Safe rides fee....Well, $1 is worth it.
hell, take $2 just so the driver inflates the tires properly.
Uber adds $1 “Safe Rides Fee” to UberX rides for background checks, insurance
41–50 of 92 posts
Re: Uber adds $1 “Safe Rides Fee” to UberX rides for background checks, insurance
#42Not only is it a sizable price increase but all of it accrues to Uber (not the drivers).
This smells a bit like Uber testing how much it can get away with before it really impacts customer sentiment or actual business.
Re: Uber adds $1 “Safe Rides Fee” to UberX rides for background checks, insurance
#43What if instead, Uber offered a $2 discount for unsafe, uninsured rides? Is this logical? Of course not. Therefore, what Uber is doing seems absurd, IMO.
Re: Uber adds $1 “Safe Rides Fee” to UberX rides for background checks, insurance
#44This is exactly why cab prices are set by a central authority.
Re: Uber adds $1 “Safe Rides Fee” to UberX rides for background checks, insurance
#45Here's what I think led to this: UberX was priced appropriately for the market, but Uber wanted a larger cut of revenue. (Say average ride was $12, Uber gets $2.40.) In January, Uber announced a 20% decrease [1] in UberX prices. (Continuing hypothetical, average price could be $9.60, and Uber gets $1.92) This week, Uber adds the $1 safety fee, of which drivers get none. Now, continuing my hypothetical averages, the a…
For that to be true the average ride would have to be under 25$. (which it probably is)
I agree that this makes some sort of sense viewed from that angle, I don't think it's a pricing structure that jives well with the brand as a whole though. I think one of the strengths of Uber was the clear pricing model and this layer of obfuscation doesn't help that.
Re: Uber adds $1 “Safe Rides Fee” to UberX rides for background checks, insurance
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. I'm a fan of "the price is the price," with all of the various overhead expenditures being factored into that price. There's not a line item for their app developers, nor a charge for their server hosting...
Agreed. Maybe I should offer a "free rides" app, but charge a gas fee, a driver fee, and an administrative fee. It's not even clear exactly what this fee is supposed to be covering
It's probably fine to advertise is as "free rides" with an asterisk "* surcharges and fees may apply". Here are a list of fees you can tack on:
- driver fee - passenger fee - initiation fee (1st time rider) - healthy sf fee - tax recovery fee - safe driver fee
Re: Uber adds $1 “Safe Rides Fee” to UberX rides for background checks, insurance
#47I don’t think Uber is trying to do this to pay for check: they are asking its users to contribute to safety. It's a branding move — confusing as many have pointed out, but fairly clear when you consider psychology/behavioural economics.
The amount is minimal, and the motive too vaguely in the right direction not to be agreed with. You can’t even not select the option. The idea is the same as adding a ‘green’/ecoLabel sticker on a product: posturing. But, rather than just ask people to agree with it, they ask them to make a financial effort, albeit minimal, to empathise with it, to adhere to the direction the company is aiming at.
How can that ride not be safe? I paid for it to be!
It makes a ton of sense when you consider how safety is perceived: it's rarely actually violent event — just non-descript feeling. “That driver was creepy.” Anyone who worked in dating website for instance had to measure how pervasive that issue is, especially among women.
To me, it sounds a lot like paying to get pink cabs — and those wouldn’t feel nearly as ‘safe’ if there weren’t more commitment than a paint job: the drivers of those cab have to display mace, an interest in self-defense.
Re: Uber adds $1 “Safe Rides Fee” to UberX rides for background checks, insurance
#48What if I want to opt-out of paying the "Safe Rides Fee", does that mean a car with three wheels will show up piloted by an unsavory character? This is a really puzzling move by Uber. I would expect for their core brand promise to be safety, not an add-on fee.
Or, when you get a driver that makes you fear for your life because they are spending more time paying attention to their three GPS devices instead of traffic, do you get a $1 refund for the un"safe" ride?
The last time I took an Uber to SFO, the driver stepped out of the Prius without pressing the "Park" button. Maybe I would have gotten my $1 back.
Re: Uber adds $1 “Safe Rides Fee” to UberX rides for background checks, insurance
#49I don’t think Uber is trying to do this to pay for check: they are asking its users to contribute to safety. It's a branding move — confusing as many have pointed out, but fairly clear when you consider psychology/behavioural economics. The amount is minimal, and the motive too vaguely in the right direction not to be agreed with. You can’t even not select the option. The idea is the same as adding a ‘green’/ecoLabel…
The amount really isn't minimal when you consider it's a 8-12% surcharge on the typical UberX fare. Weren't they just doing a bunch of marketing about how they reduced their UberX fares 10% in SF?
Re: Uber adds $1 “Safe Rides Fee” to UberX rides for background checks, insurance
#50What if I want to opt-out of paying the "Safe Rides Fee", does that mean a car with three wheels will show up piloted by an unsavory character? This is a really puzzling move by Uber. I would expect for their core brand promise to be safety, not an add-on fee.
Or, when you get a driver that makes you fear for your life because they are spending more time paying attention to their three GPS devices instead of traffic, do you get a $1 refund for the un"safe" ride?
And when the driver demands that I guide his entire journey from my own smartphone, do I get a partial refund for my navigation consulting fee?