Connecting with your Uber driver at venues that have huge crowds (i.e. places that often have long public taxi queues) like major Airports, Cruise Terminals, Major Malls, and major Tourist Attractions… seems to be a big problem. Often the drivers are not even allowed to enter — only taxis and buses are allowed to enter… or there is too much traffic and/or huge of crowds, making it impossible to find each other… or they are not allowed to stop on that street at all.
(1) My Suggestion for Uber is: Uber should automatically designate, and suggest, a nearby alternate meeting place — one that is much less trafficked, where normal cars are allowed to go to, and where cars are allowed to stop and pick up passengers. Ideally, that location should be one that offers free wifi that is simple to access. The app should direct both the passenger and the driver to one specific designated alternate pickup location for each major venue. It should be one that can easily be walked to, even if dealing with large wheeled luggage.
(2) My Other Suggestion is: Uber should provide in-app chat feature for communicating with your assigned driver in real time… even when you don’t have a local SIM card (i.e. when you have access to a local free wifi service only).
(3) Finally, I would also like to see the ability to book a trip without any local SIM card or WiFi at all. I don’t know how that would work, but it would be awesome to come up with a solution for that. There are times when you’re in a foreign country for only a couple of days and you don’t have a local SIM card, and you don’t have wifi, but you need to use Uber. Maybe by calling a local telephone number, and telling a secret code to the operator, and telling the operator your exact location…. and the operator would be able to initiate a trip on my account. It might be easy to make a local call by borrowing someone’s telephone who has local service. The “secret code” could be tied to all trips initiated using that secret code…. on my account. The app could give me a secret code at any time — even without internet access. Or…. some other clever way to dispatch an Uber car when you have no wifi and no local SIM card.
Bruce Wagner 