# Ride complaint: no Uber drivers left!



## Flarpy (Apr 17, 2016)

I drive only Lyft and was driving a guy to the airport today. He said he's been using Uber since the beginning, years ago. He travels all over the world and was using it when it was only in a couple cities.

Anyway, he said he only uses Lyft now because, since Uber cut its rates, his wait times for Uber rides have tripled. Not just in this area but in all the affected areas he travels to.

He also said he got some sort of "apology email" from Uber a couple of days ago telling passengers that it's really sorry but it has to raise rates because it's having trouble keeping drivers. He said he didn't have a problem paying more but was pissed that the Uber wait times had increased so drastically and so suddenly.

Thought it was kind of interesting that it had gotten to the point where riders were complaining about the situation. Too bad they're complaining to me and not the companies.


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## nickd8775 (Jul 12, 2015)

Uber doesn't realize the loss in riders until it's too late. All that Lyft needs to do is be 25% higher than Uber. They'll gain drivers and the dual drivers will promote Lyft. Let Uber get all the cheapskates who need to go to Wal mart


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

Did Uber raise its rates in California?


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## Krishna (Sep 4, 2014)

I had some pax from San Diego who said that everybody there uses Lyft now, so this sounds plausible.

On the other hand, I was a big Lyft advocate for about 2 weeks until they lowered their prices to be the same as Uber. Which makes Lyft worse to drive for than Uber, because they have no surge.

It's good to see that passengers are noticing how self-destructive this whole spiral is, unfortunately there need to be real alternatives to Uber out there, and Lyft is not the alternative, just a clone with an ugly mustache.

Honestly I would not be surprised if in a few years, everyone goes back to using regular taxis, with taxi magic and apps like that. Maybe Uber Taxi and Uber Black. But UberX and Lyft are just not realistic for the long haul.


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## UberMensch2015 (Jan 29, 2015)

Anecdotal evidence is not evidence. Wait times haven't increased in Houston at all since the rate cut and rates are never going back up. People love to complain but there is no evidence to back up a case for raising rates in 99% of the cities as far as uber is concerned. Their math doesn't factor in the drivers profitablility at all. They don't care, and rates will only continue to go down.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

They raised them here because their revenue went down and wait times increased because so many quit driving


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## Krishna (Sep 4, 2014)

Rates have been raised in a few cities (a first for Uber as far as I know) but some of the raises were fraudulent (in Phoenix they raised distance charges but dropped wait times and the base rate, so drivers will often make even less than before).

Uber seems to be currently testing how much patience passengers have for surge. They already have figured out that drivers have no self-respect, and will accept any amount of abuse.


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## Fireguy50 (Nov 23, 2015)

Locally our rates went up to $1.00/mile

On the college campus I drive the surge needs to have a cap. When it gets close to 4x business dies to ZERO. Between 2 and 3 the drunks will pay. But typically anything over 2 the PAX just walk to their destination or call a friend.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

Funny, I've been taking 3s and 4s on weekends for weeks. They don't seem to care


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## Fireguy50 (Nov 23, 2015)

Usually the pattern is at 4 business dies.
Surges climb higher, no requests
Eventually the surge drops back down to 2 and we get flooded with requests


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

I guess it really depends on the market. Ton8ght we were on surge till after 4 (bars close at 2). My request at 345 was a 2.8. I saw it at 4.9 afterwards with drivers disappearing off the passenger app but I'd found mine easily by then and it was a longish triPhone towards my house so I quit and went offline. I really think it does cap at 4.9 now since I never see it above that


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## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

ginseng41 said:


> I guess it really depends on the market. Ton8ght we were on surge till after 4 (bars close at 2). My request at 345 was a 2.8. I saw it at 4.9 afterwards with drivers disappearing off the passenger app but I'd found mine easily by then and it was a longish triPhone towards my house so I quit and went offline. I really think it does cap at 4.9 now since I never see it above that


Maybe it caps in your market at 4.9; but I saw a 6.5 at Austin airport tonight ... though I didn't get one before surge disappeared. Additionally, it was 8.8 in city-wide in Houston last week


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## Fireguy50 (Nov 23, 2015)

I saw a 6.6 in a zone that covers the airport, our newest mall & a high end college student condominium complex. This week in the middle of the afternoon. I was busy with the family and new it was too good be true and wouldn't last.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

I was referring to the college town cap as was being discussed above. I definitely saw nye surges higher in Richmond and roanoke when I investigated


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## Fireguy50 (Nov 23, 2015)

Ziggy said:


> Maybe it caps in your market at 4.9; but I saw a 6.5 at Austin airport tonight ... though I didn't get one before surge disappeared. Additionally, it was 8.8 in city-wide in Houston last week


That's ridiculous, Uber needs to raise our rates and add additional tip option. No excuse for no drivers available causing an 8.8 surge!


