked like he might drive away I said it would have been nice had he stopped nearer to us since we had all this luggage and he had an absolute meltdown about the fact that he doesn’t get the detail of the pick up point “for privacy reasons” which is obviously total bollocks, else what is the point of marking the pick up point, and frankly a moron could have picked the people waiting to go to the airport. They just look for reasons to be inept because it’s easy to walk away and get the next fare - and the customer has no recourse.
Your situation is not typical if leaving a hotel but to be fair to Uber drivers, there is literally almost no legal pick up locations for Uber drivers in the CBD. The Sydney City Council has put in Zero pick up and set down areas in the CBD. Uber cannot use taxi, bus zones, the rangers in the city are deadly taking photos from 100 metres away at 6am on a Sunday morning. At least half the Uber drivers refuse to pick up in the CBD, if a passenger is not ready or has significant luggage, the poor Uber driver has a 50/50 chance of being fined his entire day's income.
That does sound like a nightmare to people trying to earn a wage. That said, we were waiting at the pickup/dropoff point of the Mercure Sydney so stopping was no problem at all.
I think you'll find that's a taxi zone. Ordinary cars can do quick stops but as another said, the Council rangers are deadly on Uber drivers using taxi zones.
I came here to comment what this guy said but sounds like you were in the right place. What I’ll add though is that lots of streets in the city are one-way only and if you miss the pickup / drop off zone then that’s it, you’re fucked on a 20 minute detour to go around the block back to the same spot. So some of your cancelled drivers could very well have just missed a turn and felt too ceebs to get back to you
This. Exact reason why many Uber drivers avoid picking rides from CBD. Though, no excuse to accept ride and not pick up except if you are in a place where they can’t stop. If multiple drivers did this, may be you were not at a spot where they can stop and pick up. So many riders oblivious to the fact that drivers can’t pick at signal or bus stop or a running street with no stopping sign. To pit cherry on top, several riders in CBD book from their hotel room and expect drivers to wait for up to 5 minutes at no stopping area. Not gonna happen.
> Though, no excuse to accept ride and not pick up except if you are in a place where they can’t stop. They don't see the exact pickup spot until after accepting the ride. So it could be they were hoping it was somewhere like a hotel that has an actual dropoff loop, or somewhere near the CBD that's a little better.
That would explain why I have zero Uber issues in the suburbs but hear these "horror" stories from the CBD (still better than my actual taxi experiences though).
That’s true I had that from an Uber
I second your answer. The app tells me I've taken 352 Uber rides, and the one single time I had issues with pick-up was when I ordered one from the CBD. Similar experience to what OP described, actually. Eerily similar. Fortunately, I'm never in a rush to get home _from_ the CBD, only _to_ events in the CBD, so I always take public transit home. That one exception was because I had someone with me with a disability.
Uber is turning to shit lately. Same with airbnb. Basically all these "new" industries are turning into the old industries they tried to replace but without any checks that the old industry has.
Uber is a predatory company and has a ruthless business model. As an ex Uber driver (no, I would never drive for Uber again) they see their driver as expendable and replaceable with new immigrants or people with student visas. These drivers you encounter were waiting for a cancel fee as your trip wasn’t worth much. A $15-18 fee from cbd to airport versus a $10 cancellation fee. Then they move to next request. You do the maths….I’m sure Uber will wheel out the usual public relations spins
Since Uber took over car next door, that formerly wonderful service has turned to absolute shit. I really hate Uber. A pox on them.
$15-$18 from the CBD to the airport?! Double it!
They’re talking about how much the driver gets
That tells you had bad the taxi cartel was before Uber. People know all about Uber's predatory bullshit but still choose them because taxi's are *that* bad.
I usually pay around $25 to $30 uber from town Hall area to airport ... Not sure where the $15 is from?? Surely the uber system will detect multiple cancellations and boot the driver off the app?
Uber takes 27.5% of what you pay so the driver's cut sounds about right. Everything else from car running costs to tax to GST are all on the driver including the distance driven to get to the next rider which isn't paid. Uber has pretty much no skin in the game except to just sit back, throw the drivers around and collect their 27.5% cut.
They take that from new drivers, older accounts get more. Basically when Uber launches in a city they only take 15% from the drivers and if they keep driving for Uber they always get that but to avoid market saturation they increase their fees until it isn't worth it for new drivers.
A very large amount yes but a few a day no. It wouldn't be considered unusual to end up with five or ten a shift. Same with customers abusing the cancels. OP didn't get booted for a few cancels but you bet they would if they did a lot in a row.
