# Do you ever feel bad about high surge ?



## SurgeX

The two rides I've had that have been over 4x have both been lower income neighborhoods and the fares being over $100 for around 35-45 minutes of driving. 

The guy who worked at gamestop.. $173 fare to go pickup his girlfriend and bring her back 
Girl who worked at forever 21.. $101 to go to work... 

Do people just bad with math or that bad with money? I feel a little bit bad but I mean it is what we are out there to do..


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## UberHammer

I feel bad for drivers being exploited by low base rates, and I feel bad for riders being exploited by high surge rates. 

They're both determined by desperation.

Only the most desperate drivers drive at the base rates, and only the most desperate riders ride at the surge rates.

They should just rename the company to "Desperation Transportation". Desperation is the entire basis of the business model.


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## lu181

not since they added the part where you have to type in what the multiplier shows you. I believe if you agreed to the multiple thats your problem you have many options: wait, call a cab service, public transport ect... I feel bad for drivers who just see a check on thursday and do not realize they really havent made any money.


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## BlkGeep

Nope, pay me *****es! The only thing cheaper than X is walking.


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## docswife

NOPE! Not at all. Never underestimate ones financial abilities. If they could not afford a $100 fare, they wouldn't have agreed to ride. They would have surely found another (cheaper) way to get there.


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## Selcric

docswife said:


> NOPE! Not at all. Never underestimate ones financial abilities. If they could not afford a $100 fare, they wouldn't have agreed to ride. They would have surely found another (cheaper) way to get there.


Um, maybe. I don't think it's financial abilities or a lack thereof, I think it's a matter of applying said financial abilities. I would speculate that Uber assumes a number of pax will see the rate, agree to the rate, and then as a pax go ahead under the assumption that the ride "will suck being 10-20 more but why not? "

Some do the math and in desperate times take the ride, but I would argue that many more pax just assume it will "be more" without knowing how much "be more" really is.

But shoot, sometimes the sting of a high fare will help them flex their financial ability muscle in the future. I never feel guilty when someone is drunk or knows what they are getting into. I would only feel guilty of someone was bleeding to death, giving birth or some other emergency and their only mode of transportation is an uber at 4x. Then and only then is it a "free ride"....after I cancel the ride and make sure an ambulance arrives safely (no really, I'm not getting sued for driving someone to the hospital.)


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## BlkGeep

docswife said:


> NOPE! Not at all. Never underestimate ones financial abilities. If they could not afford a $100 fare, they wouldn't have agreed to ride. They would have surely found another (cheaper) way to get there.


Exactly, stop thinking your pax are as poor as you are, rich dad poor dad, plenty of people don't even think about dropping a hundred bucks to get home safe at two thirty in the morning. They just dropped five hundred at the club, they have Bentleys in the drive way, they can pay me just fine. Either that or your working in the ghetto and your pax are as broke as you. Working higher end neighborhoods nets more tips as well, several hundred dollar high surge trips have left me with twenty dollar tips also.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver

SurgeX said:


> The two rides I've had that have been over 4x have both been lower income neighborhoods and the fares being over $100 for around 35-45 minutes of driving.
> 
> The guy who worked at gamestop.. $173 fare to go pickup his girlfriend and bring her back
> Girl who worked at forever 21.. $101 to go to work...
> 
> Do people just bad with math or that bad with money? I feel a little bit bad but I mean it is what we are out there to do..


You'll never be rich because you're human and have empathy for people. People like Travis Kalanick are rich because they're ruthless.


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## Tx rides

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> You'll never be rich because you're human and have empathy for people. People like Travis Kalanick are rich because they're ruthless.


You can become wealthy without screwing others, but you can't usually become wealthy instantly without doing so.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver

Tx rides said:


> You can become wealthy without screwing others, but you can't usually become wealthy instantly without doing so.


Not super F U wealthy.
Like Steve Jobs, with sweatshops in China, with workers jumping to their death's ?
Like Mark Zuckerberg who wants H1B visa workers for cheap labor ?
Behind every great fortune is a great crime.
I laugh at people who become upper middle class and think that they're rich.


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## roaddoag

I took a drunk guy home over the weekend on a 2x XL surge and it was $155. He was alone, so he probably requested XL by mistake. I must admit that I felt a little pitty for him. When the dude woke up the next morning, he probably was like, WTF. On the flip side, maybe it taught him a lesson.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver

roaddoag said:


> I took a drunk guy home over the weekend on a 2x XL surge and it was $155. He was alone, so he probably requested XL by mistake. I must admit that I felt a little pitty for him. When the dude woke up the next morning, he probably was like, WTF. On the flip side, maybe it taught him a lesson.


