How to tip on Uber or Lyft

With the rapid rollout of a tipping option on Uber’s app this month making it quick and easy to offer a gratuity, riders will now have to decide if they will use it – and if so, how much will they tip?

Uber introduced the long-awaited (by drivers, anyway) tipping option on its app in three cities last month, and as of this week, it’s available in a total of 100 urban areas in the U.S. and Canada. (Chris used it for the first time today in San Francisco.) Uber has pledged that app-based tipping will be available for all its U.S. drivers by the end of July. (Competitor Lyft has had app-based tipping for quite some time.)

Something else is changing at Uber this month as well – instead of giving the passenger five minutes to show for a pick-up, that window is being cut to two minutes – after which a fee will apply.

The thing is, many Uber riders may have adopted the mindset that Uber rides are tipless. It was only last year that Uber decided that tipping would be allowed, but it was not added to the app back then, so drivers had the awkward option of soliciting tips with a sign in the car or by telling riders they could offer a gratuity.

So now that riders can tip the driver quickly and easily with a tap, they have to decide first if they will indeed do so, and then how much to tip.

Once you rate your Uber driver, the updated Uber app gives you pre-set tipping options of $1, @2 or $5; or you can tap “Enter Custom Amount” and put in a different number.

So how do you decide on an amount? Consider some of the same things you would when rating the driver – condition of the car, personal courtesy, professionalism, and so on. As Chris advises in this story on AFAR.com:

So, for regular rides operating at standard rates, a tip of 10 to 20 percent is probably equitable. Some riders might want to reduce that percentage if the the service is running on surge pricing, since drivers make more on those rides.

But essentially, tipping an Uber or Lyft driver is just like any other tipping situation – it’s a reward for good service. Right? Are you more inclined to tip your driver now that it’s easier? Please leave your comments below. 

This article in The Verge lists all the cities where Uber’s app tipping is now available.

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