4 ms·
During a fare, an uber driver told me that when he goes to an area with lots of drivers, he will turn off his app for a minute or so to artificially decrease th
by cpsempek 9y ago
During a fare, an uber driver told me that when he goes to an area with lots of drivers, he will turn off his app for a minute or so to artificially decrease the number of drivers in the area. If this is practiced by multiple drivers repeatedly, the result can cause a surge. He told me that he does this, and, that he holds training sessions where he teaches this practice to other drivers, among other things. I do not know if this was actually effective or if it still is.
- wavefunction 9y agoDamn, a real hack!
- whipoodle 9y agoIt would be pretty easy to build a service to coordinate this. (And of course Uber would whine about it even though that's exactly the kind of thing they do all the time)
- exhilaration 9y agoI would think a Whatsapp group should be sufficient.
- RonanTheGrey 9y agoI have personally watched Uber drivers (Not in the USA) do exactly this - lots of them in a Whatsapp group all agreeing when to disconnect their apps and turn them back on again. In front of me. During the ride. They definitely do this and it happens all the time. I sent my complaint about it to Uber, to only get ignored. The drivers are gaming the system and the customers get hurt. Right now, Uber is still better than taxis where I am, but I tell you the absolute second there is a decent competitor I am switching. I absolutely despise Uber. It would be so easy to stop this. Prevent someone who turned off their phone prior to a surge, from participating in the surge price for a time window before and after.
- paulcole 9y ago>I sent my complaint about it to Uber, to only get ignored. Doesn't sound like the Uber I've been reading about. Sad.
- whipoodle 9y agoHa, good point.
- valuearb 9y agoWhat about the free-rider problem? Doesn't this just make it that much more profitable for drivers who keep their phones on?
- jbob2000 9y agoThis is easy for Uber to fix. The surge (or the calculation of drivers) just needs to be delayed by 15mins or so. He can still turn off his app, but now he'll have to do it for more than 15mins, thus potentially losing 1 or 2 rides.
- avn2109 9y agoUber presumably takes a fixed cut of the fare, so they have at least some incentive to look the other way during surge collusion. If the drivers do it simultaneously to both Lyft and Uber then both companies will be happy to see this going on.
- arihant 9y agoAs far as I know, Uber does not take a cut on surge pricing. The extra money goes straight to the driver.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- matt_morgan 9y agoThis is not in Uber's interest. From their perspective the purpose of the surge is to get more cars on the road. They don't care about drivers, they care about fares (riders).
- Obi_Juan_Kenobi 9y agoIncreasing the latency with which you respond to conditions seems like it comes with real downsides. They should just figure out a way to punish this practice.
- copperx 9y agoOr they could, you know, give them fair wages.
- arprocter 9y agoUnless I'm mistaken it seems like surge pricing in one area would encourage drivers looking for rides to go there, which would then cause other surges in the previous areas they were in