Yeah, you could see something working with the passengers where you say, "Okay, we'll be 1.3x the price of UberX all the time, and so we'll grab customers from

Yeah, you could see something working with the passengers where you say, "Okay, we'll be 1.3x the price of UberX all the time, and so we'll grab customers from Uber when they're surging (which is, after all, when most people want cars)" and some percentage of those people will become loyal customers who won't care about a small surcharge during non-surge times. But, realize, you're also competing for drivers. And at least a substantial fraction of your drivers are entirely willing to turn you on during the non-busy times and take advantage of your higher rates, and then switch to Uber during surge to take advantage of the temporarily higher rates there. Which can be a problem for you. There's probably a finesseable option here where you offer drivers some kind of volume-based bonus that keeps them hungry for your rides during surge times, but doesn't mean you bleed money. But it's definitely hard to hit that mark. Source: I used to work for Flywheel, which does "hail a taxi with your smartphone" and we spent a lot of time working through these kinds of scenarios.