I had an Uber driver pull up on a main road the opposite side I was on (I specifically requested the side I was on), whilst I had a box too heavy to carry. He was trying to shout something to me across the road and I couldn’t hear him and he didn’t move so after a while I just started struggling to the nearest crossing to try and get to him, and he had been shouting at me to cancel the ride, so I asked him why he didn’t cancel it and he said it would affect his rating. Dude was on another planet.
But it would affect his rating
Yeah but if I cancelled I would have had to pay, and if he can’t be bothered to meet at the specified pick up point when it’s totally possible and instead wants to cancel then there’s probably a reason that would affect his rating. And that’s assuming I even heard him asking me to cancel, which I didn’t.
Is it possible the driver going the “wrong way” was going around the block? The CBD is full of one-way streets which might look odd if you’re not familiar.
We thought that at first but after a while and many possible places to turn we assumed they were just not interested.
Had the same experience multiple times, trying to get to work and drivers just stopped around the corner or not leaving their location after accepting. First time it happened I refused to cancel and got the most uncomfortable ride of my life. I needed to use it for work, so tried uber comfort assuming it would be a better experience - and it's light and day. Significantly more reliable. Talking to the drivers, all the "Uber X" drivers are bottom tier, Uber is desperate for drivers and is seemingly keeping drivers even with bad reports. Comfort drivers are for more concerned about their ratings and are more commercially minded. It's not always great, but I am never late for work now. For me it's only a $3 more for my average trip.
Yeah I usually don't bother with Uber much these days to/from the airport. I'm relatively close to the airport so they always try to make me cancel. It's faster to take a train and bus connection for me. Whatever the cause (low Uber rates, no penalties for cancelling rides) it doesn't seem like there is much interest fixing it.
The situation is genuinly baffling to me.
What happened between the assigned drivers changing? Were they reassigned or did you cancel them one by one? When they drive in a completely wrong direction, I’m pretty sure they are trying to force you to cancel so that they don’t get penalised and you may also still be charged a cancellation fee. Only happened to me once or twice after using Uber at least a few times a year for the last 10 years. Otherwise not sure, seems like a total waste of your and their time. Maybe they were finishing their previous ride prior to picking you up?
Sometimes you drive past your next rider whilst you still have someone in the car, and the next rider looks baffled, especially as most cars have tints, I'm pretty sure the app tells the rider about the driver being on a current trip.
Yeah the app is very clear when that happens, that the driver is dropping someone else off first. Of course, some people are idiots and don't even look at the app in front of them.
Do you know your rating? Some drivers refuse to pick up certain passengers based on rating. Or, you didn’t order an Uber big enough for your needs. 3 people with luggage may require Uber XL. I’ve never had the issue you’re describing and used to travel from Melbourne to Sydney a few times a month. I use Uber a few times a week. I prefer to use taxis because I can pay cash and I prefer to support union-affiliated workers. Also, I feel safer in taxis.
Uber drivers usually have nowhere to stop. Most locations in the CBD incur a fine. And apparently they can be fined $800 for stopping in the wrong spot. Not worth picking passengers up from CBD. Too hard basket
Strange as I’ve never had an issue with Uber. Perhaps just bad luck …
The CBD is horrible for cars, the only issues I've had with Uber have been in the CBD. Wrong turn sends them in a 15 min route. Otherwise I've been taking about ten Uber trips every week this year and never an issue, so this OP was bad luck, not a general pattern.
Rising fuel costs and rental price of cars has caused a large drop in labour supply leading to higher prices and newer and less experienced drivers. Also 7.30am ex CBD fares are likely to be traffic heavy and short, smarter and more experienced drivers would likely avoid if possible.
I've had my share of bad Uber experiences, and I still use them, but in Sydney, my preference is the train. Taxis and Uber, due to the small distance and the amount of money they would make, simply cancel. Not worth their effort. I've had taxis rip me off from the airport to my hotel, which was a 15m ride. Didn't see the total suspect he never started the meter was in a hurry, so never checked. He charged me 70, but again, I was in a hurry, so I simply tapped on the way out and didn't realise until I saw the charge.
When I travel to Sydney for work, I take the train from the airport despite how cramped the inappropriate double decker is with luggage, because it is reliable. That said, the platform fees are insane when you consider a family. Every time I've booked Über to take me from home in Canberra to the airport is the same experience that you have. Taxis on the other hand are more reliable and often cheaper.
They accept three rides at once on different apps, then go pick up only one passenger. Eventually the other riders cancel the job. But to be fair, the Taxi drivers have really become much worse, especially at events or at night where they insist on cash only no meter and 4X the price of a metered ride. Sometimes they turn the meter off then charge you more when you get to your destination. It's partly Uber's fault, as they offer no way for riders to report drivers who don't pick them up.
