Part of what gives Uber an edge over taxis is that you can request an Uber while still in your apartment and know that it will be there when you finally change out of your pajamas, finish your Blades of Steel game, find your keys (ha, they were in my pocket all along!) and stumble out to the street. But in NYC (and select other regions), Uber will now start charging riders who keep a driver waiting longer than two minutes. So you better have your shit together and be on your way downstairs as soon as you lock in that ride, because Uber is now charging the per-minute rate for NYC after two minutes.

And if you decide to cancel on a driver, you now have two minutes to do so, instead of the previous five minutes. Cancel after 120 seconds have elapsed, and you'll be charged the $10 NYC cancellation fee.

.@uber reduces the amount of time before you can cancel without a penalty: From 5 min to 2 mins. REAX? pic.twitter.com/d8emKWUlDg — sree sreenivasan (@sree) April 26, 2016



"Drivers’ time is valuable," Uber said in a statement, "and while we expect riders to request a ride only once they’re ready, we know that waiting for a rider at their pickup location can be frustrating. In select cities we are running a small pilot so that drivers are compensated for their time even when riders are running a bit late or have a change of plans. When riders and drivers are respectful of each other’s time, the whole system runs more smoothly and the Uber experience improves for everyone."

Here's Uber's full explanation of the changes, which the company describes as "an experiment." It's going into effect this week in Dallas, New Jersey, New York, and Phoenix.

The changes are part of Uber's attempt to keep drivers happy (i.e. less miserable) and out of the arms of competitors. Uber recently settled a $100 million class action lawsuit with drivers in California and Massachusetts, ceding to their demands to request cash tips. (The settlement did not, however, resolve the lawsuit's essential argument over whether Uber drivers can be considered employees or should remain independent contractors.)

But will the tighter time restrictions drive Uber customers toward other apps like Lyft or encourage a drift back to the old fashioned livery services? Or do users in cities like New York get that time is money? Time will tell, but TechCruch does make a valid point that "senior citizens, the mobility impaired and parents trying to wrangle kids all might be a lot more likely to get left behind or charged. And if the driver leaves them, they’d have to wait for another Uber or other car service to send a new driver, which could make them late to their destination."