Changes to Payments

The biggest change for Uber riders in the coming weeks will be the ability to add a tip through the app. At the end of a trip, after you leave the driver a star rating, you can decide whether to leave a tip.

This change should be a win for both riders and drivers. In the past, by not including an in-app tipping feature, Uber did not signal to its customers that tipping was an option, leaving the possibility that drivers could give riders lower star ratings for refusing (or not knowing) to tip with cash.

The tipping button brings Uber in line with Lyft, Uber’s biggest rival, which has offered in-app tipping for years. Yet by making tipping purely optional — you could always exit the car and decide to never leave a tip, and the driver would not know — both ride-summoning apps break from the traditional experience of taking a taxi, in which drivers expect tips with cash or a credit card.

Also coming soon are some changes that should benefit drivers. Customers will have less time to cancel a ride before incurring a fee. In the past, riders had five minutes to cancel a ride penalty-free, but soon you will have only two minutes to cancel before Uber may decide to charge you $5 to $10. Lyft still lets riders cancel penalty-free for up to five minutes. By contrast, taxis cannot charge a cancellation fee because you are not on the hook to pay anything until you are in the car.

Uber will also start charging riders for making drivers wait. Upon the arrival of an Uber driver, if you take longer than two minutes to get in the car, you will have to pay for each minute that you are late. (Rates will vary by city, but in Chicago, for example, the per-minute rate for UberX is 20 cents a minute.)