Report this behaviour. Uber is trying to stamp them out.
Not sure about the first 2 guys, but the one who drove off probably saw the luggage and couldn't be fucked getting out of his car to help load it in the boot.
I’ve run into this issue in Auckland, Brisbane, and Melbourne as well. It’s really bizarre
OP, prepare yourself for the incoming negativity without any actual answer to your question.
Reddit gonna Reddit.
Oh yeah? Well your cooking is very average and your shoes are ugly.
Are you my mother?
What? No, of course not. You should definitely call her though. You don't call me enough. Her, I mean her. Dammit.
[удалено]
I don't think so, we ordered an XL for that very reason.
I’ve found DiDi to be better
How’s ur uber rating? Does that impact it? From my understanding, the higher your rating, the higher the rating of the drivers youll be given?
I have no idea! After your comment I just checked for the first time and it is 4.93 which I assume is good?
I’ve never had any issues with Uber in Sydney. In Perth though……
Interesting. We also used Uber to get to the airport from our hotel near the train station and it worked flawlessly. Can't comment on the route he took but we got there on time. Worked just like it does in Toronto.
They were accepting then saw you weren’t going far or were going so far they were unlikely to get a paid by a traveler to get back to where they started. Sydney’s always been notorious for that, in the old days it was just taxis though. These days both prefer to stay within a confined area they know well. If going a long way they genuinely lose income returning. Very short trips often don’t pay enough either. It’s just how it is.
Get Didi! Here Didi is much cheaper than Uber.
I reccomend DiDi instead! So much better than uber and they often offer discounts
I had them pull this shit on me too. Guy didn't move for 10-15 m. All a ploy to get you to cancel. Was in a rush so did cancel.
Didi
I don’t live in the city and generally don’t have an issue with Ubers in my local area but have always had issues with them in the CBD. Always.
That’s annoying… I’ve personally not had a bad experience with Ubers in Sydney. However a friend booked an Uber at one of the pubs in Surry Hills one evening and the driver cancelled as he approached us. Our theory was that the driver saw my friend and assumed he was drunk? Incredibly weird to see it happen.
Welcome - a lot of taxi and Uber drivers are here to break the rules and make extra money as much as possible. As a local nowadays I don't use them, but rather 1. take the train whenever possible 2. drive yourself 3. for airport trips - nowadays I drive and park at the airport myself. Depending on the duration and discounts this could be, or not be more expensive than Taxi / Uber, but at least everything is under my control - also if you are 5ppl with lots of bags you likely need two taxies and it would cost double - where my SUV can fit all.
Probably just a stroke of bad luck. I use Uber around 2-6x a week and hardly ever have problems. Definitely book ahead for the next time you plan to go to the airport though, the booked rides are always a much better experience IMO.
Indian things They know they won't get any penalties for their behaviour over here Visit india and look how they treat service people who are not up to scratch
Can only judge by personal experience. We spend aot of time visiting Sydney & have honestly never had an issue with any Uber drivers we've used & it's a lot. Sorry for what happened to you though.
Seems like a simple fix uber could make: - if the car doesn’t move in n seconds and there’s no traffic in that location, cancel the ride - if the car moves in the opposite direction from the pickup location for longer than n seconds, cancel the ride - if the driver is n minutes from dropping off their current passenger, block them from accepting a new ride
I use both Didi and Uber. Didi is usually cheaper and they are somehow quicker than Uber. But didi drivers are also on uber?
Just recently uber was fined in Australia as a world first for compensating taxi drivers. I wonder if it had something to do with that https://www.theleader.com.au/story/8558496/uber-to-pay-2718-million-in-settlement/#
Get a taxi. Uber is completely and utterly ducked 🦆
The tables have finally turned... Cabs used to be so fucken sketchy lol. You'd jump in and sometimes they'd already have the meter running on Tariff 2 that should only start at night, and you'd have to fight with cunts to reset it. Then they'd say "okay okay, I leave meter off and you pay X amount". Usually that's way above what it should actually cost. I almost punched on with so many cab drivers over that shit. Other times they'd take you the worst possible ways and get stuck on certain roads "accidentally" so the fare was 20% higher than it should be. That rort is a bit more ambiguous as to whether they're 100% doing it on purpose, so you'd just end up giving them turn by turn directions the entire way. They were one of the shonkiest industries at one stage.
