[untog]

"Wait, what's surge pricing?" says one Uber virgin to the Uber-savvy commuter that packed them into the car.

"Oh, it means Uber can charge you whatever they want during peak times."

"But you said we were getting 50% off?"

"Oh but we are! 50% off the surge price."

"So if they put the surge price to 2x then we'd be paying the exact same amount we would anyway, and this promotion would be for nothing?"

"Well, yes. But I'm sure Uber would never do that. Uber is my best free-market friend!"

[fennecfoxen]

Of course they'd do that. But at the same time, realize that (a) all fixed-price transportation options will suffer from a shortage of some sort under the strike, be it bus or taxi or space-on-the-roads-in-general, (b) a lot of the higher prices go to pay the drivers, so that more drivers make an effort to work longer and harder to make extra money, (c) Uber's probably taking a loss on each discounted ride, and just hope to make it up with new customers and publicity.

This is, in fact, the free market at its best, and it's not the market's fault or Uber's fault if it's ugly out there. You always have the option not to use it and hail a taxi regularly. Good luck. You'll need it.