Put your wallet away. From Tuesday you'll be able to tip your Uber driver through the app… if you want to, that is.
Heavy tipping at every opportunity might be seen as more of an American custom, but if you fancy chucking your driver a little extra as a sign of gratitude, you'll be able to as part of a raft of new features the ride-hailing service is introducing in the UK.
One of these features that is great for drivers, but maybe not so good for passengers, is that you'll now be charged for keeping your ride waiting. The first 2 minutes will be free, giving you time to grab your bag and lock your front door, but any more than that and you'll pay 20p per minute that your driver has to wait.
This will kick in from 22 August, from which date you'll also have less time to cancel a ride once you've requested one. The current grace period of 5 minutes will be reduced to 2 so that drivers don't waste as much time and fuel heading towards passengers who change their minds.
"While drivers have told us they love the freedom of being their own boss, we've also clearly heard that we need to make improvements," said Jo Bertram, general manager of Uber in the UK.
Other features including a fairer rating system, more control over which trip requests are seen and rejected, as well as destination matching for cars heading to a particular area of town have also been added to keep drivers happier.