Driving at Ottawa International Airport (YOW)

Pickups at the airport

It is easy to receive trip requests from riders leaving the airport. However, these trips work a little differently than other requests.

Waiting for requests

In order to receive a trip request, you need to enter the designated waiting area. You will then be placed in a virtual queue.

Based on the operating agreement with the airport, the waiting area is located in the ridesharing area off of Airport Parkway Private (see map below).

Some things to know about the waiting area:

• Proximity to the terminal does not create an advantage for drivers or move you closer to the top of the queue.
• If there are no drivers in the waiting area, trip requests will go to drivers in the area - based on proximity and other factors.
• You can lose your place in line if:
  • You go offline on your Uber driver app
  • You drive outside the waiting area

At the airport, all ride requests from the waiting area at YOW are available through Trip Radar.

Trip Radar

How it works:

• If you like a trip, tap to request a match: If you see a trip you like, tap to show interest, and find out quickly if it’s a match. You are always welcome to show interest in multiple trips, or in no trips at all.
• Your queue position still matters: Trips at airports are not matched to the first person who taps. Instead, you’ll continue to be prioritized for trip matches based on your spot in the queue.
• All requests in one place: You won’t need to look in multiple places to receive and match trips.

What this means for you:

• Faster matching: Before this change, many trips would cycle through multiple individual drivers before a driver chose to accept it. Now, with Trip Radar only, you can see more trips, you can select the ones you’re interested in, and the match will go to the driver closest to the front of the queue. Faster matching means less time waiting.
• Access requests anywhere in the line: You can receive requests no matter where you are in the queue. You won’t need to wait until you’re the first in the queue to start matching. When multiple drivers select a trip, the driver closest to the front of the queue will complete the match.
• Protecting your acceptance and cancellation rates:With Trip Radar only, your acceptance and cancellation rates* will not be affected when you only choose the trips you like.

*Drivers are generally free to accept or decline trip offers as they wish, so long as it is not fraudulent misuse or manipulation of the Uber platform. The Uber Pro loyalty status is dependent on cancellation rates; you can learn more here.

Picking up your rider

Once you accept a trip request, the pickup location at YOW is located in the outermost lane at Pillar 12 (see map below).