A Wellington Uber driver with a perfect five-star rating has revealed the secret to his success.
Gordon Chaffey, 43, has managed to get five stars on every ride he did this year, and said the key was simply being “nice”.
About 1.7 million people use the Uber app in New Zealand, with the top rider taking 1097 trips. This equated to an average of nearly four rides per day for 2023.
The longest ride taken on Uber this year was 428km from Tokoroa to Lower Hutt, a journey of roughly five-and-a-half hours.
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Uber has also revealed the most popular day to order a ride was October 28 - the day of the Rugby World Cup final in France.
There are 22,000 drivers that use the platform, including top-scoring driver Chaffey.
“I always like to add that extra ‘wow’ factor to all my rides – I give out mints, have TV displays set up and play music that everyone loves to make the rides memorable,” he said.
“My bright yellow car is now well-known around Wellington. Driving with Uber has also given me a lot of opportunities. I’ve even landed a writing opportunity for a TV show after driving a producer.”
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.Chaffey said he’d been in contact with a producer from Wellington Paranormal after driving him, and having previously been an extra on set, playing a cult member.
He has been driving for Uber for six years, and is fast approaching a milestone of 50,000 rides.
“My career goal was to do 50,000 trips,” he said, adding he was currently at 49,150.
Chaffey is also writing a graphic novel about his time as an Uber driver, which he keeps a sample of in the car to show riders.
He has many interesting trips to tell people about, including the time he drove Mythbuster Adam Savage, or another occasion when he drove a “hectic” group of drunk partygoers.
One member of the group jumped out of the car while it was still moving to retrieve a jacket his partner had thrown out the window, and later two of the group fell asleep in the back of the car, he said.
Chaffey credited his high rating to his politeness, saying that making sure to tell passengers “you’re welcome” at the end of the ride even if they had annoyed him was a “game-changer”.
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“It’s not that hard, you just have to be nice.”
He is also into cafe culture and is happy to recommend cafes and other places to visit for riders.
While Chaffey’s full-time job is Uber, he also takes work as a TV extra, and does baking on the weekends, which he described as “absolute heaven”.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.“It’s just me making scones by myself in the kitchen.”
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
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