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

Fireguy50 said:


> I saw a 6.6 in a zone that covers the airport, our newest mall & a high end college student condominium complex. This week in the middle of the afternoon. I was busy with the family and new it was too good be true and wouldn't last.


Weird. You're in a college town too?


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## Fireguy50 (Nov 23, 2015)

ginseng41 said:


> I was referring to the college town cap as was being discussed above. I definitely saw nye surges higher in Richmond and roanoke when I investigated


There is no cap that I know of, Uber business model is a juvenile lemonade stand at best.


ginseng41 said:


> Weird. You're in a college town too?


Yes Michigan State University is one of the largest campuses in the country. Has it's own power plant and waist water treatment plant.
AND they're allowing all these college housing suburbs, where wealthy students can't lease a condominium! It's ridiculous what college life is like these days.


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## RockinEZ (Apr 29, 2015)

Another Uber Driver said:


> Did Uber raise its rates in California?


We went from $1.30/mile and $0.30/min with $2.78 base before Jan 19 to:










They dropped us to $0.90/mile. Ten cents per min waiting with no base.

Now we are back up to $1.10/mile and fifteen cents per minute with no base.

A lot of us quit or cut down drastically. I have driven very little and always play the surge. 
I don't drive for straight time. I can't afford it.

Drivers doing the stealth surge game made it more expensive for pax, and with fewer drivers the wait time went up.

If Uber was a person, they would have shot off all their toes by now.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

Uber saw us doing this which I'm certain is why ours went up closer to what they'd been. Still not as high, but drivers haven't returned so way more surging than before. I'm making about 95% net of what I was before which I can deal with. Summer will probably suck though


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

UberMensch2015 said:


> Anecdotal evidence is not evidence. Wait times haven't increased in Houston at all since the rate cut and rates are never going back up. People love to complain but there is no evidence to back up a case for raising rates in 99% of the cities as far as uber is concerned. Their math doesn't factor in the drivers profitablility at all. They don't care, and rates will only continue to go down.


Wait times have gone up where I live in Sugar Land (20 miles SW of Houston for you folks who don't know). Often at night it says no uber available. It rarely surges here so why drive here?

Drivers are also refusing to drive out here from Houston without surge.

This has become FAR more common since the cuts.


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## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

Fireguy50 said:


> That's ridiculous, Uber needs to raise our rates and add additional tip option. No excuse for no drivers available causing an 8.8 surge!


Well, the Houston 8.8 surge was during the massive flood they had last week ... don't know many drivers who were willing to play u-boat commander to haul people around town. That said, totally agree on raising rates ... and while drivers can supposedly solicit tips now ... the tip option should be in the app, otherwise it's useless


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

I though uber capped surges during states of emergency. They certainly did here during the blizzard. We were at 2.9 for virtually 2 days straight


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## Fireguy50 (Nov 23, 2015)

Ziggy said:


> The tip option should be in the app, otherwise it's useless


Yes​


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

Another Uber Driver said:


> Did Uber raise its rates in California?


NorCal hasn't. Still 1.10 in frisco and .85 in the rest of the bay area


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## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

ginseng41 said:


> I though uber capped surges during states of emergency. They certainly did here during the blizzard. We were at 2.9 for virtually 2 days straight


Clearly Uber did not cap the surge in Houston during the days of flooding ... as 8.8 city-wide during a flood emergency that cost billions in damages and cost 8+ people their lives ... is not being a good neighbor.


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## ABC123DEF (Jun 9, 2015)

Like a bad neighbor...Big Foober is there.


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## rocksteady (Mar 19, 2015)

Fireguy50 said:


> Locally our rates went up to $1.00/mile
> 
> On the college campus I drive the surge needs to have a cap. When it gets close to 4x business dies to ZERO. Between 2 and 3 the drunks will pay. But typically anything over 2 the PAX just walk to their destination or call a friend.


I agree they should cap the surge. I'd rather get rides at 2x-3x surge than sit, making no money usually while the surge is over 3x.


