Can you remember a time, just five or ten years ago, when you would have to stand outside in the freezing cold and hail a taxi cab in the middle of a busy city street?
You would wait what felt like hours just to crawl into the backseat of a dilapidated car with a person whose name you didn’t even know. No one was held accountable if the ride was unpleasant, and it lacked any personal touch.
Times have changed, largely in part thanks to the conception of companies like Uber.
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Uber prides themselves on giving their riders a personalized experience. More often than not, your driver will talk to you as though you’re an old friend they haven’t seen in years. Your luggage will go in the trunk, right next to their personal belongings. You’ll no longer be forced to sit on the ripped up seat of a bright yellow taxi cab, but in the car of your driver’s choice.
Furthermore, Uber offers a unique carpooling option. For a cheaper fixed price than you would receive for your own private car, you can pool with people headed to locations close to yours. You are able to share the cost with 2 or 3 strangers and you all have a great, cost efficient experience.
Let’s face it: Uber is the future. It has provided more than 1 billion rides for its customers to date, and is currently in over 400 countries in over 70 cities.
But don’t be fooled - Uber is significantly more expensive than a taxi cab, and their surge pricing charges prove that.
The transportation company, which to date is worth approximately $50 billion, has recently started to hide their surge pricing from customers in an effort to prevent scrutiny from customers, and this deceitful tactic is not going unnoticed by loyal users.
If you are unsure what exactly goes into Uber’s hidden surge pricing, how you can find it, and how you can reveal the actual additional cost, you’ve come to the right place.
What is surge pricing and how are they hiding it?
For a company as commonly used as Uber, it makes sense that surge pricing would sometimes go into effect, right?
There are only so many drivers out on the road at a time, so in those instances where demand is higher than those drivers can provide, surge pricing will go into effect and those customers willing to pay top dollar will receive priority over those customers looking for a deal.
That isn’t the problem.
In the past, Uber users looking for a private ride were always very clearly informed when a “surge multiplier” was in effect.
This notification even offered an option to notify the customer when the surge has dropped, or forced them to knowingly acknowledge and accept the higher fare rate.
UberPool, however, which is the company’s carpooling option, never did any such thing.
Instead, customers would receive a “dynamic quote”, which is more or less just fancy wording to say that customers receive a price quote that can be changed at any time, for any reason.
These customers did not know when a surge multiplier is in effect, and therefore did not know if the price would go down again in an hour or two.
Now, Uber has transitioned to this method for all riders in an attempt to remove themselves from the surge multiplier stigma.
Uber’s rationale behind hiding when multipliers are in effect does indeed make some sense. Customers are going to be understandably deterred if they see that they must pay 4x the normal price, so it makes sense from a business standpoint that you cut that out and instead simply offer them the surge price without actually TELLING them that it is the surge price.
If the price for the ride is more than they are willing to pay, they don’t have to do it. If, however, the surge price is affordable to them, there is no real reason to let them know that they are paying 4x the amount that someone else did earlier in the day.
It’s all psychological, and what Uber customers don’t know won’t hurt them.
Or will it?
How can you avoid these hidden charges?
There is a debate to be made whether or not Uber has made the right decision in getting rid of surge pricing.
While it’s true that you may be more likely to grab that Uber if you are unaware of the fact that you’re being charged 2.5x the normal price for your trip, it seems almost unethical.
What if where the customer is going is not a time sensitive matter? What if they were able to wait the hour or two until the surge multiplier goes back down, but were left unaware that one was even happening?
Yes, it is better for business to not be told that your fare is being multiplied just because of the time you are traveling, but is it better for the customer?
Really, that’s up to the individual themselves.
Uber seems confident with their decision to rid themselves of the surge multiplier stigma, so all we can do is go with it.
There are, however, a few things you can do to ensure that you get the cheapest ride possible:
- Try requesting a fancier vehicle. If you have a feeling that your price is inflated, check out the price of a more expensive vehicle. Chances are that there is lower demand for that high end experience, so you may end up paying less for a better ride.
- Walk a few blocks towards your destination. Surges happen in very particular areas, so there is always a chance that your price could change if you walk just a few blocks away. If you see the price drop after you’ve walked, you know that your price was inflated and you can get the cheaper fare.
- Do your research. Websites like WhatsTheFareexist so customers can receive the cheapest fare possible. All you have to do is enter your pickup and drop off locations and let the website do the rest of the work.
And again, there are Uber coupons available that will be available to existing and new riders, so always search for a coupon prior to booking a ride.