Deliveroo UK Rider Support

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Which vehicle should I choose?

Bicycle, scooter, car or by electric vehicle – it’s totally up to you how you ride with us!

Whichever vehicle you choose, we’re committed to offering you fair access to the flexible, well-paid work you want.

We want to make sure that customers get their food as safely and as quickly as possible.  So behind the scenes, our tech works hard to offer each order to the rider who is best positioned to deliver it safely and efficiently.

To do this, it looks at factors such as the estimated time it will take you to complete the delivery. This takes into account all elements of the delivery distance such as:

  • How far it is from your current location to the restaurant
  • How long it should take you to park your vehicle
  • The time we expect it will take you to travel from the restaurant to the customer

But it’s not as simple as saying a scooter is faster than a bike. It might surprise you to learn that in some areas – like Chingford in Essex, or Solihull in Birmingham – over a given period, the average travel time can be far shorter for cyclists than for scooters. It makes sense when you think about navigating our towns – one way systems, heavy traffic, parks, traffic lights and tricky terrains are all things that can affect journey times at different times of day. Often bike lanes bypass things like roundabouts, or allow you to get through areas that cars can’t.

It also makes sense that over longer journeys, scooters might be faster – a long distance up a steep hill, for example, would take a cyclist longer to travel.

Our tech also considers the availability of other riders. For example, if there’s a longer delivery distance, a scooter may be more suited to the order. But, if all scooters are already on deliveries, then it would be offered to another available vehicle type.

Because of all these factors, at certain times and places, some deliveries might be better suited to a particular type of vehicle. But at other times, the type of vehicle you’re using won’t make a difference.

Some of the things that won’t affect whether you’re assigned an order include:

  • How long you’ve been riding with Deliveroo
  • The time it takes you personally to complete deliveries
  • How often you choose to accept or reject deliveries

One type of vehicle isn’t always preferred over another – it depends on the situation and what other riders are doing at the moment.

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