Yes, it's very telling that Lyft offers a suboptimal experience.
I refuse to carry cash. If I were to take Uber, I'd have drivers one-starring me and giving me a bad reputation for not tipping them. With Lyft, I can tip in the app and avoid all that mess.
> So we compiled a list of seven things you might be doing to annoy your Uber driver and destroy your rating. Avoid these behaviors to ensure a smooth ride for both you and your driver.
> 2. You don't tip.
From one of the biggest Uber driver blogs: http://therideshareguy.com/should-uber-passengers-tip-their-...
> I often see drivers referring to passengers that don’t tip as ‘cheap bastards’ or ‘pieces of shit’
> As a driver, if tips really are important to you, then you need to educate your passengers about how Uber used to pay a better wage and drivers were ok with not accepting tips and now that rates are lower, more and more drivers depend on tips to make a live-able wage.
The vast majority of Uber riders do not tip. [1] There's not an expectation that you do (even the driver blog you cited admits that). I don't really know why you're trying to create this perception that it's expected, but it certainly isn't.
[1] http://www.cnet.com/news/to-tip-or-not-to-tip-drivers-that-i...
It was because the guy let me bring my dog (in her large cage) in his van which was definitely a bit beyond normal.
For the record, my rating was around 4.5 last time I checked so it doesn't seem like drivers are penalizing me for not tipping.
Not having to do the mental/social gymnastics of tipping is a big feature of the Uber experience for me.
If you were a driver, a rating of 4.5 could get you kicked off the platform. So, yes, drivers are rating you poorly.
Except I'm not a driver. 4.5 is, in any realistic rating system, perfectly fine.
Also, why do I care if you think I'm being rated poorly? It's not like it affects my experience in any way.