As we know, ridesharing via Uber and Lyft has taken off in the last few years. Thus, a lot has been written about it. For example, see Where Do YOU Stand on Ride-Hailing Apps? Today, we look at handling rideshare drivers. And many types of drivers exist.
Zachary Kee-Clemmer of Siege Media serves as our guest blogger. Zach provides the content. The infographic comes from The Zebra.
Handling Rideshare Drivers
Did you know Uber has quickly become the largest tech startup? The rideshare service company topped the second place AirBnB by over $30 billion last year. Uber’s success, and the success of other rideshare services, is due in large part to young professionals who use rideshare apps to commute to work. In fact, it’s often reported that the best time to drive for a rideshare service is weekday mornings because so many people commute using Uber or Lyft.
So, you’ve probably used a rideshare service before. For all its benefits, using a rideshare service can be a bit of a guessing game. You have to ride in a complete stranger’s car and be forced to make conversation — or worse, forced to sit in silence — for the duration of the ride. Sometimes you get lucky and the person is a great conversationalist, has snacks, and lets you pick the music. But more often than not, rideshare drivers make things awkward one way or another.
That’s why The Zebra created a guide to help those who struggle with awkward rideshare drivers. The guide breaks down the 10 most common types of rideshare driver personalities you’ll run into, from drivers who share too much to those that don’t say a word. We give tips on how to deal with each type and the appropriate rating to give for each driver.
Check out the full infographic below. My personal favorites are Wise Wilbur and Traveling Terry.
Ridesharing apps such as Uber and Lyft continue to amaze me. I can not believe that there was a time just a few years ago that we lived without them. Now that they are part of most peoples daily lives, it is hard to reason what many did before they were invented. I use Uber over Lyft, but between the two, they have started an empire that people today rely on. What amazes me the most is that it is such a simple concept that anyone could have thought of. I’m sure there were times where people didn’t have a ride to their destination and stood their in distress prior to these apps being invented. I give the founders a lot of credit for actually making this idea come to life. I personally don’t feel that it is necessary to have an entire conversation with your driver. I often find myself asking if they have been busy or not that night just to start minor conversation. It is up to you if you if you are in the mood to talk or not. It is important to be kind and use your manners when you are in an Uber or Lyft. Overall, they are their to take you from location A to location B, and as long as they get the job done safely, they are doing exactly what they are supposed to.
I prefer Lyft over Uber due to bad experience using Uber once. However, talking about the personalities of the drives, I think most drivers are morally aware of their surrounding and try to make a conversation with you. Uber or Lyft drivers are driving all day long, so they want to have someone who they can chat to and kill their time. Most of the time, drivers initiate’s the conversation and the topics of conversation are also not that boring. The topic usually starts with greetings, but if it is a long drive then more often than not the conversation will be about driver asking the passengers questions about their life. I have experienced this once and the conversation lead to driver asking me about my culture and background. So, drivers are also looking for passengers who are interested in a conversation.
Uber and Lyft have become the typical college student’s saving grace. I have not had the pleasure of meeting all of these different types of drivers but I believe the type you get varies by location. Now, in the city you could get any type of driver. But I’ve noticed around Hofstra’s area they are either the family man or quiet. It is incredible how different each experience can be. Usually you judge a company by their service but people are much more lenient with rideshare services due to the fact that the drivers are not formally trained or briefed.
It is really interesting that because ride-sharing services, including Uber and Lyft have become so popular that many of us are so familiar with the various experiences associated with them. Sorting through my own experiences, I can remember my most recent silent ride from Woodside to Brooklyn, where I could not get a word out of my driver resulting in us sitting in 30 minutes of awkward silence. However, I also remember a number of positive experiences involving snacks, restaurant recommendations, stories about how the drivers became drivers and their best stories on the job, and more. I do believe that it is in the best interest of the company to prep drivers on some social skills. While some commuters are interested in getting in and not making any conversation, many crave for the personal touch and experience of friendly conversation. These points will help us as consumers make our drives easier and more comfortable, but what is most important is how these companies will improve their employee training to enhance the customer experience.
As a busy college student and young professional who spent the summer in NYC, I constantly use these apps when public transit is running slow. I am hardly surprised that ridesharing apps such as Lyft and Uber have skyrocketed in popularity—after all, this is the age of instant gratification and convenience. I foresee these types of apps becoming even more widespread and expanding into the suburbs. This is great news because, through the UberPool option, we can encourage more carpooling.
It’s not shocking that ridesharing has become such a huge industry. It’s a major convince not to have to drive places or worry about a way back home. However, it doesn’t fail to confuse me as to why we are all so willing to go against everything we were told growing up, “never get in a car with strangers.” And yet, we get into the car with drivers we have never met and sometimes even other passengers. Along with this, ridesharing drivers are just normal people, they are not professional drivers or trained in any way, so again why are we so willing to get in these cars and drive from our homes to our destinations or visa versa with strangers?
Uber is great. Not sure how I survived life without my Uber app on a Friday and Saturday night before Uber was a thing. It is amazing how an app destroyed the taxi industry in New York City. It’s not just young people using Uber, but people of all ages as well. A person’s experience with Uber is only as good as the driver. It is no different from any other customer service experience.If you have a great, friendly driver or sales person, you tend to like the establishment.
It’s crazy how ridesharing has blown up in that past couple of years. I tend to use Uber once in a while and it’s funny to see the 10 different personalities of rideshare drivers because I have experienced some of them. I find that apps such as Uber and Lyft are very beneficial because if you are in a hurry to go somewhere, you can have a ride in under 5 minutes.