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Uber Tests Cheaper Fares For Riders Who Are Willing To Wait Longer (qz.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the time-is-money dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: The ride-hailing company has started testing a feature that gives riders the option to trade a shorter wait for a cheaper fare. "Prices are lower at 17:00," Uber recently advised an Uber employee who requested a ride in Berkeley, California, and tweeted a screenshot of the feature. The image showed the Uber employee that he could request a ride "now" (4:56pm local time) for $10.18, or wait until 5pm and pay $8.15, about 25% less. "If you're OK leaving later, we'll request your ride at 17:00 for a lower price," Uber's app stated.

The option to wait longer in exchange for a cheaper ride is being tested among all Uber employees in San Francisco and Los Angeles, a company spokeswoman told Quartz in an email. "Affordability is a top reason riders choose shared rides, and we're internally experimenting with a way to save money in exchange for a later pickup," she said.

11 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Cheaper Later? by number17 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is it actually cheaper later or is it more expensive now?

    1. Re:Cheaper Later? by alvinrod · · Score: 2

      You've hit the nail on the head. This is why I think Uber shouldn't have fixed rates and let riders and drivers negotiate prices for each ride. If you really want quick service to an out of the way location, offer to pay more and someone will be more than glad to take you there. If you want to attract one or two last customers before quitting for the evening, drop your rates and you'll get more takers.

      Doing this would also lend Uber much more credence when it tries to claim that its drivers aren't employees.

    2. Re:Cheaper Later? by Sloppy · · Score: 2

      To be fair, "I'm in a hurry so I want you to blow off other customers to give me priority," simply is a premium request.

      If you don't want to nice your process like most other people then you don't have to, but it comes with a price.

      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
    3. Re:Cheaper Later? by mysidia · · Score: 3, Informative

      It NEEDS to be more expensive; Uber's a horrendous deal for the transportation workers.... with fares such as $0.99 a mile being offered in many places, after subtracting Uber's 25% cut = Only $0.74 for the driver. Next subtract the fuel, tires, and vehicle maintenance cost, according to IRS guidelines the average deductible cost is $0.54/Mile and could be more (IRS tends to give a low estimate), so $0.74 - $0.54 = $0.20.
       
      Next, because Uber never collects or pays any of the local taxes they effectively amplify their cut --- the driver is responsible for paying 100% of the local sales tax and any other taxes for the entire fare -- including the Tax on Uber's cut (PLUS the driver has to pay the sales tax on the $1.80 booking fee and other charges riders pay which are NOT shared with drivers) FROM the driver's 75% cut of the fare; local tax rate here is 10%, so that's $0.09 per Mile plus $0.18 per Trip. That means for a 5-Mile trip the total tax is $0.13 per Mile.

      $0.20 - $0.13 = Leaves $0.07/Mile for the driver after they pay their gas and local taxes.

  2. "taxi" by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >> ride-hailing company

    The word you are looking for is "taxi", as in "Uber is a taxi company"

    1. Re:"taxi" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      >> ride-hailing company

      The word you are looking for is "taxi", as in "Uber is a taxi company"

      No, Taxis are regulated, have commercial licenses and insurance, and where I live the rates are set by the city and not by the cab company -- there is no "surge" pricing.

      Taxis in my city also have mandatory cameras in case of crimes, and the drivers have all had background checks, and a photo of the driver with his name on a placard so you can know who is driving you.

      Uber is some random guy who likely has none of these things, with prices set according to the whims of Uber.

      Uber is a bootleg cab company, who have loudly said "la la la, your laws don't apply to us because we've smeared ourselves with magical unicorn poop".

      Fuck Uber. Not interested.

    2. Re:"taxi" by tepples · · Score: 2

      where I live the rates are set by the city and not by the cab company -- there is no "surge" pricing.

      In other words, they run all surge pricing all the time.

      Does your city have a "medallion" system, where the license to operate like a taxi is considered a durable, heritable good not unlike real estate?

  3. No, you pay more for quicker by forkfail · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When World Of Warcraft was in beta, after killing a certain number of monsters, your experience would per kill would be cut in half.

    Everyone hated it.

    So, they flipped it around. Instead, they cut all the experience values in half, but gave you double experience at the start of your gaming session. People loved it.

    Same thing is going on here.

    --
    Check your premises.
    1. Re:No, you pay more for quicker by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 2

      When World Of Warcraft was in beta, after killing a certain number of monsters, your experience would per kill would be cut in half.

      Everyone hated it.

      So, they flipped it around. Instead, they cut all the experience values in half, but gave you double experience at the start of your gaming session. People loved it.

      Same thing is going on here.

      Classic loss aversion. People react stronger to a loss, real or imagined, than from a gain.

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
  4. explanation ... by gDLL · · Score: 2

    Idea would be that if you are willing to wait a bit then higher chances you can find a shared ride.

    If you like to be regulated hard then please by all means take a cab and STFU about uber.

  5. I’m announcing my very own ride sharing app! by Hallux-F-Sinister · · Score: 3, Insightful

    WolkThare saves you even MORE money than UberD-LAID, or UberL8r or whatever they’re planning to call it. With WolkThare, you simply get picked up at your destination, then immediately dropped off, and since you are then already THARE, you neither get into, nor out OF, your WolkThare ride-share vehicle, because, since you are already where you are going, you don’t really NEED it to be thare at all! WolkThareAnbak offers you a FREE return trip if you went THARE using our revolutionary, game-changing and paradigm-disruptive app in the first place, and there’s NO WAITING AT ALL! When you’re ready to go, just WolkThare and start your journey immediately! No time like the present! Unlike UberNow versus UberL8r, our soon-to-be-award-winning-app does not require you to have an account, download anything, and it’s totally ad-free! No surge pricing, no tipping, no upselling of premium services, and your driver will never rape or murder you, plus you get free exercise, no JYM MMBRSHYP or app required! Unlike SOME app-based ride-sharing services, WE don’t charge you extra if our app detects your phone’s battery is low. It’s like Paleo for transportation! This is how your ancestors got around!!!

    WolkThare is unlike Uber, Lyft, Riid, Flye, and Zwym in that WolkThare works even if your smartphone’s battery has died completely, if you left it at home, or even if you’ve never HAD a smartphone! Even if you’ve never seen one. Even if you are unaware smartphones even exist! Are you a tribesman in the Kalahari in the eleven hundreds, or an Inuit fisherman in the Aleutian Islands circa 552 BCE?!? Do you need to get from A to B? Just WolkThare!

    --
    Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.