“It’s a way to set up an expectation up front...it
takes some guess work out of the process,” said
Aydin Ghajar, senior product manager at Uber.
In the early days of ride-hailing, when drivers for
Uber and its main U.S. rival Lyft began picking
up riders in their personal cars, riders were often
chatty, asking the drivers lots of questions.
“It was so new and innovative that a lot of
people were curious about other things they
(drivers) did,” said Harry Campbell, founder
of The Rideshare Guy, a blog and online
community for drivers. “Over the years, it’s
gotten more transactional.”
Uber rolled out a “quiet mode” for Uber Black
— its premium car service — in May, which left
some drivers feeling like robots.
“Some drivers like it, they don’t want to have to
look at social cues,” Campbell said. “Other drivers
feel that it’s a little dehumanizing...I do feel like
in our society, everything is turning into an app,
and we’re losing the lost art of conversation.”
Comfort rides cost 20% to 40% more for time
and distance charges than standard Uber X rides.
The move could help Uber boost revenue, which
could nudge the company closer to profitability.
“I think it would help maybe to boost those
numbers up a little bit and maybe give some of
the analysts on Wall Street something more to
hang their hat on to remain bullish on the stock,
based on the fact that the company still is not
profitable,” said Daniel Morgan, vice president of
Synovus Trust Company.
Uber has yet to turn a profit and lost $1 billion in
the first quarter of 2019. Executives have said it
could take years to make money.