The expert rider guide for taking your first Uber ride

With transport ordered directly from your smartphone and paid for automatically, Uber makes getting around your city as easy as tapping a button—literally. Whether you’re taking your first Uber ride or your hundredth, we’ve put together some Uber rider tips for first timers and veterans alike to make sure your ride experience, from request to drop-off, is as smooth as possible.

Enable location services

In order to request your ride, whether it’s your first time using Uber or not, you need to enable your location services on your device. Uber uses your device’s location services to make it easier to get a ride when you need one. Location data helps improve our services, including pickups, navigation, customer support, and more.

How do ETAs work?

Before your ride starts, your app will provide an ETA for when your driver should arrive at your pickup location. Please note that ETA times are estimates and not guaranteed. A variety of external factors like heavy traffic or road construction can impact travel time. If the ETA you see in-app is too high, return back after a few minutes to see if there is a change.

How does dynamic pricing work?

There are times when so many people are requesting rides that there aren’t enough cars on the road to help take them all. Bad weather, rush hour, and special events, for instance, may cause unusually large numbers of people to want to ride Uber all at the same time.

In these cases of very high demand, fares may increase to help ensure those who need a ride can get one. This system is called dynamic pricing, and it lets us continue to be a reliable choice.

Whenever there is a price surge, we let riders know in the app. Some riders will choose to pay, while some will choose to wait a few minutes to see if the rates go back down to normal.

How to use Uber to get a ride

If you need help on your first time using Uber, don’t worry—it’s not complicated. Here’s the simple step-by-step on how to use Uber for the first time:

Open and log into the Uber app on your device
Type your destination into the “Where to?” section
Select the type of vehicle you would like at the bottom of the screen
Tap “request” and then confirm the pickup location
Wait for your request to be accepted by a driver and check the estimated time of arrival
Just wait for your driver to arrive. You can check their location on the in-app map and you will be notified when they are close to the pickup location