With a substantial increase in the number of Uber drivers in South Africa, arrival time is a lot faster than it once was.

If you, like many of my friends, have developed a habit of ordering an Uber with the expectation that its arrival will give you enough time to go to the loo and brush your teeth, no more my friend.

To encourage passengers to order an Uber when they are actually ready to leave, Uber has introduced a new feature, among others, namely, Paid Wait Time, reports Tech Central.

Uber’s sub-Saharan Africa GM Alon Lits explains that:

The new feature will make a big difference to drivers’ efficiency and create help create a “stress-free experience”.

The “paid wait time” feature comes a week after Uber said it had launched a series of other features for driver-partners that allow them to choose when, where and how they drive.

Uber, which has 12 000 drivers making use of its app each week in South Africa, said the changes were meant to offer more flexibility for drivers when it comes to when they want to use Uber while also improving their safety.

Fair enough – let’s check out the new features:

Arrival destination and time:

Drivers will now be able to set the time that they want to arrive at their final destination at any time of the day with the “arrival time” feature. As drivers go about their day with the destination and arrival time set, the app will notify them when it’s time to start heading toward their destination. At that time, they’ll be connected with a trip along the same path. This allows for more flexibility and allows them to make extra money on the way, Uber said.

Long trip notification:

Information will be sent to drivers to fit driving around their lifestyle, which means they will now get a heads-up when a trip is estimated to be 45 minutes or longer, so they can plan accordingly.

“No thanks” button:

This allows drivers to turn down trips without worrying how it will affect their earnings. Currently, drivers can either confirm and take a trip request or wait for the request to time out. However, with this new feature, drivers can decline the trip right away. This should also mean shorter waiting times for riders.

Rating protection:

Sometimes riders might give their trip a low rating for reasons beyond a driver-partner’s control, such as an issue with the Uber app. With the new ratings policy, these types of ratings won’t count towards a driver-partner’s score. Uber will still get the feedback to help them improve but it won’t impact the driver’s overall rating.

If that’s enough to convince you to download the app finally, especially since summer is on its way, pop over here and get R150 off your first ride.

Popping and locking.

[source:techcentral]