[imagesource: Russell Hart/Alamy]

A few years back, I sold my car.

When I added up what I was paying for renting a parking spot, insurance, petrol, and a service every so often, it just made more sense to Uber around town and share my partner’s car for longer trips.

Many of my trips to and from the office, for example, were very short rides. As I caught these more frequently, Uber drivers started contacting me before they had picked me up, asking where I was going.

When I responded, and it was clear that they were only in for a short trip, the ride was often cancelled.

After a while, I started ignoring the messages that were sent prior to the driver arriving. On occasion, the ride was still cancelled.

I did a quick Twitter search for some keywords and this is obviously an issue around the world:

Lately Uber has got a major problem where drivers call, ask for your destination and then cancel or don’t move till you call them.

Anyone else faces this too?@UberINSupport

— Sahil Shah 🇮🇳 (@SahilBulla) October 23, 2021

@Uber_Support @Uber It has been experienced recently that ur drivers call up the client & ask them the destination. And then they cancel the ride if the destination doesn’t suit them. It happened twice with me in last two days and I am asked to pay up ₹20.54 for my next ride?

— Dr Deepak Mishra (@bonedeep2000) October 22, 2021

@Uber @Uber_Support y’all need to fix this, drivers can be accepting trips then ask us where we going. As if that’s not enough, don’t want to cancel the trip on their side if they won’t benefit from it. pic.twitter.com/wSJFMLTm00

— V I R G O 🌸 (@iam_Lush) October 22, 2021

Somebody asked the question “Why do Uber drivers ask about the drop location before pickup?” on Quora, a social question-and-answer website, and an Uber driver responded:

Uber does not tell us where the ride is going until after we pick up the rider and start the ride on the app.

They are asking where you are going to circumvent the reason for Uber not telling them where you are going, which is to avoid drivers cherry-picking which rides they take.

Often after the driver finds out where you are going they will cancel the ride. Really dishonest drivers will wait until the cancellation period has passed so that you are charged a cancel fee.

The driver who responded to the question, Ken Waldron, said that when this happens you should report the driver for asking where you are going.

I have mixed feelings on that front.

Dig a little deeper into how much the average Uber driver makes, even when working a 60+ hour week, and you’ll see this is more a means of survival than them being greedy.

Every time that petrol price goes up, their thin profit margins are further eroded.

The Times of India reports that it’s very much still a problem in that neck of the woods, with commuters in Mumbai complaining of driver cancellations:

Sympathy for the plight of Uber drivers and frustration at cancelled rides aren’t mutually exclusive.

My anecdotal evidence suggests cancellations in Cape Town are happening less frequently since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Given that there are far fewer tourists around these parts at present, perhaps Uber drivers aren’t able to be as selective about which rides they collect.

Then again, I’m catching far fewer Ubers, so my sample size is smaller.

The bottom line is that your driver shouldn’t be trying to contact you before they collect you. Do with that information what you will.

[sources:quora&timesofindia]