# how does surge work??



## evboy (Nov 12, 2014)

Do surge rates only happen when there is a big event in town or is it always when there are less drivers than riders. I like working from 8 pm to 4 am. Will i get surges at 2 am just because there are less people that want to drive at that time. also, does uber send u a notification on your smartphone that the surge is on.


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## UBERxGc (Feb 8, 2015)

It's basically a ratio of riders online to drivers online. At least, that's how i understand it.

No notification. But you can use the rider app to check the surge. If every driver goes online on the driver app only to check surges, it makes surges less likely to occur.


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## Casuale Haberdasher (Dec 7, 2014)

evboy said:


> Do surge rates only happen when there is a big event in town or is it always when there are less drivers than riders. I like working from 8 pm to 4 am. Will i get surges at 2 am just because there are less people that want to drive at that time. also, does uber send u a notification on your smartphone that the surge is on.


POST # 1 /@evboy : Befuddled Bison won-
ders WHEN
You plan on #[F]Ubering in Las Vegas?
Isn't the Silver State "Dark Territory"?


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## Jim Campbell (Mar 27, 2015)

What Surge? Driving in downtown Chicago during the rush last evening I was pinged three times in a 1.5 red area on the map. Looked on the website later and not a nickel of Surge pay. Whats up with that?


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## Casandria (Dec 20, 2014)

Unless the ping shows it is a surge fare, then it isn't. I've had pings from areas that are surging that somehow manage to escape the surge so unless surge is reflected in the ping, it isn't guaranteed.

As for how surge works, I think it's ratio of riders looking at the app vs number of drivers in the area. We all know how quickly surge can disappear and that you can drive right through a surge area and not get a single ping so it can't just be riders requesting, they have to be just looking at the app and thinking about requesting and then of course, many will wait for the surge to end and then request. Sigh.


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## Jim Campbell (Mar 27, 2015)

Thanks Casandria, I didn't know the surge would show up in the ping before I even accept the ride.


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