# Why does this trip not qualify as a surge? New driver, honest question



## Mr. 5⭐ (Jan 28, 2018)

I have been driving for about 2 weeks and more than once I thought I was in a surge area but wasn't paid a surge. I've heard of people having a similar issue so they screen shot it. I happened to be in an area that I understand was a surge since it was in the orange polygons. I happened to screen shot my location seconds before getting a ping. I also screen shot the request but it wasn't surging. I sent both pics to Uber and they said I wasn't in a surge zone. Am I misunderstanding something? You can see from the two pics that I was in the exact same location at exactly 11:11 pm in an orange area. Why is this not evidence that it should have been surging? It should have been a 1.3x I think.

I mean it wouldn't have changed much, I accepted it knowing it wasn't a surge when it came through and it would have only been a couple extra bucks but I'm just confused about why it wasn't is all. It was literally orange as I watched the ping come through.


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## Phantomshark (Jan 21, 2018)

With Uber it’s not whether you were in the surge zone, it’s whether the pax was in the surge zone. With Lyft, if they are running their power zone bonus, you get the bonus if you OR the pax are in the zone at the time of the ping.


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## Mr. 5⭐ (Jan 28, 2018)

Oh, that's not what I thought. I guess that makes sense just not what I was led to believe. Is that how boost works as well? That sort of leaves the driver on the dark relying on luck and hoping for uber's honesty and discretion to a point.


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## Phantomshark (Jan 21, 2018)

Mr. 5⭐ said:


> Oh, that's not what I thought. I guess that makes sense just not what I was led to believe. Is that how boost works as well? That sort of leaves the driver on the dark relying on luck and hoping for uber's honesty and discretion to a point.


Cant help you there, I have no idea what boost is. Must be something they don't have in the Jacksonville market, I only ever see surges down here


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## Julescase (Mar 29, 2017)

When a request comes through, it will include the surge amount of the trip, if any. After you ACCEPT the trip, tap on the upper right hand corner of your phone's screen (on the three small parallel bars) to see your trip details. It will include your pax name, pickup location, their rating, and the surge amount. TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF THIS PAGE FOR EVERY TRIP YOU DO. That way you'll have the proof of a surge being part of the equation in the event that Uber tries to screw you out of a surge payment. After each shift or at the end of the week, go through and double check your trip log against your screenshots to make sure every ride is accounted for.

As Phantomshark said, the _pax_ needs to be in the surge zone; it doesn't matter where you are located. From the screenshots you provided, it shows the pax is located 7 miles (and 9 minutes) away from where you are, so they're far outside of the surge zone.

Good luck! It will become second nature to train yourself against Uber trickery and how to prevent falling into many of Uber's driving traps. One thing I cannot stress enough: SCREENSHOTS SCREENSHOTS SCREENSHOTS!! When you've waited 5 minutes at a pickup location and the red "Cancel- Rider no-show" box pops up before you cancel as "Rider no-show" -ALWAYS TAKE A SCREENSHOT. Often Uber will try to get away with not paying your $3.75 cancellation fee so having a screenshot of the cancellation screen will cover your butt.



Mr. 5⭐ said:


> Oh, that's not what I thought. I guess that makes sense just not what I was led to believe. Is that how boost works as well? That sort of leaves the driver on the dark relying on luck and hoping for uber's honesty and discretion to a point.


Exactly- same goes for boost. I can be sitting in a boost zone but close to the perimeter, and Uber will absolutely send a request from JUST over the border, where there is zero boost. Just make sure the request has the boost amount included, and remember to always take a screenshot of the trip details page, and you'll be all set!


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## Phantomshark (Jan 21, 2018)

Good idea on the screenshots, gonna start doing that.

Was sitting in an area that had been going on and out of surge all morning with my app off trying to finally catch a surge, when a big surge poppped up around me. I immediately went online and snapped a screenshot (attached). I figured that a surge like that meant several riders and no drivers in the area, so I’d get a ping right away. 3 or 4 minutes went by and still no ping, and the surge did not disappear. Finally got a ping and hit accept, but it turned out to be just south of the surge area so no surge and a 2 mile ride for $3.19. I really don’t understand the inner workings of surge I guess, where were all the riders that created the surge in the first place?


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## Juggalo9er (Dec 7, 2017)

Phantomshark said:


> Good idea on the screenshots, gonna start doing that.
> 
> Was sitting in an area that had been going on and out of surge all morning with my app off trying to finally catch a surge, when a big surge poppped up around me. I immediately went online and snapped a screenshot (attached). I figured that a surge like that meant several riders and no drivers in the area, so I'd get a ping right away. 3 or 4 minutes went by and still no ping, and the surge did not disappear. Finally got a ping and hit accept, but it turned out to be just south of the surge area so no surge and a 2 mile ride for $3.19. I really don't understand the inner workings of surge I guess, where were all the riders that created the surge in the first place?


In the case you are talking about, I decline every non surge trip


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## hulksmash (Apr 26, 2016)

Phantomshark said:


> Good idea on the screenshots, gonna start doing that.
> 
> Was sitting in an area that had been going on and out of surge all morning with my app off trying to finally catch a surge, when a big surge poppped up around me. I immediately went online and snapped a screenshot (attached). I figured that a surge like that meant several riders and no drivers in the area, so I'd get a ping right away. 3 or 4 minutes went by and still no ping, and the surge did not disappear. Finally got a ping and hit accept, but it turned out to be just south of the surge area so no surge and a 2 mile ride for $3.19. I really don't understand the inner workings of surge I guess, where were all the riders that created the surge in the first place?


