# surge "color" debunked



## azndriver87 (Mar 23, 2015)

this was at 3 in the morning. So I was at Howard county in Maryland,

I was in Columbia, a city in Howard County, After sitting around 10 minutes, the area turned "orange." I turned on my passenger app and realized I am the only uberxl driver in the county, if the demand increased, i'd be getting a request.

10 minutes later, the "orange" disappeared.

This got me confused. If I was the only driver, and the demand increased to orange, then how come I didn't receive any request and it went away??

Apparently Columbia City is their own "surge" zone in Howard County. Rest of the county is another surge zone. I was sitting Columbia, while there was no other uberxl in Howard County Surge Zone. Therefore it went to orange, *not because there was increase in demand of request, it was because there were no cars and uber wanted to attract more cars to the area. *


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## BrianD199 (Nov 4, 2014)

Correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't uberXL surge follow UberX demand? so the orange demand is misleading at times or very for UberXL


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## Bart McCoy (Nov 4, 2014)

Yeah if you do x and XL then the color change could be for x


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## azndriver87 (Mar 23, 2015)

i was on uberxl only.


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## Honkadonk (Jul 20, 2015)

I see zones light up yellow or orange all the time. They almost never surge after. Even the surge zones don't provide pings for me very often... Just kinda hang there waiting while declining tons of pings from other areas outside of surge. Then surge ends and no pings from anywhere at all.


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## Oc_DriverX (Apr 29, 2014)

azndriver87 said:


> this was at 3 in the morning. So I was at Howard county in Maryland,
> 
> I was in Columbia, a city in Howard County, After sitting around 10 minutes, the area turned "orange." I turned on my passenger app and realized I am the only uberxl driver in the county, if the demand increased, i'd be getting a request.
> 
> ...


I don't see anything in this post regarding debunking a color.

I believe that the surge formula uses the number of passenger apps open as a factor, not just actual ride requests. Perhaps someone (or more than one) person had the app open and then decided to close it.


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## Roosby (Sep 17, 2014)

azndriver87 said:


> this was at 3 in the morning. So I was at Howard county in Maryland,
> 
> I was in Columbia, a city in Howard County, After sitting around 10 minutes, the area turned "orange." I turned on my passenger app and realized I am the only uberxl driver in the county, if the demand increased, i'd be getting a request.
> 
> ...


The real surge is in the rider App. To find out where the surge is download the rider App and point to the different area. Anytime you open the driver App you are killing the surge. Surge is based on more rider request than driver available


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## Uber Kraus (Jun 10, 2015)

In my experience when I am the only car on the road it never surges...


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## azndriver87 (Mar 23, 2015)

Roosby said:


> The real surge is in the rider App. To find out where the surge is download the rider App and point to the different area. Anytime you open the driver App you are killing the surge. Surge is based on more rider request than driver available


the yellow/orange color is not a surge, it's a demand/supply ratio. usually orange means higher demand in the area.

I proof this was not the case.


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## azndriver87 (Mar 23, 2015)

i was in columbia, so it turned white, rest of howard county turned orange, however, not a single request.

I looked at my rider app, there was not a single uberxl car in this area, there was a lot of uberx cars.

any one who drives for uberxl (uberxl only) knows uberx and xl has different surge zones.


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## Roosby (Sep 17, 2014)

azndriver87 said:


> the yellow/orange color is not a surge, it's a demand/supply ratio. usually orange means higher demand in the area.
> 
> I proof this was not the case.


Yes. Yellow and orange just means higher demand. Surge price in an area on the driver App is RED. That's why you can still get a non surge ride even if you are in a surge area.


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## Uberest (Jul 29, 2015)

I believe UBER uses the surge as predictive...i.e., based on a **history** of supply/demand -- not actual to the moment supply and demand, except that the surge can be "satisfied" if drivers turn on their app in the surge area. I believe UBER does this to moderate supply and demand and avoid rider disatisfaction with the service responsiveness. 

The most often complaint on this forum is "I am in the surge area but no pings!!!!" Well, the reason for that is that the surge is predictive....for example, perhaps the history of the Columbia area you were in is that there were N rider requests in that time period, on average. That doesn't mean there will be a ping NOW. The surge colors are predictive and manipulative designed to advance and pro-actively moderate demand......only Uber knows whether this "works" or not. 

Just my opinion and other views/opinions are very very welcome. I haven't myself driven to a surge area to see what happens yet.


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## azndriver87 (Mar 23, 2015)

Roosby said:


> Yes. Yellow and orange just means higher demand. Surge price in an area on the driver App is RED. That's why you can still get a non surge ride even if you are in a surge area.


yes that's what i thought but I was the only person in the county, "higher demand" and i still didn't receive a single request.


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## azndriver87 (Mar 23, 2015)

once again, so every night after 10pm, silver spring in MD will have "orange" and so will bethesda, MD.

however Silver Spring in MD is always a dead city after 10pm. no one will request a uberxl ride.

I took a screen shot that that area went to orange, there was no other uberxl cars in the area. I was the only one within 5 mile radius (Silver Spring is 3 mile radius city) and I was at the edge/outside of the city.

If there's a demand in uberxl requests, I would be the one getting the request because I'm the closest one to the city. However, as soon as I enter the area, right away, the orange is gone. I sat around for 1 hour (got my laptop and dvd-movie with me). as soon as I left, the orange came back on again.


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