Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says

Post by SilasX » Thu, Aug 03, 2017, 8:12 PM UTC

jbob2000 wrote: post #89

cpsempek wrote: post #75

During a fare, an uber driver told me that when he goes to an area with lots of drivers, he will turn off his app for a minute or so to artificially decrease the number of drivers in the area. If this is practiced by multiple drivers repeatedly, the result can cause a surge. He told me that he does this, and, that he holds training sessions where he teaches this practice to other drivers, among other things. I do not…

This is easy for Uber to fix. The surge (or the calculation of drivers) just needs to be delayed by 15mins or so. He can still turn off his app, but now he'll have to do it for more than 15mins, thus potentially losing 1 or 2 rides.

Post by SilasX » Thu, Aug 03, 2017, 8:16 PM UTC

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…

Post by smsm42 » Fri, Aug 04, 2017, 5:14 PM UTC

emodendroket wrote: post #157

smsm42 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if you talk about Bitcoin etc., it's a gold rush situation - high risk/high reward situation which is strictly voluntary, so I see zero issue with that, on the contrary, I see it as excellent experiment which, unlike many other social experiments, won't bother you at all unless you opt in. With Uber/Lyft it's trickier since while you are welcome to not use it, it may have implications which are beyond direct us…

I'd say the big externalities affecting non-customers are increased congestion and a questionable insurance arrangement. There are also the handful of cases of sexual assault and similar that have happened that arguably could have been avoided with background checks, but perhaps the incidence of these is small enough that you could write it off.

Post by jdauriemma » Wed, Aug 09, 2017, 3:45 PM UTC

wenc wrote: post #127

jdauriemma wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So true. Good luck getting a driver to pick you up around Wacker. Upper/lower confuses the heck out of the uninitiated.

I would normally assume Upper. Where would one pick up passengers on Lower Wacker? (genuinely curious, not being snarky). Apart from the fact GPSes don't really work on Lower Wacker, so it's hard to nail down the pickup location on the app.