# LMAO - I'm right in the middle of 3.4X Surge and



## McGillicutty (Jan 12, 2015)

I'm right in the middle of a 3.4X surge and I get a ping from 18 minutes away with ZERO surge. Then they did it again! The surge for my area is uncommon but the ping distance has become common. This company is literally trying to FORCE drivers to increase costs while decreasing revenue. As Djjjjockstrap repeated over and over again, Uber gives zero sh* about drivers so how can they expect anything else in return?


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## Raider (Jul 25, 2014)

Happens all the time, i just ignore those calls..or accept then cancel, it's stupidly ******ed


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## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

Ignore those pings.

I know the motivation to accept it and do it is the fear is you'll be deactivated if you don't and lose your income. But if you did this job the way Uber wants you to do this job, it's not worth it financially to the driver anyways. 

Over time, most drivers will make below minimum wage and maybe even lose money accepting trips that far away at the low rates, even despite some of those requests being nice $30+ fares. It's about the overall average, and not anecdotal examples of limited successes. 

Your city needs to be above $1.75 or so per mile for it to be more than a minimum wage job over the long term taking those far away request.


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## mizzrock (Jan 3, 2015)

McGillicutty said:


> I'm right in the middle of a 3.4X surge and I get a ping from 18 minutes away with ZERO surge. Then they did it again! The surge for my area is uncommon but the ping distance has become common. This company is literally trying to FORCE drivers to increase costs while decreasing revenue. As Djjjjockstrap repeated over and over again, Uber gives zero sh* about drivers so how can they expect anything else in return?


I've been in that situation ALL week. I know where the surge shows up at!! I sit in it then turn on app, I get rides OUTSIDE the zone at least 10min away. It didn't used to be like this. I could actually get a ping INSIDE the surge. I don't understand..


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

mizzrock said:


> I've been in that situation ALL week. I know where the surge shows up at!! I sit in it then turn on app, I get rides OUTSIDE the zone at least 10min away. It didn't used to be like this. I could actually get a ping INSIDE the surge. I don't understand..


Happens to me in houston sometimes. It's almost like uber is testing you. If I ignore or cancel the first two the third is usually a surge fare. Just have to be patient and not panic. I often have sat in a surge the entire time though and got no pings at all.


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## mizzrock (Jan 3, 2015)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> Happens to me in houston sometimes. It's almost like uber is testing you. If I ignore or cancel the first two the third is usually a surge fare. Just have to be patient and not panic. I often have sat in a surge the entire time though and got no pings at all.


Word on the street is surge is just people signed into the app NOT active requests..


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

mizzrock said:


> Word on the street is surge is just people signed into the app NOT active requests..


Right. And it's surging because they're all waiting for the surge to end. So if they give up and call a cab or drive home drunk we lose 'em.


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## mizzrock (Jan 3, 2015)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> Right. And it's surging because they're all waiting for the surge to end. So if they give up and call a cab or drive home drunk we lose 'em.


And I often see it go away in a instant then come back! Like losers you're ALL timing it wrong!


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

mizzrock said:


> And I often see it go away in a instant then come back! Like losers you're ALL timing it wrong!


I'm sitting in an area that regularly surges. Offline. It surges to 1.4x. I wait. Goes to 2x. I go online. How is that timing it wrong? Assuming 2x surge us my minimum to make it worthwhile?

What would you do different?


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## McGillicutty (Jan 12, 2015)

mizzrock said:


> Word on the street is surge is just people signed into the app NOT active requests..


But they are using pax sign-in as an indicator of demand. Uber's intent by showing it on the driver app is primarily to capitalize off increased pax demand by incentivising drivers to move to that area . The surge lowering is just a function of equilibrium and a secondary reason. There's no reason to tell drivers where to go if you are not going to ping them from that area.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

I never drive into surge area. If surge is real, I will get a request while I am way out of it. Earlier, when I was new, I had the tendency to drive into surge areas only to see them change color immediately as I entered them. 

Surge is a trap! Uber can send a request from 15-20 minutes away. If surge is real and you are out of the surge zone by few minutes, you should still get some pings. But it never happens. Surge is a trap. cheap Uber riders can wait for surge to end, the app is letting them do it. 

I think best thing to do is to get away and out of surge areas as they are trap. This will increase the wait time and some pax will start riding surge fares. Uber can easily ping far away drivers. Until I get a real request, the hint that there might be many surge rides in the zone is another way Uber lies to us to run around and waste resources like fools.


