# What do you think of new Uber Surge?



## Omega 3 (Apr 4, 2019)

What do you think of new Uber Surge, where they show you a flat dollar amount instead of a multiplier.


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## UberchickATL (Apr 27, 2018)

Not only do we make much less, but surges are now rare. I used to work the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 5pm to 3am shift. The income was pretty good because it was almost a constant surge past 10. Now I rarely see more than a few small surges around 2am. Why work the bar closing shifts when I can make the same amount at 1pm as I make at 1am? Driving drunk people around after dark is high risk, but is no longer high reward.

I used to make decent money working under 30 hours a week. Now I occasionally drive 60-70 hours to make ends meet.


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## raisedoncereal (Jun 5, 2019)

Isn't this old news?


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## Ssgcraig (Jul 8, 2015)

Omega 3 said:


> What do you think of new Uber Surge, where they show you a flat dollar amount instead of a multiplier.


New? It was new 2 years ago.


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## 25rides7daysaweek (Nov 20, 2017)

raisedoncereal said:


> Isn't this old news?


I thought so too but apparently many parts of the country are still on the x surge model
We have had it in Chicago for over a year
Somehow I'm still making the same money as before...


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## dmoney155 (Jun 12, 2017)

It gonna be crap.. here in Toronto they took surge away altogether for now... probably to be replaced with the flat fee model. So for sure no more driving in traffic/night hours... it just isn't worth it for me. Same money any other time of a day, so why bother. Last winter we got some snow storms, surge didn't even broke over 2.0, also stayed home. Got to be pretty desperate for money to risk self for base rate (surge pretty much was null if you count in slow moving traffic due to snow storm). But I'm sure based on the numbers uber is confident the show will go on.


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## Poopy54 (Sep 6, 2016)

In Ca it's flat $$ amount.....Chasing a surge for $1.75 LOL

EDIT: Wait a minute OP is from Cal, what new surge pricing


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## Don'tchasethesurge (Dec 27, 2016)

The big difference for me that the old surge had a better chance of ride making your night .... the new surge doesn’t really tell you whether you will get surge adjustment on long trip. Long gone are the sweet long trip on a multiplier


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## Illini (Mar 14, 2019)

New??? How old is this thread?


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## GreatWhiteHope (Sep 18, 2018)

Poopy54 said:


> In Ca it's flat $$ amount.....Chasing a surge for $1.75 LOL
> 
> EDIT: Wait a minute OP is from Cal, what new surge pricing


Los Angeles just changed it from multiplyer surge to $ surge


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## TPAMB (Feb 13, 2019)

I'm used to it as I started with this the norm in my area. Losing the multiplier, however, really sucks but I've seen some who say they still are receiving it in their waybill. Anyone?


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## Jay Dean (Apr 3, 2015)

They did it years ago and screwed drivers and Uber still loses the same amount of money...go figure


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## Da Ub (Oct 29, 2016)

The new Uber Surge is a losing cause if the ride is more then 8 minutes , period


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## Amos69 (May 17, 2019)

Da Ub said:


> The new Uber Surge is a losing cause if the ride is more then 8 minutes , period


Not sure what your point is, but nothing is ever always anything.

The new flat rate surge program is not nearly as good as the old multiplier system. Goobers math challenged reasoning for making the change is just smoke. similar surge rides from before the change to the new setup brings a reduction of payment by 10/ 30% on surged runs.

That said here in Seattle market where we have had this for almost a year now, surged runs still pay better than base runs.








This was my last fare last night. A rematch out of SeaTac to east Bellevue. This Flat Rate surge from SeaTac was active and in place so it still multiplied during my ride.

Flat rate surge has to be active to multiply, but I often scoop up a $5 and carry it with me to DT Seattle ( or anywhere) and then get that money anyways. The flat rate is portable. BUT since it's not active in the new part of town, then there is no multiplier .

Hope this helps.


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## Gone_in_60_seconds (Jan 21, 2018)

UberchickATL said:


> Not only do we make much less, but surges are now rare. I used to work the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 5pm to 3am shift. The income was pretty good because it was almost a constant surge past 10. Now I rarely see more than a few small surges around 2am. Why work the bar closing shifts when I can make the same amount at 1pm as I make at 1am? Driving drunk people around after dark is high risk, but is no longer high reward.
> 
> I used to make decent money working under 30 hours a week. Now I occasionally drive 60-70 hours to make ends meet.


Yes, and if you're attractive you'll get tips even. LOL.


