In brief: Interestingly enough, male riders tipped 19 percent more often than females and tips were 23 percent higher. Furthermore, female drivers - especially younger drivers - earned more than their male counterparts. Other metrics, like the age of a vehicle, didn't seem to have much impact on tipping trends.
Research from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests tipping behavior among Uber riders may have more to do with the individual than the quality of the service offered.
For the study, researchers looked at 40 million UberX rides conducted during a four week period in the summer of 2017. What they found is that most people simply don't tip - only 16 percent of drivers were tipped and just one percent of riders tipped on every trip.
A full 60 percent of riders never tipped at all, researchers discovered. What's more, the frequency of tipping declined as people took more rides. In the first 15 trips, riders tipped nearly 25 percent of the time but by the 275th trip, that figure dropped to less than 10 percent.
Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that when a rider was matched with a driver for the second time, tipping increased by 27 percent. This suggests that a level of social connection can take place simply by interacting with someone more than once.
What sort of tipper are you? Do you always make a habit of tipping or do you base it on the quality of service / a percentage of your bill? Let us know in the comments section below.
Masthead credit: Taxi driver by Snapic_PhotoProduction