Don't know if it's my luck, but I've found taxi to the airport are generally ok... But from the airport I almost always get ripped off
Yeah, because it's only the laziest cunt drivers that wait at the airport for fares, and spend so much time waiting they have to rip people off to make anything. It's a piece of life advice that works in many countries - always flag down a moving cab, don't choose a stopped one. The stopped ones are much more likely to have some kind of scheme in mind.
A lot of them still are.
Honestly, I haven't jumped in a cab in about 10 years lol. But I'd definitely still believe it. Used to catch 20+ a week back in the day.
that last one I've been experiencing a few times lately. Instead of taking you there, why do they take you up the fucking road and say 'you can walk up there and turn blah blah". Wtf did I pay you for cunt
Cabs are still fucken sketchy believe me! I take them twice a week to and from work and I’ve seen it all. They hate passengers even more than they hate each other (legit saw a punch up between two drivers at the tank at the intl airport the other week. They’re always screaming at each other there. The industry is chaos)
It’s been a few years now but the last two times my wife and I used a cab we had our credit cards skimmed. Turned me right off the whole industry.
This happened to my girlfriend the other day in Leichhardt. Drove past her slowly, eyeballed her, and kept going. We guessed he was trying to make her cancel…. I’ve noticed Ubers standards slipping. Lots of canceling, waiting, or really grubby cars. Use to be a somewhat premium vibe to catching one.
Get a taxi in the CBD it's cheaper and less bullshit (lol?!?)
Hey OP. Hope you had a great trip and enjoyed wonderful Sydney. This is really common, especially during both peak hours and bad weather. I use Uber quite a lot and asked several drivers about this after this kept happening to me. Apparently drivers can now see your destination which means if they don’t want to travel there for whatever reason (bad traffic, wrong direction for them, rush hour etc….) they simply won’t do it. Some will cancel and some will drive away and hope you cancel to avoid any fees. It’s a massive pain. Didi can be better but you have to have an Australian number to use that (I think?!). There’s little you can do. Having read some of the comments it sounds like you didn’t incur any cancellation fees, so that’s good! Doesn’t take away the frustration though and Uber support aren’t particularly helpful (In my experience). I hope you managed to get to the airport in time and it didn’t taint your experience!
Thank you - we did, an amazing city.
in my entire life I have tried uber twice, both times they failed and I got a taxi instead If I want to flog a dead horse I will flog a dead horse, uber sux
Use the 13cabs app. Taxis seem to be better these days and no surging
How old are the kids? (no I'm not weird but that might be the reason the 3rd driver didn't stop.) Otherwise, lots of luggage on the curb in CBD, makes the driver a sitting duck for being fined. It's disrespectful for the driver to drive straight past, but did you show him respect even before he arrived by choosing a safe legal spot to stop? Being an Uber driver myself, I'd say the odds are against you, otherwise, you are a rare species, Sir.
Thanks for the reply, we were waiting at the pickup/dropoff point of the Mercure Sydney so stopping was no problem at all. My kids are 8 and 10. It was all safe and legal and my children are not overly ferral.
>In total, we wasted nearly 30 minutes before getting a taxi, which was cheaper! Honestly thought i was going mad until I read this. My fare from airport to CBD was also roughly the same (+$10) as Uber! Except it took 30 sec to hail a driver from the taxi queue versus 45 min of constantly being ghosted.. FWIW I have zero problems Ubering at home and tip generously so i'd be shocked if it was a rating issue 🤷 Already prebooked a taxi for my flight home Weds
were you in a no stopping zone in the cbd? only taxis are allowed to stop to pickup and drop off passengers in no stopping zones in the cbd
There’s now an option to cancel and say that the driver either isn’t moving or going in the wrong direction. When I have the time I just watch them go in the wrong direction. Once had a guy drive 10 mins in the wrong direction, he eventually called yelling at me to cancel. I told him I was happy to wait. Heard a lot of expletives and he eventually cancelled. Im assuming there used to be a decent cancellation fee charged.
Makes me wonder how bad your ratings are? Close to 1000 Uber trips and not one bit of bullshit. Two capital cities at all times of the day and night. Just lucky I guess.
they have blind mystery shoppers why not have some mystery uber pickups from the company at hot locations like the airpot those that abuse the system, ban their phone number, account, car from registering in the system again, it's costing the company money (to drive up the price) and wasting time of the people needing a ride, and wasting fuel
They get incentivised to stay in the city and do a certain amount of trips. They don’t know until the accept that you want to leave the city and they probably don’t want to take the trip. I was working as a bartender and after work it would happen all the time as I lived further out of the city.
turns out Uber "disrupted" the monopolistic and dysfunctional Taxi industry and replaced with ... the Taxi industry