Sage advice, for sure. You’ve also touched on something really important about the ratings system and the purpose it serves. Unfortunately, I can’t say I’m filled with confidence by the idea of star-ratings as a safeguard for passengers in Alisha Ramos’s situation.

The innate problem with these sorts of systems is that the number doesn’t really tell you much.

Suppose that Driver A has mostly good-to-great feedback but a handful of 1 star ratings from trips where he has made inappropriate comments about a passenger’s appearance/home address/work address, etc. For the sake of argument let’s say he has 100 reviews, of which 55 are 4-star ratings, 40 are 5-star ratings, and 5 are 1-star ratings. That gives him an average rating of 4.25.

Driver B also has an average rating of 4.25, but his is made up of 75 4-star ratings and 25 5-star ratings. Same rating as Driver A, yet I’d certainly prefer to take a ride with the reliable, if unremarkable, Driver B.

I suppose what I’m getting at is that while the rating system is useful and indeed crucial to Uber, it doesn’t seem capable of protecting passengers in these kinds of situations. And these are situations which seem to be occurring increasingly often, judging from the things I’m reading online and the stories I’m hearing from friends.

Sadly, though, I’m not sure of a better alternative. I’d be keen to hear your thoughts (or anybody else’s!), especially given your experience as a driver. Uber’s fantastic in many ways, but passenger wellbeing shouldn’t be sacrificed for the sake of convenience.