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This is probably the strongest response in this thread and I agree. It's implausible that Uber would directly implement something like "if customer has credits,

This is probably the strongest response in this thread and I agree. It's implausible that Uber would directly implement something like "if customer has credits, charge them 10% more" or "if battery < 5%, increase price by 50%". But non-personalized pricing that's profitable yet exploitative of customers in a way that Uber can plausibly deny or allows for collusion without direct agreements? Completely realistic and even likely imo. I'd love to see ProPublic or other investigative journalists do some research here. Especially on the driver side, because they seem to have even less leverage than average riders.

ramblingrain 2y ago
After I gave my 5,000th ride on Uber I had a beer. I thought. I pondered. I devised the iniquity experiment. (1) N drivers authorized on the Rideshare platform are engaged. (2) these N drivers drive simultaneously and in a similar geographic preference- as if they live in the same neighborhood, but also are optimizing as drivers do. And yet drawn home. (3) pricing, earnings, etc. are recorded per driver and compared across drivers on the Rideshare platform(s). Now we engage the experimental component. With N drivers we can have N/2 drivers engage in behavior A or behavior B. Then, when the Rideshare platform denies they do this or that depending on that or this, there is good evidence that is not the case. Statistical evidence. Tallyho, bandits!