Ride-share companies have top of mind this week as they consider how to classify employees and keep customers safe. Here are a few Do’s and Don’t from an Uber Driver identified as Uber J.

I can’t wait for another school year at SMU to begin. I’m actually excited about it. Pretty soon, this campus will be buzzing with thousands of students and faculty. The dorms fill up, students get ready to rush fraternities and the bars in Uptown, Knox-Henderson and McKinney avenue get ready for the onslaught of young and metabolically blessed Mustangs. I’m not a student, though. Not a teacher. Not a bar owner. I’m a ride-share driver.

Students at SMU make up a good percentage of my rides during the school year. I have driven them home drunk and sober. I’ve driven home ladies after break ups and men after they were shot down. I’ve heard guys talk about their conquests and girls admit to threesomes. I’ve had students puke, pass out and sometimes cry uncontrollably in my car. I’ve been offered pizza, beer and weed by SMU students. Of course I declined (all three, the pizza ,beer and weed). I get to see you in a light that you wouldn’t want your parents, teachers and sometimes even your friends to see you, but I do want you to have a great ride-share experience. With that in mind, I hope you will take these suggestions to heart and I look forward to having you in my vehicle.

Here are some Do’s and Don’ts for a great ride-share experience.

DO:

1. Do… make sure you get into the correct vehicle.

A lot of horror stories start off with, “They got into the wrong car….”

2. Do… get your driver’s attention before entering the vehicle. This is especially important at night and even more so if/when you try to get into the wrong car. Seriously, some people aren’t too happy when drunk folks just start opening their car doors. Keep yourself safe!

3. Do… compensate your driver for doing extras for you. Wanna go through Cane’s drive-thru at 1am after the bar? Tip. Wanna stop at the gas station for God knows what? Tip. So drunk you need a bag to puke into? Tip (if they give you a bag).

NOTE: See Don’t #4 below.

4. Do… ride home with your drunk friend. Driver’s aren’t babysitters for your lightweight friend who can’t hold his/her liquor. Get them home and keep an eye on them. Alcohol poisoning is no joke.

5. Do… allow your driver to stop in a safe place to pick you up. This is for your safety as well as ours. Don’t expect them to stop in the middle of a busy street. I picked up one passenger at Velvet Taco and she stood in the entrance to the parking lot. I almost ran her over to avoid getting rear-ended. I didn’t, but you get the point.

DON’T:

1. Don’t… keep your driver waiting. Making your driver wait forever for you to show isn’t the best way to start out a ride, plus it can cost you money if you wait too long. Just be ready when you order the ride.

2. Don’t… get in with open containers of alcohol. Open container= $500 fine (Texas Penal code 49.031). This includes wine and liquor with broken seals. Best advice, finish your open beers and put any alcohol in the trunk. Just don’t forget it.

3. Don’t… cram too many people in the vehicle. UberX is 4 people, UberXL is 6. Putting 5-6 people in an UberX or 7 or more in an UberXL is against Uber/Lyft policies, your rideshare user agreement and possibly illegal. Don’t be cheap, just order another one. Cancelling an UberXL at the last minute is gonna run you about $6-7 anyway, even if the driver cancels because you have too many riders.

4. Don’t… promise to tip on the app. You won’t. We already know that. When a rider says “I’ll take care of you on the app” it really means “I’m just saying this to get you to do what I want”. You are not fooling us. People that talk a lot about tipping, don’t. They just like to talk about it.

5. Don’t…vape in the car. I appreciate you helping to make my vehicle smell nicer but, really, put it away. You all know that person (maybe it’s you) who just can’t seem to wait 10 minutes to get home from Chelsea’s Corner before puffing on their cotton-candy-fuzzy-mint-swirl vape device. C’mon, just wait please.

6. Don’t… assume that your driver is gonna put up with your antics. If you are one of those people who do any/all of the things on this Don’t list, or don’t do any of the things on the Do list, then don’t be surprised when you driver refuses your ride or tells you to get out halfway there. Your 5-star rating isn’t really that big of a deal.

Uber J

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