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## mizzrock (Jan 3, 2015)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> I'm sitting in an area that regularly surges. Offline. It surges to 1.4x. I wait. Goes to 2x. I go online. How is that timing it wrong? Assuming 2x surge us my minimum to make it worthwhile?
> 
> What would you do different?


Sorry that was indicated for pax. If pax ALL sign on at same time and surge kicks in and they wait it out and surge goes away then they get back on then surge COMES BACK! I'm calling the pax losers! But not seriously.


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## mizzrock (Jan 3, 2015)

UberXTampa said:


> I never drive into surge area. If surge is real, I will get a request while I am way out of it. Earlier, when I was new, I had the tendency to drive into surge areas only to see them change color immediately as I entered them.
> 
> Surge is a trap! Uber can send a request from 15-20 minutes away. If surge is real and you are out of the surge zone by few minutes, you should still get some pings. But it never happens. Surge is a trap. cheap Uber riders can wait for surge to end, the app is letting them do it.
> 
> I think best thing to do is to get away and out of surge areas as they are trap. This will increase the wait time and some pax will start riding surge fares. Uber can easily ping far away drivers. Until I get a real request, the hint that there might be many surge rides in the zone is another way Uber lies to us to run around and waste resources like fools.


Well for me to maximize profits I atleast go towards residential areas in weekday morning and towards downtown in evening and not necessarily chasing but being smart about it. I do agree that surge in itself is a trap. I've often sat in zones with no ping but getting pings 12min away.


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## Goober (Oct 16, 2014)

Does anyone have a skipped ping hit their phone immediately after ignoring, so that it seems like you got pinged twice, but the 2nd ping only lasts a few seconds? It seems like an Uber tactic to freak out drivers in accepting it over their acceptance rates...

Surges did used to get you pinged from a distance, but now there are more drivers and typically a lot of cars in a surging area.

A low surge that you enter will probably change color as you drive into it...I try to go offline and go online once inside a surge area once I predict the price has peaked....the rates last for 2 minutes before changing


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## DukeOfDallas (Jan 18, 2015)

Same here. I have been out countless times in surge and NEVER get surge pay. It is a scam.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Goober said:


> Does anyone have a skipped ping hit their phone immediately after ignoring, so that it seems like you got pinged twice, but the 2nd ping only lasts a few seconds? It seems like an Uber tactic to freak out drivers in accepting it over their acceptance rates...


Yeah, that shit started right after the last rate cut. Back to back non-stop pings from same pax. Double count on non-acceptance.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

McGillicutty said:


> I'm right in the middle of a 3.4X surge and I get a ping from 18 minutes away with ZERO surge. Then they did it again! The surge for my area is uncommon but the ping distance has become common. This company is literally trying to FORCE drivers to increase costs while decreasing revenue. As Djjjjockstrap repeated over and over again, Uber gives zero sh* about drivers so how can they expect anything else in return?


Better to figure it out early rather than take the harder real math lessons.

UBER OFF!


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## Pedruber (Jan 8, 2015)

scrurbscrud said:


> Yeah, that shit started right after the last rate cut. Back to back non-stop pings from same pax. Double count on non-acceptance.


so what you are saying is that back to back pings from the same pax did not use to occur? i see it often these days and i don't flinch, i'm in a surge zone and not moving unless i get a live one. surge is definitely manipulated. this am a woke up to a 4.3 at 650am, proceed to get up and 15 minutes later ended up going offline once it got down to 1.5 or so w/o a ping. About an hour later while still at home, hooked a 2.8 a couple blocks away, took her to the airport and 38 bux later came back home to refill my coffee before going to work. I'm enjoying this actually, it's kinda fun once you learn to milk it...Going fishin in another hour or so again, always hoping for that trophy ping LOL.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Pedruber said:


> so what you are saying is that back to back pings from the same pax did not use to occur?


Never used to happen. No. Not like they do now. I think Uber does it to run the numbers up on non-acceptance.



> i see it often these days and i don't flinch, i'm in a surge zone and not moving unless i get a live one. surge is definitely manipulated. this am a woke up to a 4.3 at 650am, proceed to get up and 15 minutes later ended up going offline once it got down to 1.5 or so w/o a ping. About an hour later while still at home, hooked a 2.8 a couple blocks away, took her to the airport and 38 bux later came back home to refill my coffee before going to work. I'm enjoying this actually, it's kinda fun once you learn to milk it...Going fishin in another hour or so again, always hoping for that trophy ping LOL.


