Uber in Australia and New Zealand will start banning riders with low ratings

Starting September 19, Uber users in Australia and New Zealand will need to stay above a minimum star rating or face account deactivation.

Uber has been trying to clean up its act after a rough year, and now they want their riders to do the same, passing new guidelines in Australia and New Zealand that will force riders to stay above a four star rating or face losing access to the app entirely.

In a blog post from Uber Australia and New Zealand, the ride service said the new rules, which will come in to effect on September 19, aim to protect drivers and promote mutual respect during the entire taxi experience.

"Treat people as you would like to be treated yourself. It's a universal truth - and something that's important here at Uber," they wrote.

"This is important because when driver-partners use Uber they do more than simply drive: they're sharing their own car, their space, their time and a slice of who they are with passengers."

The company goes on to say that the new community guidelines set basic standards for conduct and that anyone who falls under a certain minimum rating will receive multiple warnings before being kicked off the app.

Susan Anderson, Uber's regional general manager for Australia and New Zealand, told the Sydney Morning Herald that minimum ratings varied by country and region but that across Australia, it would be four stars.

She reminded readers that nine out of ten Australians on Uber have a 4.5 rating or higher and that multiple warnings or tips will be sent to a user before they are removed.

"To get to a number as low as four there really needs to have been multiple instances of one star ratings, and complaints from a number of different drivers. But there are a small proportion of riders who aren't behaving in the right way, and we have no place for that on our platform," she told the newspaper.

She added that drivers had complained about a number of bad passenger behaviors, including riders sexually harassing and stalking drivers after a trip, abusive language, door slamming, lack of greetings or courtesy, and riders waiting in the wrong place or in unsafe areas. Riders had also been accused of breaking laws during rides and asking drivers to speed or commit crimes with them.

The issue of Uber driver treatment has gained prominence in the US as the app's popularity has grown. Most recently, star NFL quarterback Jameis Winston was suspended and forced to apologize after he grabbed a female driver's crotch n 2016.

Uber drivers who fall under a certain number of stars can be fired from the service, so the rule has long been in place for them. Despite the guidelines, Uber still has a notoriously difficult time screening its drivers and continues to face criticism over its background check practices.

Before the new rules were passed, riders could only be denied by drivers for extremely low ratings but would not be removed.

"Australia/NZ is the second country globally to roll this out, and we think it's an important update to help ensure every Uber journey is enjoyable and comfortable for both riders and driver-partners," Uber told Mashable in an email.

As long as users keep clean, stay kind and respect drivers, Anderson said they wouldn't have to worry about the new rules.

"We all know of driver-partners who go above and beyond to create a five-star experience for their riders: from helping an elderly person get into and out of the car, to offering water for the trip or making sure that riders get home safely while listening to some fun tunes after a night out," they wrote in their release.

"Everyone can enjoy a five-star ride when people respect each other's differences and treat their travelling companions the way they'd like to be treated themselves."

*this article was featured on Download.com on September 5, 2018: https://download.cnet.com/blog/download-blog/uber-in-australia-and-new-zealand-will-start-banning-riders-with-low-ratings/

Uber competitor Ola launches in UK as ridesharing competition heats up →

Despite some of the same financial backers, Ola and Uber will now be competing for the same prize: ride-hailing app supremacy in London.

Indian ride-hailing app Ola recently announced plans to launch its services in the UK, taking its battle with Uber to British shores.

Ola is now looking for drivers in Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan, Newport and many more towns throughout South Wales and Greater Manchester. In a statement, its said they plan to expand nationwide by the end of the year.

To lure drivers to its side, the company claimed it will serve both private cabs and black taxis, taking 10 percent of each private fare and five percent of every black taxi fare. Both of these figures are less than what Uber currently takes from drivers.

The company, founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, is dominating the Indian ride-hailing market, serving an estimated 125 million customers across 110 cities in India. It expanded to Australia in February and now have 40,000 drivers on the road in seven Australian cities. Despite its success, Ola is one of many ride-sharing and ride-hailing apps seeking to dominate a variety of markets across the world.

Ola is hoping to enter the UK market on good terms with every side, cajoling strict British regulators with offers to meet their every need and assuaging established taxi drivers with a plan to allow both private cars and traditional black cabs to use its app. The company said it wants to provide 24-7 voice support, an Ola app emergency feature, and stringent screening for drivers.

"Ola is excited to announce its plans for the UK, one of the world's most evolved transportation markets," said Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal.

"The UK is a fantastic place to do business and we look forward to providing a responsible, compelling, new service that can help the country meet its ever demanding mobility needs."

While not explicit, Ola's focus on compliance with regulators is seen as a subtle jab at Uber, which is currently in the middle of a vicious court battle with London over how its business operates and treats drivers. It recently won a court appeal, allowing it to operate in London for about 15 months. Uber has been in the country for years and now has 48,000 drivers serving millions of people each month. But Uber is also particularly despised by drivers of black cabs, who have to spend years securing a license before they can legally operate.

Ola's announcement comes on the heels of meetings held between Aggarwal and London's Director of Transport Innovation Michael Hurwitz last year. The London market is already crowded with apps despite pressure from politicians and courts to treat them as employers instead of just service-based apps. A number of apps rivaling Uber have had discussions with the city about gaining licenses to operate in the city.

Despite pledges for reform, drivers in India have protested against both companies, saying their practices are abusive and often arbitrary. In March, drivers in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and other towns protested against Uber and Ola, saying the wages they made were impossible to live on and that both companies were often assigning random "fees" that cut into driver profit.

The move to the UK opens up another front in the battle between Uber and Ola despite sharing a major investor. According to Business Insider, Japanese tech company Softbank has invested heavily in both companies, promising Ola $2 billion last October and securing a 20 percent stake in Uber earlier this year.

There were even rumors that Uber and Ola would eventually join forces in India, as both apps were suffering losses in the fight against each other. Uber recently pulled out of Southeast Asia entirely, handing its business, along with Uber Eats, over to Singaporean ride-hailing app Grab before taking a 27.5 percent stake in the company and having its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, join the company's board.

Analysts expected Uber to continue pulling out of markets and securing partnerships with locally dominant ride-hailing apps, but Ola's decision to enter the UK market kicks off a new round of the fighting between the two.

Aggarwal told a conference last month that Ola, which is now valued at around $7 billion, would go public in the next three to four years, and today it secured a $225 million stake purchase by Singaporean bank Temasek.

"The ambition for both me and [fellow co-founder] Ankiti [Bhati] has always been to build a sustainable, long-term independent institution," Aggarwal said.

"In that direction, we are definitely going to IPO. Our goal is to aim for an IPO in about three to four years. We are on that path, our focus on building a sustainable business model [and] a profitable business builds into that ambition."

*this article was featured on Download.com on August 8, 2018: https://download.cnet.com/blog/download-blog/uber-competitor-ola-launches-in-uk-as-ridesharing-competition-heats-up/