So today I decided to get an Uber to work instead of the
tube in order to do some more research for our intervention. I chose Uber
because it was a chance to definitely talk to a driver and be alone with them.
As most people travel alone with their driver in an Uber or with a few other
people, surely more conversation would be engaged? Could TFL take tips from
Uber? Uber already tells the customer who the driver is when they book, they
are also told their rating and if you click on their profile you can see if
they are chatty or not. TFL does not do anything like this and most of us
probably don’t even know who our train or bus driver is! With this in mind, I
wanted to find out 3 main things from my driver:
1.
Do many customers engage in conversation with them?
2.
Do they want more customers to engage in
conversation with them?
3.
Could Uber as a company do more to encourage
sociability between driver and customer?
I was very lucky in the fact that my driver was happy to
answer my questions, however he didn’t want me to include any personal information (image at the top is not from my journey today),
which I will completely respect. Here is the mini interview:
Q.
On a daily basis, what percentage of your
customers would you say engage in a conversation with you?
A.
Probably around 40%. Some people only say their
name to check they’re in the right car whereas others will ask about my day and
other small talk.
Q. Do you want more customers to
speak to you or are you happy with the way it is now?
A. It would be nice if every
customer spoke a little as I love meeting new people and it’s what I like about
being an Uber driver, however I understand people are shy and I want them to be
comfortable in my car.
Q. Do you find the job in any way
isolating?
A. Sometimes it can be. If there’s
a large group in your car and they’re only talking amongst each other, I can
feel quite lonely and feel that people don’t appreciate me as a driver. In large
groups it can also be quite hard to initiate conversation as I fear they won’t
want to speak back to me.
Q. Do you think that Uber could
do anything to increase conversation between driver and customer?
A. Uber already displays our name
and whether we like to chat or not. They also display some facts about us like what languages we speak, where we're from and even some conversation starters. I’m not really sure what else they could
do. Its ultimately up to the customer on how much talking there is.
Q. You’ve spoken about some of
Ubers features, is there any you don’t like?
A. I don’t like the rating feature.
I think it reduces me down to a number and sometimes people judge you based on
it even if the rating isn’t fair.
Therefore, while Uber and TFL are different companies, with
Uber being more one on one travelling and TFL being hundreds of people on one
vehicle, TFL could take some tips. For example, telling commuters the name of
their driver at least, or making the driver feel less isolated by telling us
some facts about them. The TFL drivers probably get a lot of abuse for delays
and cancellations so it would be nice if they had a different kind of
recognition. However, while TFL could take some steps, it is ultimately up to
us as commuters to “Get to Know Our Driver” and make them feel acknowledged and
appreciated.
I think this is a really good start. I know its not TFL but Uber is something that is used by so many different people as their primary mode of transport so a good starting point. Uber is problematic but the it provides all the features that were mentioned: like the languages they speak and if they like to chat or not. This is something that can maybe be incorporated into the TFL. I like the fact that he wants to be spoken to more because they do feel isolated. It validates our efforts of wanting to increase the sociability of transport within London.
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