Uber to charge extra if the driver has to travel a longer distance to reach the pick-up point

It seems that Uber has started the task of redeeming its image. The company has started the task by taking care of the ones who are directly responsible for the functioning of the operations, its cab drivers. As part of improving how the company functions, Uber announced that it will charge users extra if the driver has to travel a longer distance to reach the pick-up point. [caption id=“attachment_4075743” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Uber. Reuters.[/caption] Though available only in US and Canada for now, Uber aims to improve the earnings of its drivers with this move. The earnings have usually been a bone of contention for long. However, this will result in the passengers shelling out a few extra bucks to bear the increase in expense for the company. In a report by The Verge, Uber’s driver product manager Aaron Schildkrout has said that the drivers would earn in the case of long waiting time and longer pick-up distance. This will also include the standard fare of the trip. The application of extra charge would take place depending on the length of the pickup. However, the rates may vary from one city to another. According to Schildkrout, this would solve the problem for drivers who have pickups in the suburban areas and have to travel long distances to reach the passenger. Since the 180 Days of change is applicable only in the US and Canada, it is likely that changes will be brought in these places as of now. This can be problematic for those passengers who tend to cancel their rides minutes before a pickup which has a long expected time of arrival, who travel very long distance for the pickup, or those passengers who take longer than expected time to hop in the cabs. But this will protect the drivers who travel a long distance only to see that the customer has cancelled the ride minutes before they reach the pickup point after navigating their way through a considerable amount of distance. Recently, the cab-sharing app had introduced the in-app tipping feature in the UK. This came as a **response** to criticism from drivers. **Closer home** in India, Uber had said that it will roll out an insurance programme for over 4.5 lakh of its driver-partners in India in partnership with ICICI Lombard General Insurance. The ones applicable for this should be between 18-65 years of age. The company had introduced a similar offering in Indonesia and Myanmar for its drivers.