# Surge busted.



## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Follow me on Saturday night. I am the blue blip starting at the bottom of a 4xplus surge on the right. I drove right up the middle of it. Then I get to the top and get an almost 18 mile away non surge ping clear on the other side of KC. Any youtube makers feel free to use this image to call out Uber on my behalf as being the biggest loser ran company there is.


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## Bpr2 (Feb 21, 2017)

You left us hanging oh mighty one. Did you take the requests?


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

*NO!!!!*

The second one was tempting because that is where I was headed. But still too far away and could get canceled by the time I got there.


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## uberebu (Jan 13, 2017)

Here is a tip. Drivers have become like cannibals now that surge is pretty much gone to Florida with Travis. 

5* is your KEY. Especially if you are in the middle of a surge zone. ALWAYS avoid those. 

Only two people have 5* and only one of them is new to the platform. The ONLY others that have 5* are DRIVERS sitting in the middle of the surge zone with you attempting to thin the herd by sending you a ghost ping away from where the hot spot is. They add to the surge by opening the app. They add to demand by removing you from the equation and then cancel on you just before you arrive with a shiny new POOL request even further away before you can log off.

Screw other drivers while you still can. It's the new SURGE!!!

But by all means...If you are going to use your LYFT rider account, remember that it shows me your DRIVER profile picture. 

I guess if people won't collectively log off on their own other drivers will be more than willing to do it for them.

The requests you want to accept in that situation is the one with an odd number for a rating. Something like 4.76*. That means they're not a rookie. They've earned those stripes. And they will expect that there is going to be a wait if it's surging like that. I would have accepted that second ping and then called them. If they don't answer. Try once more. If no answer cancel. IF they answer just let them know what they already know and make sure they will wait for you. Those that answer are grateful because they are usually desperate.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Yes I should have accepted the 2nd one in hindsight. I ended up just staying offline and went home. I about called it a night, but I logged back on and ended up going out for the rest of the night. I was kind of pissed that I drove right through that surge and didn't get one hit, but you know I am kind of glad cause that is a crack head part of town and really don't want to work there much anyway. 

We don't have pool in KC. I agree on avoiding 5*, I do that especially if the ping is in a sketchy part of town. That 5* in my picture can be a pretty sketchy part of KC, I rarely end up there or go there at all. I have no idea what Uber was thinking in pairing me up with that rider, it was dumb and makes me know that their programmers are flunkies at best. The 4.76 2.1 surge was in a KC hot spot for the night, a beer fest lol. One of the reasons why I didn't accept it, I wasn't in the mood for beer'd up a holes at that point.


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## CvilleUber (Aug 29, 2016)

jfinks said:


> Follow me on Saturday night. I am the blue blip starting at the bottom of a 4xplus surge on the right. I drove right up the middle of it. Then I get to the top and get an almost 18 mile away non surge ping clear on the other side of KC. Any youtube makers feel free to use this image to call out Uber on my behalf as being the biggest loser ran company there is.


Why are we blaming Uber? The number of riders willing to pay surge prices is tiny. You got a request from 18 miles away because no other driver wanted it. Hell, the rider has probably been waiting 10 minutes to find a driver to take the ride (probably before the surge even started in his area).

The drivers are the one who request rides... and I for one, would not be requesting a ride in a surge - I would wait it out 99% of the time unless something catastrophic is going on.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

That's why drivers have to be disciplined and not take any riders after the surge has dissipated.


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## wb6vpm (Mar 27, 2016)

CvilleUber said:


> Why are we blaming Uber? The number of riders willing to pay surge prices is tiny. You got a request from 18 miles away because no other driver wanted it. Hell, the rider has probably been waiting 10 minutes to find a driver to take the ride (probably before the surge even started in his area).
> 
> The drivers are the one who request rides... and I for one, would not be requesting a ride in a surge - I would wait it out 99% of the time unless something catastrophic is going on.


Except that if the surge were real, shouldn't the driver in the MIDDLE of the heatmap be getting requests from inside the hotzone? I've seen this myself too many times to even count... I'll be right in the middle of a 3+ surge, get no pings for 5+ minutes, yet map keeps updating saying that surge is still going, and I'll get a ping way outside of the surge area.

