[bertil]

I don’t think Uber is trying to do this to pay for check: they are asking its users to contribute to safety. It's a branding move — confusing as many have pointed out, but fairly clear when you consider psychology/behavioural economics.

The amount is minimal, and the motive too vaguely in the right direction not to be agreed with. You can’t even not select the option. The idea is the same as adding a ‘green’/ecoLabel sticker on a product: posturing. But, rather than just ask people to agree with it, they ask them to make a financial effort, albeit minimal, to empathise with it, to adhere to the direction the company is aiming at.

How can that ride not be safe? I paid for it to be!

It makes a ton of sense when you consider how safety is perceived: it's rarely actually violent event — just non-descript feeling. “That driver was creepy.” Anyone who worked in dating website for instance had to measure how pervasive that issue is, especially among women.

To me, it sounds a lot like paying to get pink cabs — and those wouldn’t feel nearly as ‘safe’ if there weren’t more commitment than a paint job: the drivers of those cab have to display mace, an interest in self-defense.

[tomkarlo]

The amount really isn't minimal when you consider it's a 8-12% surcharge on the typical UberX fare. Weren't they just doing a bunch of marketing about how they reduced their UberX fares 10% in SF?

[bertil]

That’s why they are not showing is as a part of a ride, but as an amount, making it something under a psychological limit (usually theorised as ‘a coffee’), like micro-payments.

[tomkarlo]

Yeah, but it's still added into the charge, right? I don't really worry about the components of my cab fare (including the tip), just the total.

[uptown]

Except all it takes is one bad incident with some negative publicity to spoil the perception that adding this fee ensures you'll be safe. People will ask - why were we paying this when it didn't seem to prevent "X" from happening.

[bertil]

Having Police patrol car around doesn’t prevent crime — but seeing them helps feel safe. Have a public message thanking tax payers for financing the cars for increased patrol also increase support for police in general.

I'm not saying it will work, either. I'm just saying Uber never split costs between User Support and DevOps — they have no reason to sort one service appart unless they was a reason to display that one in particular.