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## Krishna (Sep 4, 2014)

There was an earlier thread with a poll: 92% of drivers said they would prefer higher base rates over surge pricing.

https://uberpeople.net/threads/poll-surge-pricing-or-higher-base-rates.57612/

Surge is nothing more than crass manipulation, unhealthy for drivers and unfair to passengers. It should be illegal, and would be if Uber didn't have the money to buy off all legal challenges.


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## RockinEZ (Apr 29, 2015)

Ziggy said:


> Clearly Uber did not cap the surge in Houston during the days of flooding ... as 8.8 city-wide during a flood emergency that cost billions in damages and cost 8+ people their lives ... is not being a good neighbor.


Sociopaths are never good neighbors.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

ginseng41 said:


> I though uber capped surges during states of emergency. They certainly did here during the blizzard. We were at 2.9 for virtually 2 days straight


They eventually did. But only once the disaster declaration was put out. The flooding started at night so of course nothing was done then.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Fireguy50 said:


> That's ridiculous, Uber needs to raise our rates and add additional tip option. No excuse for no drivers available causing an 8.8 surge!


When the city is telling people not to drive because people are drowning in their cars there will be surge no matter how many drivers they have. It's dangerous to drive in that. What they should do is shut down, not encourage drivers to go out.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

Well capping surge discourages me from risking it. I made 650 the last day of ours when it would have been twice that


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## Lnsky (Jan 2, 2016)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> They eventually did. But only once the disaster declaration was put out. The flooding started at night so of course nothing was done then.


Gosh you were driving during all that?! Glad to hear your okay.

A guy got stuck in his car and drowned at the beltway and I-10 underpass. That under pass flood quickly with up to 17 feet of water on numerous occasions.


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## RockinEZ (Apr 29, 2015)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> When the city is telling people not to drive because people are drowning in their cars there will be surge no matter how many drivers they have. It's dangerous to drive in that. What they should do is shut down, not encourage drivers to go out.


Hell, I don't drive when it rains in San Diego. Too damn dangerous.
Drivers here don't know how to drive in the rain. 
It is safer to take a day off sometimes.


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## Fireguy50 (Nov 23, 2015)

Snow is a way of life in Michigan, worse it is, better the surge rates are.


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## RockinEZ (Apr 29, 2015)

Fireguy50 said:


> Snow is a way of life in Michigan, worse it is, better the surge rates are.


It has not snowed in San Diego since they started keeping records. 
I grew up in snow, and maybe I would Uber in the snow if the locals were used to it, and there was a good surge.


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## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> When the city is telling people not to drive because people are drowning in their cars there will be surge no matter how many drivers they have. It's dangerous to drive in that. What they should do is shut down, not encourage drivers to go out.


An atomic bomb could off and Uber will flood your email & text with encouragement to drive. Left to their own devices uber has no limits, morals or common sense


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Ziggy said:


> An atomic bomb could off and Uber will flood your email & text with encouragement to drive. Left to their own devices uber has no limits, morals or common sense


Radiation and fall out means your city will be busy today !
Get out there and take advantage of increased demand from evacuees!

For a limited time Uber is giving away free dust masks to filter fall out for all Uber drivers to hand out . first come first serve.so line up behind a dingy warehouse and spend hours of your time waiting for yours !


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## Krishna (Sep 4, 2014)

tohunt4me said:


> For a limited time Uber is giving away free dust masks to filter fall out for all Uber drivers


There will be a $10 per month equipment fee for the free dust masks.


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## Fireguy50 (Nov 23, 2015)

Must be returned in like new condition


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## Danz Haagen (Feb 11, 2015)

Flarpy said:


> I drive only Lyft and was driving a guy to the airport today. He said he's been using Uber since the beginning, years ago. He travels all over the world and was using it when it was only in a couple cities.
> 
> Anyway, he said he only uses Lyft now because, since Uber cut its rates, his wait times for Uber rides have tripled. Not just in this area but in all the affected areas he travels to.
> 
> ...


One time I picked an Uber request. Arrived. Person was about to get into my car. I get lyft request. I accept the lyft, and hit the gas pedal. I guess that pax learned something: not to use uber.


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## Krishna (Sep 4, 2014)

Lyft and Uber are the same, there is no reason to think Lyft is your savior.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

They may be if uber gets destroyed by lawsuits


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## Krishna (Sep 4, 2014)

Why wouldn't Lyft be subject to the same lawsuits? They treat drivers basically the same as Uber does.