How drunk could he have been if he had to type in the surge amount?


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## roaddoag

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> How drunk could he have been if he had to type in the surge amount?


Type in the surge amount? Riders just request a car, either X, XL, Select, Black, or SUV.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver

roaddoag said:


> Type in the surge amount? Riders just request a car, either X, XL, Select, Black, or SUV.


In NYC you have to type in the surge amount, you probably don't know that. I'm sure it's the same nation wide. Look at post number 3.


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## roaddoag

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> In NYC you have to type in the surge amount, you probably don't know that. I'm sure it's the same nation wide.


Nope. In Atlanta, you just select the car type and request the ride.


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## Rockwall

Eventually it evens out. Look at surge as a tax that subsidizes the $4 fares.
Also, surge is cheaper than a DUI or wreck.
In a perfect world. Uber should set the fare to a minimum of $2 per mile, set Surge max at 3x, stop the false earning marketing, and fix the insurance issues. Till all this is fixed, dont expect me to feel bad for someone who is pretending to be rich for the night


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## lu181

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> In NYC you have to type in the surge amount, you probably don't know that. I'm sure it's the same nation wide. Look at post number 3.


This was a feature they quickly added after bad publicity from several high profile surge rides the media ran with for a while before they began getting in bed with the major media outlets. If I recall correctly was from new years 2013 surges and gained momentum after july 4th. It started in NYC I think its all markets now


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## Rockwall

Plus most of the pax now know how to wait out the surge, or use the notify me when surge is over feature. Hell I see more and more customers trying to game the surge by placing the pin outside the area, then calling you to pick them up from somewhere else


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## roaddoag

Hey, @Long time Nyc cab driver Can you comment on another thread I started relating to driving in NYC? https://uberpeople.net/threads/moving-to-nyc-maybe.15609/#post-211787


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## lu181

roaddoag said:


> Nope. In Atlanta, you just select the car type and request the ride.


I wonder what reasoning Uber would give as to why it is not a nationwide or worldwide. They would have no reason to make adjustments to any surge ride other than ineffective route.


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## scrurbscrud

roaddoag said:


> I took a drunk guy home over the weekend on a 2x XL surge and it was $155. He was alone, so he probably requested XL by mistake. I must admit that I felt a little pitty for him. When the dude woke up the next morning, he probably was like, WTF. On the flip side, maybe it taught him a lesson.


I always think of all the fares I did for shit for pay every time I have a twinge of pax surge sympathy. Though I sometimes still go 'ouch' when hitting end on a fare that might normally be 20 bucks and it's 60 or 80. Then I run to get another one...


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## Long time Nyc cab driver

roaddoag said:


> Hey, @Long time Nyc cab driver Can you comment on another thread I started relating to driving in NYC? https://uberpeople.net/threads/moving-to-nyc-maybe.15609/#post-211787


I think they were a little negative, but would you want to do UberX job's with your SUV ?
What they told you was pretty much true, but if you want to move back to Nyc, it's your decision.
I wouldn't buy an Suv exclusively for Uber.

Disclosure, I haven't driven an Suv with Uber for almost a year, I worked for someone, it wasn't my vehicle, I just wanted to see what Uber was about.


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## Tx rides

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> Not super F U wealthy.
> Like Steve Jobs, with sweatshops in China, with workers jumping to their death's ?
> Like Mark Zuckerberg who wants H1B visa workers for cheap labor ?
> Behind every great fortune is a great crime.
> I laugh at people who become upper middle class and think that they're rich.


Wealthy is a rather subjective term, as is the "on the back of" effect. Some believe that their company's leadership is making money "on their backs" unless they are paid the same, but that's ridiculous. I've worked for a mega corp for a long time, up until the last few years, the conditions were pretty great, as was the salary. I never felt the CEO did not deserve the millions he earned. All employees were paid FAR above average.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver

Tx rides said:


> I've worked for a mega corp for a long time, up until the last few years, the conditions were pretty great, as was the salary.


Good for you, my sister retired from ABC TV in NYC, she made good money, but hated the company. 
Like your mega corporation, ABC became more and more difficult to work for, they now mostly hire per diem people. 
You're afraid to say where you worked ??
The subject was super rich people, you changed the subject.


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## Casuale Haberdasher

SurgeX said:


> The two rides I've had that have been over 4x have both been lower income neighborhoods and the fares being over $100 for around 35-45 minutes of driving.
> 
> The guy who worked at gamestop.. $173 fare to go pickup his girlfriend and bring her back
> Girl who worked at forever 21.. $101 to go to work...
> 
> Do people just bad with math or that bad with money? I feel a little bit bad but I mean it is what we are out there to do..


