# Can drivers force a surge?



## DieselkW (Jul 21, 2015)

I've been thinking about #uberstrike and wondering if it's possible for drivers to follow up on next weekend's nationwide strike and continue to put pressure on Uber long term. If Uber is going to treat drivers like a loyal little disposable ***** undeserving of tips for $0.70 a mile why be loyal to Uber?

What if all those drivers that strike - I don't know how many thousands - but what if....

We, all of us, shut our app off after reaching every pax destination for 15 minutes? Go to airplane mode, it will look to Uber like a tech problem. Or catch a rare and elusive Lyft ping. Either way, the whole "work when you want" ad campaign is not going to change, so let's work when it benefits us.

If enough of us did that would it trigger a surge? Passengers *HATE* surges. Drivers and Uber benefit from surges, but I think it's designed to get drivers to chase the surge to satisfy demand and help Uber appear to be the best choice in Rideshare.

What if surges became much more common? What if you had your Lyft referral code written on a couple dozen 4x6 cards to give to an Uber passenger caught in a surge? You get $10, and Uber loses a customer.

How could Uber continue to shit on us while bleeding market share if *we* are the reason for the erosion in market share?

Uber needs a formidable competitor. Let's give them one.


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## denverxdriver (Sep 26, 2015)

I agree 100% with your sediment. It's about educating the herd of drivers that don't understand basic business principals that will be the hurdle.


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

What do rocks and sand and executives have to do with anything?

Anyway, thanks for writing in. Happy to help.

The only way to manipulate a surge is by removing available drivers out of an area where high demand is expected. Surge is based on historical demand adjusted to current weather, activities and available cars.

Sorry Denver. Didn't mean to take away from your sentiment. It was the principle of the thing.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

Yeah, I find that drivers here are not to bright, guess they are new, bless their hearts. 

At 1:50AM, just before the bars close they are sitting downtown waiting for a 1X call. at 1:55 they are all gone and suddenly the surge is on. Same thing with events, they are sitting outside of the event, online, waiting for it to be over, that's just dumb. So if we can't wisen them up to the simple things, how are we going to get them to act in an organized fashion. 

I could bring Uber to it's knees very quickly if I could coordinate the efforts of all the drivers in an area but that's hard since we don't have an effective way to communicate with each other. If we all just went offline and looked at the passenger app till the surge hit 2.5 or 3 and then all went online to take the rides ... Uber would need to deal with it quickly or lose a lot of riders with a bad taste in their mouth.


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

Disgusted Driver said:


> If we all just went offline and looked at the passenger app till the surge hit 2.5 or 3 and then all went online to take the rides ...


First couple drivers, maybe. But the surge would end just about as soon as you all turn on your app. Maybe have a 2 minute window there.


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## denverxdriver (Sep 26, 2015)

We need someone to code a driver communication app or use an app that already allows this. Then we need to blast messages to drivers during these times. Yes, if drivers coordinated what a great world it would be. If only we had all the drivers phone numbers like uber does. Would be great if there was a way to get them all.


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## Bill Wirth (Jan 1, 2015)

This is the real way to deal with uber and these low rates!


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## DMV guy (Oct 8, 2015)

How long is strike suppose to be?


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

October 16th to 18th


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## RideShareStrategy (Dec 5, 2015)

I don't think agreeing with his sediment is a good idea..haha.

You have it on the head, although the more drivers only drive during surge and actively participate in Lyft, uber will get the hint.

.70 doesn't cut it.


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## kingdog (Nov 30, 2015)

what if uber drivers spread the word to download a proximity based messaging app? there are a few available if you search 'proximity messenger' in the app store, but i've heard good things about tinyshout. hypothetically if all drivers had it and we were all lurking outside some event, we could communicate to all go offline and watch the rider app until it surges and then go back on simultaneously and possibly manipulate a good surge.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

kingdog said:


> what if uber drivers spread the word to download a proximity based messaging app? there are a few available if you search 'proximity messenger' in the app store, but i've heard good things about tinyshout. hypothetically if all drivers had it and we were all lurking outside some event, we could communicate to all go offline and watch the rider app until it surges and then go back on simultaneously and possibly manipulate a good surge.


The problem with that is that there are so many drivers and few if any good ways to communicate with them. If we assume that the 375K drivers in USA is correct, it works out to more than 1 per 1000 people. SO it's likely there are somewhere between 500 and 700 drivers just from Oakland, never mind the rest of the Bay area. How are you going to reach enough to have an effect? If you could, why not go for the brass ring and organize a one day strike to send a real message.


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## kingdog (Nov 30, 2015)

valid point, and the biggest obstacle to this ever working. it would need to be a slow build. make sure every driver forum has the knowledge about which app to DL, make sure every time a driver takes a ride as a pax they inform the driver, etc. slow word of mouth :/ yeah, seems hopeless.


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## melxjr (Sep 10, 2015)

An Uber strike app with all the tools needed, someone get on it. Great to get the word out to masses.


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