Scheduling a ride with Uber Reserve: Does it cost more?

Did you know that you can schedule an Uber up to 90 days in advance?

The scheduling feature on Uber is called Uber Reserve, and it comes in handy when you want to book a ride ahead of time.

When you schedule a ride, you get a guaranteed upfront price, and you can often match you with a driver ahead of your pickup time.

But reservations can be more expensive than regular on-demand Uber rides because of the Uber reservation fee and other pricing practices.

Read on to learn how scheduled rides work, how much they cost, and how you can make sure that your scheduled ride actually arrives.

How to schedule an Uber ride

On the home screen of the Uber app, tap the clock icon in the “Where to?” search bar. Then, select a time for your reservation from the dropdown menu and input your pickup & drop-off locations.

You can also find the clock icon after you enter a destination.

After you select a date and time, select a ride type and confirm your reservation. Finally, you’ll see a confirmation screen and the ride will appear in your upcoming trips.

During the scheduling process, you’ll see an option to enable or disable ‘auto rematch.’ Auto rematch will match you with a new driver if your scheduled driver is late.

Drivers can see and accept your reservation in advance. You will get a notification to confirm that you are matched with a driver.

If you aren’t matched with a driver far in advance, you will still be matched with a driver around 20 minutes before your reservation.

How to manage or cancel a reserved ride

To manage your reserved ride:

From the home screen: Tap Activity, then find your ride under the Upcoming section at the top of the screen.

You can’t edit your ride after making the reservation. If you made a mistake, you need to cancel the ride and start over.

There is no cancellation fee if you cancel more than 60 minutes before the reserved time, so there’s no penalty for adjusting your ride when your plans change.

How much do reserved rides cost?

You will see an upfront price estimate when you book your reservation. The system creates a price for your ride by using market data to predict the appropriate cost on the day and time that you schedule.

Reserved rides also include a ‘reservation fee.’ The reservation fee is a variable charge that riders pay to compensate drivers for the additional wait time with reservations.

Your upfront price will only change if your trip ends up being much longer than expected, or if you change the destination.

Typically the upfront price will stay the same as long as the ride isn’t significantly longer than the initial estimate.

Does it cost more to reserve a ride?

If your scheduled ride seems more expensive than expected, it’s because of the reservation fee that is added to every scheduled ride.

Uber doesn’t say exactly how reservation fees or upfront prices are calculated, so there’s not much you can do to figure out how to get a better price.

If your reserved ride seems expensive, try placing the reservation at different times of the day to see if the price changes.

The old scheduling system (still active in some markets)

In the past, Uber had a scheduling feature that only sent out an automated request a few minutes before your scheduled time. Uber did not attempt to match you with a driver when you first scheduled the ride.

That scheduling system is still active in some markets. You’ll know if you’re using the older system if there’s no information about upfront driver matching.

Under the older system, there was a greater chance that no drivers would accept your ride during a busy time. Driver rematching with Uber Reserve has proved to be more reliable for passengers.

Cancel fees and wait time for reserved rides

You can cancel a reserved ride for free up to 60 minutes before your reservation. You will be charged a cancellation fee if you cancel less than 60 minutes before your reservation.

You can also cancel for free if your driver is going to be 10+ minutes late when they are matched with you.

Example of cancel fees & wait times in Los Angeles

Ride Type	Cancel Fee	Wait Time
UberX	$25	5 minutes
UberXL	$28	5 minutes
Uber Comfort	$37	5 minutes
Uber Black and SUV	Cost of the full fare	15 minutes

How reliable are Uber reservations?

There’s an important section in the terms and conditions for Uber reservations: “Uber doesn’t guarantee a driver will accept your ride request. Your ride is confirmed once you receive your driver details.”

If Uber doesn’t guarantee that a driver will accept your request, how reliable can reservations be?

There’s a very good chance that the driver will show up if you reserve a ride and get pre-matched with a driver.

But remember that Uber drivers are independent contractors and are free to cancel your ride with little or no penalty.

It’s easy to find stories from upset passengers who had drivers cancel reservations at the last minute. What’s going on?

Some Uber drivers don’t like reservations: Why your reservation is getting cancelled

The benefits of Uber Reserve come with some drawbacks for drivers. Some drivers cancel reservations or never accept them to begin with.

One reason is that the reservation pricing system may not correctly predict the best market price at the time of the ride, resulting in a scheduled ride that doesn’t pay the driver as much as other rides.

Let’s say your upfront reservation price was $25. If there is unexpected surge pricing at the time of your ride, it might mean that your driver could get paid more for another ride that uses the current market price.

Another reason is the excessive wait time for drivers. Reservations sometimes send drivers to the pickup location up to 25 minutes before the reservation, and drivers aren’t paid for that wait time.

Any additional unpaid wait time is frustrating for drivers, so many choose to cancel the ride or skip reservations altogether.

Keep an eye on your phone when you have a reservation coming up!

To ensure you get a ride, keep an eye on your Uber app at least 20 minutes before your reservation time.

If you aren’t matched with a driver and there are only a few minutes until your reservation, consider cancelling the reservation and manually requesting another ride.

You can cancel the reservation at no charge if your driver is going to be 10+ minutes late when they are matched with you.

More about Uber

• What’s the difference between UberX, XL, Comfort, and Black?
• The best way to use Uber at airports
• How Uber prices work and how to get an accurate estimate