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## Slavic Riga (Jan 12, 2016)

ginseng41 said:


> They may be if uber gets destroyed by lawsuits


Uber won't get destroyed. Too many big names, large Corporations & VC's involved.
They will oust Travis K as CEO & it will happen once, the Company goes public with its IPO.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

They will be,except for the tipping one. They are not, all over the world, however, hemorrhaging money while trying to expand and have far better ability to recover if uber is forced out, they're in a far better position to take over and reorganize into a good business model


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## Flarpy (Apr 17, 2016)

Krishna said:


> Lyft and Uber are the same, there is no reason to think Lyft is your savior.


they're the same in that they both screw you. They're different in how they screw you.


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## Krishna (Sep 4, 2014)

Flarpy said:


> they're the same in that they both screw you. They're different in how they screw you.


One with a friendly smile, the other with an evil laugh?

Beyond that I don't see any difference, here they both have the same exploitative low rates, and take the same percentage.


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## JCHeights (Jan 25, 2016)

Fireguy50 said:


> That's ridiculous, Uber needs to raise our rates and add additional tip option. No excuse for no drivers available causing an 8.8 surge!


It was 8.8 on Monday, APR 18 briefly when the city was in the midst of one of the worst floods in 20+ years. Eight people died in the flood, six of them by drowning in their cars driving into flooded underpasses. The city was BEGGING everyone not to drive, yet Uber kept the app on. I think around 8 or 9 AM they closed the app for passengers in the entire city until the worst of the storm passed. Incidentally, since the county was declared a disaster area the surge was capped at 2.7 by law until Midnight, Saturday 23/APR.


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## BurgerTiime (Jun 22, 2015)

We took Lyft over the weekend and the Drivers are happier. Better experience and we know if the driver is paid better he can afford tires and brakes. We saw an Uber with totally bald tires sitting at Burger King. #deathwish


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## Dontmakemepullauonyou (Oct 13, 2015)

BurgerTiime said:


> We took Lyft over the weekend and the Drivers are happier. Better experience and we know if the driver is paid better he can afford tires and brakes. We saw an Uber with totally bald tires sitting at Burger King. #deathwish


What the #%#% I've never seen tires that bald outside of a drag race show


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## Slavic Riga (Jan 12, 2016)

Dontmakemepullauonyou said:


> What the #%#% I've never seen tires that bald outside of a drag race show


This show how cuts can affect maintenance of any equipment.


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## Dontmakemepullauonyou (Oct 13, 2015)

Slavic Riga said:


> This show how cuts can affect maintenance of any equipment.


I get that but the rates were cut in my market didn't stop me from putting on new rotors last week for $294.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

Capping during disasters has always pissed me off as we should be able to determine if it's safe enough for us to be out there. If we're willing to risk being out there (or not), we should be able to get whatever they're willing to pay. I'm certainly not going out in bad oad conditions for a 2.9 again. I was totally fine driving in our snow as I had chains on my car and the roads are well maintained. Uber should not be controlling those surges since we are, according to them, independent contractors. If the roads are closed to public traffic, they should cut the app off, but otherwise we should be able to make our own decisions about if we should drive or not


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## Slavic Riga (Jan 12, 2016)

Dontmakemepullauonyou said:


> I get that but the rates were cut in my market didn't stop me from putting on new rotors last week for $294.


Because you care about your life & maybe you have extra income where you can meet those expenses & know how to budget yourself.
I am not agreeing with the owner of the car & its dangerous. But, sometimes its difficult for some individuals if they are living from paycheck to paycheck.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

Do cars in that state not require inspections? Those look a year past being able to pass one here


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## Dontmakemepullauonyou (Oct 13, 2015)

Slavic Riga said:


> Because you care about your life & maybe you have extra income where you can meet those expenses & know how to budget yourself.
> I am not agreeing with the owner of the car & its dangerous. But, sometimes its difficult for some individuals if they are living from paycheck to paycheck.


Yeah life is a #%#%# but will it get better if you blow a tire on the freeway and end up killing your pax.. There are used tire places that you can get tires with 30% life left on them for like $160 for 4.

Imagine the insurance company inspecting that car after a major car accident. They would deny the claim on the spot.


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## Slavic Riga (Jan 12, 2016)

Dontmakemepullauonyou said:


> Yeah life is a #%#%# but will it get better if you blow a tire on the freeway and end up killing your pax.. There are used tire places that you can get tires with 30% life left on them for like $160 for 4.
> 
> Imagine the insurance company inspecting that car after a major car accident. They would deny the claim on the spot.