I'm not buying what Uber is trying to sell me anymore, I've seen the fake surge maps too often...


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## CvilleUber (Aug 29, 2016)

Seriously, think about what I just wrote. If *I* am in the middle of that zone, *I* am going to wait the surge out. Most Uber riders have figured this out. 

The pings outside are the ones actually requesting rides. It's not Uber screwing anybody with surges - it's riders working the system to their favor - just like the drivers.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Yep pretty much, and the system looks at app activity and not just requests.

Still you would have thought with that high of surge for that long something would have popped up. Otherwise why even have it? I wasn't chasing surge or anything, I was near and was like I'm gonna drive right through this thing and see what happens, Nada. And F that rider on the other side of downtown KC too. lol I can't believe that even happened. I mean there had to be a closer driver than me.



CvilleUber said:


> Seriously, think about what I just wrote. If *I* am in the middle of that zone, *I* am going to wait the surge out. Most Uber riders have figured this out.
> 
> The pings outside are the ones actually requesting rides. It's not Uber screwing anybody with surges - it's riders working the system to their favor - just like the drivers.


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## CvilleUber (Aug 29, 2016)

You were probably the 10th person to pass on that rider - all wanting a big surge ride


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## Joseph Torti (May 18, 2017)

I tried something different last night. I was close to a surge in a part of Rhode Island that is not known for a lot of Uber Activity. I waited just outside the surge just parked. I figures the riders waiting bastard will be impatient and try to ping me. Nope after waiting 20 minutes and watching my rider app no other ants was chasing that surge it was 3 am during the middle of the week. The surge dried up. I end up getting a ping for a downtown providence hotel. Hoping it would be a Logan airport run. It was a green Airport run and he requested an XL Uber and he was only one rider. No more surge bull shit for this guy.


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## Delilah5 (Mar 20, 2017)

Bpr2 said:


> You left us hanging oh mighty one. Did you take the requests?


Now any cancellation after 2 min of request is charged a fee. $5 for X and $2 for pool


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## wb6vpm (Mar 27, 2016)

Delilah5 said:


> Now any cancellation after 2 min of request is charged a fee. $5 for X and $2 for pool


Any pax cancellation after 2 minutes, we still have to wait the 5 minutes.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

wb6vpm said:


> Any pax cancellation after 2 minutes, we still have to wait the 5 minutes.


Yes but after 2 min of waiting a wait fee starts.


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## Zuber7 (Jun 1, 2017)

Yup, this happens all the time. This surge was up to 3x but slowly started to dwindle. I got multiple ping way outside the area, mostly pool. Here is an example of one.


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## JJS (Jan 5, 2016)

If you are looking at an area and it surges apply common sense. What is there? Fish exist in water...Not all water supports fish....There maybe an oddball surge and Uber will spread drivers out luring them with surge like a pedophile uses candy. Don't take the candy know what is going on in the city watch the pax app. Depending on your market there area ware house parties and farmer filed bonfires. Remember the demographic you are working with. Where they sleep, eat and recreate. Don't be the prey....


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## freddieman (Oct 24, 2016)

JJS said:


> If you are looking at an area and it surges apply common sense. What is there? Fish exist in water...Not all water supports fish....There maybe an oddball surge and Uber will spread drivers out luring them with surge like a pedophile uses candy. Don't take the candy know what is going on in the city watch the pax app. Depending on your market there area ware house parties and farmer filed bonfires. Remember the demographic you are working with. Where they sleep, eat and recreate. Don't be the prey....


JJ.....Is candy the official bait for pedophiles?


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## Johnny Driver (Apr 30, 2017)

Surge in my area is almost always fake or a delayed reading. I have driven in surge areas and parked in them for up to an hour with no pings. I ignore them unless I am really close then I will at least drive through or to them. But at the same time I have received surge pricing when I was no where near a surge. Go figure.


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## TedInTampa (Apr 5, 2017)

With the new 2 minute rule, drivers trying to lure you away will fail. If you get a "long distance to pickup but it is surge" ping, call to let the pax know it will be about X minutes. That burns up a minute and resets the customer's thinking on time. If it is another driver, they then have less than a minute to cancel without a charge. They can't afford the $5 cancel fee just to move you.


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