The town is infamous for low ratings and bad behavior, said Mike Moriarty, a driver from Indianapolis. While he usually only goes to Bloomington to take students back to school from the airport, he said he’s heard countless stories from fellow Uber drivers — college students stealing rides from other users, giving low ratings for no reason and being altogether drunk and rambunctious.
“That’s the kind of shenanigans that seem to happen in Bloomington,” he said. “If this keeps up, drivers just won’t go down there.”
The main concern, Moriarty said, is the rating. After each ride, both driver and passenger are prompted to rate each other out of five stars. Moriarty said any driver whose rating slips below 4.7 can be deactivated, essentially losing his or her job. He said he has a 4.85 rating.
A trip to Bloomington could potentially drop your ratings drastically, he said, because some will give “a perfectly good driver” a low rating just because. Moriarty said a girl told him she only gives four stars unless the service is “exceptional.” Even that rating can hurt a driver’s average, he said.
“We as drivers, unless you’re puking in the car or being rude, you get five stars,” he said.
Consistently low ratings for passengers can also result in them being barred from using the app.
Moriarty said he’s read many of these complaints and stories via a closed Uber group on Facebook. He usually checks it while waiting to pick up riders at the airport in Indianapolis.
Despite these complaints, there is no reported shortage of drivers in Bloomington. Working for Uber is the “perfect” job for a college student, said IU senior Jacob Barton, who has been driving for about six months. He can choose his own hours, drive his own car and make decent money working part-time. He sits at about a 4.8-star average — emails inform him of his average ratings each week — and he said he’s never dropped low enough to lose his job.
“I worry about it,” he said. “I would like it to stay up. It hasn’t become an issue, really.”
Sophie Babcock, an IU senior who uses Uber consistently for rides, said she always gives her drivers five stars. The ratings affect them more than passengers, she said.
“I don’t think any riders take their own ratings that seriously,” she said. “I think it’s weird for Uber to have such high standards (for drivers) ... An A is an A, a B is a B. If they get a B, who cares? They’re still going to pass.”
Babcock said she doubted any riders would give four-star ratings maliciously — maybe they thought their driver was awkward or not friendly enough, or there was confusion during a pickup. Maybe, the rider was just too drunk to realize they gave their driver a low rating.
Most students don’t seem to know the ratings can negatively affect drivers, Babcock said. She certainly didn’t until a driver struck up a conversation about it during a ride. Now, she’s extra conscious about giving the best rating she can, she said.
“You shouldn’t be rating someone lower than a five if you didn’t have any trouble,” she said.
Meanwhile, Moriarty is sticking to his regular schedule in the Indianapolis area — he works daytime shifts about six days a week driving professionals from the airport to hotels and back again.
“I don’t do the drunk shifts,” he said.
