I am LOLing at people's Uber fares last night.

[janegold]

I mean, you get a notice before you reserve a ride when Uber is price surging. I don't understand why these people were shocked. Math is hard?

[suzyp]

The only people I feel bad for are the ones who allegedly agreed to one surge and we charged another. And you can still take a cab.

[nahoku]

The one time I succumbed to surge charging I was so drunk I didn't care about the surge and just wanted to go home. I definitely cared when I looked at my receipt the next day. But yeah, I take full responsibility for my stupidity!

[dreamcrisp1]

Insane. Surge was like 4.5 so we just took a taxi instead... Lol. Seems simple!

[underwaterrhymes]

There has been plentiful evidence that the owners of Uber are giant douchebags. But at least with their fares they are transparent.

This should surprise exactly no one.

[jlt19]

I thought AAA was giving free rides on NYE or something. Or was that some FB lie being posted by the people that think they'll get a few million from Mark?

[jlt19]

How does surge pricing work? I've never used uber so I don't get it. I understand higher prices for higher demand, but I don't really understand how people were getting cancelled, then trying again and it was higher. How is it calculated?

[cville]

Lol. Okay, outraged idiots. Your other choices were: 1. Wait six hours for a cab, 2. Stay sober and drive yourself, 3. Use public transit, 4. Make friends with someone local. This was NYE, to be expected.

[insominac]

Most uber drivers I talked to weren't planning on driving late NYE. No one wanted to deal with puking drunk people, so I'm not surprised there was surge pricing.

[MixedBerryJam]

I was just talking to a young-20's-ish neighbor about this. We live exactly 2 miles from a subway stop. Her Uber from there home last night was $60. I may be un-pc but I completely support their right to charge whatever the hell they want on a night like New Year's Eve, after a World Series win, etc. During a public emergency, not so much. I'm afraid next New Year's Eve I may be getting drunkdialed at 2am for a ride home, though!

[UMaineTeach]

this is what you get with an unregulated, free market - people charge what people will pay.

[nicbreeful]

Damn.. some of these prices are crazy. I asked a guy that I've been talking to and he was only surged 1.7.

Maybe we just have a shitton of Uber drivers here?

[rachers]

Ours last night was $8 to get to our destination and $60 to get us home. Still worth not driving drunk!

[scottyderp]

I sometimes take Uber at school, on campus.  When the system recognizes that classes are out (however that is done/computed), you can accept the regular rate, get booted out, the surge will be applied the next time you request it.  It pisses me off.  I do think they price gouge a bit.  I do expect to pay more for a luxury service, especially on a holiday, or during very busy times.

[v]

When my best friend took a cab home from my place at 12:45, pricing was just 1.5x in Manhattan. Not that bad!

But this is why I basically refuse to go anywhere on New Year's that I can't walk to.

And yes, nicbreeful -- we have a shitton of Uber drivers, a massive fleet of regular cabs, and are a city where nobody drives themselves anywhere so there probably isn't *that* much of an uptick in cab demand on New Year's Eve compared to a city like Miami where so many people drive to clubs etc. on a normal night.

I don't think Uber swindles anyone -- the surge pricing is VERY obviously advertised before you order the car -- but I do have some sympathy.  It has to suck to make the responsible decision that you're going to take car service home on New Year's Eve, plan that it will be surged to, say, 2x normal pricing but that's okay, and then get stuck with a bill almost 10x what it would normally be when you don't really have other options to take you home.