Uber now lets drivers withdraw their earnings anytime, see trip destination before accepting rides

Mobility technology company, Uber, has added a range of new features to its platform. The features, revealed at a media parley held in Lagos, include the Flex Pay feature that allows drivers to access their earnings anytime, instead of the usual weekly payments.

The features also include the ‘upfront destination’ feature which enables the drivers to see both the pickup and destination of a prospective passenger before accepting the trip. The feature also shows the drivers exactly how much they would earn on a trip before they accept.

Once a rider makes a request, the request goes to the driver on the platform where they would be able to see the pickup location as well as the drop-off location which is where the passenger is going. They will also see the time to pick up and the time to drop off. So all that is now provided to them immediately after the request comes into their phone, so now they basically make all the decisions upfront before even clicking accept on the trip.

Speaking about the new feature, the Country Manager of Uber Nigeria, Tope Akinwumi, said:

You would have realized that prior to February, when you book an Uber, the first thing the driver would ask you is; where are you going? Is it a card trip or a cash trip? We launched ‘Upfront Destination’ and now, the driver sees all of that information on their profile. If the driver is still asking you for that then that would be an anomaly. We are giving them all the information they need to decide whether this trip is beneficial to them and if it is one they want to go on. So if the driver accepts a trip, it is because they want to go there.”

Tope Akinwumi

He also pointed out that the company does not penalize drivers for not accepting requests, which he claimed is not something one finds with other platforms. Thus, the platform empowers drivers to make money as they go as such they only want drivers that want to go on a particular trip to accept and for them to reject without any penalty on our part.

Uber Flex Pay

Uber Nigeria also introduced the Flex Pay feature which enables drivers across the country to access their earnings more frequently through their mobile wallets. Rather than receiving their earnings once a week, drivers will now be able to opt in to receive their earnings every day, enabling them to meet their obligations in a more timely manner.

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Noting that another term that drivers use to describe this feature is ‘easy cash out’, Uber’s Head of Driver Operations in West Africa, Efunlola Hughes, explained that previously, the situation was that the drivers would get their payouts for the work that they have done during the course of the week on a weekly basis. But with the launch of Flex Pay now, drivers have access to the money that they have earned. In essence, the drivers can go into their app anytime they wish and request withdrawals out of the earnings that they have made.

“This is really important because as we all know, Nigeria is a cash-heavy market and a lot of things that we do can require the use of cash. And drivers having the ability to access that cash is important; they need to buy fuel on a daily basis, they need to eat as well etc. and so we thought it was very important that we give drivers access to this money in real-time as opposed to weekly. So basically a driver would request that cash out and within 10 minutes it would be credited to whatever bank or platform that they prefer to receive it in,” she said.

Speaking of the new features, Country Manager, Tope Akinwumi said that they are features that the drivers have been asking for for a while. He said they are also features which the company thought are important to drivers operating on the app and their livelihoods in general, as well as they are also important to the riders.

“Earners are at the heart of our business and we have a comprehensive approach to taking their feedback on board. This leads us to constantly innovate to develop solutions that enhance their experience while operating on the platform. We are therefore pleased to roll out these new features that will give drivers improved choice over the trips they opt to take daily on the platform,” he said.

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