If you are now taking an Uber, it’s not just towards the driver that you need to be at your best behaviour but your fellow passengers as well. If not, be ready to be banned from using Uber.
Just days after Uber admitted to evading the law with a tool called Greyball, Uber has decided to stop using the tool and now wants to abide by the law.
Earlier this month, Uber extended its community guidelines, which are a list of rules to follow to ensure you don’t lose access to your Uber account, to India.
The guidelines, Uber says, ensure a respectful, safe environment for all drivers and riders. “The way you behave while using Uber can have a big impact on the safety and comfort of drivers, as well as your fellow passengers. Courtesy matters. That’s why you are expected to exercise good judgment and behave decently towards other people in the car when riding with Uber—just as you would in any public place,” the website states.
So what should you do to not be banned from Uber? For starters, ensure no physical contact with anyone in the car. Uber says, you cannot touch, flirt with, or hit your fellow riders. Be it the driver, a co-passenger or someone you know, there must be no sexual conduct with anyone in the car.
If you’re eating or drinking in the cab, intentionally spilling food, or vomiting due to alcohol consumption, this could lead to a ban on using Uber.
Uber does not want you to get too friendly or too rude while in the cab. Guidelines state that asking overly personal questions, using verbal threats, and making comments or gestures that are aggressive, sexual, discriminatory, or disrespectful will not be allowed. Any unnecessary contact with the driver or a fellow passenger after a trip should be avoided.
Lastly, ensure you don’t break any local laws while taking a ride. If you consume alcohol or drugs, exceed the number of allowed passengers in a car, make drivers break local laws like speed limits or engage in drugs or human trafficking and sexual exploitation, you will be banned from riding with Uber.
Besides, firearms are also prohibited in all cabs.
Before actually banning you from the app, Uber will contact the rider and investigate the problem and depending on the nature of the concern, your account will be put on hold during the investigation. And if your offence is serious, or repetitive, you could lose access to Uber. However, if your behaviour involves violence, sexual misconduct or illegal activity, you could lose access to your account instantly.
And not just riders, it has laid out a clear set of guidelines for drivers as well. According to Uber, it is important to have such clear policies because, for drivers, losing access to their account will mean losing the ability to earn income as well. “There will always be unforeseen events that may ultimately lead to you losing access to your driver account — and we’ll update this policy regularly—but the following are sufficient cause for Uber to take action: quality; safety; fraud; and discrimination,” the guidelines state.
Drivers have to ensure they are delivering quality rides to customers. This is determined by a driver’s star rating and his/her acceptance and cancellation rate. Uber has a minimum average rating in each city. And if the driver is approaching that limit, Uber will help him/her improve the same. But if there is no improvement, the driver will lose access to his account. The same goes for how often a driver accepts or cancels a trip as well. Uber says that if a driver doesn’t want to accept a trip, he/she should log off.
The safety guidelines laid out for riders apply to drivers as well. This is with regards to physical contact, violence and law abidance.
If background checks reveal any violation of Uber’s safety standards and inaccurate personal information, you can no longer drive for Uber. Additionally, accepting rides outside Uber’s system, asking for any payment beyond the actual fare, any fraudulent activity like provoking riders to cancel, creating dummy riders, increasing time and distance of a trip intentionally will also lead to a driver’s account being terminated.
Finally, Uber wants no driver to discriminate any rider based on race, caste, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or marital status.