Uber riders in Australia and New Zealand to be banned for low rating

Stephen
Lam/Reuters

• Uber announced it would ban passengers from the app in
  Australia and New Zealand or six months if their ratings fall
  below four stars. The highest rating is five stars.
• The company anticipates that its decision will effect
  fewer than 10% of its 2.8 million users in the two
  countries. 
• The change is set to begin September 19.

Uber riders in Australia and New Zealand whose rating on the app
falls below four stars could be banned from the ride-hailing app
for six months, the company announced this week. Uber drivers
rate their passengers after a ride a is complete. The highest
possible score is five stars.

The change is meant to help improve passenger behavior, Susan
Anderson, general director of Uber in Australia and New Zealand

told news outlets. Anderson said examples of bad behavior
include passengers not arriving at their pick-up spots on-time
and choosing pick-up locations in unsafe areas.

Uber riders would typically have a rating under 4 stars if they
had received multiple one-star reviews from drivers, said
Anderson.

“These are the small percentage of riders who are persistently
not treating drivers with respect,” Anderson told the Australian
news outlet, Channel Seven.

Another Uber spokesperson told BBC
News that the company didn’t anticipate many of its riders
would be banned and that there were only “a few thousand”
passengers in Australia and New Zealand who have a sub-four-star
rating. More than 90% of passengers in the two countries had
ratings over 4.5 stars, the company said.

There are roughly 2.8 million Uber users combined in the two
countries.

The change is set to begin September 19, but Uber says passengers
at risk will be issued several warnings to improve their ratings
before getting kicked off the app.

Uber did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request
for comment.

In a blog
post on its Australian website, Uber listed some of the
characteristics that might help passengers get a better rating.
Most of these recommendations involve simple acts of common
decency.

“Drivers tell us that what they look for in riders is mutual
respect and for people to treat them with courtesy,” said
Anderson. “So say hello, say goodbye. You don’t always need to be
chatty, but be respectful.”

The policy of removing poorly rated passengers from the app is
not new to Uber. It implemented the same
guidelines in Brazil earlier this year.