Good to maximize the dollar/mile quotient any way you can.


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## Goober (Oct 16, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> Never used to happen. No. Not like they do now. I think Uber does it to run the numbers up on non-acceptance.
> 
> Good to maximize the dollar/mile quotient any way you can.


Yeah, it seems like a ploy to get drivers to accept the ping out of acceptance rate fears...the 2nd ping doesn't last very long, maybe 5 or 6 seconds.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Goober said:


> Yeah, it seems like a ploy to get drivers to accept the ping out of acceptance rate fears...the 2nd ping doesn't last very long, maybe 5 or 6 seconds.


Yeah, with no opportunity to app off in between pings. It really pisses me off.


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## Goober (Oct 16, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> Yeah, with no opportunity to app off in between pings. It really pisses me off.


worst is trying to click "Go Offline" and accepting the 4.2 rated ****er who is 9 minutes away


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Goober said:


> worst is trying to click "Go Offline" and accepting the 4.2 rated ****er who is 9 minutes away


I just had to quit using the Uber platform for the most part. Totally a money loser for me forced to do X with an XL for less than a buck a mile. **** them.


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## Pedruber (Jan 8, 2015)

scrurbscrud said:


> I just had to quit using the Uber platform for the most part. Totally a money loser for me forced to do X with an XL for less than a buck a mile. **** them.


doesn't work that way any more as i understand it; you can just do xl if you want is my understanding


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Pedruber said:


> doesn't work that way any more as i understand it; you can just do xl if you want is my understanding


It varies from Uber region to Uber region. In many areas they don't allow it, such as in mine, and with many others too.


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## Pedruber (Jan 8, 2015)

oh i see, here they recently fixed that issue; u can choose which u want to go online with, one or the other or both


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Pedruber said:


> oh i see, here they recently fixed that issue; u can choose which u want to go online with, one or the other or both


I keep checking back with them but they really don't seem to give a shit here, which doesn't surprise me whatsoever. There seems to be plenty of stupid ass XL drivers around willing to drive at 90 cents a mile so why should they change it?


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## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> I keep checking back with them but they really don't seem to give a shit here, which doesn't surprise me whatsoever. There seems to be plenty of stupid ass XL drivers around willing to drive at 90 cents a mile so why should they change it?


I keep checking back as well. My experience is the same as yours, except I want to be Select only.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

UberHammer said:


> I keep checking back as well. My experience is the same as yours, except I want to be Select only.


If Uber doesn't give a ****, then I don't either. I don't need to drive for them or anybody else.


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## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> If Uber doesn't give a ****, then I don't either. I don't need to drive for them or anybody else.


I agree. It was fun.... before they expected it to be done as charity.


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## TimFromMA (Mar 4, 2015)

I was in the midde of a 2.7x surge area this morning. The surge dropped out seconds before I got a ping from a couple of streets over.


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## OCBob (Jan 20, 2015)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> Right. And it's surging because they're all waiting for the surge to end. So if they give up and call a cab or drive home drunk we lose 'em.


If they are waiting for the surge to end then good riddance! Why take a rider at $.90? I want the rider that just wants to get home and understands the surge is in effect and I get them at 2x or higher. Those that wait are not going to tip (not that many do anyways) and they are taking you out of the surge area most likely.


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## Luis_NJ1214 (Apr 1, 2015)

DukeOfDallas said:


> Same here. I have been out countless times in surge and NEVER get surge pay. It is a scam.


It's not a scam. You just have to be lucky last night I was in a huge surge area and kept getting surge pings. I was like a kid in a candy store. Last Thursday night the same. If you go out late at night especially on the weekends you can make good money. This is not rocket science.


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## DrJeecheroo (Feb 12, 2015)

Luis_NJ1214 said:


> It's not a scam. You just have to be lucky last night I was in a huge surge area and kept getting surge pings. I was like a kid in a candy store. Last Thursday night the same. If you go out late at night especially on the weekends you can make good money. This is not rocket science.


No, its UBER science!!!


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## DrJeecheroo (Feb 12, 2015)

scrurbscrud said:


> If Uber doesn't give a ****, then I don't either. I don't need to drive for them or anybody else.


Man, where is the scrurbscud. We need you!


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