Uber to start charging extra if you make your driver wait

Daniel Howley
·Technology Editor
image


The next time you call for an Uber, you better make sure your drunk friend is ready to roll as soon as the car shows up. If he isn’t, you might get stuck with an extra fee.

That’s because Uber is testing a new pricing scheme that will let drivers begin charging you for your trip if you’re more than two minutes late for your ride.

(update: Uber’s previous waiting time was 5 minutes, not 10)

To be honest, it takes me more than two minutes to get my coat on and find my keys. So I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that two minutes isn’t much leeway.

That said, I’m looking at this from a lazy millennial rider’s point of view, not as a driver who has to sit in his car and wait for my friends and me to stumble out of a bar.

In addition to the new two-minute grace period, Uber is also introducing a two-minute limit on canceling rides: If you don’t cancel within two minutes of ordering a ride, you’ll be hit with a fee; Uber doesn’t say exactly how much that fee will be. The service’s previous cancellation window was five minutes.

But don’t start freaking out about racking up these new Uber charges just yet: The company is only rolling out the new time limits and fees on an experimental basis in Dallas, New Jersey, New York, and Phoenix. If you live outside of those areas, you’re fine for now.

I, on the other hand, am from New Jersey and live in New York. So my Uber bills could be going up soon.

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.