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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

#61

Post by monksy »

mring33621 wrote: post #15
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…

Fellow Chicagoan here. I agree. Used to be that cabs were the most annoying, unpredictable cars on the road. Now it's the Ubers and Lyfts.

They're still bad.

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

#62

Post by asdffdsa321 »

johnhenry wrote: post #29

The article implies that this is an active, coordinated effort; but I have to wonder if any of this is/could be an emergent phenomenon based on the existence of the surge pricing algorithm.

I see it more as an economic thing: surge incentives drivers when demand outweighs supply -> drivers manipulate supply to increase price. Kind of fascinating

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

#63

Post by abakker »

EGreg wrote: post #51

I am currently talking with Warren Mosler about implementing Unconditional Basic Income in local communities (Hi @sama! :) Cartels is the main danger with unconditional basic income. If you make sure everyone can eat, you create a moral hazard, where the insured are not sensitive to price anymore. Having said that, we already have means-tested welfare and food stamps, and cartels of fruit stores don't spontaneously a…

Competition in this case is really a proxy for choice. UBI should rationally be about promoting the ability for consumers to choose how to spend money, rather than being constrained to have no choices due to lack of resource. to solve the problem you are describing, people still need to have the self-interest to make good decisions, and the willingness to carry them out.

If consumers won't shop around, or make price sensitive decisions, then the market for the good in question becomes price insensitive. But, I think UBI is attractive primarily because it doesn't seek to tell people how to spend their money, or tell them what the right choices are. As an alternative to welfare, it should allow consumer preferences to play a greater part in the market.

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

#64

Post by 11thEarlOfMar »

mikeash wrote: post #21
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.

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 e…

Seconding that. I took a half-dozen Uber rides in Las Vegas two weekends ago. My biggest concern was trying to figure out how to use the app to tip them.

All drivers were cordial, polite, had no problem with routing (admittedly, it's pretty simple in Vegas). One driver was a smoker and the car smelled and that was the only negative in 6 rides.

Overall, it's the end-to-end experience. Call up the app, type in a destination, head to the curb. The car shows up about the same time I get there, I hop in, chat a bit on the way, hop out at the destination, rate & tip via the app and go on my way. The seamless experience, so far, makes up for the (so far mild) idiosyncrasies of drivers and cars.

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

#66

Post by scrooched_moose »

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…

> --- Another simple one: having to press "0" 3 times to get to an agent on some IVRs..

I have better luck just making indistinct noises. After three "I'm sorry, I didn't get that"s it almost always transfers me to a real person.

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

#67

Post by mabey »

Yup. Last week I left a Dodgers game in about the eighth inning, and there was a huge parking lot full of Ubers and tons of people were standing around waiting but couldn't find drivers. The drivers wait until the game ends and the masses exit so that the real surge pricing kicks in.

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

#68

Post by ajmurmann »

bbarn wrote: post #10
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.

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've had the occasional Lyft driver who could have made better choices. However, the one thing I've only had with taxis is a driver who is actively malicious and makes one turns clearly on purpose to drive up the bill. Lyft cars also have been consistently much cleaner. The skankyness of some taxis I've been in is just without competition.

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

#69

Post by loceng »

mabey wrote: post #67

Yup. Last week I left a Dodgers game in about the eighth inning, and there was a huge parking lot full of Ubers and tons of people were standing around waiting but couldn't find drivers. The drivers wait until the game ends and the masses exit so that the real surge pricing kicks in.

I wonder what, if any, ways are there to counter this kind of behaviour?

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

#70

Post by hirsin »

stillhere wrote: post #40
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…

ADA non-compliant vehicles as well. Disabled passengers cannot ride an Uber most of the time. It has been difficult to sue Uber though.

Huh, wonder if someone succeeded. In Seattle we have ADA compliant Uber as an option, and the price is set to zero.
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