I asked my Uber driver about my passenger rating — the average of the 1-to-5-star grade passengers receive from drivers after every ride, which is shown to drivers before they agree to take a hail.

“You’re a 4.8,” he replied. “I usually don’t pick people up if they’re a 4 or less.”

…

One Uber driver told me that although Uber doesn’t normally take action against users with low ratings (though drivers can punish them simply by refusing to pick them up), a driver who rates a passenger lower than a 3 out of 5 stars will effectively trigger a “block” function that keeps that rider from appearing on the driver’s app in the future.