How do cash trips work on Uber?

At Uber, we believe that movement should be accessible to everyone. However, some riders still do not use the Uber app because they prefer using cash or don’t have a bank card. By allowing payments in cash, we can bring new riders to use the Uber app and create more earnings opportunities for you. You will be automatically opted in when the feature is launched in your city, so you must opt-out if you do not want to accept cash. You can change this setting in the ‘Preferences’ section of the Driver app at any time, as we want you to remain in control of how you work.

A cash trip will be very similar to all your other trips, with a couple of small changes in several steps of the trip. This includes what you will see when you receive the cash trip offer, how you collect cash at the end of the trip, and what you will see on the trip receipt and your Uber account balance.

When cash as a payment method launches in your city, you will be automatically opted in, so you must opt-out if you do not want to accept cash. You can opt out in a few simple steps in the ‘Preferences’ section of the Driver app at any time, as we want you to remain in control of how you work.

You can always decide to turn it off and back on later.

If you stay opted in, you will be able to receive offers for cash trips. You’ll see ‘Cash payment’ on the trip offer card next to the rider rating, so you’ll know upfront whether you should expect the rider to pay in cash for this trip.

At the end of the trip, you’ll see a new screen appear once you press ‘Collect cash’, where you will see how much the Rider is expected to pay for the particular trip.

You will then have to enter how much you received from the Rider after any potential exchange of change, even if it’s more or less than what the rider has to pay according to what is displayed on the app.

For example: If you received a £20 note and gave £2 back to the rider, you should enter £18 into the Uber app.

There may be a small number of occasions when your Rider has arrears from a previous trip that need to be settled. If this is the case, you will see this included in the total collection amount.

You must include the exact amount of cash you collect from the Rider – this helps keep accurate records for both you and the Rider in the app, and allows us to adjust your account balance correctly.

Once you’ve settled the transaction with the rider and the trip is completed, you will be able to see how much money you should have received for this trip (your ‘Earnings’), and how much cash the rider gave to you (your ‘Payout’) on your Trip Receipt.

You will be able to see the cash that you received across the week in your Balance Summary in the Earnings Hub of the Driver app. Payments received in cash will show as negative amounts under ‘Payouts’.

You can think about ‘Payouts’ in the same way you would withdrawals from your bank account. They are negative because they decrease your total balance as you will have already received the money physically from riders. That means this is less money to be paid out to you at the end of the week or when you use Instant cashout.

Scenario 1 – What if I don’t have enough change? 

If you don’t have enough change, that’s ok. You can keep the extra cash, and we will make a negative deduction from your account balance to cover for the extra change. We will then transfer that same amount in Uber Credits to the rider as change. 

For example, if the rider was supposed to pay £20 but gave you £25 and you don’t have the extra £5 in change, you will enter on the screen that the rider gave you £25, and you can keep the extra £5. We’ll then reduce your balance by the additional £5 you got to keep on top of the £20 you should have received, and we will transfer £5 of Uber credits to the rider. 

You can then tell the rider ‘I don’t have the correct change, Uber will transfer you the correct change in Uber credits’. 

Scenario 2 – We settle the transaction

In this scenario, either the rider gives you the right amount of cash, or you are able to give the necessary amount of change back if the rider gives you more money. Once you’ve settled the transaction, you just need to ensure that you have entered the right amount of cash you received from the rider in your App. After that, you can end the trip.

Scenario 3 – What about if the rider doesn’t give enough money to pay for their trip?

You’ll always be paid for every trip you take. If your rider does not have the cash to pay for the trip, you do not  need to argue with them or try to persuade them. You can just drop them off and Uber will make sure that you are paid what you are owed within the Driver app.  For example, for a £20 trip, if the rider only gives you £10 and you enter £10 in the app as the money you received, your balance will only decrease by the £10 you received. We’ll collect the missing £10 from the rider separately.

Reading these recommendations from other drivers might help you prepare for your first cash trip and keep you safe: