# New Surge Question



## rv5 (Apr 13, 2015)

"For long trips, we’ll adjust the surge amount to higher than the minimum on the screen to make sure you’re earning for your extra effort." WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? 

Here is the email they just sent me...

Earning with surge is now easier than ever
We’ve heard how frustrating surge can be for drivers. So we’re making updates based on your feedback to improve reliability and make it easier for you to earn.
Here’s what’s changing:

Longer availability
You told us that sometimes you’d drive to a surge zone and see it disappear as soon as you got there. Now surge zones on the map will be available longer, so you’ll have more time to drive through and get a surge trip.

No more guesswork
We’re moving from multiples to dollar amounts to make your surge earnings clearer. You’ll now see on the map screen the guaranteed minimum surge amount that will be added to your next trip. For long trips, we’ll adjust the surge amount to higher than the minimum on the screen to make sure you’re earning for your extra effort.

Lock in the highest surge amount
If you drive through multiple surge zones while waiting for a trip, you’ll always earn the highest surge amount on your next trip. And if a rider requests from a different surge zone than the one you’re in, you’ll always earn the higher of the 2 amounts.

Earn surge pickup fees on UberPool
You’ll earn additional surge pickup fees for every UberPool pickup, on top of the surge zone dollar amount earned for the first UberPool pickup. You’ll see both amounts in your app on the request screen before you accept a trip.

How do I earn with surge?
1 Drive to a surge zone (surge zones are where there is a higher discrepancy between demand for rides and drivers in the zone).
2 Stay online and accept your next trip.
3 You will earn surge if you are in a surge zone or the rider’s request location is in a surge zone when you accept the trip.
4 The extra dollar amount will be shown at the bottom of your home screen when you’re in a surge zone. This is the minimum surge amount that you’ll earn on your next trip. (Note: the surge amount will not apply to your next trip if you reject, cancel, or go offline.)


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## Failed Login (Nov 13, 2017)

It means.... welcome to the new surge! Hope you can keep your earnings up to the level they were before. 

That part deals with what they consider "longer" trips. Who knows what a longer trip is... Since they made that tweak to our test zone in Charlotte (added this probably 4 months ago), I had one ride where my surge was higher than the posted amount. No idea what the threshold was, but it must be high because I've had lots of rides I consider long that had no adjustment. I think they keep it vague so there can be no argument if you think you should have received more surge.


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## heynow321 (Sep 3, 2015)

I can’t believe any of you guys are still driving with this scam in your market


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## dryverjohn (Jun 3, 2018)

Consider it like that extra premium likely for long pickup. You know like that $0.13 you receive for driving 20 minutes away.


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## Jo3030 (Jan 2, 2016)

dryverjohn said:


> Consider it like that extra premium likely for long pickup. You know like that $0.13 you receive for driving 20 minutes away.


So more scams and games from Uber.
Great.


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## dryverjohn (Jun 3, 2018)

Who else is getting the new surge and purge? I have heard of 11 cities, what is the number of cities that are implementing the carnage now? This will get you to look for an actual job, like pizza delivery which will pay better.


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

If you've paid attention to other threads you will see they will never adjust the amount to give you more. That's a utopian dream. 

Just stop doing big events or you will just go through hassle only to give free money to Uber.


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

rv5 said:


> "For long trips, we'll adjust the surge amount to higher than the minimum on the screen to make sure you're earning for your extra effort." WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?


4 feet farther than the fare your asking them to increase...


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## hulksmash (Apr 26, 2016)

uberdriverfornow said:


> If you've paid attention to other threads you will see they will never adjust the amount to give you more. That's a utopian dream.
> 
> Just stop doing big events or you will just go through hassle only to give free money to Uber.


I would do big events for plus $25 to give people rides to their car or to a hotel a mile away. No one gets a long trip unless i know it will exceed the threshold for fare adjustment. Only silver lining is that it will discourage drivers from 2 hours away coming to work the events hoping for a long surge ride back to their home area. There will be more rides for local drivers looking to complete a bunch of short to medium length rides, which will be more profitable under this system.


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## Tokichop (Apr 9, 2018)

Welp my dear friend, it's fairly simple. With this wonderful new system you will get surge dollar amount while pax still getting charged by the multiplication way. Example:

















Or....


















To save you some time, this is the support's answer when asked what they consider as a long-trip (qualified for adjustment)










Yes, Uber just redefined the term Anal Leakage


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## Failed Login (Nov 13, 2017)

Notice their reply says "very long trips". LOL Stupid that they won't define that. I've only had one in 10 months that was long enough to pay me more than the stated amount. Let me correct that statement, they tweaked our pilot in Charlotte in about April to add the long trip adjustment to surge, so I've had one in the last 4+ months that met the mysterious criteria.


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## dryverjohn (Jun 3, 2018)

I seemed to have found the unicorn last night. Bars are closed, lyft and uber apps both on. Lyft starts sending me 0 primetime pings, and I decline at least 25 of them. Then they start at 25%, I canceled 20 more. Meanwhile, uber surge is at $4.50, I declined 20 of those. Then uber hits $9 and it's 2:15am. I am in a good spot so I wait for a ping close to me before I accept. One last check on lyft reveals 100% prime time. I decided to go with sure thing on uber and now the surge has dropped to $8.75. I wait for the guy to find my car, I am parked outside of the bar. Long trip, I figure, shit, should have gone for the lyft 100%. To my surprise I was paid more than double the minimum surge on Uber. Here is the screen shot. Something actually got better between the new app and the flat rate surge. Had I accepted the lyft fare it most likely would have been a minimum fare or $6 ride. I hate to say that flat rate worked out better.


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