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## DriverMark (Jan 22, 2018)

So, I have mixed feelings on it.

On the "Hate It" side...... Some events are just not worth it now. Where prior would score a huge multiplier surge after, like a concert. We have an amphitheater 20 minutes from downtown. Would go chill last 30 minutes of show knowing I'll get a 4x-7x surge after. Those days are gone. MIGHT get a $5-8 surge now and it's a mix bag if it will multiply out. I would rather stay downtown running rides there and it will most likely surge there once drivers start getting pulled to the amphitheater.

On the "Like It" side...... I like the Sticky part. If the surge goes away, I'm still going to snag a few bucks. And, I can snag the sticky if I'm giving a Lyft ride. Switch Uber to XL only and I'll most likely still have it when I drop the Lyft off. Other benefits as well.

And, there are still occasions you can get a multiplier on a surge. This bad boy for example from Sunday coming from airport:










In Salt Lake we see plenty of surge opportunities. Yesterday wasn't normal, but there are opportunities there if you work when they arise.















Lyft on the other hand, that surge sucks. And those I hardly see in SLC. So less Lyft, more Uber typically for me.


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## Amos69 (May 17, 2019)

Gryft's PPZ is generally a joke.

There is always a PPZ box 12 miles from me.


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## Syn (Jun 30, 2017)

DriverMark said:


> On the "Like It" side...... I like the Sticky part. If the surge goes away, I'm still going to snag a few bucks.


Judging from my experience with this type of surge since summer of 2018, if surge goes away and you have "sticky" surge then Uber will simply stop sending you new requests for a while. A lot of times I would be in "+$5 next ride", but after 20+ minutes of waiting I wouldn't get any requests. Then, if you log off and then on (so that +$5 goes away) - you will get a new request right away.


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## Amos69 (May 17, 2019)

Syn said:


> Judging from my experience with this type of surge since summer of 2018, if surge goes away and you have "sticky" surge then Uber will simply stop sending you new requests for a while. A lot of times I would be in "+$5 next ride", but after 20+ minutes of waiting I wouldn't get any requests. Then, if you log off and then on (so that +$5 goes away) - you will get a new request right away.


I have the opposite problem. I switch into XL only mode, and often cannot deploy the sticky because of to many requests long before I reach destination.


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## losiglow (Dec 4, 2018)

DriverMark said:


> So, I have mixed feelings on it.
> 
> On the "Hate It" side...... Some events are just not worth it now. Where prior would score a huge multiplier surge after, like a concert. We have an amphitheater 20 minutes from downtown. Would go chill last 30 minutes of show knowing I'll get a 4x-7x surge after. Those days are gone. MIGHT get a $5-8 surge now and it's a mix bag if it will multiply out. I would rather stay downtown running rides there and it will most likely surge there once drivers start getting pulled to the amphitheater.
> 
> ...


What he said ^

SLC is doing pretty well though. It's likely because there are so many employment opportunities, most of which are going to pay better than Uber, that there are less people driving Uber and more getting real jobs.


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## Da Ub (Oct 29, 2016)

Amos69 said:


> Not sure what your point is, but nothing is ever always anything.
> 
> The new flat rate surge program is not nearly as good as the old multiplier system. Goobers math challenged reasoning for making the change is just smoke. similar surge rides from before the change to the new setup brings a reduction of payment by 10/ 30% on surged runs.
> 
> ...


And the customer was charged 150 for that ride... you also got lucky they even gave you adjustment. Normally they don't


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## Amos69 (May 17, 2019)

Da Ub said:


> And the customer was charged 150 for that ride... you also got lucky they even gave you adjustment. Normally they don't


Normally they do. Yes when surge is fresh and active this happens to me all the time. When I roll into a surge zone that is already rotting it doesn't. Yes it is more confusing than the old multiplier. That rider paid $84.44 for that ride after tip. Goober received $13.53 and SeaTac received $6.33


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

In NY we lost the multiplier surge 9/16. Haven't logged on since. Like @UberchickATL I used to do 8pm to 4 am F and Sat for the surge multiplier. Hell no not doing that for base rates or a little flat surge. Done. Good Luck to the drunks at bar closing (4am in NY) trying to find enough Ants to soak up their puke, piss, and drunk ass behavior at base rates.


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## Omega 3 (Apr 4, 2019)

raisedoncereal said:


> Isn't this old news?


