[conanbatt]

Sorry but there a bunch of reasons to dislike Uber, from how they use the information they gather of you and your location, to all price manipulation it does with surge pricing.

Surge pricing is so intransparent that Im 100% sure that has been gamed against the consumer and the drivers in favor of Uber. Not only that, Uber doesnt tell you how much it costs while its going which is also a huge disadvantage for the consumer. Who knows what happens between what you paid to Uber and what the driver received?

[jaredhansen]

Wait, what? I don't want to have a flamewar over Uber here, but most of this isn't even a little bit true:

>surge pricing is so intransparent that Im 100% sure that has been gamed against the consumer and drivers in favor of Uber

I guess this isn't "false" since you're just stating your belief, but if it's totally opaque to you, then how can you be so sure? I mean, OK, I guess, but... [citation needed].

>Uber doesn't tell you how much it costs

What? Yes it does - it tells you up front the multiple you'll pay, and even makes you manually type it in to confirm before your ride is started.

>Who knows what happens between what you paid to Uber and what the driver received?

The driver gets the same 80% that they get during non-surge times. That's why surge pricing works: it summons more drivers to the street by paying them more.

This is all very publicly known stuff; I don't understand your complaints here. By all means, don't ride it if you don't like it, and criticism is fair game, but try to get the basic facts straight.

[conanbatt]

> I guess this isn't "false" since you're just stating your belief, but if it's totally opaque to you, then how can you be so sure? I mean, OK, I guess, but... [citation needed].

You really think a for-profit company that doesn't have to or doesn't disclose the process to do surge pricing, having the knowledge and capacity to use surge pricing to maximize profit, will sacrifice profits in favour of the consumer?

Its opaque on Uber/Lyft, it's not opaque on taxis, so thats definitely a reason to dislike Uber(Sidecar does disclose prices before you get on the car)

> What? Yes it does - it tells you up front the multiple you'll pay, and even makes you manually type it in to confirm before your ride is started.

A multiple is not the same as the number you are going to pay. A multiple of what? I don't see a ticker like I do in a cab that tells me they are not gaming the numbers.

You say the driver gets the same 80%, but I dont know how much it cost me until I'm out of the car. If Uber tells me it cost me 10 dollars, and tells the driver that trip was billed 8 dollars for him, I would never know, and neither would the driver.

[scottfits]

Wait, Uber's surge pricing is actually very, very good for users because it increases the supply of cars especially at odd hours. If it's 2 AM and you need a ride, thanks to surge pricing, you might find some drivers up late. If you need a ride home from a crowded football game, you'll have to pay a bit more but you'll definitely get a ride soon. Without surge, you'd be waiting a while.

[conanbatt]

Sure, what we are missing in the middle is surge pricing when there are plenty of cabs around, and its done to earn more revenue, pay more to drivers, and stiff consumers.

Its specially confusing to try to guess if 25%+ Uber, 50%+ Lyft, Taxi prices are. At least if they all had the "N per ride, M per time or distance" you would be able to compare.