# Sticky surge timeout?



## MadTownUberD (Mar 11, 2017)

Happened twice to me this morning (currently waiting out the second one). Inconsistent surges bid the dollar value up. I drive thru it to get $4+ added to my next trip. Then, the surge disappears and there are a lot of cars around. I wait half an hour to get a ping, which finally comes.

I suspect what is happening is: once there are lots of cars available "close" to riders, the algo prefers to give pings to drivers who have NOT picked up the sticky surge like I have, since Uber would pay that to the driver but not be able to collect it from the rider.

I am almost tempted to go offline to wipe out the sticky surge, then go back online and see how quickly I get a ping.


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## MoreTips (Feb 13, 2017)

I'm sure you are exactly right, all those exec's coming up with ways to keep that surge money.


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## MadTownUberD (Mar 11, 2017)

MoreTips said:


> I'm sure you are exactly right, all those exec's coming up with ways to keep that surge money.


I'm with them! Shareholder here. But yes it is frustrating when driving. My hypothesis does make business sense.

I eventually went offline and then came back online. But I did not get the ping for several minutes so my test results I feel are inconclusive.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

I have suspected the same. For instance, on Firday, a concert got out. I kept getting ride requests but not at the full $7 surge, so I did not accept them. I drove through and collected my $7 sticky surge and proceeded to get no ride requests for over an hour even though an hour later it was still $1.50 surge.

The thing is though, they'll eventually pay out unless you log off and back on again, so I don't understand the incentive. They basically just took me off the road for an hour and then they still ended up paying out.

Of course, it is possible that they didn't take me off the road. Maybe I would have got no requests no matter what. Still don't understand why there would be $1.50 surge on the map though if hanging around the area wasn't going to get me a request.


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## Dome (Feb 10, 2019)

I have experienced the same thing with the length of time to get a request with the sticky surge. I've also experienced another issue once where I accepted a trip outside of a surge zone with the sticky, and the passenger ended up canceling which gave me the cancelation fee, however the app didn't cancel the trip and showed as if I could start the trip or cancel. I didn't want to cancel wondering if it would have reversed the cancelation fee and remove sticky surge from next request. So I tried hitting stop new requests and next thing you know the app took me offline screwing me out the sticky surge.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

I've had one situation where I drove a little out of my way to get an $11 select sticky surge. Had to sit home for 6 hours before I finally got a ping but there was nothing like getting $18 and a 2 dollar tip for a 3 mile ride.


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## Dome (Feb 10, 2019)

The biggest thing I like and see as a benefit of the sticky surge is you don't lose it during high demand trying to get to a passenger, and they decide to cancel after demand dropped. Other than that, I prefer a surge multiplier cause they are very inconsistent in determining when the sticky surge (while it's still surging) will be recalculated to give you more on longer trips. I've has some trigger the additional above sticky surge on trips as short as 12 miles, and some trips 20+ miles that didn't.


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## Declineathon (Feb 12, 2019)

From the teachings of @Transportador never chase the cloud.


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## Transportador (Sep 15, 2015)

Declineathon said:


> From the teachings of @Transportador never chase the cloud.


Hahaha or at least that's what I say...


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## Daisey77 (Jan 13, 2016)

During the times and areas where the passengers are paying the highest surge, Uber gives those requests to the drivers outside of the surge Zone. It's easier to get out of paying the conversion. Leaving more in Uber's pocket. They'll give the drivers with the highest surge, who are in the areas where the surge will convert to a higher payout, request outside of those areas. So they once again get to keep all that extra money. The drivers with high surges will still get paid out but Uber is making more money by not paying out on converted surges. they don't have a problem paying out those higher flat rate they just don't want to pay out on them if they were to actually convert. Does that make any sense? LOL I'm struggling here trying to put my thoughts into words


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