A new survey from Uber puts Boston passengers’ behavior in rideshares among the worst in the country. Local drivers aren't surprised.
Boston ranks as the fourth-worst city in the United States for bad behavior by riders, calculated by the lowest average rider ratings. It falls below just New York, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
D. Beth Griffith is the executive director of the Boston Independent Drivers Guild, and a seven-year driver for Uber. She’s rated passengers poorly for sexual harassment, rudeness and insensitivity, and wasn’t shocked by the survey results.
“Bostonians are just really entitled, and I feel that some of the riders — some of the passengers — look at us like we, like I said, like we’re second-class citizens,” she told GBH News.
From unruly students, slammed doors and mask refusers, drivers deal with it all.
Griffith remembers several incidents where riders were condescending, like when she was driving a group of college students who couldn’t remember the name of a white cream sauce, so she told them it was béchamel sauce.
“They were like, “Oh my gosh, how does our Uber driver know that?”’ she said.
She also deals with sexual harassment and generally skeevy male passengers.
She recalled one who got in her car on Lansdowne Street and asked her, “What happens if someone just comes up behind you when you’re driving and starts choking you?” She was on the highway at this point, but kept staring at him in her rearview mirror.
“Yeah, I gave that guy a one-star rating,” she said.
Steve Levine, who has also been a ride-share contractor for seven years, recalled a particularly rude group of women who ate a box of chicken during their ride.
“They decided to take the containers and the chicken bones, decide to stuff them underneath my seat,” he said in a phone interview.
A lot of the riders don’t tip. Levine estimates that less than 10 percent of his passengers ever do, calling them “cheap.”
“They ask for a couple extra stops and say ‘We’ll give you an extra big tip at the end of the ride’ and they never do!” he said.
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Drivers have to rate a passenger to move onto the next ride, and the Uber app doesn’t offer a clear way to change passengers’ ratings. But Lyft, Levine noted, gives drivers 24 hours to change it.
Griffith said she knows of a driver who was tipped a penny on the app for no reason. “Like, who does that?” she told GBH News.
Feeling some guilt as a rider? Check out if that’s warranted. Uber announced a new feature in February that allows riders to see their ratings. Passengers’ ratings, like drivers’, rank from one to five stars. The Boston Independent Driver’s Guild and Uber both say these are based off of treatment of the driver, cleanliness, punctuality to the car and safety.
Uber didn’t reply to requests for comment, but recently published a blogpost with tips for riders to improve their ratings. Those include removing trash and belongings from the car when you leave, being outside when the driver arrives and not slamming doors.
In some other larger cities, passengers are getting higher marks. San Antonio, St. Louis and Nashville have the top highest average rider ratings among large cities.
Griffith tries to make her passengers happy, and makes an effort to help in ways she’s not required to like putting luggage in the car, or helping the elderly. Once in a while, she’ll get a tip on the app for that. “Most people are grateful then,” she said.
