It is currently only available to users of its luxury Uber Black services, costing the passenger extra.
Leave it to venture capital to try to make profits off people wanting their driver to shut up.
Uber has been rising their prices enough that now they are nearly at price parity with taxi cabs which, at least around where I live, are notorious for price gouging. At this point there is little reason pick Uber or Lyft.
Currently passengers can use the app to rate conversational skills, so a driver wishing to increase his score may deliberately try to make small talk.
That sounds bloody awful.
If cabs were willing to give me accurate estimates on cost of trip I would use them way more. Sitting in the cab watching the meter tick up stresses me out
our local taxi can tell you flat rates on the phone and uses this american taxi dispatch app that I think is not just local.
Check if any of your local cab companies has a trip calculator. A few of the ones near me do and they are quite handy for doing price comparisons with Uber/Lyft.
Uber has been rising their prices enough that now they are nearly at price parity with taxi cabs
Uber has long exceeded taxis everywhere I live. In Vegas we got a “party van” for less than half the price of an expedition.
Weird. I’ve always gotten that as a selection even when selecting a normal Uber. Is this like a double plus silent thing?
My mom is a hairdresser and their booking app has option for silent service as well.
thats super sad…I dont have a problem with someone not wanting chit chat but isnt better to just say “hey, today I am not in much mood to talk” or to show it and to make it happen without explicitly selecting it in an app…
its just very black mirror esque
I would imagine the type of person who wants to avoid chit chat during a transaction is often the same type of person who would feel anxious about seeming rude if they outright said “I’m not in the mood for chit chat, please don’t talk to me.”
Being that exact type of person, this option seems like a godsend to me, and no more “black mirror-esque” than selecting “leave at the door” when ordering food delivery.
I need to get my hair done but I’m too anxious to be confrontational in almost any way so I usually have to awkwardly nod and agree during the appointment because I’m also too anxious for conversation. Being able to make that choice without having to feel like I’m an asshole would help.
Nah I get it. Hairdressers (in my personal experience at least) have always seemed weirdly offended when I said I have said something similar.
That’s usually how it goes for me. I greet them, they confirm where I’m going, and then complete silence as it should be. I love it.
Gee, it’s almost like they deliberately set their prices too low at the start to bankrupt the competition, then they jack up the prices. Tale as old as time.
There’s a version with talking drivers?!
Greetings from Finland.Wait, there are people who don’t like silent drives?
To be honest, I’m never sure why the driver wants to talk so much. I guess if they were a passenger, maybe they don’t want silent drives either.
My guess is that when Uber first launched, that’s how drivers differentiated themselves and got good ratings/tips for being seen as more “friendly”.
I’ve not used Uber much but in Taxis the taxi driver doesn’t talk to you as long as you don’t start the conversation, or perhaps it’s just me being and looking like foreigner everywhere I go.
so there could be an option “select a texan taxi driver” irrespective of where you are in the world
Fuck Uber. Use local taxis.
Local taxis need to step up their game.
You need to go 4 miles? That’ll be $38. Rush hour traffic fee an extra $1.50 per minute. Oops, I turned down a road with construction and just one lane; too bad the wet tarmac on either side traps you in here. Your total is $68.30. Cash only. ATM stops an extra $25 for up to a sixty-second stop, then $5 each 30 second wait.
(there’s a reason why nobody uses taxis anymore)
It’s okay if you prefer summoning a ride from your phone, you don’t have to make up strawman arguments against it, lol. Don’t pretend like Uber/Lyft doesn’t have Surge and airport pricing! And “cash only”!? I was paying via card literally 20 years ago…
But with Uber and Lyft, you’re given a price upfront. I’ve read horror stories about shady taxi drivers with all of those examples and tricks.
Can i select “only talk to me if you have interesting things to say”?
I’ve had some enjoyable convos with drivers, but I’ve also been stuck in conversations about the weather or other banal topics.
I don’t know what kind of vibe I’m giving off, but I always seem to get the “Deepstate, amiright?!” drivers. Okay, that’s a lie… I do know my vibe… I live in a Texas suburb and I’m a cishet white guy who wears cargo shorts and dadcaps and likes sports.
I hate it, but still, this person is taking me somewhere I need to be so I want to be nice, but I can’t quite bring myself to pretend to agree. Unfortunately, a polite “Oh, I’m not sure I’m sold on that” just gets them helpfully trying to probe, “so why would Kamala do a pizzagate if she weren’t a lizard person?”
Fuck me, I need some tattoos.
Maybe you can try a slightly firmer disagreement statement immediately followed by a change of topic before he can respond. Like driver: “Deepstate, amiright?!” You: “Nah, that’s not the reality of the situation, but on the other hand deep dish pizza is something i can really get behind. Do you like deep dish pizza?”
Just need to spice up the conversation.
Me: “so what is your stance: knotted canine cocks, or barbed felines? Because for me I love a big bulbous knot, but a big kitty that knows how to work it can make me leave claw marks on the bed frame”
Driver: accelerating at full-throttle to make this trip end as fast as possible
Me: “but the sweet spot is hybrids, I mean why settle for one when you can have both, y’know?”
Driver: bails out of the car
Me: “hehehe, works every time”
Id love that, but… Define
interestingso that this option fits for everyone. Because, yes - talking about the weather is usually just filler content, talking about local sports and their performance clubs may be somewhere in the range of a enjoyable engaged conversation to uninteresting filler content.yap…thats the thing…you never know…the interesting conversations can only happen only when we are open and ready to accept also the banal ones :)
Headphones, or tell your driver you’re not in the mood to talk. There, I just saved you money vs paying for Uber’s “Premium” features…
Funny. Caught an episode of martial law where samo drives a guys taxi and one of the things he encounters is people expecting him to talk when he was not and then he tries talking regularly and people not wanting him to. Seems like its good all around for it to be determined ahead of time. Personally im the type that can go either way unless im like traveling for work or something else and need to concentrate on something while traveling.
Removed by mod
“honey some random just got into the backseat and wants to go to the sports bar”
“just don’t acknowledge his presence and he will get out at the nearest stop”
Removed by mod
So defensive over a joke. Calm down a bit, mmkay? I can see you’re about to pop a blood vessel from all the way over here…
Removed by mod
