A little explanation for the numbers:
Top part “$3.00 – $5.00“, this indicates how much the driver will make from this trip. The driver gets paid based on trip distance and time, the variation is due to trip time is based on estimation.
“Star 5.00” is the passenger's rating, 5/5.
“23 mins (17.7 mi) away” indicates the passenger you are picking up is 17.7 miles away with an estimated driving time of 23 minutes, driver does not get paid for pick distance or time.
“6 min (2.59 mi) trip” tells the driver the passenger is going 2.59 miles with an estimated driving time of 6 minutes. If the estimation is accurate, the driver gets paid 0.6 a mile and 0.2 per minute, so $0.6/mile x 2.59 miles + $0.2/min x 6 mins = $2.75, plus a $0.55 gas reimbursement (this is fixed per ride no matter distance) to a total of $3.3.
A driver has to drive 20+ miles for this trip mostly on surface street, which will cost more than one gallon of gas which is $5.20 currently in LA county. If the driver takes this trip, he loses $1.9 just on gas, not counting vehicle depreciation and maintenance etc.
Depending on time of the day and how many drivers are around, Uber charges the passenger anywhere from $9 – $30 for this ride.
Yes, the driver can certainly decline this ride. But after he declines a certain percentage of rides, Uber takes away the driver's “privilege” to see trip distance and earning estimations, only showing the driver where to pick up the next passenger and passenger's rating, essentially leaving the driver (who is classified as a contractor) blind.
Absolutely criminal if you ask me.
Edit:
Could anyone tell me how to edit the picture so it shows up in the sub without clicking the title?