You may feel a bit lost on your first Uber ride as a driver, but it is not that difficult. Let’s go over a step by step process of your first Uber ride.
You’ll be better off not to jump into rush hour downtown traffic or peak drinking times at bars or a sporting event, music festival, the airport, etc. Start easy. Drive your local neighborhood first to get comfortable with the process. Take a few trips with riders and learn the process before jumping into peak driving time.
Park somewhere before turning on your app. A shopping center or an office parking lot are great places to start, as well as area with a lot of apartment buildings/condos. Depending on the time of day there may be high demand in those areas and you may get rides quickly.…show more content… If your audio on your phone is on, you’ll begin to hear a “ping” sound. It is a timer counting down the time you have to accept the request. Your phone screen will show you the request. The blue ring around the outside works a visual timer letting you know how long you have to accept the request. The map shows you where the rider is located so you get an idea of how far you have to drive to pick them up. The minutes give you an estimate of how long it will take you to reach your destination. However, this estimate will often be wrong. You’ll also see the rider’s name, address, and rating. Furthermore, you’ll also see that this is a request for UberPool or UberX as opposed to UberSELECT or some other Uber…show more content… Acceptance rating matters to Uber (see Uber help on acceptance ratings). They want to make sure riders get picked up quickly and they do not want drivers who turn down most rides and only accept the longest/best rides. If your acceptance rating goes down, Uber will not offer you certain bonuses or guarantees. They may also deactivate you as a driver. Typically, you’d want to keep up at least 90% acceptance rating.
You should not worry too much about acceptance ratings on your first Uber ride, but it’s good to know how the system works so you’ll be aware of it in the future.
Note: If you cannot hear the audible “ping” that the Uber app makes, turn off your car radio and listen to music on your phone instead. Uber does NOT work like a phone call and cannot connect to your Bluetooth for the audible ping. If you are listening to your car stereo or satellite radio, your app won’t be able to override that to send an audible ping through the speakers. The app will show the ride request but you won’t hear the alert. Usually, if you switch your car stereo to Bluetooth mode and play music through your phone, you can hear Uber
