Uber taxis

[Bletchleyite]

Always funny when Uber whacks on surge pricing in Leeds, despite the fact I can load up Amber Cars several seconds later and book one of their taxis virtually straight away

And that's competition. If another company can serve the customer's need better, they get the business. It doesn't make the "losing" company bad.

 

[AlterEgo]

The other possibility is that surge pricing (an automatic uplift at busy times to encourage more drivers onto the road) applied, and they took that to mean he was trying to rip them off.

That can't happen in the middle of a trip though.

 

[Bletchleyite]

That can't happen in the middle of a trip though.

Indeed it can't, but I could see the situation being something like "but it always costs £10, why's it £15 this time?" with the passengers having ignored the surge-pricing warning.

There are, after all, two sides to every story, and this one has several big holes in it. The only plausible explanation I can see for the story as written is that the driver attempted to take payment in cash - but I doubt any driver with any sense would do that because any such complaint would be very likely to result in dismissal, certainly if it happened more than once - Uber tend to believe passengers over drivers.

 

[telstarbox]

For the avoidance of doubt, Uber's surge pricing can only be applied before the car is dispatched (the customer has to agree to this in advance) and not mid-journey.

 

[Bletchleyite]

For the avoidance of doubt, Uber's surge pricing can only be applied before the car is dispatched (the customer has to agree to this in advance) and not mid-journey.

Indeed, that's the whole point of it. It isn't a means of ripping passengers off. It exists to encourage more cars onto the road at busy times. Once the passenger is in a car, it has no purpose for that passenger, so quite apart from the arguments and driver assaults it would cause there is really no point.

Actually, if Uber was a bit more open in how drivers pick jobs up, and allowed drivers to choose which jobs they took, it could actually be made completely optional and available at all times. A bit like sleasyJet speedy boarding, passengers could choose to add, say, 10%, 20% or 30% to the fare in order to effectively bump themselves up the queue. If not in a hurry, they could accept the base fare, and may find they have to wait a little longer.

And there would probably be less objection to it, as in the end nobody would *have* to use it, a bit like speedy boarding, which was a perfect product differentiator - people were primarily in two camps - those who thought it was good value and bought it, and those who thought it was a waste of money and stood in the "2" queue gloating at people who had wasted their money as everyone was going to get a seat anyway. Almost nobody actually objected to it.

 

[Deerfold]

And there would probably be less objection to it, as in the end nobody would *have* to use it, a bit like speedy boarding, which was a perfect product differentiator - people were primarily in two camps - those who thought it was good value and bought it, and those who thought it was a waste of money and stood in the "2" queue gloating at people who had wasted their money as everyone was going to get a seat anyway. Almost nobody actually objected to it.

It tended to work badly when more than half the people on the flight had opted for it.

Though looks like easyjet have restricted its availability now.

 

[radamfi]

Is there a list of (non surge) fare structures by area? I've used it for short trips from Woking and Three Bridges stations and you can tell from the receipt that they charge per mile and per minute and add them together, and there is a minimum fare. I was surprised to see fares at Three Bridges being higher than at Woking

Three Bridges appears to be £2.50 base fare, plus £1.25 per mile plus 15p per minute with £5 minimum fare.
Woking appears to be £1.50 base fare, plus £1.25 per mile plus 10p per minute with £4 minimum fare.

The minimum fare is easy to work out by putting in short distance trips in the app. The minimum fare in Rochdale appears to be just £2 which would be very competitive with the buses in that area.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It tended to work badly when more than half the people on the flight had opted for it.

Though looks like easyjet have restricted its availability now.

easyJet have always restricted the availability of it for purchase - I think it was 12 on a 319 and a few more on a 320. Nowadays it's based on seating - you get it if you buy the front few rows or exit row, which is a bit more than 12 but still not a huge proportion of the aircraft. TBH, its role has now reduced anyway - it used to be about seat selection, now it's more about luggage space particularly if in the exit row and not able to put stuff under the seat.

You tended (and still do on primarily business flights) to get a larger number of people because they are easyJet Plus cardholders, whose numbers are not restricted. This has been controlled a bit by increasing the cost of the card. Some employers will cover the cost, some won't, but it's still reasonably priced enough to be a personal purchase to make business travel less fraught.

Ryanair, OTOH, will sell it to the entire plane, but that's Ryanair for you.

Anyway, this is more one for the aviation thread

FWIW, back to Uber, it wouldn't matter if everyone opted for the uplift, as unlike seats on an aircraft the number of taxis on the road is potentially elastic - some drivers who are sitting at home not working may decide to go and do some driving for a bit if there are higher fares on offer, and more widely may plan their day around times when higher fares are likely to be on offer. If everyone opted for 30% uplift, it'd still bring more cars out onto the road as it does now - you'd lose the prioritisation effect, but you'd still get the other effect.