Not in my area


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## jlong105 (Sep 15, 2017)

UberchickATL said:


> Not only do we make much less, but surges are now rare. I used to work the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 5pm to 3am shift. The income was pretty good because it was almost a constant surge past 10. Now I rarely see more than a few small surges around 2am. Why work the bar closing shifts when I can make the same amount at 1pm as I make at 1am? Driving drunk people around after dark is high risk, but is no longer high reward.
> 
> I used to make decent money working under 30 hours a week. Now I occasionally drive 60-70 hours to make ends meet.


Not to mention they have tightened down on cleaning fees as well. The risk is no longer worth it here.


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## Poopy54 (Sep 6, 2016)

Amos69 said:


> Not sure what your point is, but nothing is ever always anything.
> 
> The new flat rate surge program is not nearly as good as the old multiplier system. Goobers math challenged reasoning for making the change is just smoke. similar surge rides from before the change to the new setup brings a reduction of payment by 10/ 30% on surged runs.
> 
> ...


$1.22 a mile?? that's Comfort....Shit that's double my X


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## BuberDriver (Feb 2, 2016)

flat rate sucks, period. I don't care if it's sticky, comfort, lux, or a fare adjustment has been added. It's nothing compared to the old rates and old surges

Salt Lake, like many other cities, is a scam on Uber...flew in there 2 years ago. $100 uber ride (surging at airport) or $50 Lyft ride. Guess which one I chose


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## Amos69 (May 17, 2019)

Poopy54 said:


> $1.22 a mile?? that's Comfort....Shit that's double my X


Yes when I discuss my numbers I almost always point out I am in Seattle market where we have yet to see the crippling rate cuts. Comfort pays 21 cents a mile/minute more than X here. Not inconsequential. I prefer the XL runs but.....


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## mrpjfresh (Aug 16, 2016)

Strange that it took so long for this virus to spread to New York and LA. But, the consensus is spot on. It has changed my strategy regarding higher risk times such as snow/ice and large events. The risk is still there but the reward is not, so my vehicle stays in the garage. Funny enough, the new surge purged many drivers (mainly long commuters) from my market to the point where riders can still find it hard to get a ride after bar close and you can always count on a reliable surge.

Along these lines, I think it really hurt the local Uber/Lyft car rental company. I think it is $55/65 now to rent an x and xl respectively plus gas and cleaning for a 12 hour shift. After the upfront surge, many of these cars go unrented as the numbers simply do not work except weekends maybe. One driver I drove home after his shift confessed as much.

Other random thoughts are that new surge is much easier to manipulate on Uber's end. I think they do cap it or suppress it, redistribute it to more drivers but keep a larger "rake". I believe this was ultimately the main idea behind it originally. Also, as mentioned, if you have a sticky surge, the surge disappears and along with the demand, I totally believe you get deprioritized. Uber prefers to issue money losing rides to _drivers_, not themselves naturally. Lastly, one of their big reasons for changing it (at least publicly) was because drivers complained of not being able to reach surge in time. It still fades and dies quickly and there is not really a noticeable difference to me except that you can now keep it. This, of course, leads to desperate ants "Mario Carting" and dangerously driving just to get a +$2. Pathetic. (Oh, and I remember reading here that in some markets the airport surges are not even "sticky" so really, what is the point?)

We all here know it was just to squeeze more money from the driver side as until recently, Uber's 55/70 cents per mile range was the lowest they thought drivers could tolerate. Of course Lyft had "grander" ideas...


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## SHalester (Aug 25, 2019)

hahahahaha what is a surge? OH, don't think I ever see those during 10am-1pm M-F shift I go online...... :roflmao:


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## pruagent98 (Oct 15, 2016)

Da Ub said:


> And the customer was charged 150 for that ride... you also got lucky they even gave you adjustment. Normally they don't


I feel that the new surge is the beginning to ending the surge !! Maybe we should all strike for the week-end If we unite maybe they will wise up !!


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## Hideyokidshideyowifebcuz (Apr 30, 2019)

It only works if you have a short ride. I was at the Hollywood bowl tonight and so many LA drivers took the bait. $6 on what used to be a 3.0 multiplier.

Let’s do the math because a lot of you realize you’re being bent over and banged without a condom. 

If the surge multiplier was 3.0 on a $20 normal fare trip, then you would get $60. But since you get the $6, you end up getting only $26. Uber gets to keeps $34. And you wait in traffic for 25 minutes to get the passenger. 

Makes no logical sense. The only way it’s worth it, is if the passenger requesting is 1-3 minutes away.


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