Uber is enabling passengers to tip its U.S. drivers with a tap on its ride-hailing app for the first time, part of a push to recast itself as a company with a conscience and a heart.
Besides the built-in tipping option announced today, The Associated Press reports Uber is giving drivers an opportunity to make more money in other ways.
Riders will be charged by the minute if they keep an Uber driver waiting for more than two minutes. The company also is reducing the time that riders have to cancel a ride to avoid being slapped with a $5 fee from five minutes to two minutes after summoning a driver.
Uber won’t take any part of the tips given drivers. The San Francisco company will continue to collect a portion of ride-cancellation fees, as well as the new waiting-time charges.
The tipping option, long available in the app of Uber rival Lyft, will be available beginning Tuesday in three cities: Seattle, Houston and Minneapolis. Uber plans to make it a staple in its app in all U.S. cities by the end of July. The other features are to roll out in August.
Uber had spent a long time sticking by its decision not to build in a tipping option, even though drivers commonly requested the feature.
“We felt it would be better for riders and drivers to know for sure what they would pay or earn on each trip — without the uncertainty of tipping,” Uber said in an April 2015 blog post. “Riders tell us that one of the things they like most about Uber is that it’s hassle-free. And that’s how we intend to keep it.”
The current attempt to smooth over the company’s sometimes testy relationship with drivers is part of a broader effort to reverse the damage done to Uber’s reputation by revelations of sexual harassment in its offices, allegations of the theft of trade secrets and an investigation into its efforts to mislead government regulators.
