# New Uber Surge policy: Now just smoke and mirrors



## Guest (Oct 26, 2014)

With these low fares that we have since August/September, it has mostly become worthwhile driving only when there is a surge. In DC, and I think that is also the case in most other US cities, the surge was typically 1.25x, 1.50, 1.75, 2.00 and so on, with surges of 2.50 and 3.00 being seen in times of very high demand. The incremental factor was 0.25X.

Well, since yesterday in DC the factor has been dramatically CUT to 0.1X !! The new surges that I experienced were 1.2X, 1.3X and 1.4X, which seemed to be the new versions of what would have been 1.5X, 1.75X and 2X. Your "lucky times" old 3X will be only 1.8X now.

Most of the surge I was seeing was 1.2X. Which is not even enough to compensate for the recent 20% fare cuts. Yes, if you start with a fare of say $1.00, cut it by 20% (which makes it 0.80), and then apply a surge of 1.2X, you end up with a fare of $0.96X

In summary this is a SUPER KOOL KOOL-AID by Uber to the drivers. Make the drivers think that it is a great time to drive because there is "Red" out there, but in reality have them drive for a fare that does not even reach the non-surge levels that they were driving for 2 months ago. And compared to the fares that they had 6-8 months ago, even if they are lucky now to catch one of those elusive "surge fares", they will make much much less than what they were receiving for non-surge work then.

The incremental sneaky changes of Uber pricing policies are making drivers feel more and more like olives being expressed to obtain olive oil for Uber investors. Drivers are just transferring the equity value in their cars, and their work time, to add to the wealth of Uber investors.


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## duggles (Aug 25, 2014)

Saw this in Denver last night. Wish they would have waited until after Halloween. 

I also saw a lot more "uberX UNAVAILABLE," rather than surging when it used to surge. I ended up driving for Lyft for the first time, though I've been set up to drive for a while now. Made far more money than I would have with Uber. Their demand was higher. Got tips. Customers nicer. And they all seemed to hate Uber because Lyft was cheaper. Even thought Lyft is $1.41/mi vs Uber $1.35 here. I made about $1-2 net more than I did on Uber short rides, so don't understand how Uber is "more expensive" when it comes to base rates. 

But everyone seemed to have gotten burned on one surge and then make the blanket assumption that Uber is more expensive. Weird, since Lyft was PrimeTiming all over town last night.


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## Ehmtbescrewingus (Oct 16, 2014)

I tend to agree and don't chase surges. If I am in the area, and I get a ping I just focus on getting the Pax to their destination. Appears to be fairly detrimental to the driver rating after the Pax sees the fair...they blame the driver. I wonder Pax's know that we don't set the price..but ultimately pay the price


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