Agreed.


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## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

BurgerTiime said:


> We took Lyft over the weekend and the Drivers are happier. Better experience and we know if the driver is paid better he can afford tires and brakes. We saw an Uber with totally bald tires sitting at Burger King. #deathwish


Maybe he forgot to take his racing slicks off. Nothing to do with Uber, this driver is dumb as a stump or has a death wish.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

JCHeights said:


> It was 8.8 on Monday, APR 18 briefly when the city was in the midst of one of the worst floods in 20+ years. Eight people died in the flood, six of them by drowning in their cars driving into flooded underpasses. The city was BEGGING everyone not to drive, yet Uber kept the app on. I think around 8 or 9 AM they closed the app for passengers in the entire city until the worst of the storm passed. Incidentally, since the county was declared a disaster area the surge was capped at 2.7 by law until Midnight, Saturday 23/APR.


I don't believe they ever closed down. And the time to do that was the night before anyway. All along 290 it was starting to flood by 9 pm that night, and by the next morning people were already dead. Most of the flooding was already going on in the middle of the night. The worst of the rain had already passed by the time uber did anything.

By the time it was declared a disaster the dead people were already dead.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Ziggy said:


> Maybe he forgot to take his racing slicks off. Nothing to do with Uber, this driver is dumb as a stump or has a death wish.


Being broke encourages that. Plus, working 100 hours a week to make what he used to in 30, maybe he's too tired to notice or care.

The first step in brain washing is sleep deprivation.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

BurgerTiime said:


> We took Lyft over the weekend and the Drivers are happier. Better experience and we know if the driver is paid better he can afford tires and brakes. We saw an Uber with totally bald tires sitting at Burger King. #deathwish


Especially in the wet Iike that, no good.
My car is serviced and inspected every 2-3 months. I keep all documentation.


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## ABC123DEF (Jun 9, 2015)

Rates are like 10 cents a mile/5 cents a minute/50% commission/$5.00 booking fee. This is what Foober wants. Relax.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Flarpy said:


> I drive only Lyft and was driving a guy to the airport today. He said he's been using Uber since the beginning, years ago. He travels all over the world and was using it when it was only in a couple cities.
> 
> Anyway, he said he only uses Lyft now because, since Uber cut its rates, his wait times for Uber rides have tripled. Not just in this area but in all the affected areas he travels to.
> 
> ...


This is a corner Uber NEVER SHOULD HAVE BACKED INTO !


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## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> The first step in brain washing is sleep deprivation.


yeah ... it's also one of the first things I went through in POW training too


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## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

tohunt4me said:


> This is a corner Uber NEVER SHOULD HAVE BACKED INTO !


Agreed. Most of the long time drivers only drive surge or permanently stage at the airport. Uber has screwed themselves so royally, they don't even realize it ... and they think that the fix is hiring new drivers. But the problem with Uber's solution is that new drivers will meet and talk to old drivers, who, in turn will tell 'em about the "good ol' days, when fares were 3-5 times higher than they are now" and when pressed for tips on how to make more money, old drivers tell the new drivers to only take trips when it's surging and eventually some figure out that lots of long trips originate at the airport. *the only way Uber's going to rectify this is to either require drivers not to talk with each other ... or raise the fares back to 2014 levels so that drivers will p/u non-surge trips as a rule, rather than as an exception


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## zanememjade (Dec 9, 2015)

Flarpy said:


> I drive only Lyft and was driving a guy to the airport today. He said he's been using Uber since the beginning, years ago. He travels all over the world and was using it when it was only in a couple cities.
> 
> Anyway, he said he only uses Lyft now because, since Uber cut its rates, his wait times for Uber rides have tripled. Not just in this area but in all the affected areas he travels to.
> 
> ...


Uber wants to loose business by lowering the rates. They are not to smart over at uber because by lowering the rate means less drivers will be out because smart drivers will not go out with these rates. Uber think that more riders will ride because it's cheap but that's not the case. The service will get worst because drivers are pissed off and waiting time for rides are longer because of less drivers. Just hope drivers Stop driving


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## William1964 (Jul 28, 2015)

I had another night in the emergency room Monday so I couldn't drive. Nor did they give me enough pain medication until Thursday's dentist appointment. On top of that I bought the wrong freaking aspirin 200 milligrams.

You may be right


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