# Is new Uber surge pricing legal?



## Dc driver 86 (Aug 17, 2018)

Im trying to determine if this new app which shows the dollar amount of surge as opposed to a multiplier is legal. If the amount says $5.65 increase for surge and the rider takes a 25 mile trip, had this been a multiplier of 2.0 then I’d have earned approximately $60 as opposed to $40. Now, does the rider incur the same charged amount regardless of our new surge structure? Because if so, we wouldn’t be getting the 75% of their total charge like we would’ve been, now it would be more like 50% or less. Is Uber allowed to
Do this ?


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## LoveBC (May 16, 2017)

Yes.

Rider agrees to price when they request.

Driver agrees to rate when they accept said request.

Driver needs to exercise better judgment.

Is it right? Hell no.

Legal? Yes.



Dc driver 86 said:


> Im trying to determine if this new app which shows the dollar amount of surge as opposed to a multiplier is legal. If the amount says $5.65 increase for surge and the rider takes a 25 mile trip, had this been a multiplier of 2.0 then I'd have earned approximately $60 as opposed to $40. Now, does the rider incur the same charged amount regardless of our new surge structure? Because if so, we wouldn't be getting the 75% of their total charge like we would've been, now it would be more like 50% or less. Is Uber allowed to
> Do this ?


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## El Gato (Mar 5, 2016)

You are still getting the mileage and time rates as agreed upon when you signed up with Uber. This is why upfront pricing prior to "new surge" (or commissions as Ziggy mentioned in another thread), was perfectly legal too. 

Really nothing has changed from how Uber's pays the driver. You accept a fare and drive x amount of time, and x number of miles, and you get paid for that time and mileage respectively at the agreed upon rates. That is the way it has always been and that is the way it currently remains.

Now, when demand was high, Uber offered as an incentive: higher fares based on a multiplier, which they collected from the pax. 

Both Uber and driver split that extra "surge multiplier" the same way they split the original fare. But remember, that was a bonus... an incentive. Nowhere in the contract did Uber say they have to offer a surge and split it up with the driver. It was just good business practice in order to keep wait times down for the pax. Just basic supply & demand. 

When the trip was complete you could see the fare breakdown and you would see: Base Fare + Time + Mileage = Total payout based upon your markets rates minus ubers commission. 

Then, you would see under that the multiplier surge rate and the amount paid out to you, again after Uber's commission. It was never part of the original fare. Again, a bonus given to you by Uber. 

They are still offering you that bonus, except now they have decided to not split that bonus with you at 75%/25% (or 80%/20% for the older folks) and instead have come up with some arbitrary percentage that they are now taking. The extra "bonus" was just a nice incentive that they didn't have to offer, and so they have decided to lower that bonus.

But legally, yep you are still getting that initial portion of the fare like you agreed too. But very shady and quite frankly a dick move by Uber in order to increase their profit margins. I get that they need stop operating at a loss, but they could have just done that by raising the time and mileage rates back to at least 2016 levels. This would increase profits for both Uber and the driver instead of this current method of drivers doing the job for peanuts while Uber pads their own profit margins.


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## Mole (Mar 9, 2017)

Interesting and my view is this. It could be considered price gouging on the customers end if uber is charging people 100% more wher thier expenses are only 10% higher in a surge in California even if you sign a contract and the contract makes you agree to illegal pricing it is still illegal. It could also be considered wage theft in the state of California it’s like agreeing to work overtime for less the state mandated calculations for overtime so yes this is a valid question.


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## El Gato (Mar 5, 2016)

But on the pax end nothing has changed.

The surge pricing remains the same and goes into effect when demand is high and at this point most Uber pax know this and accept this upfront when they agree to request a ride. So can't be price gouging if they have accepted it and have accepted it since Uber's inception.

It's on our end that we see the difference in that the driver collects less of that "surge" then they used to under the old system. 

Wage theft, not sure on that one, but I don't think you can make an overtime argument since surge pricing has nothing to do with how long a driver has been online but rather with demand within a certain area. You do not have to go online and you are technically still an independent contractor deciding when and where to work. And I also believe that Uber does track online time and doesn't allow drivers to be on for more than a specified amount of time due to concerns with fatigue (I've never tested this as I don't drive enough, but I've heard it from others).


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## Lee239 (Mar 24, 2017)

Mole said:


> Interesting and my view is this. It could be considered price gouging on the customers end if uber is charging people 100% more wher thier expenses are only 10% higher in a surge in California even if you sign a contract and the contract makes you agree to illegal pricing it is still illegal. It could also be considered wage theft in the state of California it's like agreeing to work overtime for less the state mandated calculations for overtime so yes this is a valid question.


Uber has no expenses pertaining to surge, it's based on availability at the time.



Dc driver 86 said:


> Im trying to determine if this new app which shows the dollar amount of surge as opposed to a multiplier is legal. If the amount says $5.65 increase for surge and the rider takes a 25 mile trip, had this been a multiplier of 2.0 then I'd have earned approximately $60 as opposed to $40. Now, does the rider incur the same charged amount regardless of our new surge structure? Because if so, we wouldn't be getting the 75% of their total charge like we would've been, now it would be more like 50% or less. Is Uber allowed to
> Do this ?


Wouldn't it still have to tell the driver the surge rate is 1.1 or 1.5? What does the driver see or what are they told I think that's the factor.

If the driver sees a dollar amount that means a long ride is a 1.1 surge and a min fare ride could be a 2x surge.

So to be fair they should show the pax the dollar amount and the driver the surge rate number.


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## Uberpoordriver (Jan 16, 2016)

Driver always looses


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