# Three things drivers can do to throw a monkey wrench in Uber's new surge plan.



## Mitre Box (Aug 9, 2018)

1. Accept the surge, wait a few minutes then cancel. Pax will soon realize they're paying the same 2-3 x's surge yet can't get a ride at any price. Drivers need to make Uber unreliable, without drivers there is no Uber.

2. Call your local politicians, local media, regulators and explain exactly what Uber is doing: charging the same surge fees to customers while cutting out the driver and pocketing the surge for themselves. Taxis can't raise fares just because they want to go public, so why can Uber? The only way this new surge plan works is if Uber is allowed to hire unlimited drivers. NY was the first to call bs on Uber for flooding the market, but they won't be the last.

3. Lyft. If Lyft doesn't follow suit, turn off Uber and just drive Lyft. This new surge is a risky move on Uber's part and shows just how desperate they are. Nothing has changed under Dara, in fact, it's gotten worse. Overheard at Uber board meeting: "we'll never get away with this." "Probably not, but what choice do we have?"

Uber has had to increase surge as high as 8x's to meet demand. By eliminating surge Uber just eliminated a valuable tool to keep Uber reliable. With drivers help this new surge becomes a train wreck. The delete Uber campaign was a PR disaster for Uber and in that case Uber did nothing wrong. In this case, however, the new surge plan is borderline criminal and could be ruinous for Uber.


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## hulksmash (Apr 26, 2016)

Why don’t you just not accept the ride in the first place? Accepting and cancelling just puts you at risk for deactivation and puts the blame on the driver. Non acceptance puts the blame on Uber

As soon as they are called out by the media Uber will just show trips where the driver made +$20 on a 2 mile ride and where Uber lost money. Only problem is that those high surges will only exist in the beginning of new surge for each market. If the trend in other cities follow, surge will be good initially then go to something like $3 for 2am bar close. They’ll distort the story by only showing the good.

Lyft will be a good option initially until they decide to copy Uber just like in everything else. They will copy Uber because they think Uber is a genius or because they will face pressure from Uber to copy their model so they dont poach all the drivers away. Even if this doesn’t happen Lyft will continue to suppress PT so they will only offer bs 50% PT at busy times so they can offer lower rates to pax.


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

The only way this works for Uber is if Lyft is right behind Uber when implementing this. I'm still waiting to see how long til Lyft implements this in Boston, if they haven't yet.

This is key. Like you said, all drivers need to do is to drive for Lyft when it's surging and make sure to tell pax when doing any rides of what Uber is doing so they know they can use Lyft when in a busy area during busy times so that they can get a ride and so drivers actually get paid fairly. But when Lyft starts doing it too then I'm not sure what drivers can do outside of organizing an app off campaign using this site to get people to pledge to not drive during certain events in each individual market.

What I was hoping to do is to start threads before major events in Boston and get drivers to pledge not to drive during them when Lyft starting doing this too so that Uber and Lyft will suffer, and the media gets a whiff of it and it becomes so crazy that they will create news stories of it.

Then perhaps the FTC and/or Justice Department starts a probe into their anti-trust operations. We know that there is no competition and what Uber and Lyft are doing is against the law. They are essentially a monopoly together.


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## dryverjohn (Jun 3, 2018)

I would add that you need to try and figure out how to make uber lose on every surge. I have been pretty successful at doing just that. It really is all about money, so if they are losing more with flat rate, they may have to go back.


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## Rainbows&unicorns (Mar 2, 2018)

dryverjohn said:


> I would add that you need to try and figure out how to make uber lose on every surge. I have been pretty successful at doing just that. It really is all about money, so if they are losing more with flat rate, they may have to go back.


UberEATS?!? Nice! Have been sooo on the fence about eats or even opting in. How's the surge?!


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## IthurstwhenIP (Jan 12, 2018)

To public drivers are just a bunch of vomit fraud ... long haul..... shuffle thieves

Good luck trying to explain what basically sounds like crying for a raise to the public.

Have you ever heard
Hate the tow truck co but support their drivers?
Hate the cable co but love my installer?
Hate the Yankees but root for all their players?

Uber and drivers same same


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## heynow321 (Sep 3, 2015)

IthurstwhenIP said:


> To public drivers are just a bunch of vomit fraud ... long haul..... shuffle thieves
> 
> Good luck trying to explain what basically sounds like crying for a raise to the public.
> 
> ...


Sad but true. The public really couldn't care less about this


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## LoveBC (May 16, 2017)

heynow321 said:


> Sad but true. The public really couldn't care less about this


The public's reply:

"So why do you drive for uber if you hate it so much?"