It means there may have been an uptick in demand with few drivers, but it doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a ride. Many pax know they can wait a few min and the surge will go away. The reason you get pings outside the zone is that those pax aren't paying surge and the ping may have been ignored by other drivers looking for the surge ride.

Next time just ignore all those non surge rides if you're sitting in the zone. More often that not a surge ping will follow. If you get pings from the surge area right after it disappears it means the pax were waiting out the surge. I turn my app off and make them wait longer for a ride for trying to be cheap.


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## Phantomshark (Jan 21, 2018)

hulksmash said:


> It means there may have been an uptick in demand with few drivers, but it doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a ride. Many pax know they can wait a few min and the surge will go away. The reason you get pings outside the zone is that those pax aren't paying surge and the ping may have been ignored by other drivers looking for the surge ride.
> 
> Next time just ignore all those non surge rides if you're sitting in the zone. More often that not a surge ping will follow. If you get pings from the surge area right after it disappears it means the pax were waiting out the surge. I turn my app off and make them wait longer for a ride for trying to be cheap.


The pain was relatively close, less than 5 miles. I thought it might be part of the surge. How can I tell before accept it?


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## hulksmash (Apr 26, 2016)

Phantomshark said:


> The pain was relatively close, less than 5 miles. I thought it might be part of the surge. How can I tell before accept it?


You will see it on the request screen. If you don't see it the there is no surge


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## New2This (Dec 27, 2015)

Julescase said:


> Exactly- same goes for boost. I can be sitting in a boost zone but close to the perimeter, and Uber will absolutely send a request from JUST over the border, where there is zero boost.


This is maybe the only area where Lyft is better than Uber.

Boost and Power Zones are designed to get cars in certain areas at certain times.

Lyft if you are in the Power Zones (their version of Uber's Boost Zones) and you get a request from outside of the PZ, you still get the multiplier.

Uber if you're in a Boost Zone and a ping comes in that's outside the Boost Zone it pays base rate, no multiplier. It penalizes the rider because I don't take non-surge non-boost rides.

I would recommend people to write in to Uber under the feedback section and tell them:

*Lyft does this

*It penalizes riders

*Your acceptance rate would be higher if they did this



Mr. 5⭐ said:


> I have been driving for about 2 weeks and more than once I thought I was in a surge area but wasn't paid a surge. I've heard of people having a similar issue so they screen shot it. I happened to be in an area that I understand was a surge since it was in the orange polygons. I happened to screen shot my location seconds before getting a ping. I also screen shot the request but it wasn't surging. I sent both pics to Uber and they said I wasn't in a surge zone. Am I misunderstanding something? You can see from the two pics that I was in the exact same location at exactly 11:11 pm in an orange area. Why is this not evidence that it should have been surging? It should have been a 1.3x I think.
> 
> I mean it wouldn't have changed much, I accepted it knowing it wasn't a surge when it came through and it would have only been a couple extra bucks but I'm just confused about why it wasn't is all. It was literally orange as I watched the ping come through.


Look for something like this...


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## Juggalo9er (Dec 7, 2017)

New2This said:


> This is maybe the only area where Lyft is better than Uber.
> 
> Boost and Power Zones are designed to get cars in certain areas at certain times.
> 
> ...


 Decline.... screw pool


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## New2This (Dec 27, 2015)

Juggalo9er said:


> Decline.... screw pool


Not necessarily. Base rate Pool obviously ye decline them.

Surging or Boost above 1.8X I'll take it. I can usually cost Uber money on those trips, and if the first riders is 2.1X, any additional riders are too, so that means I'm rolling longer at 2.1X and not at base.


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## Mista T (Aug 16, 2017)

Another thing to note is that surge is displayed to drivers updated about once a minute. But during that time it can come or go, and you are left scratching your head as to why you are in a surge area but your ride shows no surge.


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## Mr. 5⭐ (Jan 28, 2018)

Julescase said:


> When a request comes through, it will include the surge amount of the trip, if any. After you ACCEPT the trip, tap on the upper right hand corner of your phone's screen (on the three small parallel bars) to see your trip details. It will include your pax name, pickup location, their rating, and the surge amount. TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF THIS PAGE FOR EVERY TRIP YOU DO. That way you'll have the proof of a surge being part of the equation in the event that Uber tries to screw you out of a surge payment. After each shift or at the end of the week, go through and double check your trip log against your screenshots to make sure every ride is accounted for.
> 
> As Phantomshark said, the _pax_ needs to be in the surge zone; it doesn't matter where you are located. From the screenshots you provided, it shows the pax is located 7 miles (and 9 minutes) away from where you are, so they're far outside of the surge zone.
> 
> ...


Thanks


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## steveK2016 (Jul 31, 2016)

Phantomshark said:


> Good idea on the screenshots, gonna start doing that.
> 
> Was sitting in an area that had been going on and out of surge all morning with my app off trying to finally catch a surge, when a big surge poppped up around me. I immediately went online and snapped a screenshot (attached). I figured that a surge like that meant several riders and no drivers in the area, so I'd get a ping right away. 3 or 4 minutes went by and still no ping, and the surge did not disappear. Finally got a ping and hit accept, but it turned out to be just south of the surge area so no surge and a 2 mile ride for $3.19. I really don't understand the inner workings of surge I guess, where were all the riders that created the surge in the first place?


All the savvy drivers around you were ignoring that non surge ping. It probably bounced around 3 or nore drivers before it got to you and you acxepted. Thats Why non-surge requests will end up being sent to drivers in the surge. All other drivers are also ignoring it to get the surge ride.

The savvy pax also knows what surge looks like and if they arent in a rush, they'll turn the app off and check back in 10 minutes .


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