Uber drivers really wanted in-app tipping for a reason: $600 million made in first year
It's been a year since Uber drivers finally got something they really wanted: tips in its ride-hailing app.
In the year since tips were added, drivers have earned more than $600 million in gratuities on the Uber app. In the past three months tips have gone up 30 percent, to which Uber credits improvements such as pre-set tip amounts based on the ride (longer, pricier rides suggest higher tips) and mid-trip tipping options.
Two months in and tips were at $50 million. Then after six months drivers hit $200 million in tips.
In-app tipping was a long time coming, with drivers urging the company for years to give passengers a way to give something extra. Finally last June a few cities started rolling out tips and all cities joined in on the gratuity option by the end of July.
Lyft is always quick to point out it has included tipping since the start. Earlier this year Lyft -- the smaller competitor to Uber -- celebrated its own tipping milestone: $500 million in tips since the app launched in 2012. Yes, Uber has surpassed Lyft in tips in just one year.
After a year, Uber looked at its tipping data and found that the most popular tipping times are weekend nights and Thursday right after dinnertime. Riders are more likely to tip on the way to the airport and for night and weekend rides.
The biggest tippers in the U.S. hail from Salt Lake City, Utah; San Antonio, Texas, Kansas City, Missouri; New Orleans; and Nashville.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
