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Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says

telegraph.co.uk

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Re: Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says

#21

Post by mikeash »

toast0 wrote: post #18
bbarn wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm mostly not a fan, now that we're a few years in. Waves of people inexperienced, untrained in shuttling people around a major metro have resulted in downtown Chicago being an utter mess compared to only a few years ago. Chicago forced cab drivers to go through a training and certification course that at least forced them to understand the major routes and grid system we're on, and every time I've been in an…

I used to think cabs were terrible drivers, but most of them (especially in heavily regulated markets) are very experienced drivers and simply disregard rules of the road that are inconvenient for them. In contrast, 'ride sharing' drivers seem to have no sense of direction, and are genuinely oblivious to the rules of the road. In short, when in either type of car, I fear for my life.

That's interesting. I wonder if this is a regional thing, or just different personal experiences. For me, I've never had a particularly bad Uber driver, but I've had incredibly bad taxi drivers. (My favorite was the guy who decided that driving down I-395 in Arlington was a good time to catch up on some paperwork. He kept the cab on the road, but only by using all three lanes. Thankfully it was about 2AM and nobody else was using them.)

While driving, I tend to fear for my life when taxis are around, but whenever I spot an Uber or Lyft car, they seem to behave unremarkably.

Re: Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says

#22

Post by overcast »

mikeash wrote: post #5

Obvious in hindsight. This sort of thing is inevitable any time you have dumb software on one side and humans on the other side. I'm mostly a fan of these non-taxi "taxi" services, but it seems like they are slowly and painfully rediscovering why taxis ended up so regulated in the first place.

Yeh, this unpopular view is now becoming popular. I've said it from the start, there is a reason for regulation. We just needed the awesome software to manage real taxi services. The price isn't sustainable, people want the on demand taxis.

Re: Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says

#23

Post by kennydude »

losteverything wrote: post #16
PinguTS wrote: post #11

People game the system. Always. Have learned that for years when it comes to safety systems. Even uneducated people become very intelligent when it comes to gaming the system to their advantage. It is always a cat and rat game between technical adjustments and when people find a way to game the system again.

This. People learned the phone company would refund any Denied All Knowledge of a long distance call. Call up, get a credit. Then phone company said you cant DAK calls 2 months in a row: so customers called in every other month. Then, they eliminated operator handled calls for small bills. Call in, get an IVR, get a credit. Phone company caught on and limited credits to $7 per month, every other month. Customers star…

Pressing * or # constantly does it some IVRs too.

Re: Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says

#24

Post by kennydude »

toast0 wrote: post #18
bbarn wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm mostly not a fan, now that we're a few years in. Waves of people inexperienced, untrained in shuttling people around a major metro have resulted in downtown Chicago being an utter mess compared to only a few years ago. Chicago forced cab drivers to go through a training and certification course that at least forced them to understand the major routes and grid system we're on, and every time I've been in an…

I used to think cabs were terrible drivers, but most of them (especially in heavily regulated markets) are very experienced drivers and simply disregard rules of the road that are inconvenient for them. In contrast, 'ride sharing' drivers seem to have no sense of direction, and are genuinely oblivious to the rules of the road. In short, when in either type of car, I fear for my life.

In my personal experiences, local drivers (ones who grew up in the city) know where they're going on Uber. Sadly I can't request for a driver who won't take 3 wrong turns before they even get to me...

Re: Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says

#25

Post by yawz »

reaperducer wrote: post #20

Don't need to do much research. Just read the Uber driver fora. They talk about it openly. Still, even with a huge surge, Uber is 1/2 to 1/10th the price of a cab in my city.

> Still, even with a huge surge, Uber is 1/2 to 1/10th the price of a cab in my city.

This summarizes why the model would continue to work. It's similar to low-cost airlines: most of us hate them, but most of us still use them.

Re: Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says

#26

Post by cormacrelf »

mikeash wrote: post #5

Obvious in hindsight. This sort of thing is inevitable any time you have dumb software on one side and humans on the other side. I'm mostly a fan of these non-taxi "taxi" services, but it seems like they are slowly and painfully rediscovering why taxis ended up so regulated in the first place.

I am often reminded of this tweet:

> Which is funnier: tech bros innovating their way to public transit, or bitcoin folks slowly reinventing financial regulation?

- @PlanetOfFinks, https://twitter.com/planetoffinks/status/850848359392870400?...

Re: Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says

#27

Post by briandear »

ada1981 wrote: post #2

Good for them. Someone should build an app they can run that automatically logs them in and out to maximize pricing. Though I imagine it wouldn't be hard for Uber to implement some basic security to thwart it.

And if prices are high, customers will seek alternatives. So it could backfire.

Also, this practice is illegal as it amounts to price fixing/collision. These are all independent businesses conspiring to raise prices. These aren’t employees of the same company – they are independent contractors which means they are separate businuess entities from each other which means they are committing a crime.

Collusion is a crime and that’s exactly what these separate business entities (who happen to have Uber as a customer) are doing.

Re: Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says

#28

Post by swozey »

kennydude wrote: post #24
toast0 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to think cabs were terrible drivers, but most of them (especially in heavily regulated markets) are very experienced drivers and simply disregard rules of the road that are inconvenient for them. In contrast, 'ride sharing' drivers seem to have no sense of direction, and are genuinely oblivious to the rules of the road. In short, when in either type of car, I fear for my life.

In my personal experiences, local drivers (ones who grew up in the city) know where they're going on Uber. Sadly I can't request for a driver who won't take 3 wrong turns before they even get to me...

I never get local drivers. Here in Austin everyone drives in from San Antonio or one of the little suburbs and tries to navigate downtown and can't figure it out at all. Don't even try to go to an event down the back roads. They won't know them so hopefully you do.

Re: Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says

#30

Post by CodeWriter23 »

aianus wrote: post #9

The first guy to log back in (or the guy who doesn't log off at all) wins the game to the detriment of the others, limiting the extent of this practice. You can't have a successful oligopoly when there's no barrier to entry.

It takes more than one ride dispatch to quell the surge. I've watched bar/club closings stay in surge for 30 minutes while cars stream in to pick up riders. I personally have given 5 surge rides in a row, albeit short rides, just by picking up at a particular hot spot, getting a local, drop them off, go offline, return to hot spot, wash, rinse, repeat.
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