The public doesn't care! An ant will eventually pick them up for $2


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## Jaxsteel8 (Aug 9, 2018)

Mitre Box said:


> 1. Accept the surge, wait a few minutes then cancel. Pax will soon realize they're paying the same 2-3 x's surge yet can't get a ride at any price. Drivers need to make Uber unreliable, without drivers there is no Uber.
> 
> 2. Call your local politicians, local media, regulators and explain exactly what Uber is doing: charging the same surge fees to customers while cutting out the driver and pocketing the surge for themselves. Taxis can't raise fares just because they want to go public, so why can Uber? The only way this new surge plan works is if Uber is allowed to hire unlimited drivers. NY was the first to call bs on Uber for flooding the market, but they won't be the last.
> 
> ...


Let's go public to news papers and news channels., iam down to it.


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## Dredrummond (Jun 17, 2016)

Lyft is doing the same thing


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## pegasimotors (Apr 13, 2017)

Uber will get away with anything that doesn't ruin the company's name/image to riders any further. Drivers are replaceable. 
If you don't participate in the new surge, guess what? dumbass ants will. 
Uber only cares about it's ants. The new surge was designed for the ants. Every change they claim is for the drivers is for the majority of the drivers, the ants. 

Unless we figure out a way to eliminate the ants. it's over. it's been over for years anyway.


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## Angela Cheeseman (Mar 22, 2018)

they are just taking cabs now. I had to cancel at least 10 rides last night at a college football game. There wasn't even a surge but since I was stuck in traffic, I just tried to get something (#ant.hole) but it was impossible to get to anyone. One person told me she was just going to take a cab. Cabs do a wonderful job of stopping up traffic and placing themselves in the perfect positions at the perfect times.

Pax r idiots. Complaining, "ive been waiting 15 minutes for a ride" Um hello, can you see? No one is moving!

Me: No I cannot get to the right lane it would be easier for you to walk to my car.
Paxhole: I am not walking thru a lane of traffic, that's dangerous.
Um hello? Can you see? NO ONE IS MOVING!!

Paxhole in parking lot wants me to drive in there but all the entrances are now exits. #paxhole.

If i was graded last night for my behavior with no paxhole in the car I think I would be arrested right now  Yesterday was a rough driving day for me. I gave the finger at least 25 times and honked my horn so much it stopped honking. We won't talk about the cursing.  Ended up being a pleasant evening. I made my way back to my fav spots and did my thing peacefully 

If rideshare driving doesn't make me a homicidal maniac, nothing will.

Wtf is it when they cant find your car and want to know exactly where you are. Um, look at the app and walk to where my car is on the app. #stupid.paxhole.

There is a difference between ants and drivers that are smart and strategic. When I'm desperate, I act like an ant, when I'm not I'm strategic. We are not all ants all the time.


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## jaaadee (Oct 12, 2018)

dryverjohn said:


> I would add that you need to try and figure out how to make uber lose on every surge. I have been pretty successful at doing just that. It really is all about money, so if they are losing more with flat rate, they may have to go back.


I am. Driver in Westchester County NY. They r lighting up the screen 2 and even 2/12 x surge u can be right in the middle of it and never get a surge price . Then when it gets really busy at certain time they already have all the cars on location so the the surge disappears , meanwhile I have been there the entire time and never offered anything but the reg rate


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## dryverjohn (Jun 3, 2018)

Uber is doing that with the new app. You have to shut down the app completely, even turn off your phone and log back in. The surge lingers on the screen, when in reality it is already gone. I am an Android user and pickup where the surge is a minute or 2 before it shows on the screen and am alerted about 1-2 minutes ahead of time if it is increasing or decreasing. It feels like cheating, but I gladly pay for that app as I always max out when I am in a surge zone. It's called Dynamik, only Android I believe.


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## Robert Boyer (Nov 8, 2018)

dryverjohn said:


> I would add that you need to try and figure out how to make uber lose on every surge. I have been pretty successful at doing just that. It really is all about money, so if they are losing more with flat rate, they may have to go back.


Share your secret please


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## dryverjohn (Jun 3, 2018)

Robert Boyer said:


> Share your secret please


You can't do it all the time, but when you see a huge surge bubble. Drive in, turn on ubereats and turn off uberx. Find a mcdonalds or something similar and repeat.


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## Robert Boyer (Nov 8, 2018)

dryverjohn said:


> You can't do it all the time, but when you see a huge surge bubble. Drive in, turn on ubereats and turn off uberx. Find a mcdonalds or something similar and repeat.


Thanks, ill try it tonight


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