POST # 1 /@SurgeX : Ahoy, and Welcome
to the
UP.Net Forums from Across the Alley on
Marco Island a.k.a. Irish Riviera South.
BTW, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Lucky you, having Notable and Well-
Known Members chiming in with 
advice or comical abuse depending
upon your "needs."

Over 213,000 Post/Replies form a Search-
able Database representing the Wisdom
of the Combined Membership(10,000+)
without which your Chances of $uccess
are slim.

Read, learn and earn? Maybe.
Use #[F]Uber. 
Don't let #[F]Uber use you.
Benevolent Bison, out.


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## ReviTULize

roaddoag said:


> Nope. In Atlanta, you just select the car type and request the ride.


It's that way if there is no surge. Once it's 2.0x, you have to type in the multiplier manually to accept the fare.


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## roaddoag

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> I think they were a little negative, but would you want to do UberX job's with your SUV ?
> What they told you was pretty much true, but if you want to move back to Nyc, it's your decision.
> I wouldn't buy an Suv exclusively for Uber.
> 
> Disclosure, I haven't driven an Suv with Uber for almost a year, I worked for someone, it wasn't my vehicle, I just wanted to see what Uber was about.


I already have a new suv. I traded in another older mid size car that I had. I would definitely not use my new suv for uberX. Those guys on the other thread made it seem like driving in New York City is like driving in hell. LOL


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## marketmark

I had one this weekend I felt bad for...

I was headed to santa cruz to enjoy a nice day at the beach and make a couple of $$ with the Saturday surges out there. Before I even got into town I got a 1.9x ping from not too far away from me, but about 20 min out of town. Picked them up and it turned out their car broke down in the mountains and they needed a ride back to SF. Was almost $250 for that. I felt bad, but...

I felt less bad for the 3 drivers before me that cancelled because it was too far away to go pick them up.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver

roaddoag said:


> I already have a new suv. I traded in another older mid size car that I had. I would definitely not use my new suv for uberX. Those guys on the other thread made it seem like driving in New York City is like driving in hell. LOL


They just want to keep up the tough guy NYC persona, they discourage you but look what they're doing.


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## JJcriggins

Ah! Credit cards. Lower income neighborhoods are gaming Uber big time. $30 promo rides hooked up to a fake credit card
They do it all the time.
<Disclaimer>
Not just lower income, but in my experiences I see this happening more in places like newark


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## Tx rides

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> Good for you, my sister retired from ABC TV in NYC, she made good money, but hated the company.
> Like your mega corporation, ABC became more and more difficult to work for, they now mostly hire per diem people.
> You're afraid to say where you worked ??
> The subject was super rich people, you changed the subject.


Not really "afraid" just don't care to say because I went back, and I don't bite the hand which feeds me. My point was not all wealth is ill gotten, and "super rich" is subjective.


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## Bob Smith

I don't feel bad about making money no.. If I could, I'd charge $200 for a ride down the street.


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## Ricardo Branson

Selcric said:


> I would only feel guilty of someone was bleeding to death, giving birth or some other emergency and their only mode of transportation is an uber at 4x. Then and only then is it a "free ride"....after I cancel the ride and make sure an ambulance arrives safely (no really, I'm not getting sued for driving someone to the hospital.)


Sounds like your state needs one of these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Samaritan_law


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## ReviTULize

JJcriggins said:


> Ah! Credit cards. Lower income neighborhoods are gaming Uber big time. $30 promo rides hooked up to a fake credit card
> They do it all the time.
> <Disclaimer>
> Not just lower income, but in my experiences I see this happening more in places like newark


They should not take debit cards or prefunded cards. The RushCard was one of the first to do this(I think). it was the only way alot of people could get a credit card in the mid 2000's


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## Western Warrior

I get screwed, they get screwed, - It all evens out in the end!


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## Daniel13

SurgeX said:


> The two rides I've had that have been over 4x have both been lower income neighborhoods and the fares being over $100 for around 35-45 minutes of driving.


Will they feel bad for YOU for paying you a base fare....? With no tip. And possibly giving you lower than 5 rating. Prolly hard for them to go to sleep thinking how underpaid you are. I don't think so. They don't give a SHIT about you. Only that you got them to their destination for as cheap as possible, all while asking for water and gum. base fare is like getting paid like child labor in China. DONT WORK UNLESS ITS 2.0x or more. You'll thank me. Or until the rates go up.


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## Daniel13

Forgot to say. no. I don't feel bad lol


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## dmiller227

roaddoag said:


> I took a drunk guy home over the weekend on a 2x XL surge and it was $155. He was alone, so he probably requested XL by mistake. I must admit that I felt a little pitty for him. When the dude woke up the next morning, he probably was like, WTF. On the flip side, maybe it taught him a lesson.


