01The short version
- You can cancel any ride before pickup.
- If a cancellation fee applies, Joyride shows you the exact fee in the cancel-confirmation screen before you confirm.
- The minimum cancellation fee, when any fee applies, is $5.00.
- The fee you see in the confirmation screen is the fee you pay. We do not recompute it after you confirm.
02When a fee applies
A cancellation fee may apply when you, the Rider, cancel a ride after one of the following has happened:
- On-demand rides: a Driver has accepted your request, and you cancel after the cancel-grace window has elapsed since the Driver accepted.
- Scheduled rides: you cancel within the cancellation window before pickup that applies to scheduled rides on the Joyride Platform.
- No-show: the Driver arrives at the pickup, you do not appear, and Joyride determines after a reasonable wait that the ride cannot proceed — see Section 6.
03When a fee does not apply
You generally will not be charged a cancellation fee if:
- you cancel before any Driver has accepted your request;
- you cancel within the cancel-grace window after the Driver accepts;
- the Driver is significantly late and the Joyride Platform shows the Driver has not been making reasonable progress toward your pickup;
- the Driver cancels;
- for scheduled rides, you cancel earlier than the scheduled-cancellation window before pickup; or
- Joyride determines, in its discretion, that the cancellation was caused by a Joyride Platform problem or a safety concern.
04How the fee is calculated
When a cancellation fee applies, Joyride calculates it from the same inputs that would have produced the ride fare — the Driver's published per-minute rate, the estimated transport minutes for the trip, applicable multipliers, and any applicable surcharges — prorated to reflect that the ride was not completed.
If the result of that calculation is greater than zero but less than the minimum cancellation fee, the fee is rounded up to the $5.00 minimum. If the calculation returns zero — for example, because no Driver was assigned to the ride, or because a scheduled ride is canceled outside the window — no fee is charged.
Cancellation fees are subject to the same transaction fee and payment-processing fee structure that applies to regular ride fares. See the Driver Addendum for details.
05Quote-locked fees
The fee you see in the cancel-confirmation screen is the fee you pay. When you open the cancel-and-rebook (or cancel-without-rebook) screen, Joyride snapshots the fee at that moment and passes that exact value to the server. The server honors the quoted fee without recomputing — even if the underlying inputs would now produce a slightly different number (because a few seconds have passed, your ETA changed, or the routing provider returned a different estimate). This is on purpose: it protects you from the fee drifting between the screen and the charge.
06No-shows
If the Driver arrives at the pickup location and you do not appear within a reasonable wait time as determined by the Joyride Platform, the Driver may mark the ride a no-show. A no-show fee may be charged on the same basis as a cancellation fee, and the $5.00 minimum applies. If you reach the pickup after the Driver has left or marked the ride a no-show, you can request a new ride.
07Driver cancellations
Drivers may cancel a ride they have accepted — for example, if the Rider is not at the pickup location after a reasonable wait, if the Rider appears unsafe or intoxicated to a degree that the Driver cannot safely transport them, if the requested service violates Joyride's policies, or if the Driver determines they cannot complete the ride safely.
Drivers who cancel rides after accepting may, depending on frequency and circumstances, be subject to a Driver-side penalty — including reduced visibility in the marketplace, warnings, and ultimately deactivation. These penalties are described in the Driver app and are intended to keep the marketplace reliable for Riders.
08Disputes and refunds
If you believe a cancellation fee was charged in error, contact riders@joyride.cool within thirty (30) days. We may, in our discretion, issue a partial or full refund or credit. Adjustments granted in one case are not a commitment to issue adjustments in other cases.