Look at it this way... You saved him $7,845 in legal fees, fines and costs because he didn't drive home drunk and get pulled over for a DUI. This is considering the average cost of a DUI is about $8,000.


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## UberBro

I stopped feeling bad about high surge victims after noticing my rating were significantly taking damage. If anything I don't rate them a 4 or 5 star anymore.


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## roaddoag

You know what? I don't feel bad anymore. F*ck it! Let it surge all day, everyday! Sometimes, I feel bad for my weekly statement.


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## Fuzzyelvis

SurgeX said:


> The two rides I've had that have been over 4x have both been lower income neighborhoods and the fares being over $100 for around 35-45 minutes of driving.
> 
> The guy who worked at gamestop.. $173 fare to go pickup his girlfriend and bring her back
> Girl who worked at forever 21.. $101 to go to work...
> 
> Do people just bad with math or that bad with money? I feel a little bit bad but I mean it is what we are out there to do..


Not any more. And these same folks could have probably offered a neighbor $20 for a ride. But they didn't because uber is quick and convenient. Their problem not mine.


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## Lidman

Someones I feel bad. I feel bad that cab companies can't apply those surges.


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## Luberon

Any surge above 3.9X is criminal extortion. <--- finito


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## jemini48

lu181 said:


> I wonder what reasoning Uber would give as to why it is not a nationwide or worldwide. They would have no reason to make adjustments to any surge ride other than ineffective route.


well economics is one reason. NYC, LA, Boston, SF are all expensive places to live. The rate per mile cant be standard across all cities..just like the salaries for companies located all around the US are adjusted for the local cost of living


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## elelegido

SurgeX said:


> The guy who worked at gamestop.. $173 fare to go pickup his girlfriend and bring her back


She may have been worth it. I guess you'll never know.

Don't worry, any guilt at high surge fares will _very_ quickly go away.


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## ReviTULize

elelegido said:


> She may have been worth it. I guess you'll never know.
> 
> Don't worry, any guilt at high surge fares will _very_ quickly go away.


I may have missed something, but he could have just dropped the pin and sent the car to her. I don't do that unless I hear from the pax that requested and is paying, but I have no problem with it


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## Sacto Burbs

Luberon said:


> Any surge above 3.9X is criminal extortion. <--- finito


Whatever the market will bear, baby! they can always call a cab. How does the saying go? Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.


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## Fuzzyelvis

I took a lady on a 5.2 surge yesterday and it was over $70 on her end for less than 10 miles.

She was rated 4.2 when I picked her up (lower now) and made me wait almost 10 mins. I ONLY waited because the surge had gone down to 3.2 by the time I arrived and was at 2.2 by the time she came out.

Apparently she couldn't find her shoes.

Anyway she tells me how she likes to Uber in and out of downtown all the time because from where she lives it's less than $6. 

She told me this trip was pretty short (9 plus miles is long for Uber around here but I don't think she had a clue about distance.)

Went on about spending 2 weeks in Tuscany because her work sent her there so she stayed on vacation and the airfare was free for her.

Felt a little bad but after waiting that long and finding out she consistently takes short trips with of course no tip and got to vacation in Tuscany practically free I figured she could afford this ride and it was payback for all the poor drivers who waited 10 mins before and got to make $4 or less off her.

Didn't tell her about cancel fees. Chances are if I ever get her again it's not surging like that and I can cancel her. FYI I actually called her BEFORE arrival to ask which door of the complex to go to. So from that time it was more like 15 mins for her to actually get outside.


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## FUberX

SurgeX said:


> The two rides I've had that have been over 4x have both been lower income neighborhoods and the fares being over $100 for around 35-45 minutes of driving.
> 
> The guy who worked at gamestop.. $173 fare to go pickup his girlfriend and bring her back
> Girl who worked at forever 21.. $101 to go to work...
> 
> Do people just bad with math or that bad with money? I feel a little bit bad but I mean it is what we are out there to do..


I feel bad about the forever 21 girl, but maybe she has rich parents.

What I don't feel bad about is the $150 trip I took from a Beverly hills mansion.....


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## Salvor Hardin

Not in Los Angeles, it surges so rarely it's like seeing a unicorn, and unicorns are precious things that must be captured. But unfortunately, if you are not 2 feet from the ride requester when it goes red, it will instantly turn to base again.


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## Emp9

yeah ill feel bad , when pax feel bad about me clearing $3 off their min fare 18min total time spent before gas rides.


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## Kim Chi

No! I do NOT feel bad for ANY surges. This is a job. We, have bills to pay. The riders know that they have to hit the YES Or NO button whether to Accept or not accept the surge charge. K. Have a good Night. Bye.


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